Say, if Bonneville (BPA) can put up millions of dollars worth of bounty on Pikeminnows to help reduce the impact on Salmon/Steelhead eggs and smolts, why can't the WDFW start addressing the impact the Sea Lions are having on the adult populations? I personally lost approximately a dozen Springers this year to Sea Lions and seen a whole lot more. Getting a little tired of it and would gladly buy a one or two day permit to whack a few of these critters.

Just curious how many others are getting as fed up with this as I am.

If I had to choose between getting rid of the sea lions or the nets I'd take nets every day of the week and twice on Sundays. It is frustrating to lose fish to those bastages but I don't think the solution is getting rid of them, we just need more fish in our rivers and everybody will be happy.

Kinda along the same topic...I was at Thomas' Eddy on the Sno. yesterday and saw the head of a sea lion poke up just above the tail out. Anyone else see them up the Sno that far before???

Northern Pikeminnows a/k/a Squawfish aren't protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Unfortunately, sea lions are.

I've seen sea lions as far up as the sultan hole on the sky. I heard they were up there on the summer king opener this year.

A guide buddy of mine in Ak. (who shall remain anonamous for obvious reasons) took out a big bull sealion with a seal bomb and a gaff this summer.
He was fishing a real popular "big king" spot that has had 1 particular big bull in there for a few years that has taken alot of kings, he is (was)very stealthy, you usually didn't know he was there till he had your fish. Anyways, this 1 afternoon in late July this guide had hooked a couple fish and lost 1 to mr. sealion, his 3rd fish was close to 40 lbs. and about 10 ft. from the net when the sealions grabs the fish and swims about 30 ft. away and starts thrashing (shredding) the fish, the guide grabs a seal bomb, lights it and lets the fuse burn down so that it will explode shortly after hitting the water, he tossed it to within a couple feet of the sealion and the sealion put his face under the water to check it out just as it goes off, mr. sealion totally stunned is now on the surface doing a big circle on his back when the guide gets the idea to cast a 16 oz. leadhead jig out thats on a bottom rod with 80lbs. tuffline on the reel, he casts over the sealion then reels the jig to within a couple feet then sets the hook, the sealion doesn't react and the guide is actually able to drag this sealion (still doing the backstroke in a big circle) close to his boat, he now grabs his gaff hook and clubs the sealion on the first 2 passes by the boat, seeing little effect he decides on the 3rd pass to stick the gaff right behind the flipper, mr. sealion suddenly comes out of his concussion and spins around and bites the gaff and dives under the boat, the guide lost site of the sealion for about 15 minutes till he see's it floating about a 100 ft. behing the boat, gaff hook in the lung finished him off. Another guide from another resort watched the whole thing, said it was a pretty impressive show, wish I could have seen it!

I'd like to see them thinned a bit also. I've never seen a Sea lion as high as Dagmars. There are many Harbor seals in the Snoh river, much smaller and much better hunters than Sea lions. I seen several today, one above Crabb bar and one below T. Eddy.

I would pay to see that ! can you imagine how many salmon and steelhead they eat Every Day ?

They are part of the ecosystem too. The wild fish are as much their's as ours.

I'm not saying they all need to be culled, I'm saying they obviously need to be thinned out. The resident population has increased dramatically and they have no predator in the Columbia, or near it's mouth for that matter. I understand well that squawfish aren't protected and sealions are, but their numbers are at record highs and even the gamey's I know would like to see them thinned out. I personally believe they must be managed like many other species and I for one would enjoy immensely the opportunity to legally pop a few for a pittance. Then I'd like to move on to the Terns that are becoming resident on the islands in the Columbia and pushing out the nesting Geese and gorging themselves on smolts.

Now that's funny, the joke that is.

I've never heard of the theory in regards to only a small percentage of Sea Lions chase Salmon up the rivers, but I wouldn't doubt it. The rest of them I'm sure catch theirs in the ocean. We do have a hecka of alot of resident Sea Lions that make the lower columbia home though. They're so thick now during Springer season you almost beg not to hook up when ya see them cruising the flats. They know an easy meal when they see it.

Sea lions do have a natural predator that once kept their population in check--- man. That’s right the tribes once hunted sea lions on a regular basis. The problem now is that the tree huggers have a cow if you hunt them and the tribes would rather eat at MacDonald’s. Since we have removed hunting on these animals their numbers have gone thru the roof and are having a unnatural effect on the population of salmon that are trying to live in a unnatural world. This is why we as the dominate species’ on the planet must “manage it”. Managing does not include “letting nature take its course” that’s why we have forest fires, deer populations that eat them selves out of house and home (happened in co. in the late seventies) and too many sea lions. I think that the tree huggers and some of us forget that man is part of the ecosystem too.

