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Fishing line
SACRAMENTO RIVER, Sacramento - Regulars are calling last weekend's salmon opener the best in at least 10 years, and around 50 kings were taken at the mouth of the American on everything from big spinners to Gitzit jigs. A few very large stripers were caught as well at night on broken-back Rebels trolled upstream of the mouth of the American.
Rogue River Rendezevous focuses on second amendment
An enthusiastic Second Amendment rights group gathered for Wayne and Colleen Krieger's eighth Annual Rogue River Rendezvous on Saturday, July 9, at the Event Center on the Beach at the Curry County Fairgrounds.
Angling in Alaska full of big-time excitement By RANDY STEVENS - Sports Editor
Growing up in East Texas, I have landed some pretty big fish. I've pulled out a 6-pound bass from Lake Fork and even pulled in a 10-pound catfish out of Lake 'O The Pines.
Fishing line
AMERICAN RIVER - There's a "ton" of shad in the river, but catching them consistently requires trying for them the last hour or so of daylight. That's also a good time to avoid the mass of rafters that dominate the river when the sun is high in the sky. Most of the fish are concentrated above Sunrise Ave. A fair number of salmon and striped bass have also been attracted to the river, and, while
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Others, like these two, stand right in the falls and wait for the salmon to come to them. A bear can catch a fish with its front paws or its mouth. Once in a while, a salmon leaps so close that a bear can bite it right out of the air. Now that's fly-fishing!
Some brown bears dunk their heads down into the water to watch for salmon, and some even dive underwater to catch their fish. Often a bear, like the one above, will miss and come up all wet and without a fish. Brown bears are good at fishing, but nobody's perfect! The fish that get past the bears will swim upstream to lay their eggs.
A female (sow) with cubs has to feed herself and her family. The sow at right has just caught a salmon and is carrying it to shore to eat it. Her six-month-old cubs have been watching her closely. They may have learned some fishing tips. But right now they want a nice big bite of salmon!
When Mom gets to shore, the first thing she does is shake the water out of her thick fur--just as a dog does after a bath. Her cubs, hurrying to be close, get a surprise shower (above). What they really want to know is, "After our shower, do we get to eat?"
The answer may depend on how hungry the sow is. A mother bear takes good care of her cubs, but she usually feeds herself first.
The hungry cub above has decided not to wait for his mom to share her catch. He went right up and snatched part of her salmon. And now he's carrying it into the bushes where his brother and sister won't see it. Most bears will snatch another bear's fish if they can.
If a sow is really hungry, she may eat the whole salmon herself. (She needs energy to be able to catch more fish. Without that, none of them will eat.) But if a cub snatches her meal, she'll usually just go catch another one for herself.
When the fishing's good, a big brown bear will eat 8 to 10 large salmon before it feels full. That's the same as a kid your size eating more than 40 hamburgers. In one meal!
You don't need to eat that much all at once because you have three meals every day. But a brown bear has six months of hibernation coming up, when it won't eat at all. So now the bear "pigs out" and gets really fat. All winter long, that fat will give the bear the energy it needs to survive.
After fishing, a family of bears may wander off to explore a bit (above)--or to find a good place to take a nap. But soon they will be back for another big day at the river.
Seafood for the Forest?
Trees can grow twice as fast if they live near a river with salmon in it. Why? Because they "feed" on salmon.
Of course, trees can't walk down to the river and catch fish. So how do they get their seafood meal? The bears deliver it. Picture this:
A bear walks up into the forest to take a nap after eating lots of salmon. Before lying down, it leaves a pile of droppings. You might call these droppings "recycled salmon." As rain washes the droppings down through the soil, the trees' roots take in minerals and other things that trees need to grow.
Remember that most of a salmon's body is made of things the fish ate while growing up in the ocean. So when a tree is lucky enough to get a "meal" of bear poop, it's really taking in stuff that came from the sea.
If this seems like a marvelous thing . . . well, it truly is. But it is just one of the ways all living things on Earth--including you--are linked together.
Psst! Looking for more stuff on bears? Then take a peek at this poster!
BEAR BITS
SLUUURP!
Sun bears have extra-long tongues--great for lapping up honey and insects. Now, if you can bear it, turn the page for more . . .
A PAW-FUL
Whoa, take a look at those humongous claws! (see photo 1) They're attached to the front paw of a brown bear. All bears have claws on their paws, and the front ones are longer than the rear ones. Look at how big a brown bear's claws are compared to a person's hand.
Some bears, including the brown, use their claws mainly for digging. The bears may dig up an underground meal of roots or ground squirrels and other rodents. And some bears use their claws to carve out dens or to climb trees.
WHAT'S UP?
A brown bear mom and her cub stand alert (2). They're up on their hind legs, checking out something. Most bears are curious about what's going on around them. This mom also wants to make sure nothing's going to harm her youngster.
A bear may get up on its hind legs to do more than look. It may stand up to fight with other bears. Some bears also stand and make claw marks on tree trunks--maybe to tell other bears, "I've been here!"
MUNCH, MUNCH!
Yum! An American black bear chows down some tasty grasses (3). Black and brown bears eat mostly plant parts, including berries, roots, and shoots. But they and most other kinds of bears scarf up lots of different foods. It may depend on what they can find. Bears may go after young deer and elk. They also eat bees, moths, termites, and cactuses.
A few kinds of bears feed mainly on one thing. For example, giant pandas munch on bamboo, and polar bears eat mostly seals.
UP, UP, & AWAY
An American black bear cub clings to a pine tree (4). It has probably dashed up here to escape danger. Most bears, at least when young, can climb trees. Besides seeking safety, bears head up high to feed, rest, and play.
Test Your Bear IQ
Put a "T" by each statement you think is true and an "F" next to each you think is false. Then turn the page for the answers.
A brown bear in Alaska might weigh as much as 10 grown men.
Despite its bulky shape, a grizzly bear can outrun the fastest human sprinter.
All bears are good swimmers.
Many newborn bear cubs are the size of squirrels.
Famous Bears
LOVABLE BEAR
The bear at right is nearly 100 years old. It is one of the first teddy bears made in the . The cuddly animals were named after "Teddy" Roosevelt, who was president at the time. He was famous for having spared the life of a bear cub while hunting.
FAMOUS SURVIVOR
Above, a vet is patching up a black bear cub. The cub had been burned in a forest fire in New Mexico in 1950. This little guy grew up to become the poster bear named Smokey.
PUCKER UP!
Doug Seus shares a real bear hug with his favorite furred friend, Bart the Bear (below). Doug raised Bart from a cub and then trained the bear to be a star. Bart appeared in many movies and TV shows. He died about a year ago at age 23.
OH, POOH!
A honey-loving bear named Winnie-the-Pooh (above) has won many of our hearts. Pooh first showed up in some books in the 1920s. Since then he's made it big in movies, videos, and on TV.
A MUST-SEE
Don't miss this one. It's a giant-screen film called Bears (above). And it's coming to theaters this summer. In the movie you'll see black bear cubs playing in Montana, brown bears catching salmon in Alaska, and polar bears prowling the ice in the Arctic.
This movie was produced by the National Wildlife Federation, the group that publishes Ranger Rick. Try to see it!
Answers to quiz on page 23: All are true.
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