Yesterday's Catch.....

[Fish Chris]

Salmon ! Well, not my catch....

 

So I had been Sturgeon fishing for about 3 hrs without any action, and then decided to head back to a spot halfway to the ramp. As I was running, I see a large, dead (I thought) Salmon, so I circle back to see it up close. As I come up on it, I see its actually still alive, but barely, swimming on its back. I actually hooked my scale on its jaw and it weighed 26.3 lbs, and was surprisingly clean. Don't know if it managed to spawn, first...

 

I toss it back and go about another 1/4 mile to my spot. As I get anchored and situated, a giant {like 600 lbs} Sea Lion comes swimming by. They swim mostly under water, just popping there heads up for a breath maybe every 30-60 seconds or so.

As it swims by, the thought crossed my mind, "I wonder if that Sea Lion is going to find that Salmon ??? I mean, this is a BIG river (150 yd across ?)

 

In any case, I was sitting there kind of daydreaming, and I thought..... If he was going to find it, it would be somewhere about now..... and it couldn't have been 20 seconds later, I heard the first splash... from a 1/4 mile away ! Granted, it was flat calm, and sound travels so great over water, but I'm just saying, after that first splash, all hell broke loose !

 

I just HAD to pull the anchor and run up there real quick to see if I could get some good shots...

Purposely went way wide and all the way around him, so that the light would be square behind me

 

 

 

 

 

 I probably took 60-80 shots in 3 or 4 minutes, but I think these would be my top 3 I'm just loving the water droplet detail in all of of them

 

Oh.... so then, on the way back to the ramp > while running {alright I slow down to an idol, but in gear} I got a couple of birdies In-flight, that I was really happy with, mostly because they both got a lot of underside lighting, from the sun reflecting up off of the water

 

 

Hope you enjoy them

 

Peace,

Fish

 

 

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Those are some awesome pictures homie. I like the ones with the sea lion the best. However the birds are straighg up gnarly too.

[Fishwhittler]

So…that Sea Lion swallowed a 26-pound fish without stopping to chew.  Yikes.  Hate to think what one of those could do to a person if it got angry.

 

Very nice photography. 

[aceman387]

Beautiful pictures !

[clayton86]

Awesome

[deaknh03]

as usual Chris, awesome!

[Oregon Native]

Nice

[00 mod]

Chris,

 

Some of the best shots I have ever seen from you, and that is a BIG statement, from all of the quality shots you have posted.  National Geo quality there.....

 

Jeff

[A-Jay]

Very Cool Shots ~ Thanks for Sharing them.

 

You already know but every time out, Bring the Camera.

 

You just never know what's out there.

 

Very Nice.

 

A-Jay

[Dwight Hottle]

Great shots Chris. 

[Bankbeater]

Those are some cool pics.

[jbsoonerfan]

GREAT PICTURES!!!!!!

[PABASS]

I have seen lots of nature shots and the ones of the seal are magazine quality, thank you for sharing them.

[J Francho]

Outstanding!

[AK-Jax86]

great pics

[Siebert Outdoors]

Wow, Thanks for sharing.

[MarkH024]

Very cool man! Thanks for sharing

[Grizzn N Bassin]

Awsome shots!!!

[Fish Chris]

Much thanks to all of you guys

 

Of course you all know photography is just SO much like fishing.....

It's all about being in the right place, at the right time

 

Peace,

Fish

 

PS, A friend of mine once witnessed one of these giant Sea Lions slamming and thrashing on a 100+ lb Sturgeon !  Yea', its a very good thing these dudes are not aggressive towards people.

 

Oh actually, quick story;

My buddy who works at a fish market in Bodega bay, told me about a huge Sea Lion that had come charging towards a dock covered with people, jumping up on top of it ! Of course a 600 lb creature slamming down on the dock, had everyone scrambling, and nearly sunk it. A few people fell, but didn't fall in the water.

So anyway, it kept pacing back and forth nervously, but would not go back in the water. When the people that ran the place tried to run it off, it came at them with its mouth open, and let out a ferocious growling scream !

Needless to say, the people didn't try that again. Finally, after a couple hours, it finally took off.

 

Of course there are not too many things that would make a 600 lb Sea Lion afraid to go in the water, but this one sure was ! Lots of sharks in the bay, but mostly smaller Leopards and Sands. They have neer seen a Great White "inside" of the Bay, but something sure had the Sea Lion freaked out !

[retiredbosn]

Great pictures, you should think about submitting them. Absolutely stunning!