Yes they are, but they don't just eat "wild fish " and they are not endangered as are a lot of wild fish stocks . lost a monster silver at Sekiu last year biggest Coho I have ever seen in 25 yrs. of fishing to a sea lion , he didn't even eat it just killed it broke my line and started swimming along side of our boat, had to pick up and run about 3 miles to lose the dam thing . fish of a lifetime gone in a matter of minutes . Oh yeah I just love those cute little Ba%$&ds

Fishing Springers last May in St. Helens, the best spot in the area is at the bottom of Sand Island, just out from the line of pilings. A big hogline forms there on each outgoing because everyone knows that is one of the best spots in the area.

After fishing there for about 5 hours one day, I refused to fish there evr again becasue 10 out of 12 fish we saw hooked went to the Sea Lion. 10 of 12!!
He would cruise along behind the line of Qwikies and wait for a fish to hook up. On each occasion, he had the fish after about 10 seconds. He was conditioned. He knew exactly how to catch these prize fish at our expense, and did so very effectively. I didnt drive 4 hours and spend all that money to go down there to fish, only to finally hook up and lose the fish to a one of these *******s! Sea Lions didnt hunt this way 20 years ago!. Animals that fit this description who are a nuisance should be shot IMO. They aren't hunting fish anymore, they are preying on the catch of human fisherman.

"Every once in a while you have to pull the weeds."

Oh, boo hoo, man against beast and beast won! I've seen it, my boyfriend lost the trophy King to the sea lion. We all actually laughed at the luck as he knew we were catching. It's their game, can't play, don't fish. We aren't the only ones out there-there are others that want fish too. We are just visitors in the sea world, want to shoot sea lions - go to someone other than a forum. I have seen the animals mauled by humans-not decent in any kind of way. YAH, yee haw the guy that shoots them, have some balls, and change the law!

the sea loin problem at the seattle locks seems to have disappeared after the state and the feds looked the other way and let the indians remove them

first off it's not funny to watch 400lb animal kill anything like that JUST FOR FUN ! Maybe if you watched sealions kill penqins and tear them to pieces Just For Fun ( they don't eat them) you could have a good laugh watching that . You obviously have no feelings for the salmon and steelhead that live all thier live just to be ripped to shreds Just for Fun ! Maybe if the pit bull that lives up the street from you catches your cat and rips it to pieces I might think thats funny ! how would you feel then? I didn't lose anything that day the sealion killed that fish , BUT the fish sure did , they are no rules for sealions only for people, believe me if the laws against killing sealions was dropped they would cease to exist! " Quote "have some balls change the law, don't you think we would if it was possible? OH thats right I sorry I forgot you don't have any !

first off it's not funny to watch 400lb animal kill anything like that JUST FOR FUN ! Maybe if you watched sealions kill penqins and tear them to pieces Just For Fun ( they don't eat them) you could have a good laugh watching that . You obviously have no feelings for the salmon and steelhead that live all thier live just to be ripped to shreds Just for Fun ! Maybe if the pit bull that lives up the street from you catches your cat and rips it to pieces I might think thats funny ! how would you feel then? I didn't lose anything that day the sealion killed that fish , BUT the fish sure did , they are no rules for sealions only for people, believe me if the laws against killing sealions was dropped they would cease to exist! " Quote "have some balls change the law, don't you think we would if it was


First off, I own the Pit bull, and I'm allergic to cats so your comparison didn't work. Also, a 400lb animal shredding a fish and a 200lb human bleeding-bonking a fish gets the same result. I am not trying to hug every sea lion, I just don't see every one as an enemy because it wants to eat too. Comparing feelings to a cat compared to a fish you eat is just wrong!

I simply wanted to point out that there are other sides to view than just the fishermans. And don't think I wouldn't kill that being or any other if threatened. I just don't fill my head with hate for an animal that doesn't have the brain capacity to know that it pisses people off.

There are many predators out there killingthe salmon and steelhead. Not the least of which are chemical pollution, poor logging practices, over grazing, pesticides, gill nets, dams, poachers, etc, etc.
I just learned of a study on the Columbia that found that mergansers are one of the very worst salmon and steelhead smolt killers.

Yeah, I would like to see some control on seals and sea lions. But I bet it would be much easier to do something about the mergansers, and it appears they are at least as big a problem. Sometimes that ugly thing we see, like a sea lion shredding a salmon have a huge impact when some of the things we don’t see are as bad or worse.

Dave,

I agree with the megansor thing I remember doing some trout fishing this spring on flowing lake and just watching dive down get fish. Then they go to fly away and they cant. Tried some sturgeon fishing on the ebey slough this year and they where killing the smolt and cutties. I talked to someone and I was told they are endangered birds. I would really like to make them endangered.

Fish On
Kevin