Few things embody the quintessential American spirit like a Bald Eagle. Most folks haven't had the rare opportunity to be up close and personal with the iconic bird in the wild. In fact, I've had very few. It's a moment worth one-thousand words and, in my case, 350 photos. With full realization the Bald Eagle needs little introduction, I'll skip the descriptive portion where I deem them resilient, powerful and beautiful creatures.

We counted our catch as we tossed around the idea of heading home. Cumulatively, we had 11 perch in the bucket. The hour was 10AM. We'd woken and arrived way too early. The coffee dried up hours ago, along with my energy. Luckily, we had found a few schools of white perch and chased flags all morning. One thing was different about this morning; we had a unique visitor. For 90 minutes we held the attention of a Bald Eagle as he sat comfortably and eyed our future fillets from 20 yards.  Taking to the air occasionally, he'd choose a new landing spot as if it would convince us to offer a free meal. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it was legal - so we withheld. We all left lucky to have sat in such good company.