Otis Fishing Report for October 4, 2023: As reported earlier today, Otis returned from his mini-vaca last night just before 7:00 p.m. Katmai time on Brooks Falls Low cam. We caught up to him on Riffles, and *just* as he’s coming into the frame, he’s doing what again? That’s right — chewing! He pauses to do what else again? Stand on Rocks, of course, the better to see you, you scrumptious little salmon delights! So that means we have 1 Scrap for October 3 that went unreported. 😉
For today, October 4, Otis appears on the Lower River cam about 9:00 a.m. He meanders along the little island there and heads toward the Fish Cache. What follows next *appears* to be a… dare we say it? A FISH! To be fair, there is a chance that it wasn’t… but that means there’s an equal chance that it WAS, and sometimes we have to make an executive decision. And we’re going to go ahead and do that now and call it — FISH!
He follows that up with a DOA chaser. 🙂
Then he proceeds to Meander Fish about the River, catching DOAs as he ambles about. He circles back to the Fish Cache, and then there’s a lil trot and a tiny pounce! Remember now that the water back there is about ankle deep on a bear — for me? waist high! — so a fish with a lil wiggle doesn’t require a big ol’ calorie-burning pounce. Just a lil pounce. What follows is fish-eating body language, and we call it again — FISH! Trust us — there’s a fish here; it’s waaaaay in the back. 😉
He grabs a couple more (big) bites from the Refisherator, and then waddles off cam.
About 30 minutes later, Otis appears on Brooks Falls cam and hops on the Conveyor a hot minute. Then he checks out his Office. The exterminator has been there and put in the Big Fuzzy Boar deterrents he requested. It’s just the way he likes it — empty!
He stays only a few minutes and, being the e-fish-ent bear that he is, realizes his time will be better spent elsewhere. He meanders to the Sandbar, says hello to Alice, and checks for a Salmon Buffet. Nothing tickles his taste buds, and so he continues toward the Near bank and heads Up the Fish Ladder (that’s 11 up; 6 down in 2023).
He turns the corner, and from Riffles cam, we can see he’s stopped to eat! Yikes, they moved the Salmon Buffet on our boy — but his sniffer is as good as the next bear’s, and he’s rewarded with tasty salmony treats. As he turns to walk across the Falls, we confirm two things: He’s still chewing and he’s fatter than the last time we saw him!
He looks like he’s going to do his usual meandering across the Falls, and then we see what looks like a family appear, and Otis being Otis, he begins to meander off cams to avoid company. Before doing so, he stopped to answer a couple questions.
About the timing of his departure from the limelight just ahead of Fat Bear Week: He responded “Fat Bear whaaa? Of course, I’m fat! You bipeds really should spend less time worrying and more time eating salmon!”
On whether he digs his own den and has a girlfriend who offers warmth and companionship, which abudoggie asks, he asserts that, “Yes, gosh darn it, why wouldn’t I dig my own den? Haven’t you seen me dig a snoozles hole?” On the girlfriend, we earned a very stern “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell!”
He said he’s looking forward to answering more questions… after snoozles… Currently, Otis is off doing whatever he does over the Ladder and through the woods this year.
And we’re totaling the October 4 fish midnight-to-now fish count at 2 Fish + 10 DOAs + 1 Scrap, and we’ll pick up where he left off tomorrow.
Sending Wishes for Fishes and Fat Bear Dreams! ♥
Bear cam images in this post are copyright National Park Service and/or Explore.org
