Here are a few recent wildlife observations that occurred as I was fly fishing during August and September 2019.

I was on Shades Creek in Bibb County, walking slowly upstream as I fished. Sudden movement 15 yards upstream at the water’s edge and a splash too large to be a fish caught my attention. An otter had slid out of its den. It swam away from me for several yards before getting to a deeper area and disappearing.

One afternoon I was in the Cahaba between Old Lorna Rd and Hiway 31. I was in 1-2 feet of water near a bend in the river’s course. I saw some river redhorse (sucker fish) swimming by my feet as they moved upstream. This was not an unusual experience until as I watched, the fish continued to come. There were 40-50 good-sized fish (most 1-2 feet in size) in the school. Around the river’s turn, I came to a deep trough that ran for at least 20 yards. In this area I saw redhorse, bass, bream, gar, and though not seen, there were probably catfish at its bottom. On another section of this stretch, I saw a large bird flying down river toward me. Having seen blue herons often here, I assumed that was what this was. However, as it flew directly over me, I was pleased to see it was a large osprey.

Another day a friend and I were in the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge. After fishing in the river, we went to check out Caffee Creek. A local “old-timer” was at the spot where the hiking trail crossed the creek. As we shared fishing stories, he said “Look at that!” I quickly scanned the bank on the other side for a deer or other animal. “I don’t see it”, I said. “Snake in the water” was the reply. I then saw the 3 to 4 foot water moccasin floating in the creek. Fortunately, it deliberately continued toward the creek’s entrance to the Cahaba. Johnny stated there was a rattlesnake further up the creek that he and his friend had been unable to find and catch. “We know it is there, you can smell it.” Not aware of this olfactory tip-off, we asked for more details. “The area where a rattlesnake is smells like a goat.” We walked upstream for a while, but did not see or smell any goats or rattlesnakes. I was surprised by the strength of a spider web I encountered there. I saw the web and its large creator in the limbs of a small tree beside a deeper spot in the creek. I cast my popper toward the water, only to see the line get caught on one of the web’s anchor lines. I paused momentarily to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. After confirming I had not gotten caught in a limb, I pulled the line back harder to break the web line. I then retried my cast. The popper defied the laws of physics by veering hard to the right- still attached to a web line from the intact anchor point. As we headed back to the the river we walked through an area in which many leaves had fallen over the trail. My vision did not let me down this time, as I saw a copperhead on the path a stride ahead of me. After watching him nosing in the leaves for a few minutes, I coaxed him to the side with the tip of my fly rod. When I walked back by on the way to retrieve my hat from the truck, it had worked back to the center of the trail. Fortunately, I had laid a thick branch across the trail to let me know when I was getting in the snake’s area.