The Springers Are Here!!!

[River Kid]

Nearly a live report. My wife just called me at work from home. She is home recovering after shoulder surgery. In the last 1 hour and 10 minutes, she has called me three times to give me a live report, about the Sea Lion that is 20-40 feet off our house, (we live in a floating home). Her first statement is "Oh my god, he is eating his 6th fish. The fish are dark green back, big and shinny, with bright orange meat. I am only counting the whole ones that he comes up with, not part ones". Then I tell here they must be salmon. Her next statement is "I can't believe it, he just came up with the 7th. Now that she has called back a couple more time, she says he is up to 11 fish. There are three eagles and a ton of seagulls all around as he is eating. All this action is taking place less than 50 feet off of our decks. I was talking with her when he came up with the 11th fish, and an eagle was hovering 5ft above where the sea lion was, and when it came up with the fish the eagle actually grabbed part of the fish while the sea lion still had it. The eagle tried to fly away but couldn,t. It only could stretch it legs out and pull on the fish, so the eagle while still flapping its wings just put his head between its legs and with its beak started eating salmon, all while the sea lion still had a hold of it. You can only imagine how pumped she is, and how bad I want to go home. I told her to get the digital camera and try and get pics of some of the action. Hopefully she will be successful, she has never operated the camera. Stay tuned, I'll update with any additional info.

[jet]

We are all waiting for the update...

Jet~~~

[Siwash]

Wow, sounds like a pretty dramatic spectacle

[jet]

What river to you live on?

Jet~~~

[Boat Monkey]

Hey RK,

Nice report! What river...

[CATCH AND EAT]

East County sounds to me like the Willy somewhere from Sellwood down.

[FishinMission]

Could be up near Chinook Landing, too Bernie.

Man....I'd tell her to drop the camera...and get a set-up out there!!

Mark

[River Kid]

Just got back from lunch, can I say that while at work. Sorry about not naming the river, just got caught up in the fury and forgot that part. Anyway, this all happened on the Columbia River out by Fairview. I got one more report from my wife and he stopped at his 12th fish. The sea lion, seagulls, and eagles are all gone. Mary Ann thinks she got one photo of him eating a salmon about 60 ft from where she was standing. I'll post a picture if she was able to get pic with the camerea. Just wish we had a video camera, any volunteers.

[RvW]

Can you PM me the sea lions GPS coordinates please.

[River Kid]

Well when I got home tonight, my wife was still very excited about the visual display. I did find out that atleast half of the fish the sea lion ate were orange meat and quite girthy. So not all of them were salmon. The others were quite large, maybe 5+ lbs, kind of greenish yellow. Maybe walleye? She was able to get one picture, but it looks like a white blob. Tommorrow I will try to post it up. I know this type of thing impacts the fishery, far more than the scientist and experts beleive. But it is sure cool to be so close to something like this for 1 1/2 hours. It does make me wonder why the sea lion stayed in the same area, successfully fishing, for so long. Were the fish trying to take cover under the houses and docks?

[judyfish99]

Train your wife how to use the camera..she probably moved when she took the picture (excited). I woulda done the same thing!! Need all the proof of sea lion carnage Ifishers can get!! You tell your wife, "you go, girl" from me...stinkin' sea lions!!

[Lipripper]

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Nicon .243 Winchester with a telephoto lens

[Snapshot]

Great photo Lipripper. I think everyone should be allowed to make photo's like this. Perhaps we could request a season on Seals and Sea Lions

*Fish only bite wet hooks*