Lots of Bears

Robert, Tuesday, July 8

This morning the weather was a little better than yesterday with an overcast but no rain. We set off for the falls after breakfast. There weren’t many salmon trying to jump the falls when we got there but soon that picked up. Yesterday we saw thousands of fish at the bridge which is downstream from the falls, Apparently that wave of fish was now arriving at the falls. There were multiple bears waiting for the fish. At times I could count ten bears in the river fishing. There are several fishing styles practiced by the bears. Some stand at the top of the falls and try to catch fish in midair as they jump. Some sit in the churning water below the falls and grab fish as the water pushes them to the surface. Some sit in the churning water and when a fish bumps against their front legs they pin it to the bottom and then stick their head under to grab it. Some stand in the river, either on a rock or in the water, and catch fish by chasing and jumping. While we didn’t see it, there are some that go completely under the water and grab fish as they swim past. It appears that most bears don’t like to get their ears under the water so this last method is unusual. When the fish arrived, most bears could catch a fish in several minutes and eat it in 30 seconds. After watching for several hours, we returned to the campground for lunch. We spent a little time in the campground and then headed back to the falls. When we got there the salmon were still there in force but there were few bears. In a day, a bear can eat 90 pounds of fish so in quick order, the bears were filled with fish. The fish weigh close to five pounds each. This time there were fish that the bears had killed all over the bank. The fish were missing skin and head and looked almost like filets you see in the market. When the fish are plentiful, the bears eat the skin and brains and leave the rest for the birds to scavenge. The only bears we saw now were the few that would come out of the woods to get a fish and then they would leave. For us, it was back to the campground for dinner and bed.