[fishortho]

I was out Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River on Friday with my kids and after a few anchors, we ended up just above the Stave River where some large fish had been hooked in the last few days./....Well, we waited only a half hr. or so, and wham!.....fish on!!......This fish was not huge, but not a baby either so it was carefully played to the boat, and while we were setting up the cradle to scan/tag the fish a very fat seal came roaring out from under the boat and slammed the little sturgie right in the head and inflicted several puncture wounds.
We quickly lifted the bleeding fish into the boat where it received it's first tag and a some TLC for it's wounds...The bleeding stopped in a few minutes, and the baby dinasaur was carefully released..............Man, I thought this only happened in the ocean!.............Ortho

 

[WaterWalkin]

Thats crazy. On the puntledge here in courtenay the seals come suprisingly far up the river, probably over 2 km. Sometimes you can see them in the deep pool below condensory bridge in the fall. Easy pickin's for them in the river.

 

[professori]

Last fall my wife and I were coming back to Coquitlam from Hope via Hwy 7. Wendy was driving and I was gawking (I love travelling this way). As we crossed the bridge over the Harrison, I looked down on the water and about 50 yards upstream from the bridge there was a huge seal floating just subsurface (head above the water). I know that seals follow the salmon into fresh water, but I had no idea they came that far inland. It was a great sight though.

 

[abbyfireguy]

Watch this video clip and you will be surprised what seals and sea lions target..
Just ignore the short advertisement at the start..

http://easylink.playstream.com/katu...wvx?preclip=/katu/ads/ashley_furniture_15.wmv

 

[wagonmaster]

i have seen these seals as far up the river as hells gate (alexandria bridge) some years. i think after seeing and hearing the clip from abbyfireguy it is time for a culling of the herd!

 

[Rib]

Ahhh Steve? I don't see the link here....am I missing something? I haven't had my morning coffee yet.....

Nevermind, my ad blocking was keeping it off the page....weird?

Wow, never thought those buggers would get into sturgeon....these sea lions are protected down there, but not up here are they? You would think the population boom resulting from this protection is too hard on fish stocks.....Salmon need protection from us, do the seals? I'm not certain they were really in that much trouble, but I could be wrong. I have seen seals take salmon in the ocean, I have even had one in the very first pool on the seymour take a big spring right out of the water 3 feet in front of me...I even had a guy at one of the tackle shops in town telling me how one moved up into the canyon on the cap in high water one year-(don't know if I believe that, but he seemed earnest enough)....they are fish hunting machines!!!! Never thought they'd go after a sturgeon though, that really sucks....

 

[kotyk]

Interesting video. No different than having loons chase your trout when fishing in many interior lakes. Damn frustrating and not much of a sport when you are skipping your fish across the surface of the water with a seal or loon right on its heelsl. I have been in the boat when a loon swallowed the fish my buddy hooked. That was turned into a real fight. Heard similar stories from hunting buddies with the sound of a gunshot attracting grizzlies. Definitely not something I would want to tackle.

 

[WaterWalkin]

Gun shots are dinner bells for bears. I am amazed at the amount of guys who are carrying out a self imposed seal cull around here, not that I'm complaining. According to my fishing log, at this time last year I lost 4 fish to seals and I have caught twice as many this year and only one fell victim to a seal.

 

[la river]

I know Im jumping to a different region but I have seen seals up the skeena as far as the mouth of the kispiox!!! Thats along ways from salt!

 

[fishortho]

I have also seen HUGE seals in the upper Kitimat River dining on large Spring Salmon, but I've never had them rip one off the line..Ortho

 

[stinky]

In the Squamish I have seen them as far up as kilometer 54 in the Elaho section of the the river............... And regulary around the Brackendale area during the fall runs.

:shock:

 

[marko]

I like the paintball idea but who needs the added cost and aggravation? Thier numbers are only going to grow!

 

[Guest]

They are also in Harrison Lake. :evil:

 

[abbyfireguy]

There is a resident group at the north end of Harrison that never leaves..They are up near where the Lilloet River mouth is.....Guess there's lots of chow for them there.

 

[nosey]

About ten years back while fishing in Yale Cr. a seal came into the creekmouth, caught a small spring then took it upstream and proceded to tear ir to shreds and eat it sending bits of salmon floating downstream past us rod fishermen. There have always been seals in the Fraser but this is the first time I've ever heard of one hitting a sturgeon and I've never seen or heard of a sturgeon with a seal bite on it. I guess this seal just couldn't resist. seeing that sturgeon on your line must have been too easy a target to pass up.

 

[nosey]

Holy crap I just watched that video the paintballs looked like a good idea but wouldn't a crossbow offer a permanent solution?

 

[Richard Nixon]

those seals in the Harrison river and lake travel all the way up into Lilloet lake , I have seen lots of seals in the little and big lake

 

[Guest]

All I can say is " pass the ammo" !!!