Some fishermen off the west coast of Vancouver Island got quite a shock when they reeled in their lines during a fishing expedition.
A video, posted to YouTube, shows fishermen casting lines off a boat when one of the lines suddenly snags a bald eagle.
Commercial fisherman Randy Sadler told Global News the video was actually taken in 2012, but his wife had to help him upload it to the Internet months later.
Sadler is an inventor of the Kitetail Flasher and was using that to fish off his boat during the encounter.
Suddenly he felt one of the lines drag out the back of the boat. He got the shock of his life when he saw an eagle sitting in the water looking at him.
“It had actually grabbed the Kitetail Flasher in its feet,” said Sadler. “It must have thought it was a rock cod, that’s all I can think of.”
He thought the line must have wrapped around the eagle’s wing. He was able to bring the eagle into the boat using a net and unwrap it, but the bird was soaked and would be unable to fly.
“I remember my dad, years ago, used to put a shirt over the chickens to calm them down,” said Sadler, so he did just that.
He was then able to allow the eagle time to dry out. “Not once did he try to bite us,” said Sadler. “He knew we were trying to help him.”
The final step was to give the eagle some sugar water and then release the bird closer to the shore.
“I’ve seen lots of cool stuff over the years,” said Sadler, “and I’m blessed to be on the west coast.”
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