“It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em.” Pepper Brooks⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Ooooh…that splash could be a factor. Good try. Diving is a fishing technique that most bears do not use. However, at the mouth of the Brooks River or even in the jacuzzi (think highly coveted 'plunge pool’), you might see a bear completely submerge seeking fish. On days when many salmon are migrating in the river (some journeys of a thousand miles end badly), a large and dominant male bear will sometimes catch and eat more than 30 fish per day. Salmon are a high calorie meal for a bear. A sockeye salmon contains about 4500 calories, but the fattiest parts of the fish contain the most calories proportionally. Bears know this and prefer to eat the skin, brain, and eggs—the fattiest parts of a salmon—when fish are in abundance. This is an ephemeral behavior, however. When salmon are not abundant or hard to catch then bears will not be as selective and will most often eat the whole fish.⁣⁣ ⁣ Have you been ...