Whales, Sealions and Salmon.....

Well I was up at the ass crack of dawn walking through a dark San Francisco on my own, gently clutching my fishing knife in my pocket while dodging tramp fights. All in the name of Salmon fishing. Despite my alarm not going off at 3:45am (yes, that early) I woke up naturally at 5am and was on the boat by 530am, the first. I picked my spot on The Captain Joey, (confusingly captained by Captain Tom) and got set up.....as dawn was cracking through the darkness we were sailing under the golden gate bridge, (one of the most magnificent sunrises I have ever seen).

One of the first things I did got me a bad name.....I thought it was quite innocent.....I peeled a banana. This, according to Hawaiian folklore curses the whole boat (the fish don't like the oils or something). So it started the day off nicely I thought, we had a struggle to over come. They didn't see it that way.

In spite of all that within the first 10 min, 3 X 30lb King salmon had been landed (none to my name so far). We were pulling out nice Silver Salmon all day, but owing to over fishing (and those god damn native americans ;) they are endangered and were required by law to put them back (alive). To their credit, they had an officer checking us of the boat. No gun this time and very friendly. So I did technically catch a salmon, but it was a 25lb silver, we didn't even land it in the boat for a photo.....sorry, no proof! Also got a jellyfish....hey, its a 'fish'.....

The Captain then announced that he had spotted two Wales off the front of the boat. The whole boat ran to the front and they turned out to be HUGE humpbacks. You really can't appreciate their size until you get so close you are sprayed by one. So as I was fumbling (and failing) to get a decent video of these magnificent animal, two smaller scale critters were bothering my rod. I was called back to my rod, I had caught a King Salmon....FINALLY (we were into the last hour now).

This is where the déjà vu kicks in. Just as I get to my rod, just like in Washington a couple of summers back with Dad and Mike, up pop two fat greedy eyes and SNIP, the salmon is nicked by a sea lion. I was the first of the day, but not the last. 6 others suffered the same fate. The captain later told me many local fisherman shot these creatures and 'don't give a shit about what those environmentalists have to say'. I could see his point. They can't catch Salmon themselves (nothing can except bears and sharks!), being so fat and slow and all, unless they have been hooked by fisherman, so all they do is breed, sit around scratching their arises and steal fish off of the fisherman, who pay licenses that go towards Salmon breeding programs.....aghhh the fat blubbery bastards. Sorry, this is turning into a Daily Mail fishing Mag. So that's 2-0 to the Sealions.

I didn't get another fish that day, must have been that banana.