I well remember the days of seal bounties. I even remember the big events that were made of seal control on haulouts, especially in Waldport, Oregon, where ODFW would lay dynamite on a sand bar that seals were using, publicise when they were going to torch it off, close the highway on the bridge so spectators could watch, and you should have heard the cheering when the resulting explosion vaporized 100 at a time Can't say that I'd recommend going back to the seal control days, however, overfishing and habitat loss are much bigger problems for salmon than seals ever were.

Seals are indeed a problem for taking fish away from you - several places have educated seals that pretty much make their living off of stealing hooked fish. I have had trouble from both but more from seals than sea lions. Last year I had to take 3 fish away from seals - basically what you do is run them with the boat and stay on top of them, when they have to come up for air you poke your net at them, which startles them enough that they drop your fish, then scoop it quick because as soon as they get a breath they will come right back. I've had a few persistant seals that I even had to hit with the net - one I almost even netted to get him to let go of my fish

Sea lions on the other hand are not so likely to grab your fish on the line, but they will do other endearing things, like grab the fish out of your hand as you are rinsing it off after cleaning it (a bud of mine just about lost his fingers this way - he could feel the teeth slide by ) or grab them off your stringer - I know that's happened to a few of you guys that fish the CR - which is why I carry a cooler and bleed them in a bucket on board the boat. The few sea lions I've had grab a hooked fish let go as soon as I ran them down - they seem a bit more skittish about being chased.

The seal population in Hood Canal seems to have declined by about 2/3 after the transient Orcas got through with them. This past year was on of the first in which I didn't have a Hood Canal seal grab one of my fish in recent memory. Now something I've always thought would be cool is to paint your boat black and white in an Orca pattern.....

Oh yeah, for the record it is illegal to harrass marine mammals. I'm sure my going after the seal that has my fish on my line in it's mouth and touching it will a dip net is illegal. So arrest me already and I'll see you in court :p