San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I went to Murray for a couple of hours this morning to chase bluegill.

The session started off with a weird event.

A few minutes after starting casting I hooked a bluegill about 6 inches long on a popper. As I was bringing it in and grabbing the leader with my right hand there was a crash behind me and a bump on my right side, followed by the head of a Great Blue Heron darting past my right arm as it lunged for the fish. In a state of confusion, I rotated my body about 90 degrees to the left and grabbed the leader about two feet from the fish. The heron hopped to my left side and again made a lunge for the fish. Somehow with all the wing flapping and lunging I managed to shoo the bird off a couple of feet and released the fish, which made a high speed dash for deeper water. Some how during this excitement I wondered if I this was observed I would be charged with some violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act even though the bird initiated the entire event.

After the fish was gone the bird backed a few feet away and game me this "WTF" look . I returned the same look for a few moments then the bird stepped a few more feet away and stood there giving my the side eye while I continued to fish. The bird continued to follow me down the bank for about a half hour and approached when I caught the next fish but stopped before getting within striking distance.

I'm sure this would have looked hilarious to any one who may have seen it - I doubt anyone did since I was obscured. I wish there could have been some video.

I have never had a heron approach me before while fishing. Usually they either hop away as if I get closer or glide away with a loud squawk of protest.

Cogitating on this for awhile I came up with a theory. The bird was some sort of alter ego of @VinnyBass that was upset that some dude fishing a grass stick (bamboo fly rod) dared to catch bluegill on his bass lake.

So I decided to start trying for bass intentionally. And I succeeded with three decent bass (not too large, or too small) and a bunch more bluegill over the next couple of hours. More of the actual fishing described on a post I made on the fly fishing forum.

Some pics - (saved the bass images for the fly fishing thread)

LOL, that is crazy! Maybe VinnyBass has trained a cadre of attack herons to chase away fly anglers?

Birds are smart.

I have had heron and egrets stand roughly 10 feet away from me at ponds and some lakes when I catch little fish that will swoop in and try to steal them.. but I can count on two separate occasions where night herons stand 1-3 feet away from me ready for an easy meal and with that big of cajones I award them once in a while which is probably why they're fearless. All the bigger egrets and herons normally seem happier eating lizards than fish from what I've observed.

So funny and stealthy. A similar thing happened to me. I was Float Tubing Canyon Lake and deep hooked a small Bass. It was bleeding badly and there was a juvenile Blue Heron watching me closely. I said “ Hey Bird you want this Fish?” He hopped right over and gabbed at it right out of my hand. I kinda jumped but he didn’t get my hand at all. The Bird continued to stay with me, watching very closely and flying and landing right along with my progress. My Buddy was laughing and kidding me about my new friend. We kinda ended fishing this small cove and got out and loaded up the Truck with our Gear and Tubes my little Bird friend not 4 feet away. We got in the Truck and headed to a new spot, mostly forgetting about the bird when my buddy says look right beside me! There is the Heron flying alongside the Truck right outside the passenger window. We are cruising at 25 mph and the Bird keeps looking in the window at us.We get to the next spot not far away and the bird is squawking at us like it is mad. It did not leave us the rest of the time until dark when we noticed it had disappeared. Amazing and the lesson is never give a Small Heron a Dead Bass or you will never get rid of them.