Eagle Photo Of The Week

Dale Matson

Click On Photo To Enlarge

My late father Milt, was known as the fisherman of Tipsico Lake. We had a plaque on the cabin wall with a skeleton holding a fishing rod sitting in a boat. The title underneath was “Stubborn Cuss”. My dad loved fishing so much that he traveled 90 miles round trip from our summer cabin to work and back. This allowed him a couple of hours of daily fishing during the spring and summer months. On weekends he would spend most of the day by the lily pads hoping to catch a lunker Bass.

By the time I hit my teen years, dad had bought a Mercury outboard and my services were thankfully no longer required as his galley slave. Sitting for long hours in a hot aluminum boat was not for me. At least the seats were made of wood!

Well, in my 70’s my dad’s genes kicked in and instead of fishing, I arrive before daybreak often to sit near a group of Coots waiting for an eagle to come swooping down and carry off one of the Coots for breakfast. It is that moment that I wait for and have my camera settings just right. Manual, 1/2000/ f9 and auto ISO with about 10 frames per second. I sit in my truck which for some reason is less distracting to the eagles than being outside my truck. The trick is to be close enough to the Coots to get close photos and video but no too close that the eagles won’t come after the Coots. Often the eagles will sit for a couple of hours and then fly away or they will not even show up.

Much of the time getting good eagle photos, like catching lunker bass, is luck entwined with superstition about what works and what doesn’t. Patience is important for both fishing and photography. There is a peaceful anticipation.

I think both dad and I have taken more than a few naps during the waiting period. Dad always needed a new fishing rod. He even wore my Garcia 300 spinning reel out while I was doing my two-year stint in the army. I am always looking for new cameras and lenses that will land the Nat. Geo photos.

Well, this week I was leaving the Madera County side of Millerton Lake and spotted this juvenile Bald Eagle sitting on a boulder looking out at the lake. This time of year, the lake level is about 50% in anticipation of Spring runoff and you can drive out along the shoreline quite a ways with a 4x4 being careful not to get stuck. I put my camera and 600mm lens out the driver side window and got this shot. This was a lunker that didn’t get away.