Thread: Gotcha!

A sad reminder to be vigilant of pelicans and other shorebirds that may try to eat your lure or steal your catch.

It could cost them more than your lure!

Not so happy ending: This pelican was brought in with a hole in the side of it's neck. We quickly discovered that the reasoning behind the hole was due to a fishing lure with 2 treble hooks that the Brown Pelican had swallowed... We did the best we could to save this pelican but unfortunately, he did not make it. ***Please dispose of your fishing equipment properly and do not cut your monofilament line!

That's pretty ugly.

Last week, I saw a man hook a pelican with a gotcha at the cleaning station (dumb place to fish) and prepared to cut his line. I'm afraid I raised my voice when I informed him that I'd turn him in if he cut that line. He then vacantly asked what he was supposed to do. I got ahold of his line and showed him, bringing the pelican up on deck whereupon David Lea jumped in and cut the line and lure loose while I held the bird immobile. The pelican flew off, largely unharmed. I'm glad it didn't turn out like the bird above.

There is no apparent shortage of pelicans, but they are just doing what they've been programmed to do for thousands of years and I hate to see them suffer and/or die for that. We are supposed to be the superior species (?????) so we should be helping them out.