NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Eric Hanson, Vermont Loon Recovery Project (program of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department) P.O. Box 22, Craftsbury, VT 05826 802-586-8064 ehanson@vtlink.net

LOON TAKES THE BAIT: HOOK, LINE, AND POLE

Photo credit: Ray Richer
Loons often get tangled with fishing lines and lures.

WOODSTOCK, VT - On Tuesday, August 2, a Common Loon on Seymour Lake in Morgan, Vermont snagged the bait off a child's fishing pole, while he was fishing from a dock. The loon pulled the fishing pole right out of his hands. It is unknown at this time what was on the hook (minnow, worm, lure?). Some people reported the incident to Denis Fortin who runs the Morgan Store, and Denis went out in a boat in search of the troubled loon. Luckily another child followed the loon in his kayak all the way to Wolf's Point from the west end. Another person was able to grab the floating fishing rod, and the loon quickly broke the line. The loon was observed flinging its head back and forth in an attempt to rid itself of the line and hook. During subsequent surveys on the next two days, no loons were found with fishing line dangling from their beaks. It was thought that the ailing loon was one of the new breeding adults at the west end who hatched out 2 chicks in late July for the first time ever. It is hoped that the loon hook fell off or was ingested fully, thus it may dissolve in the stomach acids. (Please report any sightings of a loon with a fishing line and/or hook to the Morgan Store or Eric Hanson, biologist for the Vermont Loon Recovery Project (VLRP) at (802) 586-8064. The VLRP is a joint program of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.)

This is the fourth loon that has taken a hook and/or lure in the past three weeks in Vermont. A breeding adult on Maidstone Lake took a hook, a loon on Lake Rescue in Ludlow swallowed part of a lure, and a male loon on Wallace Pond in Canaan became entangled in fishing line with a three inch lure. Hanson and volunteer Pete Rodin of Island Pond were able to catch and release the loon on Wallace Pond on August 8. Volunteers and the VLRP are monitoring the other three lakes closely; several capture attempts have proven unsuccessful. Unfortunately on Maidstone Lake, because both parents could not tend to the loon chick fully, intruder loons were able to come in and kill the chick. Loons are extremely territorial, and the killing of a chick is one way for a non-breeding loon to obtain a spot in an existing territory. Hanson asks anglers to reel in if loons are diving and feeding near where people are fishing, since live bait is an easy catch for a loon. Another loon died from lead poisoning after ingesting lead sinkers on Island Pond in June. A law banning the sale and use of small lead sinkers (1/2 oz. or less) takes effect in Vermont in the next two years. The law does not include jigs.