I used to be just as paranoid as some of you guys about the seals. About two years ago though I noticed that alot of my hookups were coming where they were. I see seals now and head right for em'. They are there for one reason, LUNCH!!! I use them just the same as I do the birds as a indicator of where the fish are. Seems to work for me. My 02.
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

Hey Salmonhead! Do seals fight well? I used the birds to spot baitfish when I guided for specks and redfish in Louisiana. Had a pelican nail one of my clients live shrimp. 17 pound test barely kept him from getting spooled. Got in the marsh up to my as* in mud to cut out the hook. About 15 minutes later, I got the hook out of the corner of its gullet, and let it go. That bird beat the he*l out of me. To my knowledge, I came out of it worse than the pelican. I would imagine seals would be a whole different story. LOL

Hawk,
You kill me man!!!! Ya I did hook up with a seal one time, thought it was a mean a** king and it turned out to be a baby seal!!! The funny part was it went under the boat and was takin' line, I was hollerin' to my buddy man this fish is huge when he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the other side of the boat, I looked back and there was the seal bobbin in the water with the hooch and flasher hangin out if it's mouth. Could only get it to about 50 ft from the boat and had to cut the line. Been with a buddy when he hooked up with a diving bird, what amazed me about that is the riggers' were set at 100'!!! Now that was one mean fight!!! Had to just cut that one off to. Anybody else had a close encounter with a seal???
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

[This message has been edited by salmonhead (edited 07-17-2000).]

hawk, I do agree with the last part of your reply ( about growing up ).
I can definately sympathize about your friends dog ( I have four myself ) The point I was trying to make however, was how arrogant people get when they think a species is in their way or to put it into good ole country "a varmit." If the animal is no benifit to us as humans we want to "take it out."
We claim supreme intelligence over all species, then we pollute our water air and land ( all the things that keep us alive ). Humans dont have to great of a track record when it comes to making sound decisions. ( 200 years ago we thought it was Ok to enslave other humans, because they were "less intelligent" or "inferior") we think its ok to kill millions of people in war.
We think we are intelligent, but in my opinion we have alot to figure out.

As for everyone else on this post about "seals"
Harrasment, as well as killing a listed animal is in violation of federal law, so unless you want to do some serious time ( in a federal prison) I wouldn't be f****ng with the seals!

I was diving for Abalone in S.E. Alaska when three sealions came zooming out of nowhere and started swimming broadies around me in tighter and tighter cicles and one of them grabbed my abalone bag. I sure didn't holler at them or throw rocks, it was about all I could do to stay cool. They appeared to enjoy the lunch, and the only thing left was the nylon bag in shreds so I gathered it up and headed for the beach where we belong.

Howdy,
When I was younger spotting a sealion around Muk-Everett was a real treat. Now packs of them cruise by as regular as seagulls. My positive spin on this is like the Bald Eagle recovery, both species way up on the food chain, should give us realistic hope of a Salmonid come back as well.
Floating a herring off the R.R. tracks at Pidgeon Cr.#1 I caught sight of a monster King chasing, adreniline pumping my "King" transformed into a harbor seal. I lucked out getting my bait away from the whiskered Tyee.

I have to totally agree with hawk about our inability to manage predators.. Since we no longer live in a perfect world we must manage everything including ourselves. The problem comes when we allow a predator to go unchecked.. I say yes to wolves and grizzlies in Mt. Rainier only if I get to take'em out if given the chance!! Maybe some of you living on the outskirts of Tacoma would appreciate a whole bunch of wolves roaming the country side with no means of control! My point is if there is an inbalance of seals in a certain area than we should take what ever steps neccesary to correct the problem.

Reel Truth, you must have one of the older ones

too bad we cant manage the rich folks, I would be glad to open season on all BMW's and Mercedes

All you need is some horns and round red balls.. When you see the seals you throw that stuff up and the bank and they will go up there and spend the day honking the horns and balancing the balls on their noses leaving you alone to fish !!!

