August 20, 2023 Otis Fishing Report Part I

Otis Fishing Report for August 20, 2023, Part I: We begin today as we do most days this season and as we ended yesterday — Otis is in his Office fishing. We’re almost an hour in, when Otis gets his first flash of a fish on Riffles cam! (Did you ever think you might have a reason to be grateful for the reflective nature of fish scales? Me neither.)

Otis is doing his Office-y thing without disruption until 2:00 a.m. Katmai time, when 128 Grazer comes in for her chitter chatter water cooler business, which — as we all well know — Otis does not want to hear. He does his Cha Cha sliiiide to the left, Meander Fishes for Salmon Scrapple heading toward Alice’s Restaurant, and climbs into his Bank Bunk. He redecorates (quite a lot actually) and prepares for slumber.

And he naps. ♥ I’ve always been a lover of nature, but if you’d have tried to explain to me how much joy there is in watching a bear half way across the World sleep, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here we are!

Brooks Falls cam is wide for about an hour and a half and when we zoom in, Otis is back at work, diligent in his effort to inspect fish.

A bit later, Grazer pops in for another chitter chatter session. She and Otis exchange salmon recipes (probably). (Seriously, this convo goes on for quite a bit in Bear Minutes — what else could they possibly be discussing?) Eventually, Grazer moves to the Conveyor — Otis wins the recipe chatter!! Against Grazer, y’all! It makes the Royal Fish Counter proud! ♥

At 6:30 a.m., 164 Bucky shows up for work, and the three of them are together again like the box of chocolates in the varying Shades of Bear they represent.

We’re in the final stretch of catching up on rewinds, things are slow and steady, so we believe it safe to eat and view (us; not them), thinking we can watch the rest peacefully. Otis is fishing. He catches a fish. Eat, Rinse, Repeat, right?

Dang it, Bucky!

Bucky goes after Otis’ fish!! The chase is on! We nearly spit raspberry mango smoothie all over the screen! Ha! Brooks Falls cam blurs trying to keep up! And then we remember we’re on rewinds and watching at 8.8x speed. Ahahaha! When we slow things down, it’s more like a lil walk in the park with a fish in the front position, and the important thing is that Otis keeps his FISH all to himself!! (Let’s hope Bucky doesn’t keep that up, because we like him right now! 😉 )

So Otis enjoys his fish and heads back to his Office for more inspections. His Grumpy Old Men partner, 747, arrives on the scene and things are back to “normal.” Otis treks between the Boulder and his Office, catching the occasional fish, and da bears fish in harmony.

Something catches Otis attention above the Falls on Brooks Falls cam, and then he returns to fishing.

We’re looking at a remarkably uneventful day, folks, except that Bucky pirating attempt — and where Otis is concerned, the only drama we like is in an elevated fish count. 😉 Speaking of fish, here’s Otis enjoying one today. I’ve always maintained that he seems to truly enjoy eating his fish, and in this snap from Brooks Falls cam, he seems to be thanking his lucky stars for the opportunity for another one!

Of course uneventful can’t last forever, and just as yesterday, about quarter to noon, Mr. 151 Hot Walker struts his fat-bear-ready hind end across the Lip. Gawkers will gawk (we did) and Walker will walk (he did) across to the Office. No-drama Otis says ciao for now, and heads to his Bank Bunk on the other side of the River.

You probably didn’t know it, but Otis has secretly been the Bob Villa of Brooks Falls for ages now. 😉 That’s a good thing, since his Bunk is a bit of a fixer upper. Today on Brooks Falls cam, he demonstrates how to remove roots from dirt flooring. Errr… how to play tug-of-war with roots and that a “make it work” strategy is sometimes the way to go.

Otis’ Guardian Magpie pops in to ask, “Whatcha doin’ there, Big Guy?”

Minutes later, Otis is peacefully napping while chatters are wondering whether we shall soon be singing “Rolling in the Riffles” to the tune of Proud Mary….

A couple hours later, Otis is seen out of the corner of Brooks Falls cam. There were no eyes-on to know whether he rolled or strolled out of his Bank Bunk, so I guess we will never know! (Though he did appear fluffy upon cam zoom, so we guess strolled!)

Otis attempts to thread the needle between Walker in the Office and 747 on the Conveyor, and while this typically goes well, 747 is triggered today! Walker sidesteps away (because he isn’t in the mood for another chomped rump) and looks on. Having said his piece, 747 looks at us cam viewers like “Whatchu lookin’ at?”, and then, toll having been paid, Otis is allowed to pass.

747 walks to the end of the Conveyor and sips a little sip of water (because he’s a gentleboar at heart) and pretends like nothing happened. The Three Bears in their Assigned Parking, now Walker comes out of the Office and he gives Otis a grump. 747 continues to pretend like “Nothing to see here” and then leaves for naps (probably).

Walker continues giving Otis a hard time for a minute and decides his end game is that he wants the Conveyor (despite that every viewer knows Walker prefers the Office). Otis circles to his Office. What Walker actually seems to want is everything. Or whatever anyone else wants. Ha! Anyway, Otis is happy — he got his Office.