Yesterday while waiting at the Thomaston public landing for my afternoon striper fishing party I saw something that I had only seen once before. An osprey dove and successfully caught a herring. While he was flying off with his prize an eagle appeared and began to harass the osprey. For several minutes it was quite a display of aerial ability with the more maneuverable osprey seeming to be able to avoid but not escape the eagle. After repeated dives from the eagle and an equal number of successful rolls twists and dives. The osprey gave up and let go of the fish. At that moment a second eagle appeared to help the first one look for the herring. To top it all of the herring must have swum right off because none of the birds came up with it.
The fishing was good all afternoon but the catching was terrible not one fish managed to bite on a lure. We did see several seals many ospreys and maybe a half dozen eagles. So while it was not the best fishing trip it was still a great afternoon on the water. The striper lockjaw continued this morning on the coming tide. I pulled my party off of the salt water and we had an enjoyable morning on one of the ponds although even the freshwater bass were pretty reluctant to bite for the first hour or so. Sometimes I have to remind myself that they can't avoid eating forever and tomorrow will be better.