Russian River Salmon

Yesterday a boater reported a 40 lb plus salmon off of the Russian River. They are having pretty good luck there lately.

Yeah, but so are the Great Whites!

If the Russian River salmon are ESA protected, why do they allow fishing at the mouth of the river?  Seems like the salmon that would come into that area, especially this time of year, would be on their way to head up the River.  Scwafish, what's your take on this?

-Allen

See the political forum.  This has been dominating my life as of late...yikes! That is a sharky spot.  Yaks HAVE been attacked off of the mouth.

Never heard of a shark attack in the area, but I know they are around. Last year my buddy believes a shark bumped his fishing line. Just the same, shark attacks on kayaks are extremely rare.

I've checked out a web site that tracks attacks and if I remember right, there have only been three shark attacks on kayaks off of California in 20 years. None of them resulted in injuries and usually the kayak is still good too.

I kayak out of Bolinas, Tomales, Bodega and Goat Rock. All of these places have numerous shark sightings, I don't worry about it. Besides, I'm old an tough, no shark would want me.

Here's the article about the attack that occurred at Goat Rock several years ago... from the BASK website...

http://www.bask.org/ARTICLES/2jaws.html

shark attacks on kayaks are extremely rare.

True - yet it amazes me that none of the kayak fisherman have been attacked ....YET. Every time I have bloody fish on my deck and I watch the blood drain out of my scupper hole, my "spider senses" tell me that I'm in trouble   ....still, my passion over powers the threat....sometimes  

The last time I got really nervous was when John/jdyak and I paddled around Pedro Point (the conditions were calm - so we decided to take advantage of it) and we found a seal colony just around the bend. The seals were hugging tight to the shoreline and kelp beds....none of them ventured out while we were fishing in 20 feet of water. I really felt uneasy cause the seals were poking their heads out and watching us the whole time......looked like they were spooked  

Yep its a shame that they can't protect these fish waiting until the river mouth opens. I imagine the seals do a number on them also. I know it's tough to resist a shot at a 40 lb salmon. F&G needs to protect them.