Monterey Bay 5-17

Hey Bill,
two years ago my son was using my yak down near canery row with his mom. They were just paddling around enjoying the sights when one of the seals tried to jump onto the back of my son's yak. He said it freaked him out, he jabbed it off with the paddle! He said it almost tipped him over. Sounds like they just like to try out a yak for size once in a while... That must have been pretty freaky...A couple years ago out at Salt Point I had a "small" (if there is such a thing when your talkin yaks) whale go right under me. It breached about 50' on one side and then again directly inline on the other side about the same distance. Hate to think if the timing was different. Makes you wonder if they even know your there or not... Glad you kept all your gear.

that has definetly something to remember!!! i was at moss landing on thursday. i launched on the side of phils fish market. there was dozens and dozens of sea lions. there were quite a few pups as well. as i paddled out the were very agitated and were barking like crazy. dont wanna upset a mamma with the pups there. glad bill is ok.             bulldog

The aquarium has been training seals to push prop. 4. Glad he didnt take a bite out of you!

raise your flippers if you love Bill... 

That was classic. The replies have me in stiches. By the way what is the slot limit for sea lions?

I agree with Frank. Probably a GWS moving up the coast to her summer spot @ the bean. stopped off for a snack in monterey. snack took the "any port in a storm" route and ended up saying hi to bill.

what no pictures of the seal in bill's lap? or bill swimming with sharks? talk about lost opportunities!

And Bill going swimming twice in a row? sounds like Frank has passed the torch! 

Not twice in a row just twice. My first swim was just as funny. FAC at OP and I was reaching to get something out of the back of my yak and the next thing I know I am in the drink. Terrible. 

Glad you're safe and sound Bill! The large Sealion encounters I have had OTW have been the scariest moments for me. Luckily they were turned away before they climbed aboard to test the kayak load limit.

No photos.  I sense a cover up.  Think about it.  Our leader.  An awsome day with fish, whales, multiple NCKA brothers who know the value of a good photo plus a once or twice in a million seal lap dance.  A sit-on-top-on-top sort of set up.  Kinky.  And not one photo.   

I always seem to have other plans when you guys are in town.  Lime Kiln has stories of its own though.  Let me know next time and I will tell my trained sealion buddy that you are OK to fish our waters.

Check next months Sealboy centerfold for the pics. 

I can definitely confirm that this was an unauthorized boarding in an unusual way. All I know is one minute we have 5-7 yaks cruising toward the kelp beds off the Row about 20 yards or so off the buoy and i catch a splash off my stern so I look around only to see this sea lion launch at full speed and horizontal onto and into Bill's lap with determination. All the while snapping and nipping as Bill so calmly deflected the advancing white teeth of the 4' 6o# little bugger like a kung fu master and them promptly showed him the door off the side of his yak. Bill's kayak was tipped to the point of being to far off balance and he went into the drink. I have to say Bill stayed remarkably calm during this event and we all moved in to assist our fellow brother in arms. Even a power boat who was fishing the area and witnessed this very strange event moved in at full throttle to assist us. There was no doubt by anyone there were only a couple of things that would have made that seal fire out of the water like that; either an Orca or the Landlord. With all the Humbacks around us, I will let you arrive at your own conclusion here:smt120 We got Bill back into the yak and we were all too pumped up and in awe that this happened to be able to take a picture. Too bad we were not prepared this video would have been a winner somewhere. Lessons learned; I have gone out several times to several spot's solo, I will have to rethink that moving forward. Shit happens everyday and chance favors the prepared mind, so let's all use this and each take something away. When we enter the oceans, the forest, the deserts, we are entering part of the environment where we need to be prepared. As my best friend who is a Navy SEAL always hammers into me, always apply the seven P's Mike. Prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance. We were lucky that day, lucky we had each other, lucky we all kept our cool, lucky we all lived to talk story many a time over a camp fire and a cold one. You are bad ass my man Bill, glad everything came out in our favor. People I tell this story to are like WTF are you doing? I say living..........Solsrf1/Mike
So who wants to go fishing next week?

It was a totally different day from my previous outing the day before.

All kidding aside Bill did exactly what needed to be done. Although wet he got back aboard with an assist from Mike and myself with a beaming smile on his face and a look of relief.


         "Sealboy Centerfold" 

To anyone who heads out by themselves I really suggest that you have your game face on and know how to self rescue just for situations like this. Mother nature has all kinds of surprises up her sleeve and if the basics aren't in place this type of situation could have ended up to be serious doo-doo. Even with a group I believe that coordination of intel and eyesight should be a priority. In this case it turned out that some of us are use to doing things in an unspoken fashion and fish togeather however, the next thing you know the winds change and your in big swell and losing sight with eachother in a flash.



Our group coming up to the red bouy. I marked a bunch of fish (deep) near this area where I think a few of the guys hooked into some nice fish. We soon decided to head for the Kelp beds with the wind starting to pick up.



 After a few drops the crew called it a day and headed in. My radio took a dump so when I turned to check where everyone was they were heading in. I decided to lag behing a troll in a plastic to no avail.

Fished the beach area hard with live bait, fan casting, even squid but no hookups and when I got into the launch everyone was gone. So I must have been out there for another hour or so.

Great meeting everyone and hooking up with the bros of NCKA once again. fun stuff. Frankfishing

What an outing!!! Glad nobody was hurt. WTG Bill!! Your barking lion kungfu is still sharp 

-FF

Man! I missed some good stuff this wknd! Glad you're OK Bill. I can only imagine what you must've been thinking when that beast boarded your kayak. And I doubt it was looking for sweet sealion love.
Thanks for the reports guys!

I want to add that Frank, Mike and Bill were out  at MBK partly as a favor to me....

I had a couple contracted clients I was unable to accommodate due to my broken arm, and really wanted to get them out fishing on the yaks, even if I couldn't be there myself.

These three guys rose to the occasion, doing the NCKA brother coverage for me, and hosted the two erstwhile clients on a "just pals" outing.  Hopefully, the excitement doesn't scare off the newbies.  HAha.

I'm super grateful for the coverage guys.  Even though the fishing wasn't as good as it can be, the newbies went home with quite and adventure under their belts!

Thanks again, and I'm so glad none of those "nips" connected, Bill!

Allen