LJ 10/2 am DOGGED
 

Lainched at 5:30am, no surf, no wind. When the sun came up there was light offshore wind not too much. Made SP Mk out in the kelp. Water was glassy and the current was north to south. Most of the morning I was the only one on the water with the exception of 1pber and a few lobster boats. Slowly trolled my way to the NW corner and back. Very annoying dogs followed me or tagged teamed me all morning. Eventually went with the irons so the dogs would leave me alone. all for nada. Off the water at 11am.

Last time I was out-- I had knothead really follow me around for almost 1hr! I think it was because when he stole a bait from me-- he came up and I growled at him and slapped my paddle at the water. I picked up all my lines and tried tossing irons AT HIM. One time-- he came pretty close to the yak-- underwater and I jabbed my paddle at him...I didn't reach him...but it just seemed to keep him coming. He followed me forever-- with no lines in the water...I kept paddling around and tossing irons. He would just follow behind slowly. Finally, I tied off to a bouy and dropped a piece of squid down with a 3oz sinker and figured I fish bottom until he left. He came up and snorted something loudly and left immediately. A few minutes later, since I didn't see him back-- I pulled up my squid, only to find a chunky sculpin on the end of it. It is possible that he went for the squid (or sculpin) and got stung! For sure-- that was the longest one followed me...I think I antogonized him by growling and paddle slapping-- so perhaps he became territorial. I couldn't even pass him off!

I was recently going over some past posts and found one interesting on how to handle the dogs. Since they have become a major nuisance lately for everyone I think salting a mack's belly with a habenero chile or something equally potent would be in order.
:the_finger:

I like that idea. Perhaps 2 or more would be in order.:the_finger: :the_finger:

I may have finally found a good use for caribbean red peppers...

i wonder how a nice fat wad of ExLax would work on knothead? :eviltongue:

Not sure giving him explosive diarrhea is really the solution to the problem. He already blows bubbles at me when he's waiting underneath me for a mac, but at least they are not the stinky kind.lol

So after all of this discussion on how to discourage ol' knotthead or his friends, I still want to know if there is a viable, and humane way to discourage our little bastard of a friend, other than dynamite?...:eek::heeeelllllooooo:

Slingshots and paintball guns. From what I hear, they are all legal.

I am of the opinion that if you were to do that to big 'ol knothead, that would just piss him off that much more.
Liking the laxatives though. Maybe some antacids are in order.

Speaking of paintballs, I've seen the New Seaforth with a semi-automatic paintball
gun, just blasting away at knothead when they're hitting the YT.

I can't wait to get hit with one of those...

Paintballs work better when they are frozen ;) I hit ol knothead a while back with the wrist rocket. He went on to another yaker. He doesn't have a good memory though as he came back and got my macs when I paddled back past his area.

Maybe I'll bring the painball gun next time.

I have had the good fortune, or bad, to work with captive sea lions as an animal keeper and veterinarian for 30 years. They are quick learners if some kind of negative reinforcement is immediately paired with what they are doing, but it has to be consistent and immediate. So, if everyone could do something aversive the minute they swiped a bait from us, they would do the math and learn not to do it. However, they are really good mathematicians and always weigh odds and cost benefit. If they steal bait successfully 50 times and have something unfortunate happen once, they keep doing it. The problem with causing some unpleasant physiological event for them by giving them a "treat" (I could name some possibilities) in a fish is that it takes too long to take effect. It is like having tacos at Robertos. They taste fine, you're sick later, but you might not attribute the sickness to Robertos, so you keep going back.:cool:

taxation
 

I have had a few baits stolen over the years, and I have always thought of it as a form of paying taxes. Sea lions are annoying, seals never seem to bother me or my baits, it sucks for sure when you lose a fish to one, but hey ya gotta pay to play is the way I look at it.

Matt

When I was a kid growing up in Monterey, I had a friend who's family were commercial fishermen. Believe it or not, the DFG used to supply them with something we called "seal bombs" which were basically M-80 explosives that were completely waterproof and would continue burning (and explode) under water. Apparently they were designed to scare off the furbags before they brought in their nets.

They also happened to work really well when flushed down the toilets of the high school gym...... :the_finger:

Just found this link on legal deterrence of pinnipeds (knotheads, furbags, sea dogs)
http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mamma...-Pinnipeds.cfm

Apparently you can use forceful methods of deterrence as long as you don't:
1. break their skin
2. aim at their eyes or heads
3. disturb them from a position hauled out on rocks or beach

So, technically using a "seal bomb" would be legal to protect your catch or your gear, but I'll bet that possessing them is illegal for non-commercial fishermen (classic catch-22)

Wrist Rocket: 10 bucks at Walmart.
Misc nuts from bolts collected over the years and bam you keep em at bay.

I would think using seal bombs would scare the fish too. I know on the Columbia River the seal bombs have been fairly ineffective.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegall...ont_Small_.jpg







NOT!!!




lol lol lol picking up a wrist rocket tonight!

Just FYI, it is illegal to use seal bombs without a permit. I worked at a fisheries research institute tagging WSB and it was very difficult to get the seal bomb permit from DFG.

Good info.

Seals are a pain.

And they’re smart.

If we could just figure something out that’s not too harsh, but they dislike. Maybe they’d learn to leave us alone.

There’s definitely a lot of training these local LJ seals get. They seem smarter than the ones down in Baja. The ones down south can be pretty… dumb. :) They go for your bait and get hooked more often than not. There seems to be a fewer number of them though (hmm, wonder why :rolleyes: ).

They definitely seem to behave different in different places. The ones on San Pedro Island were leaving us alone, staying away. And there was a lot of them. We should have asked the pangeros what are they doing to them. :D

I agree. In malibu-- I don't believe I have ever had a bait stolen by a dog. I only pick up my stringer if I am keeping bass or rockfish....but I have never had even close to an incident with that either. I see them all the time-- usually frolicking in the kelp==> they actually look cute to me. (Because they never steal my bait!) The LJ ones are just UGLY! :the_finger: Definitely have been trained and no longer keep a safe distance away.

This guy is a friend of a friend, you should check this out!

http://www.californiapaddle.com/

He is using an electrical field of some kind on his board that apparently deters the smaller predators, sharks, seals etc.,and other nuisances. When he finishes his Trek from Canada to the Mexican border I will ask him more about it. Something like that might work, a taser, cattle prod, or even an electrical field designed to dissuade seals, and other predators. I think it only works within a few feet of his board though...hmmm....

Anyone want to meet up and paddle with him through La Jolla?

How about?
 

I heard somewhere that a small paper clip on the tail of the mac will not significantly limit its swim ability, but deter the dogs as they sense the metal somehow. I have noticed they don't ever take a bait with a stinger rigged in the tail. Haven't tried it yet, but it would be worth experimenting.

That would be a superior solution to a "stinger" hook.... you could handle your bait without sticking yourself.

I think Nelz mentioned this trick in Hawaii for porpoise... I think they use echolocation to pick up the clip (I think :D )

Last year during the kelp loss, and everyone was catching nice WSB, besides me :the_finger: The dogs were in full force and people were loosing a lot of baits... After loosing 2 or 3 baits within minutes of eachother to "ol knothead." I took to the paperclip method... Confidently dropped my bait in the water with paperclip on the tail. LINE PEELING!!!! And it wasn't a WSB!!! :mad: Stupid DOG!!!

Chris

I've caught them on the stinger.....unfortunately!!!