You're out fishing and catch a nice salmon. But it's a native. You know you have to throw it back. But right down there is slobbering seal/sea lion just waiting for the fish to hit the water. You would...

I know all the issues for releasing Native Steelhead but have not heard of the same scenarios for Salmon?

I would bonk it if legal to do so.

Either one, take your pick

I was thinking more of my experience fishing off the Des Moines pier in September, but realized afterwards that those giant finned vermin head up the rivers too.

You need a 3rd button labeled "other".
I'm not going to feed the seals/sea lions. However I would put the fish back. I won't admit to haressing those fish stealing SOB's by throwing rocks, etc.

I'm not real fond of them either. There were several people on the pier who carried wrist rockets and a bag of cheap marbles to pop those suckers, but I never saw anyone actually use one.

Arklier:

"You're out fishing and catch a nice salmon. But it's a native. You know you have to throw it back. But right down there is slobbering seal/sea lion just waiting for the fish to hit the water. You would... "

Follow the law. Let the GW arrest/fine the seal.
If the seal can't pay, then incarcerate for X period of time.

Released my first decent fish this year. being unfamiliar with river run Coho colors, I asked the locals on the beach if they thought it was a Coho or a Chinook....in unison, they replied "King"... so back it went.

Later I found out they didn't know diddly either, and what I had released was a perfectly legal 12-14# Coho buck...I walked around carping about it for days...it won't happen again!

MB

I am told, by someone who experimented well outside the 12 mile territorial limit of the US, that a large firecracker (m-80) with a waterproof fuse, that has had the fuse hole sealed with a bit of glue, with about an inch of pencil lead wrappped around it, that is dropped over the side of the boat, will make Fluffy the seal depart the surroundings very quickly.

Anyone contemplating trying this should know that this could be interpreted as harrassing the seal, and that would be subject to heavy fines if caught. One guy got a $7000 fine just for throwing rocks at a Sealion in the Columbia some time back.

But people conducting other experiments have told me that a firecracker that sinks below the surface (hence the pencil lead) before it explodes is nearly inaudible above the surface.


Or so I am told...

Thanks SH, Now I can say it was told to me.

I have been told that M=80's and the like going off underwater leave a rather visible plume of smoke ...

Just fire up your outbaord or something else when it goes off!

The hypothetical M-80 might scare away the seal, but I can't imagine the fish would like it much, either.

I hope the person who hypothetically bought the hypothetical M-80 didn't hypothetically buy it at the hypothetical Boom City. It would hypothetically have been hypocritical if they hypothetically wouldn't have spent hypothetical money at a hypothetical casino.

Not hypothetically speaking, that fish goes back. Unlike me, Mr. Sea Lion can harvest wild fish legally. I may not like it, but I'm not going to take the heat for it if I get busted.

Fish on...

Todd.

Todd, could you repeat that? You lost me!

I voted , then I check the results, and it did my heart good to see that 100 % (19) of the true sportsmen/women on this sight . Voted to return the fish to it environment.

Just so you all know, I voted first (or maybe second) so you know my opinion on the matter.

one could share with the hairy *******. let him have the back half say fin included

This is a no-brainer. Both critters are part of the natural way.

Yes, both are part of the natural order, but you compromised the fish by dragging it to the boat/pier. The seal will have an easy time chasing this one down because it is probably already worn out.

Regards.

Finegrain
Woodinville

Those M-80's are actually seal bombs, I have used them numerous times and they usually, but not always scare them off, I have caught fish within 5 minutes of throwing 1. I have never seen any smoke from 1 that went off underwater but I do occasionally hear a kind of muffled "whumpf" (thats the best way I can describe it) but you have to be within probably 100 yards to hear it. 1 piece of advice for anyone thinking of using them throw them away from the boat, a friend of mine dropped 1 over the side of his fiberglass boat, put about an 18" crack in the hull.

As for the original question, I'm releasing the fish because I think there is a good chance the fish can escape a seal as long as he's healthy when released. Seals/sealions are looking for an easy meal, fish are alot easier for them to catch when there attached to your line.

I would gently and caringly place the fish in my live well, revive it, drive about a half mile away from the sea lion and then release the fish.

A revived fish should be able to escape. I released a decent king to the crabs at Sekiu this year though. Illegal to keep him so I watched the bleeding carcass sink to the bottom.

Saddest moment of my 2003 season was a king I caught in Grays Harbor on a #5 Mepps spinner (yeah, we ran out of bait) that came in just pumping clouds of blood. Upon landing the 28-30# buck, I could clearly see where the siwash hook had raked across the base of two gill-rakers (just where they insert behind the tongue) before finally burying inside the corner of the jaw. Tried to revive it for about 10 minutes, but with each passing minute, the fish just got progressively more lifeless. We just left him there and motored away... didn't want to witness the thrashing it would get from the next seal to pass by.

So much for the argument that fish only swallow bait and not arificials!

Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt the US water boundary out to 200 miles?
Since the making of "Seal-bombs" illegal, I have had several over-confident seals/sealions come up to my boat waiting for me to hook, and or release fish. I found that taking a stiff plugging rod and 20# line, a 2oz sand sinker (like a .50 cent piece) and swung like a mother on top of the water works pretty well..... It makes a very LOUD *whack* sound that must be a bit painful on their sensitive ears... They leave and when I see them next they are a couple hundred yards away looking at me like they cannot understand what I just did..... Varmints......

MC

Arklier - Was that a trick question? It sure is misleading.

Read the rules folks. You gotta look before you leap or
you are likely to land in a... well, use your imagination here.

Area 11 - (June 1 - Oct. 31) Open for retention of:
Chinook - min size 22".
Other SALMON species - no min. size.
Daily limit 2 (combined).
(no mention of wild fish release here)

I'm in the 17% who had the sense to invite that nate home for dinner.
I guess the rest of you just felt that the sea lion needed a free meal.

Okay, at the risk of opening up old wounds, can someone please tell me the difference between a wild steelhead and a wild salmon when it comes to the reasons for release? I recognize that the salmon can not come back to spawn again, however, isn't the genetic cargo that the wild salmon carries just as valuable as the steelheads? In this state, up until the Dept. of Fishing and the Dept. of Game were unified, the salmon was considered a food fish, steelhead were a game fish. In my mind, we still operate under that split and I believe the next phase in our (sports fishermen) development as stewards of the resource is to apply all of the good reasons for Wild Steelhead Release to Wild Salmon. I'm off to Cabo for a few days, may not be able to see or respond, but this is an important issue in my book. What are your thoughts?

Id actually bonk the fricken seal then release the fish