Otis Fishing Report UPDATE for September 19, 2023: We last saw an Otis Cameo on River Watch about 4:30 p.m. Katmai time yesterday. An hour+ later, we find Otis on River Watch Buddy System Meandering with 747. They say their Howdydos, play a quick game of Chicken, and then they turn away from each other simultaneously. Because old bears know it’s not worth the fuss — just feed me and leave me alone.
Moments later, we get a much-missed Otis POUNCE! The body language following is typical Otis — he pauses, brings his paw up slowly, and grabs his catch with his mouth — it’s a FISH, wiggle and all! He takes it to dry(er) land to dine, as 747 looks on in earnest with his big ol’ puppy dog eyes (747 has a catch immediately following, so no worries — he’s not starving hahaha).
Otis is cleaning up on DOAs, and when Alice asks for a piece of the action, Otis politely declines and tries to explain “there’s no fish here” — just a little yoga to get the blood flowing (for what it’s worth, Alice isn’t buying it). Otis just picked this one out of the water without any wiggle, so DOA for sure, but it took him a looong time to eat it, so also for sure it was a big one and perhaps more recently DOA’d. 😀
If you happened to glance up and caught this view, you might be wondering whether the Magic Paw works out here in the River. Perhaps it does, but we’d need a 409 Beadnose decedent to tell us to know for sure! In this case, Otis is balancing a DOA on his paw, and we have to say his balance is quite good for an old man!
And to prove to us again that he’s in good form, we get another POUNCE! At first glance, it appears there’s no wiggle, but give that salmon a fighting chance, and -BOOM- we’ve got a wiggle, folks! FISH! A good sized one, too!
A few minutes later, Otis gets another fish — these are certainly near the end of their life cycle, but also certainly wiggling, so good eats happening here! No doubt, they’re a lot more palatable than DOAs too!
After that, we don’t see Otis on cams again during daylight and no (confirmed) Otis-Shaped Bears after dark. However, 747 has been all over the River today and eating well — in case you’re wondering. 😉
Final count for September 19 is 4 Fish + 6 Scraps + 27 DOAs on cam and counted! There were a couple of eats caught off cam and eaten on cam which *may* have been fish based on how long Otis took to eat them, but they’re not confirmed to be FISH, so classed as DOAs. The point being that he’s eating well in the River!
And until next time, sending Wishes for Fishes! ♥
Bonus Content We Couldn’t Resist:
On Brooks Falls Cam: In case you haven’t heard (which would be impossible if you’ve been in chat even one second today lol), 503 returned last night shortly after 8:00 p.m. Katmai time! WOOT! Here is video courtesy of SarahBear:
On River Watch Cam: Not the best quality snap ever, but we were delighted to see *the* Legends of Katmai, Otis (left middle-ish brown blob), 435 Holly (blond center), and 747 (attempting to hide behind a branch) on cam at the same time!
And a Bonus Blooper: Alice gawks at the Royal Jewels. Clearly, she is stunned as cam viewers at their impressive… errr… yeah. That. 😉
Bear cam images in this post are copyright National Park Service and/or Explore.org
