1st time for this, Never happened before

Heron

Gull

Eagle not caught but came to say hello

Also caught a cormorant on the Beaver which I didn't get a pic of. Thought I had a hell of a trout.

that eagle pic is amazing

i once hooked into a Frigate bird and it spooled me in a heartbeat....they are huge when close

Some of these bird species, if caught and you are unhooking/untangling, watch your eyes...their beaks are sharp and their necks are long but often coiled up and ready to strike. If you have a trustworthy fishing partner, hopefully one that hold the beak while the other gets it loose (a rag or piece of clothing over the head/eyes of the bird can be helpful too).

I’ve caught a bird twice by accident , both times I was fishing off a dock up north and the geese would fly into my line then get tangled up. I also had a loon that would follow my a rig right the boat for a while , never did hit it but was cool to see a loon follow.

Hooked a loon in Algonquin… it picked up my dead bait laying on bottom off our campsite….thought I had a heck of a nice laker.

Loon also attacked and stole a small laker my cousin was reeling in.

If we’re catching fish, a pair of loons follow us around in the canoe sometimes, swimming a foot below the surface just under my stern seat, waiting for an easy trout meal. I tossed a small laker back on one side of the canoe, and a loon from the other side dove under, disappeared, and came up with the fish in its mouth a few yards away on the side where I threw the fish in. I’m guessing once we tire them out after catching them, the loons have an easier time getting a nice big meal. These are 1-1.5 lb. lake trout.
My sister has pics of them trying to swallow a trout down like a snake.

I'm in the bird club as well. Hooked a seagull while fishing the Pickering nuclear plant. I was using a deep-diving Storm thunderstick jr while fishing and just after I cast it out, I turned the reel handle a couple of times starting to get it down and got a hit immediately. I was looking the other way when I set the hook, paying attention to the bend in my rod to gauge how big of a fish I hooked, and then I noticed my line started to go upwards toward the sky. Looking up sure enough I saw a seagull with my lure hanging off its beak. I reeled it in towards the boat and my cousin using my long pike pliers managed to grab a hold of the lure and shook it off the bird which then flew away. Definitely the strangest catch I've ever had.

seems to be a lot of us in that bird club. VBB that is an amazing picture of the eagle.

Great stories and pictures, you just never know what will happen on a fishing adventure. I was fishing Balsam in the fall and there was a few chickadees in the trees beside me. One of the little birds hopped off the tree branch and sat on my hat for about 30 seconds. I have no idea why it did that but it was very cool. The family said it was good luck. I did catch fish that day, but I am sure one had nothing to do with the other.

When I was about 9 years old we were caping at Point Pelee Park. My dad took me right to the end of the point....a hard walk as I remember through the sand. There was a flock of sea gulls in flight but standing still due to the strong wind. My dad said we need to fish under them because thats where the fish are. We cast into the water and we were running two hooks....every cast we would bring in two silver bass. We ran out of bait so my dad took out his cigarette package and took the silver paper and wrapped it around his hooks. He cast and the line wrapped around one of the sea gulls and dropped in the water. Yup you guessed it....two silver bass and a sea gull on....the fish pulled the seat gull down to the water and sometimes bobbed it under and it would scream.....we were laughing our asses off as dad reeled in his menagerie. He managed to get all of them free and we did the long trek back to the car. I was counting and we caught 96 silver bass that day.

My dad was my fishing hero. He watches over me now and I know he is looking down on me and smiling every time I go fishing.

Arnie

Yea ive reeled in a seagull or two over the years catch and release only!