I fished the harbor area last night. Started off halibut fishing and got several shorts. I had decided before I left that I wasn't going to keep anything - legal or not. Got to the receiver around 7:30 and started throwing the fastrac and big plastic. At 8:30 I got slammed right next to the receiver on the fastrac on 10 lb. After a nice long fight I finally get the fish near my tube and it's intercepted by a sea lion. Scared the crap out of me. I held on as the sea lion quickly peeled line off my reel then let go. I reeled as fast as I could and literally watched the sea lions wake behind my now dead seabass skimming along the surface. Just as I got it to the boat again another sea lion from under me grabbed it and took off. Same thing - let go after a few seconds. I reeled it in, grabbed it, and yanked the dead thing into my tube. I was afraid I might have to clock a sea lion between the eyes as I brought the thing in. The sea lions knew I had the fish as they wouldn't leave me alone the rest of the evening. I fished for another 20 minutes or so for one light bite on the plastic (probably a sand bass). My seabass ended up being 30 inches long, had two big holes in it's head (I imagine from the first sea lion) and then huge scrapes near the tail (from the second), I'll be turning in the damaged head to the DFG to check for a tag unless the sea lion ate it.

So, I tried to practice catch and release and mother nature wouldn't let me - go figure! :)

Brian - did you ever make those sea lion mackerel surprises?

***********************

You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

Brian, where were you fishing? What's it like fishing a tube at night? How do you make sure no one hits you?

LAST EDITED ON Jul-14-01 AT 06:06 AM (PST)

I'm not Brian :) but... 1) I stated in my post where I was fishing - Harbor, 2) It can be a little freaky when you're by yourself and sea lions are boiling all around you, 3) By law you must have a flashlight easily accessible to signal other boats.

All in all it was a very slow night and I really don't like dealing with those sea lions - they seem to be learning that float tubes = fish = food.

My name is Pete :)

***********************

You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.