GWS "follow" encounter

Gotta say, this thread is giving me pause! I've been slowly gearing up to leave the SF bay for open water (most likely, the same HMB reef area!), and have been using the large fish clips/stringers to drag my catch boat-side back to launch. Is that a risky idea?

Yes, here is what happened to me a while back at Shelter Cove:

Well I’ve been out with Eric four times in the past, and I have another trip booked later in the summer. Eric has told me over, and over to not let the fish dangle in the water on the clip. He says keep them in the back under burlap.

Well today I didn’t take his advice, and had 1 nice ling & 2 nice rock fish in the water. My son and I were alone but Alex was off in the distance, and a group of kayaks a ways off.

I had a nasty line tangle I was dealing with when all of a sudden a sea lion grabbed my fish and instantly flipped me over. The sea lion started swimming away with my fish, and kayak.

Alex noticed me floundering in the water and headed right to me. I grabbed on to the side of his boat and then he went to retrieve my kayak.

By this time there was a swarm of kayaks ready to offer help. Alex flipped my kayak back over, and I jumped back in. Eric showed up, and untangled my rod for me.

Super grateful for all of the help to get back to fishing. I lost my net, slow pitch rod, box of jigs, knife, and pliers.

Lesson learned the hard way…..tomorrow I will be keeping my fish under burlap in the back of my kayak.

I've only had one semi-close encounter with a shark--the shark circled me, getting to within about 15', as I was landing a nice halibut. I figured that it was just curious, and I never felt threatened.

In contrast, I've had at least a dozen close encounters with sea lions, many of which were threatening. For example, a smallish sea lion tried to jump over the rear aka bar on my AI, got stuck half way over, and was thrashing back and forth for several seconds, with it's bared teeth coming within inches of my head.

Sharks get a lot of attention, but sea lions worry me a lot more...

Gotta say, this thread is giving me pause! I've been slowly gearing up to leave the SF bay for open water (most likely, the same HMB reef area!), and have been using the large fish clips/stringers to drag my catch boat-side back to launch. Is that a risky idea?

Yes, here is what happened to me a while back at Shelter Cove:

Well I’ve been out with Eric four times in the past, and I have another trip booked later in the summer. Eric has told me over, and over to not let the fish dangle in the water on the clip. He says keep them in the back under burlap.

Well today I didn’t take his advice, and had 1 nice ling & 2 nice rock fish in the water. My son and I were alone but Alex was off in the distance, and a group of kayaks a ways off.

I had a nasty line tangle I was dealing with when all of a sudden a sea lion grabbed my fish and instantly flipped me over. The sea lion started swimming away with my fish, and kayak.

Alex noticed me floundering in the water and headed right to me. I grabbed on to the side of his boat and then he went to retrieve my kayak.

By this time there was a swarm of kayaks ready to offer help. Alex flipped my kayak back over, and I jumped back in. Eric showed up, and untangled my rod for me.

Super grateful for all of the help to get back to fishing. I lost my net, slow pitch rod, box of jigs, knife, and pliers.

Lesson learned the hard way…..tomorrow I will be keeping my fish under burlap in the back of my kayak.

I've only had one semi-close encounter with a shark--the shark circled me, getting to within about 15', as I was landing a nice halibut. I figured that it was just curious, and I never felt threatened.

In contrast, I've had at least a dozen close encounters with sea lions, many of which were threatening. For example, a smallish sea lion tried to jump over the rear aka bar on my AI, got stuck half way over, and was thrashing back and forth for several seconds, with it's bared teeth coming within inches of my head.

Sharks get a lot of attention, but sea lions worry me a lot more...

+1 regarding the sea lions.

Earlier this month, I had two sea lions follow me really closely for about 10 minutes.  I suspect it was because my Nomad Jerkquid plastic was heavily squid-scented, and it must have gotten their attention.  After a while, one of the sea lions dove under my kayak and smacked my propeller really hard.  I was worried it might have busted it for a second, but after a quick inspection, it was all good--s/o to Old Town.

And yes, again back at HMB (my first time back on the reef since last years attack). 

This is unfortunate luck!
Hope the crab traps were filled.

so you were NOT running the shark shield?  or it didnt work?

my brother always jokes..."I should accidentally leave some flash-bangs at your house"

hahahha..

WOW!  It must have been crazy experiencing that just a year after a full on polaris attack.
I had a very similar experience years ago off Capitola all alone with no kayak partner and only few boats far in the distance.  Very calm individual at that moment, but uncomfortably curious and quite intimating.

I was in front of the sc harbor and was trailed by 10' gws for a few minutes on Sunday (6/27). tried to get a video but forgot to push record! definitely a sketchy feeling.

Mark can you share the kit you are referring to to plug SS into battery? I didn't know there was one.

Joe I'll watch you video if you link it haha

Mark can you share the kit you are referring to to plug SS into battery? I didn't know there was one.

Joe I'll watch you video if you link it haha

https://youtu.be/IJZx9k7XkK8?is=qzexWwAx-60R2zUH

It would probably be scarier without the music I added.