I come into any area at 1/2 throttle. Then increase to WOT as Cormorants pop up. I drive over to say hello. In less than a week I have no Cormorants waiting for me.

Must be a small lake.

 

On Minnetonka if you do that, they just change their location...14k acres for them to hunt.

Just now, MN Fisher said:

Must be a small lake.

 

On Minnetonka if you do that, they just change their location...14k acres for them to hunt.

By me they just crap on you

Meanwhile over at the Cormorants forum:

 

"Okay guys, we're doing recon flights every morning. When we spot this dude make sure you're ready for the call. We're going to do strafing runs, some high altitude drops, and for the grand finale...carpet bombing. And eat a lot of food beforehand!"

 

 

I say HELLO 2 times a day .    I am VERY polite to the LARGE  WHITE  Mute Swans.  They drive out ALL Canada Geese.   Mutes are FEARED by all water birds.  I love them.  ?

40 minutes ago, schplurg said:

Meanwhile over at the Cormorants forum:

 

"Okay guys, we're doing recon flights every morning. When we spot this dude make sure you're ready for the call. We're going to do strafing runs, some high altitude drops, and for the grand finale...carpet bombing. And eat a lot of food beforehand!"

 

 

This is the truth. There's an island on my home water that is also home to multiple cormorant colonies. If the flock is flying in or out, their dropping bombs on the boat on purpose. 

So who is smarter - us or them.  From afar - I've seen what happens when some unknowing angler smacks his boat into a tree that also happens to host a buzzard roost.   It is kinda cool when they all leave the roost and "lighten their load" when they take off.   Not funny when buzzard poop hits your boat carpet.  Buzzard poop actually eats through boat carpet.  Not good smelling at all.  It is challenging to fix at the car wash - and you won't fix it while you're on the water.   When you're fishing a tree line, look up from time to time and see who's living in the branches.   Just saying . .. . .

I had a Seagull decide my black Chaparral was a nice warm up spot. I chased him off. Flew up and crapped on the boat. Borrowed a friends pellet gun. No more gulls.

Geese walking & crapping around. Few stones bounced off of several young & old geese did the trick.

 

 Had to do it to ALL  5   DIFFERENT flocks of them. Every couple of years.

 

They still fly into the bay at night to sleep.  No problem with that.

Where I fish they are eagles and large fish eating hawks almost big as the eagles. I posted a pic of a SM over 3lbs that was raked and bloodied by these birds. We watched an eagle dive and hit a bass at least 4lbs and he was flipping like they do when jumping with a lure and wriggled free about 40 feet high and splashed into the water. Wasn't floating so probably survived, we were pulling for the bass. They are all protected and both our spots had three nesting pairs of course separated by about a mile. Takes a lot of fish to keep a nesting pair w/2-3 young ones fed on a daily basis.

The birds have more of a right to eat fish than we do! I love to see it 

 

They are far more patient and more sharing than human fishermen and have never tried to kill me

Are we going to get into a, animals have more rights, than humans forum ? 

I thought we were supposed to be posting about humans fishing.

Better watch out. They might figure out which truck is yours.

29 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

Are we going to get into a, animals have more rights, than humans forum ? 

I thought we were supposed to be posting about humans fishing.

Hahaha this is your topic buddy, I’m an invasive species in North America. We use the birds as fish finders 

 

4 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

Better watch out. They might figure out which truck is yours.

That’s been getting really bad at Douglas lake, my buddy that works for Uncle Sam gets to deal with them 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Hahaha this is your topic buddy, I’m an invasive species in North America 

 

That’s been getting really bad at Douglas lake, my buddy that works for Uncle Sam gets to deal with them 

I have a friend who likes to put in at this ramp, and it is like this every time. Kind of creepy.

Why do they need to poop on grass lands people use ?  We then walk in their droppings and spread it in vehicles & inside your house as kids play on the floor.

  I can train any animal.  I just have the patience to convince the animal.  

2 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

Why do they need to poop on grass lands people use ?  We then walk in their droppings and spread it in vehicles & inside your house as kids play on the floor.

When you flush the toilet it goes into the river they swim in. Maybe it’s revenge? 

That may be sewage to us.............. But..............That is food for all the weeds & keeping the fish food chain active.

They have common roosting areas here, you could chase them off 10 times a day and they'd keep coming back.

You are right about a roosting area problem. Different tactics are required.  Usually a federal permit is then required. Helped out with geese on golf courses. Was allowed 50 per day in a bad location.

I always thought it was just bad luck when birds take aim at you considering the intelligence level of most of them.  Then I had this encounter:

 

I was fishing a local 13,000 acre lake and went back into a backwater area on the trolling motor.  I spooked up about a dozen Canadian geese.  I watched them take off and head down the lake, they made it about 300 yards, banked hard left and came back along their flight path.  When they got directly overhead of me, in unison they released a bombing run of crap which rained down on me and my boat.  Luckily the boat only took a couple of direct hits but the water was white with missed shots.  They then continued on and did not land anywhere near me.  

Double crested Cormorant was a federally protected species for over 60 years, now permits are issued to control killing them. The population has exploded for this fish eating bird.

Pelicans are still a protected species.

Gulls can’t dive underwater to catch fish only surface feeders and anything.

I find Grebes to be the best Shad school locators and helpful.

Herons and egrets can’t dive wading birds and also helpful fish finders.

Nothing helpful about Cormorants, ugly and can devastate small lake fish populations.

Otherwise birds have there place in there world we share.

Being a duck and goose hunter they provided me food and enjoyment, I like to watch them and pleasure sharing their world, be glad we have them.

Most birds poop shortly taking flight, be aware of that fact.

Tom 

I watched a show a few years ago where they were basically giving crows IQ test.  It was scary.  They're smarter than most people so I don't mess with them.   

There's a osprey at our local lake, 20+ft clarity, during the spawn it was well.... not fun for the largemouth I'll say that.

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Double crested Cormorant was a federally protected species for over 60 years, now permits are issued to control killing them. The population has exploded for this fish eating bird.

Pelicans are still a protected species.

Gulls can’t dive underwater to catch fish only surface feeders and anything.

I find Grebes to be the best Shad school locators and helpful.

Herons and egrets can’t dive wading birds and also helpful fish finders.

Nothing helpful about Cormorants, ugly and can devastate small lake fish populations.

Otherwise birds have there place in there world we share.

Being a duck and goose hunter they provided me food and enjoyment, I like to watch them and pleasure sharing their world, be glad we have them.

Most birds poop shortly taking flight, be aware of that fact.

Tom 

Commercial cat fish ponds down south in Mississippi and Alabama have a very hard time getting those federal permits to take cormorants. They eventually issued the farmers a permit to take one bird just to spite them. 
 

let’s all stop and think, there are two factors why there are way more fish eating birds now than there were 30 years ago. Number one would be they stopped using DDT as a pesticide. Number two is there is much cleaner water with way more fish in it. It is a positive sign

2 hours ago, WRB said:

 

Most birds poop shortly taking flight, be aware of that fact.

Tom 

Kinda thankful it's the other way around for me before I head out the door.