I’ll admit it, when I’m fishing I’m pretty intent; I become very absorbed in the catching process and my attention is often totally on the line, lure and water in front of me. Certainly I enjoy just being “out there” but I also want to catch fish. Fortunately Mother Nature will sometimes interrupt our concentrated fishing efforts with a little entertainment of her own.

A number of years ago my wife and I were in our boat working up along a shoreline in a nearby lake. We were so busy casting lures at the shoreline that we didn’t see the large black bear working up along the same shoreline until he was about 50 yards away. Apparently the bear was pretty intent on what he was doing as well and continued up the shoreline we were fishing and eventually disappeared into the woods.

I don’t know how many times I and my fishing companions have spotted eagles and or ospreys soaring overhead and then diving down to the lake’s surface to snatch up a fish-sometimes not far from where we were casting. On a couple of occasions in the past two weeks we watched that very scenario take place and on two different lakes. Last year while ice-fishing we watched a bald eagle swoop down and pick up a fish on the ice less than twenty yards from a couple of our ice-fishing friends. I’ve seen that same situation unfold several times over the past few years.

One day last week my wife and I were casting the shoreline on the lake at Bald Eagle State Park when she inquisitively asked, “what’s that running along the shoreline?” There at the very edge of the lake was a mink with a large fish hanging from its mouth as it kept up a steady pace down the shoreline and eventually disappeared into the woods. A couple of days before that my brother and I were fishing Rose Valley Lake when he said, ” what’s that animal running along the edge of the shoreline?” (Yea, I know; I was too busy watching my line and lure to see either critter before my fishing partners) Again, it was another mink no doubt looking for a fish dinner. Mink are not exactly in short supply but you can go several years without seeing one and here was two sightings in one week.

It’s certainly not unusual to spot a great blue heron along a shoreline while you are fishing but it’s an even bigger treat to see one scoop up a large fish and then swallow it. I’ve seen that several times but recently somebody told me they watched a heron grab a good sized water snake and swallow it-talk about a queasy stomach!

Speaking of snakes, sighting a snake while fishing is pretty common; most are harmless water snakes or black snakes. It’s not unusual for people to mistake a water snake for a copperhead or rattlesnake but if you are in the right place fishing you could very well spot a rattlesnake. For this situation to present itself you would most likely find yourself up on some mountain brook trout stream. While fishing such a stream in Potter County years ago I walked about 30 yards off the stream up a rocky hillside when I heard a “buzzing” sound. I knew right away it was a timber rattlesnake. I spotted it under a nearby rock but to my surprise as I looked around the rocky hillside I spotted several more. My movements became more calculated the remainder of the day.

There’s no question about it, when I go fishing I’m really into the fishing part of it but I must say it pays to look around a little bit since you never know what other critters might be sharing the same spot with you.