Dad and I put the Smokercraft in at Camano St. Park at daylight. The fog was thin enough to see our destination, Greenbank and North bluff. We caught many shakers to 21 1/2" on spoon and flasher setups & hoochie/flasher setups. We marked a fair amount of bait but not alot of fish. A pair of seals and a MONSTER sea-lion (had him on for a second) started stalking us. At 2pm we moved to Elger to escape the predators ( I hate feeding them next years keepers). At Elger we put the downriggers out and started fishing in a similar situation....many seals. 10 mins later, my gear bounces bottom so I bring it up a few feet and got the first pop-off of the day. Hammered down on the drag and reeled as fast as i could. Poor fish. 8# hatchery fish that never had a chance to fight and i barely got it from the seals. It had bite marks, I'm not sure how I got it away from them. Bleeding the fish in the net, the seals were coming within a foot or so from the fish. Anyway, I got one. The only one. Fish checker checked 6 boats and one fish.........she didn't count the head that one guy brought to show what the seal did to him. I think that until the tides change I'm fishing elsewhere. Side note?? A WDFW creel survey boat told me that you can use paint ball guns as a non-lethal means to deter seals. Does anyone know if that is true? I'd rather know for sure than loose my boat.

cobrar543

1/24/2009 9:28:00 AM

Dont know about that but seeing lots more Seals on the beach now then normal. The Creel count for the 19th was Camano Is Public Rmp 40 Boats 81 Anglers 27 Fish

Dave

1/24/2009 11:31:00 AM

Good to hear you caught a nice keeper. I walk that park often and have noticed the parking lot is somewhat full on the weekends. Because the creel checkers are not enforcement which means they likely have not been to the police academy, I would guess the info they gave you is not accurate but I could be wrong. I think since seals are not a lawfully hunted species in WA it might be considered harassing wildlife which is either a RCW or WAC code. I wouldn't recommend taking any form of action on the seals. As frustrating as it is to have them around, they are just trying to get a meal to survive. Anyway, great job catching the 8 pounder. Thanks for the report.

Jake Dogfish

1/24/2009 5:08:00 PM

I just heard something like that recently about using paint ball guns. I have no idea if it is legal. Thanks for the report.

wintersteelhead

1/25/2009 4:03:00 AM

I contacted WDFW. The response the enforcement officer gave me was, " the use of paint ball guns is encouraged to ward off problem seals. WDFW has no authority over seals,as they are protected fedraly. NOAA has set the guidelines and slingshots, firecrackers/noisemakers, and paintball guns are allowed as long as you are in the act of fishing". lookin forward to seeing seals with pink and orange dots on their heads. Google/msn search "NOAA seal deterrents".

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