My biggest fear on a yak - Happened!!!

My worst fear on a kayak has always been getting boarded by a seal.
I know most say they are afraid of Sharks and breaking rouge waves but for me it has always been the darn furbags
Well I had that fear come to reality twice this weekend.
On Sunday I decided to get the ling I failed to acquire on Saturday so I decided to head to where they were being caught the day before. As I approached the red whistle buoy I was welcomed by the usual barking chorus of seals and figured i would give them a fair berth. Suddenly I had a strange feeling like in the movies before someone gets it. With this new feeling I looked around and noticed i was out their by myself and was starting to second guess my choice of location when about 100 yards to my right I heard a loud spray and saw a gray whale surface twice before heading towards the lighthouse. As I began to loose that eerie feeling another splash just to the left of me, as I turn to see what it was a loud splash 2ft from my bow and out comes a seal (about the size of a German Shepard) he does a full flip in the air and lands flat on my deck hatch and slips off goes about 4ft to my right and does a double flip and comes at me again and flips one more time and lands on my rear deck than takes off - the whole time I was yelling and swinging my paddle I WAS SCARRED S@&TLE$$ and I'm not afraid to say it. Luckily I wasn't flipped as i would have probably gone into cardiac arrest and had to have the coast guard rescue me. I'll say it again, MY BIGGEST FEAR HAS ALWAYS BEEN GETTING BOARDED BY A SEAL but now that it has happened I think it has taken some of the edge off and I feel a little more comfortable on the water now.
Oh-Yah I also got my ling I was after ( after I took about 1/2 an hour to calm down )

my biggest fear out there also, hate seals, have never had a good experience with one, thanks for the read, cameron

 I'm with you, as chances go the seals are a bigger threat.

Having one bounce around on your yak and staying upright, wow I would have thrown in the towel and headed home.

Damn furbags! WTG Eric for sticking it out after the craziness/harrassment and scoring your ling!  jim

 Stupid seals, stealing fish off our line, now boarding our yaks?.... It's war!!

Glad to hear you faced your fear and  actually experienced it happened. Now
it is out of the way you can concentrate and catch more fish.

Jedmo

I, too, share the fear seal-boarding; or even worse, being boarded by several at once! I figure if there's one thing that can sink a kayak, it's a pod of 300# seals.

Flips... thats freaking awsome! Glad your did get hurt though. Those things can be bad bad news if there hurt or pissed.

As one who experienced another "worst fear" moment last year, I have to say it's a little liberating isn't it?
After the adrenaline and "holy s**t!" parts wear off and we can look back, knowing we came out of it none the worse for wear, it's not so bad to be able to say "ah, worst fear? BTDT."

...except now my worst fear is a getting boarded by a seal......

I'm stoked you made ti through the experience dry side up & got your fish too!

Sounds like you met the real yakhopper!  Glad you're okay and came away with a good story and your ling.

Been there, done that.  Fishing off Trinidad last year in about 60' of water, roughly 50' off a large rock with several seals lounging.  Minding my own business, my yak got slammed from underneath, nearly tipping me over.  A few seconds later a small seal (100 lbs or so) clears the water, lands on my deck/feet (breaking my fish finder mount) and flops back into the drink...guess I got a bit too close to home.  My first thought was "damn, what chased him out of the water"!  After thinking a bit I guess he was just playing around.  Biggest surprise of all was that I didn't crap my wetsuit!

-beenfishin

Bill had one knock him off his yak at HMB a couple of years ago. I wonder if it was the same seal that harassed Jim (Saltydog) while he was relieving himself.  Glad you came out of it OK.

And Jerry [ remember him?] would have yelled at you for violating the marine mammal protection act ie. attempting to hit a marine mammal.... and not being more accomodating to the seal.
Steve

waterdogs= love them!

Sweet pic FishHunter!