B-run, that is the best idea yet!!!

Managing predators can work , Example, around 4 years ago I noticed several birds in my flock of chickens disapear , some feathers , until I caught the culprit with a load of #4 buck from my 20 gauge, the animal , a coyote, a very smart and numerous predator. afew months later another and 2 more and one more last year. There are still coyotes out there to I have seen and saw them , even as close to spittin distance from my fence and birds , but I havn't had a single kill from a coyote for 3 years (the last one we called in) I belive they have smartend up to the point they think of my birds as the things that mean-joe-green- and his thunderstick own so stay the hell away!, I have seen them stand 300 yds away and when I open the screen door they scatter like hell to the nearest patch of brush. so I do belive this predator control can work, yes on land but in the sea with lions' could be a way diffrent story.

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To Hell with the Antis!

C.D

Snowchuck, Whats with the antis thing I'm fairly new to the board and a bit curious?

Steelhead Addict, it's obvious by your above post that you have no experience in Puget Sound . Would it be better to release an exhausted chinook into the waiting teeth of a seal or try to scare the seal off? How does a slingshot aimed at a seal equate to eraditcating wolves from Yosemite? I really don't see the similiarity. I suppose if a black bear was digging through your cooler looking for your hidden snicker bars you wouldn't want to interfere with the bear's "natural" behavior. A sportfish hooked or exhausted salmon isn't part of a seals natural diet either. I agree that pepper spray and pellet guns might be a little extreme, but equating a slingshot(btw, I can barely it the ocean from a rowboat with a slingshot) to eradication of wolves in Yosemite is absurd.



[This message has been edited by salmontackler (edited 07-19-2000).]

salmon tackler the wolves were an EXAMPLE of human arroagance dealing with unwanted aniamls. My point was that if some had it their way seals would be eradicated to the point they were at 100 years ago.
Secondly, If you care so much about a Tired out Chinook getting its chance to spawn, then dont catch and release fish, better yet stay at home. Don't use the seal as an excuse.
Third, the answer to your bear question, hoist your food up a tree. That way you won't tease the bear with a free lunch.

I would probably get ticked off too if a seal was eating a fish I caught. My point was to open peoples minds about harrasment. Also the federal law they are breaking by HARRASING a listed animal. I dont think some people realize the consequences.

Native son,

Anti refers to a person who hates people for Hunting and Fishing , mainly the new-age hippies and moss-eaters. You can also call them Bunnie-huggers and Bambi savers , whatever.I don't want to get to drawn out over this since this ins't the proper post to do so.

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To Hell with the Antis!

C.D

stereotypes anyone?

if you buy a big twenty ounce can of pepper spray or mace it will shoot about twenty-five ft. hey SNOWCHUCK I like your idea about shooting the seals with a crossbow, but you need heavier line and a barbed arrow

Let's not get the moss eater, bambi saving, save the gay whale foundation thing going too strong. Otherwise, Butterfly (the gal that spent 18 months in a northern California Redwood) will tie herself to bouy in the ocean to protect the seals. If I find out that you guys are harpooning seals, I will round up a bunch of drones, and have a candle light seal vigil at bouy 432. I still say the horns and red ball option is your best bet. Kuumbaya

Why can't I just use last season's Elk tag to bag my seal ...just kidding,I don't think I could bugle in a Seal.
The last few seasons I've noticed a few seals in the Nisqually,but for some reason they dissaper after a few days ,heck I beleve it was last year 2 seals made it all the way up to Alder ,as soon as word got out the Natives tagged and bagged um.....wonder how they taste? .I personally don't have a problem with shooting these bad boys...in the right situation i.e. in the river not on the salt ,saftey first don't want that bullet ending up somewhere it's not supposed to They no longer need to be protected they need to be managed!!
UMMM wonder if they taste anything like Whale just my .02