Otis Fishing Report Note for November 14, 2023: We’ve got three Cam Days left, and it seems like we ought to be able to pull three Otis Memories out of our proverbial hat to quench a little Otis Craving, so here we are. 😀
We’re going back to July 26 for this one. Yes, the date of Otis’ 2023 return and a day we love, but don’t necessarily want to see. Otis came back skinnier than any one of us could’ve thought was healthy, and while I may seem like a Pollyanna to many, I simply like to look at the brighter side of things. I stay silent over expressing any fears (mostly). Call it what you will; I call it a coping mechanism. ♥
So anyway… Otis came back rail thin. Salmon were few and far between. And we worried. Some expressed it in chat. I avoided chat (coping, people; I was coping).
And two things happened that day which surprised me — and maybe you too.
Otis encounters 912* and while all the Big Boys are away, decides he’s in charge. For no particular reason, he chases 912 off, as captured by Cruiser. Pep in our boy’s step, right there!
Later, 807* attempts to pirate this HUGE fish Otis catches. Well… he doesn’t attempt — he walks away with it. But unlike other years (think 399 in 2022 on Otis’ first day back at Brooks), Otis doesn’t just give up his fish. He runs. RUNS, I tell you, in an attempt to keep that fish, as captured here by Rae Rae. He’s got to be starving, but he knows he can catch more and running wastes calories. But there’s that pep!
We still worried. But, honestly, Otis is Zen when he can be Zen, and he’s got Spunk when he needs to have Spunk. That Zen Spunk is that thing which keeps him going. And it should keep us going too. ♥ Our boy knows what to do and when to do it, and that’s why he’ll come back to us next year (sprinkling Magic Otis Dust, as I type this… resulting in a sparkly keyboard).
And by now you know the drill: Until tomorrow, sending y’all Wishes for Fishes and Sweet Salmony Dreams (for three more sleeps)! ♥
*Bear IDs by others. I can create a workbook that counts, but I’m clueless in this realm.
Bear cam images in this post are copyright National Park Service and/or Explore.org
