I wrote about nesting Loons before and want to add one more thing that I believe anglers should be aware of and that is fishing with Loons in the area. It’s true, loons mostly eat perch and I can’t count how many times I have spotted a loon swimming around and under our boat while fishing and Monica and I will tell whoever we are fishing with at the time to please STOP FISHING and reel in their line.

At this point, I will move to another spot. Why do we do this? When you see what looks like a two-foot oval torpedo, below or circling around your boat, that Loon is fishing too and the last thing you want to do is hook a loon. Loons not only consume small perch but will eat frogs, crayfish, water insects, leeches and could mistake your lure and/or bait for food and shallow it.

There have been times where a loon can get hooked with lures in their bodies or feet. Trust me, this DOES HAPPEN. Loons die every year this way by ingesting fish that are on the end of our line. If this ever happened, would you try or even want to try removing your bait and hook from a loon’s bill? I’m here to tell you, that loon will die because it won’t be able to open its bill or dive under water to eat.

It’s also a fact that Loons have drowned, because they got entangled in old fishing line that was thrown into the water. If anything like this happens to you or you see this happen, you can call a LOON RESCUE VOLUNTEERS 715-966-5415 or 715 453-4916. They will most likely ask the name of the lake and the area or GPS in which this incident has happen.

One more point I would like to add. If you catch a fish and it is gut hooked/bleeding, before releasing the fish, remove the hook because 1) that fish will most likely die anyways, 2) it will be eaten by something, and 3) you probably just saved a Loons or Eagles life. If your fishing line gets tangled or your reel gets bird nested, and you have to cut that piece line off, PLEASE put that portion of fishing line in your pocket and dispose of it properly when you get back on shore. The wildlife and I thank you.