How's this for a day of fishing?

[coolchange]

5 AM the guides wife calls and says he needs to go to the emergency room with a tongue that no longer fits in his mouth...but she says while he is in the shower she could maybe find another guide...ok (great service..her husband is in big trouble and she is taking care of the customer)

Go out on the Columbia River: for a fine day of:
cold overcast
rain
sun
more rain
Hail
sun
Rain
More hail...etc.

I caught a beautiful, maybe 18 Lb, fish. But what added to the day was just as the net was going in the water a really large frikkin seal comes in at about 30 kts and makes off with my fish. Damn!
:shock:

( we did get one on the boat ...talk about good eating!)[/list]

[Go Aweigh2452]

well, I suppose you could say.... that bites! :argh

I'd have crapped myself when the seal got in my face! They can get in there fast. My neighbor fought a nice silver two years ago out of the mouth of a seal. It took almost 30 minutes but they finally scared the seal off. The whole belly of the fish was nothing but teeth marks. :(

[Seapuppy]

a buddy of mine is a cold water diver out here.....he got a photo underwater of his fin.....firmly attached is a seal....bit right into the fin and was pulling him backwards.....once the flash went off...it scared the seal but he stayed around to harrass the diver......they can be a handful..... :argh arr

[SPUD]

I heard the seals in the Columbia are real bad this year and more aggressive than usual.

I remember walking down the Everett dock last fall in the wee hours of the morning. I looked down and there sleeping on the dock in front of me was a monster seal. Carefully and as quietly as possible I tried to edge my way around it.

I woke it up and both of us almost had a heart attack. It acted like an attack dog ! I almost jumped in the water but instead just yelled at it to back off as loud as I could. Luckily it plopped in the water. My heart was running 50,000 beats per second !

Spud

[Randygh]

I bet some 12 gauge, 000 buckshot would take care of the seals. Only get 9 shot per shell, but each is about the diameter of a .38 slug. We shot those loads in the police academy, and believe me, I'd never want to be on the receiving end of a load. Cops say the sound of an 870 being racked is enough to make some bad guys stop in their tracks.

[coolchange]

So the score is now Sea Lions 1 Coolchange 1

Got my first springer onto the boat and into the fridge...guess I'm lucky I've been told that the average boat time to get one of these is 60 hours. Once again on he Columbia river, this time just below Sauvie Island, once again cold rain....but I sure do like being on boats in the water. :lol:

(FYI..everyone has upgraded their tackle to not spend too much time screwing around with these things and "horsing" them in ASAP to keep the seal lions frustrated and hungry)

[Lazy Flamingo]

Does this mean that when I get out your way that the
Key West "Skinny Pink Chicken" will have to stay out
of the water because of the pesky seals ?

Or, will I be having something that we don't have here
on the East Coast - "seal burgers" w/fries .... :lol:

Do they really taste like chicken ?

[coolchange]

You will probably want to stay out of the water out here cause it's cold. This ain't Key West.

Sea Lions probably ought to taste good being salmon fed and all, but I bet they don't....other wise we would be seing them at safeway in the meat case. 8)

[Lazy Flamingo]

I keep seeing the term seals and sea lions ....

Are they 2 different animals that you have there, or are they the
same, just called different names by people ? :?

Yeppers... seals are generally much smaller animals. The way I remember which is which is "Sea Lion" = "Has Ears" (7 letters)

Seals do not have ears (at least they do not visibly protrude).

Sea Lions take their share of salmon around here and can be quite a nuisance to fisherman... But, I figure we're not the only ones competing for the food source... what the heck. :D

[Salmon Troller]

This sounds way too familiar - we were fishing out of Cathlamet Friday the 8th. Just before quiting time another boat hits a nice king. The sea lion had been cruising a 100 yards away. Everybody starts hollering for the guy to horse it in & he damned near got it too. The fish is 5' off the stern & the sea lion strikes. Basically spooled the reel as they fired the engine & start chasing the animal around. I guess they wanted their gear back? Made for a fun show

Jim