Loons

[phearless]

For flychucker I thought I would start this thread about loons.
I love to hear their haunting song in the evening.
Then I wish they would all flock off while I am fishing and stop
chasing fish.
I will turn the clicker off on my reels when they are bad, that usually helps.

[knotnot]

They are a great accompaniment while sitting around the campfire.

[johnk]

When it comes to loons I have a rather unpopular opinion amongst other flyfishers. Anyone who fishes Tunkwa regularly is probably familiar with the large male there. Any time someone complained about him I always had the same reply, "His family was more likely fishing the lake long before mine"

When I lived in Lower Nicola I fished Gypsum 30 times per year and as soon as that darn loon saw my old Jeep Wagoneer coming down the back access road I had companionship for the day. At the very worst, the most it ever cost me was a fly and in one case almost my hand......

[kssm]

loons are extremely annoying. I have tried to scream at them and the only response I got was people looking at me funny from shore. I haven't had any target the fish I have on the line (or maybe that is why I loose many fish?)

I have bad memories of them. before I got into fishing i had my nose touching the water hanging off a dock watching all the minnows. the minnows flee, I must have scared them. nope. a second later a massive red eyed creepy loon glides from under the dock in pursuit of fish. I almost fell in. and I had just gotten over my fear that cougars live under docks!

but I must say it is quite impressive how they learn from fishers. much like crows.

[macrib46]

You haven't lived till you're chroni fishing and your indicator goes down, you start fighting your fish, then suddenly your line starts ripping through the water and a moment later a loon brakes the surface, and your fish and fly take off into the air in the loons mouth.
A buddy of mine came with us one daytrip and a loon started chasing a fish he was fighting and almost flipped him out of his bellyboat when it hit him in the back of the legs trying to get the fish.
For this reason I now carry a sling shot on the water. I have never hit one , but after a few shots in their direction they usually leave me alone.

dave

[flychucker]

hey Phearless thanx for starting this post...my brother and i were fishing hihume one year...the first year i had a run in with a loon....so my brother and me are out on the boat talking about getting the big one when he got a fish on, the real started zinging and we noticed the loon that had been shadowing us was moving in..I think they have learned to listen for the real ...anyhow my brother lost the fish when my rod started twitching ,and i start playing what felt like dinner...well all of a suden my rod bends like i had a 20 lb salmon and I'm thinking I got grampa!!after i decided to slow the line down my leader snaped, then it was gone??? a second or 2 later a loon pops up as if to say thanks chumps! My jaw was in the bottom of the boat and when i came to my senses..i notice my brother throwing everything in the boat at the loon...including the oars....swearing and foaming at the mouth...now my brother is a very gentle soul and i had no idea that he was capable of such rage...since then i have bought sling shots for my boys, and quite often we will drop small rocks just behind belly boat fishermen and have a small laugh...funny ..if we do it just right they almost allways cast to that spot...he he he ...the sling works well for loons but i am still worried i might hit one.........

[Roughingminor]

The loons at Coquihalla lake last year were brutal. My friend lost 6 fish (and 6 flies) to hungry loons in one day. One bird in particular ate 3 16" trout in under an hour. Where did he put them?!? A loon also claimed one rod, which was broken when this same friend smoked the little bugger over the head with it when it surfaced right in front of him (with his fish and fly in it's mouth). This, sadly, did not deter the bird in the slightest.

[Roughingminor]

As a corollary to my previous post, I am an avid birder and I have been since I was very little. I am very interested in the protection of all birds, unless they mess with me...

[24_7Fisherman]

i have had runins with Loons everytime i fish Leighton lake. im always scared they might pop the float tube because they sneak up and try taking the fish off my chain which i have up short barely in the water. thank god i got a pontoon boat LOL now they will just go in the cooler with the beer. the worst was this one fish chasing my fish so close to me that i actually had to kick it with my flipper to get it to go away. nest fish on he was right back at me took a few flipper kickings to make him smarten up. once he left me alone i actually tossed him a fish and he ignored me until the next day oddly, almost like we had an understanding by this point

[chauchey]

I have bad memories of them. before I got into fishing i had my nose touching the water hanging off a dock watching all the minnows. the minnows flee, I must have scared them. nope. a second later a massive red eyed creepy loon glides from under the dock in pursuit of fish. I almost fell in. and I had just gotten over my fear that cougars live under docks!

but I must say it is quite impressive how they learn from fishers. much like crows.

Thats really funny! I was on Boss last year and saw a big fish in the water. My heart skipped a beat till it got a bit closer...and then of course it became clear it was the loon. I got skunked that trip. We forgot the food cooler so all we had a package of small hotdogs. We had hoped the fishing would be fast but I think the loon had better luck then we did. :doh: