Pinnipedia

[Hatch]

Guided the American river on Thursday from first light till 11:00 A.M. with two very competent fly anglers. After 2 days of smolt drops up river I thought it would be a decent trip. We fished from last chance down to the mouth and dragged flies in every hole on the lower river. There were smolts breaking the surface all over the place but we managed only one striper!!!. Not good!! I have spent quite a bit of time in the last 10 years hunting stripers with a fly rod on the lower A.R. from Watt down to the mouth. Last year, just about this time, I posted a report on this message board remarking that I shared the lower river with at least 6 sea lions and that was most I had ever seen there. Well, on Thursday, we counted at least 14 of these big ass mammals. There were big ones, small ones and they were in groups and as singles. We couldn't hook a single one :cool: Just kidding. We found a couple of groups of stripers pushing bait up and busting the surface and tried to sneak over to them but the lions beat us every time and pushed the fish down. Strange thing was we never once saw the lions feeding on a striper or a shad like I sometimes do. I think they were slurping down smolts like french fries. It was a frustrating morning for me and the guys on my boat. We solved the problem by going to the Delta on Friday and found more fish than sea lions.
Do any of you folk remember seeing this many pinnipeds on the river in the past ? And when does their "season" start and what is the "bag" limit ?:mad:
HATCH

[winxp_man]

The problem with this crap is the more the dumb ass state does not do nothing the more sea lions will show up. In Oregon they are starting to kill the ones that keep showing up. The way the sea lions operate it seems is that once one finds a place to feed it goes and gets his bothers, sisters, mother, father, cousin, uncle, aunt and there whole damn family. Then they all show up for a feeding fest. I say open a hunting season for these sea lions and with special permits and a certain number of people that get drawn have a shot a hunting them and thinning out the heard because they are getting over populating. Same issue goes for the mountain lions now we have people every so often getting killed.

I hope fish and games (oh excuse me DFW Dept of Fish and Wildlife) gets a handle on this crap.

[Tony Buzolich]

Sea lion predation is definitely widespread and until people see the actual damage these animals are doing they're under federal protection. When those up in Washington learned about salmon right at the dam's spillway people could see and watch what they were doing to the salmon and the public got upset. Then something was done, minimal as it was.

It won't be long before these damn things make it all the way up to the Nimbus hatchery and do the same thing. Once people see this, and the Bee gets wind of it, maybe something will get done here too.

In the meantime, they will continue to gorge all summer on the shad and stripers in the lower river. Once the salmon begin to show they'll be up in the riffles and the spillway in no time.

The general public just isn't aware of all the problems these animals create. Actually, we created by taking away hunting rights.

Instead of shooting stripers and killing a limited population species perhaps the spear-gunners could help out and kill a few of these things.
Tony

[STEELIES/26c3]

Balancing the scales in favor of the stripers this weekend...

CA Fish and Wildlife game wardens issued tickets and confiscated 2 spear guns and 2 dead striped bass in two, separate poaching incidents on the American River this weekend.

M

[Randy Lee]

Why are we not surprised. It's probably been going on alot longer than we know. Fish will spook when aproached from above surface,but when your in the water with them you can literally swim right up to them at point blank range. Sporting eh. Imagine a seal with a spear gun. Ugly thought. Disregard the last image.
R Lee

[David Lee]

Balancing the scales in favor of the stripers this weekend...

CA Fish and Wildlife game wardens issued tickets and confiscated 2 spear guns and 2 dead striped bass in two, separate poaching incidents on the American River this weekend.

M

Am I missing something here ?? I thought that , as of 2013 , it was LEGAL to spear Stripes in the American -

D.~

[Darian]

David,.... Check out the the thread below titled, "Spearfishing on the American; it has begun." It has some discussion about this.

[David Lee]

Thanks , D - I've just returned from Baja and missed the whole thing .

D.~

[Mike O]

Balancing the scales in favor of the stripers this weekend...

CA Fish and Wildlife game wardens issued tickets and confiscated 2 spear guns and 2 dead striped bass in two, separate poaching incidents on the American River this weekend.

M

People musta been spearing in the closed area...or DFW would not have cited. Haven't heard of park rangers citing ANYONE in the rest of the river....but lotsa guys spearing

[Fish Guru]

People musta been spearing in the closed area...or DFW would not have cited. Haven't heard of park rangers citing ANYONE in the rest of the river....but lotsa guys spearing
It was in the closed area. It's funny how despite it not being allowed so many guys are still doing it down river. Not only is there way more guys doing it than people thought, it's nice to see them respecting the regulations stating that they can't do it in the American.

[Mike O]

Still don't think the park has jurisdiction below high water mark.

[Fish Guru]

Yeah, they do. Feel free to call and ask them. This has already been covered. At this point it's pretty obvious that's not gonna stop the spearfishing, we just get to watch it decimate the river. Awesome.

[mike N]

The solution is obvious, eliminate fishing on the American until the pinipeds have had their fill.

MN

[STEELIES/26c3]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news... but the decision to allow in the parkway was affirmed 2 days ago...

think I'll take up lobbying as i'm sure its future is brighter than striper fishing...

[Mike O]

Do you have a link to the spears allowed in the parkway?

[Charlie Gonzales]

do their spears have to be single barbless?

[Mike O]

I don't know...did all these guys?

https://www.google.com/search?q=stripers+american+river&safe=active&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=K3WUUaeKKcaziwLE-IGoCQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672

[winxp_man]

I don't know...did all these guys?

https://www.google.com/search?q=stripers+american+river&safe=active&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=K3WUUaeKKcaziwLE-IGoCQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672

The new way to get stripers is underwater drive by's :D

http://fishwithjd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Underwater-SUV.jpg

[Frank Alessio]

The new way to get stripers is underwater drive by's :D

http://fishwithjd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Underwater-SUV.jpg

That Indicator is HUGE.....

[Walter]

Look up Pinniped Deterrence on NOAA's sight.

[Randy Lee]

On these drive-bys are we using spearguns or conventional firearms? I agree with Frank, the indicator is a we bit big. It might spook the stripers. We might use a different color vehicle as well. Maybe something with a little chartreuse in it.
Well thats it,Good Luck.
Randy

[Tony Buzolich]

I just read that NOAA thing about Pinniped Deterance. Good reading. What it shows though is that this is a problem everywhere sea lions exist in our area. None of the non lethal methods seem at all effective including trapping and relocating them great distances away from their food source as they quickly return.

So, with all of that information I think the best thing would be to net the damn things and take them to the Wm. Land Park Zoo where they could be euthanized and fed to the lions for food. :) And, the public doesn't have to see all the gory details.
Tony

[Walter]

I just read that NOAA thing about Pinniped Deterance. Good reading. What it shows though is that this is a problem everywhere sea lions exist in our area. None of the non lethal methods seem at all effective including trapping and relocating them great distances away from their food source as they quickly return.

So, with all of that information I think the best thing would be to net the damn things and take them to the Wm. Land Park Zoo where they could be euthanized and fed to the lions for food. :) And, the public doesn't have to see all the gory details.
Tony

I was hoping there would be a Native American group who wanted to restart pinniped hunting....