Sea Dog Road Rage Off La Jolla, 7/3

[LJ H2Oman]

Shortly after 6:00 yesterday I spotted either a mature seal or a small sea lion on the surface about 50 yards ahead of me and maybe 200 yards south of Scripps Pier as I headed up to make bait. It submerged and a short time later launched itself airborn striking a hard glancing blow off the bow of my kayak as it came up out of the water. It flew past me fully airborne at close quarters and was gone before I could grab my gaff to fight it off or otherwise react. It's ok with me that it didn't stick around to swap insurance information ;-)

Have any of you heard of or encountered anything similar, being rammed by a dog? I had no fish or bait aboard. Maybe this was a random collision, but the water was clear and we all know these dogs aren't blind. I've spent a ton of time ocean swimming off the Cove, surfing and kayaking off La Jolla for over 40 years and am at a loss to conclude if this was some kind of intentional aggressive behavior, rough playfulness, or a random collision.

[Vikingj]

Sea lion could have been conducting evasive maneuvers to avoid a shark? Maybe you were lucky to be hit by a him and not something a lot bigger with more teeth!

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Happened to me Saturday in LJ too.

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[monstahfish]

Sea lion rage virus! We're all gonna die!!!!

[rossman]

Not as big as yours, thank goodness, but aggressive for sure.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...ad.php?t=24815

[MITCHELL]

In that area....and said to my self is it being attacked by a white shark .I pointed and yelled at two other kayaks but I don't think they saw me.

[bwana]

About ten years ago there used to be a seal in San Diego Harbor we nicknamed Pyscho Seal.

He would dive down below your kayak and swim up at full speed smacking into you dead center. It made such a loud crack sound that you expected to sink.

[kirkdavis]

If they are like humans, about 25% are psychotic and don't get along well with others. I encountered the one at SI dock and he gave me the creeps. I'm more scared of them than sharks, and they creep me out almost as much as rats, but that's a different story.

[YakDout]

He probably got a mackerel with a ghost pepper in it. Just an fyi it is legal for us to deter seals and sea lions using not lethal tactics. This may or may not include paintball and airsoft guns.

[SorryCharlie]

I havent had one hit me, but a few months back I had one aggressively charging the kayak, then breaking away for about 20 minutes.

I was heading back in, about 0.5 miles from the reserve when this aggressive sea lion just started charging and then breaking away. Started off thinking it was just messing with me, but after 5 minutes of it constantly doing this I was a bit more worried. It was getting closer and closer with each approach, to the point where it was inches away from making contact. It was also jumping out of the water repeatedly throughout the interaction.

Weird thing was I didn't have any fish, or bait on-board.... I tried everything I could think of.... zig zag pattern, stopping completely, going full speed... nothing stopped it from being a major ...

I could not for the life of me think of why it was doing it.....

Also, I have seen sea lions jumping erratically many times (trust me I was praying to see a shark nail it, that would make my life complete!), and I have thought about the possibility a shark is around. I usually stick around to watch and 9 times out of 10 there is another sea lion it is messing around with. My guess is they are practicing for the real thing...

[LJ H2Oman]

Thanks for the comments everyone. What was weird was the fact that he slammed the kayak hard coming up out of the water.
Silbaugh4liberty , you mentioned a similar experience on Saturday. I'm curious whether the dog rammed you kayak too, and if so, where were you when it happened?

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Originally Posted by LJ H2Oman

Thanks for the comments everyone. What was weird was the fact that he slammed the kayak hard coming up out of the water.
Silbaugh4liberty , you mentioned a similar experience on Saturday. I'm curious whether the dog rammed you kayak too, and if so, where were you when it happened?

IT was two of them, looked like they were fighting or something, then the smaller one tried getting on my yak (when I say smaller, he was like 200 lbs instead of 600). As they came straight up to me I proceeded to smack em both with my rod, then I got rocked by those fuckers. Almost flipped me over. Then they didn't bother me the rest of the day

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[Dingokevin]

I've had a dog fallow me after landing a WSB followed me all the way back to the reserve. At one point it popped up right next to me. Though it's next move was going to try to board my yak. My move cracked it over the head with my gaff.

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