Tactics to avoiding sea lions stealing your catch?

[crazywakeboarder]

I went out on Friday and my first yellow of the day was stolen by 3 sea lions. I had fought with the yellow in the kelp for a few minutes already when the sea lions showed up. They pretty much circled on top of the water waiting for me to break it free and then grabbed it once I did.

Is there anything that one can do in this type of situation to prevent them from stealing your catch?
Thinking back I'm wondering if I should have just kept some tension on the line but not tried to free it from the kelp and see if the lions would eventually leave and then break the fish free from the kelp?

[jorluivil]

That's like asking which way should you move if someone shoots a gun at you. I would have probably just left the fish in the kelp and waited for the seals to go away but even if they did go away there is a chance that the fish may have busted off.

I had some similar issues this weekend, for at least 20-30 minutes I just sat on my kayak and just watched as a seal circled my kayak about 10' below waiting for me to drop some bait in the water. Whenever the seal needed to come up for air it would swim a few yards away from me, come up, look for me, head back my way and circle me again. SEALS SUCK!!

[GregAndrew]

Generally freespool with some thumb tension to prevent backlash. But in the kelp there is not much you can do. I did see a guy on a skiff throw a Bonito over the side after he hooked up to keep the Sealions occupied. Probably could do the same thing with your dead baits if you hold on to them. Or even the scraps from your last fish cleaning?

[alanw]

Seal Bombs

[Siebler]

We used to always say that if you submerged as much of your bent rod in the water as you could it seemed to trick them into moving on. Havnt tried it in at least 5 years though.

[jorluivil]

Did you try yelling at them?

[Dannowar]

Originally Posted by Siebler

We used to always say that if you submerged as much of your bent rod in the water as you could it seemed to trick them into moving on. Havnt tried it in at least 5 years though.

Yep. They're smart. Don't let them see the bend in your rod. Play it cool

[LBKayakDude]

I heard someone once say to take a cigarette butt or take a few puffs off one and stuff it down a bait's throat and toss it to the seals. They go to eat it and I guess they assume you got some nasty s#!t and move on. I've never tried it and don't smoke em but it could work?

[bmercury]

time to start using habanero-infused mackerel?

Should work on any mammal.

[SorryCharlie]

IMO, a few of the guys here have already nailed it on the head. Don't let them see the bend in your rod. I'm sure you have seen the dogs popping their heads up out of the water as far as they can (basically jump out of the water) to see what everyone is up to. I had a few YT stolen when I used to bring my rod tip from the water all the way up to gain the most line, but recently I have switch to keeping my rod tip within 2-3 ft of the water (or in it!) and haven't had major issues since. You don't gain line as fast, but seems to keep the lions at bay a bit better.

As for if the dog already has the fish in its mouth...... hope and pray it lets go just long enough to haul it to the yak. I was warned by an experience yak fisherman, and will pass it on. Be careful taking a fish from the dogs, they seem EXTREMELY possessive of the fish once they have it in their mouth, and I would not put it past them to jump on the yak to get it back. HAVE THAT GAFF READY!!!