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A few years ago, I spent my spring months guiding on the Skykomish River in the once popular, Wild Steelhead Release fishery from Sultan to Monroe.

First light would find me and mine, flyfishing a flybar across from the Two Bit Hole. It was called the “Two Bit”, because the farmer would allow access through his property for a quarter. Pretty neat deal that I wish would have caught on with more landowners.

It is actually an island pool, so walk-ins couldn’t get to it, and most boat didn’t put in there because they didn’t want to give up the upper river pools below the Sultan River. Anyway, it a good fish holder, flyfishes well, and a great place to start the day.

Hal likes to start at O’Dark hundred, so we can fish first light. No big deal to me, but he likes it, and as he is booking for the week,......it's his party.

The river had been dropping after a recent rain, and the Skykomish was high but very fishable. Hal had swam some nice fish the day before, all taking the fly in the softest current seams, right in the “Hang Down”.

The Skykomish meanders its way through the Snohomish River Valley in this area. It's not what you might call, teaming with wildlife, but it has its share. There was even a family of albino deer, across from Buck Island. Pretty cool if you have never seen one.

A few years ago, we actually started protecting our wildlife, and some of the populations have really taken off. I was fishing a Seattle boy the other day and I pointed out a flock of geese as they flew by in ragged formation. Something you never saw when I was boy.

He looks at the geese and says with disdain “Flying garbage cans, Dennis”. I didn’t point out any more goose flocks. I figured he must have been from Lake Washington.

Eagles have made a huge comeback. Used to be, you could spend a whole year in the wilds and maybe see a handful. Now the rafters are out on the winter Skagit, in numbers we fondly to refer to as “The Rubber Ducky” hatch, looking at all the birds.

“Now if you have trouble seeing the birds, just look for the Dixie cups in the trees”, the biologist says, as they float by. The people are bundled up in the raft. We are standing up to our wazoo in ice water. So who is the dummy here? Suddenly I don’t feel so smug.

Anyway, so not only have the eagles returned, a pair have built a gigantic nest in a large Cottonwood across from the flybar on the Skykomish. We have called this pool the Two Bit Flybar for years. Eagles show up a few years ago and suddenly, now its the Eagles Nest pool.

Oh well, have to admit, the name is a lot more romantic than the Two Bit hole. Sounds like a kick back from a Clint Eastwood movie.

So we are out on the water. The river is dropping, and the fishing is good. Hal is carefully fishing his way down the pool. The dawn is breaking over the hills. Pretty morning. Hal lets his fly hesitate as the flyline swims downstream below him. He lifts up and the rod goes down. At first he thinks he’s into a steelhead, but you can tell by the shake of the rod, its a foul hooked sucker.

“Let it hang down too long”, I muse. Suckers lie in the slack water edge off the steelhead currents. Sure enough, A moment later, a brown sucker thrashes in the surface. I hate unhooking suckers. Equivalent to handling a water slug......and they are so ugly.

So this sucker is slashing around in the surface and, just like that, this eagle swoops down, snatches up the fish and heads back to the nest. Hals reel cranks off.

Now picture this. Hal is standing in the Skykomish river silhouetted by the morning light peaking over the hill tops. His rod is bowed but his line is skyward because his fly is impaled in the back of this poor sucker fish. Mr. Eagle has no idea there are any strings attached (small pun) and is flying off with the kids breakfast. Hal's reel is really whining now. The bird is into the backing, and poor Hal doesn’t dare jerk for fear of hooking the Eagle.

I am so amazed by the caption of Hal and the Eagle outlined in the morning light, I swear if I had the where with all to pull out my Olympus, it was shot for National Geographic. Besides, the look on Hal's face was hilarious!

The eagle finally decided something was wrong and dropped the fish on the water. Hal's line fell like confetti. He stripped in the hapless (and dead) sucker, and unhooked it. Hal was about to throw it out in the water.

I said, “Hey, Hal, how about tossing the sucker on the shore and lets see what happens”.

Not a minute went by and in comes the eagle snatches up the now unbridled sucker and flies back to the nest. Life is good again......unless you are the sucker fish.

Best of fishing Dennis