Sea Lion Hates His Tax Accountant and tried to Eat Him

Accountant almost killed by fish-thieving sea lion

One moment the US fishing enthusiast was posing triumphantly with his prized catch — the next, a hungry sea lion was dragging him underwater to what he feared would be his certain death.

Dan Carlin had reeled in a number of yellowtails from his nine-metre boat in waters off San Diego, California, when his wife Trish asked him to smile for a photo.

The 62-year-old accountant grinned and held up one of the fish when a sea lion sprang two metres from the water and latched onto his hand in an effort to snatch the tasty treat.

His wife's incredible photo captures the moment the predator bit into Mr Carlin's hand, just before it dragged him six metres underwater.

"After 15 seconds, I thought I was going to die," Mr Carlin said of the April 5 attack.

"I continued to struggle, but thought this is the way I was going to die. It was unbelievable to me."

Then, as quickly as the attack had occurred, the mammal released Mr Carlin from his grip.
The ordeal was not over for the fishing enthusiast, though, as he then suffered a second bite from the sea lion that punctured a bone in his foot.

Mr Carlin took three weeks to recover from the incident that left him with a cut to his hand that required 20 stitches.

Despite the harrowing experience, he hopes to be back fishing again next week.

And he warns that sea lions are not the cute and harmless creatures many people believe them to be.

"So many times, you see videos of cute seals, sea lions, but I'm sharing what happened to me because I want parents to realise these are wild aggressive animals that can take you down," he said.

"They should be given a wide berth. At least a small child should do that, but also just about anybody should."

Source: http://www.9news.com.au/

Kye Longhurst from Gold Coast Caught a Giant Prawn!

Kid catches giant prawn!

30 Apr 2015

FISHO was contacted this week by reader Sean Longhurst who'd recently been out crabbing and fishing for jacks with son Kye in Currumbin Creek on the Gold Coast.

Sean says they put out a couple of crab pots and he was teaching Kye to throw a cast net to catch a few live baits.

After his first throw Kye turned to his dad and said "I can feel something big in here dad."

He pulled the net into the boat and Sean says his jaw hit the deck when he saw "this gigantic leader prawn."

He says the huge crustacean measured 320mm in length with its feelers stretching to over 700mm. The prawn also weighed in at 520 grams! 

Not ony did young Kye catch the huge prawn, he went on to catch the only jack of the trip and in the crab pots he'd baited the father and son managed to haul in tasty mud crabs of 2.8kg and 2.6kg! 

Source "http://www.fishingworld.com.au"

Quick-thinking Florida angler gaffs free-swimming tuna off the dock

Quick-thinking Florida angler gaffs free-swimming tuna off the dock

When these Florida fishermen spotted a huge tuna casually swimming right up to them at the dock, they couldn’t believe their eyes.

The freakish capture took place on the dock at Islamorada, a village in the Florida Keys that is spread across a number of small islands.

Man turns plastic straws into shrimps

Watch this guy transform a simple plastic straw into a shrimp lure using just a pair of scissors. The result is so realistic that I'm not surprised cuttlefishes take the bait as if it were the real thing.

The Little Yakka That Could

A 4.4m blue marlin that washed up at Little Beach

A 4.4m blue marlin that washed up at Little Beach, east of Albany, on Tuesday night is one of the biggest recorded in Australia.

The female measures 3.68m from lower jaw to tail and will probably crack the fisherman's legendary 454kg mark, Department of Fisheries officers, who removed the fish yesterday, said.

Fisheries regional manager Kevin Donohue said blue marlin rarely washed up in the Albany area because it was the southern extremity of their range.

"It would be the first time a marlin that size has been recorded in WA," he said. "The previous largest was a 330kg blue marlin recorded in Exmouth by a game fisherman."

Mr Donohue said fisheries officers worked quickly to remove the fish so the carcass would not attract sharks.

There is no car access to Little Beach, so two officers pushed the fish into the water while another two brought a boat from Two Peoples Bay to take it away.

A woman fishing from rocks on Tuesday night reported the distressed marlin swimming in the cove.

The WA Museum is interested in studying the fish. The world record is a 624kg blue marlin from Hawaii and the Australian record, from Batemans Bay in NSW, is 452.2kg.

Fisherman hooks two headed shark in USA

AS if catching a shark wasn't exciting enough, this fisherman found one of the shark's live foetuses had two heads.

The fisherman handed the specimen, caught off the Florida Keys over to scientists who published a report on the creature in the Journal of Fish Biology this week.

MRI scans of the animal showed it really was two headed. It had two distinct brains as well as two hearts and two stomachs. The rest of the body was joined by one single tail.

The deformation is called "axial bifurcation". It occurs when the embryo begins to split into two separate animals or twins, but doing so incompletely.

It turns out the shark is one of only six examples of a two-headed shark ever recorded, and the first time this has been seen in a bull shark.

Michael Wagner, the study co-author and researcher at Michigan State University told Discovery.com the animal wouldn't have lived for long in the wild.

"It had very developed heads, but a very stunted body," Prof Wagner said." When you're a predator that needs to move fast to catch other fast-moving fish … that'd be nearly impossible with this mutation."

Taking a piss can be dangerous sometime

Kevin Gardner caught the 599kg marlin

A British pub landlord claims he has reeled in one of the biggest fish ever caught using just a rod and a line.

Globe-trotting angler Kevin Gardner caught the 599kg marlin during a 10-day trip to Ascension Island, roughly halfway between Africa and South America in the Atlantic Ocean.

He said it took an exhausting three hours in 30C heat to reel in the "monster" and he was left with burns and blisters after the battle.

"After about two hours I wished I had never hooked it," he told the Norfolk Eastern Daily Press.

"I was completely burned by the sun, I was suffering dehydration, I had blisters on my hands from all the reeling, my back ached and my feet were burned to a crisp.

"It really was hard work."

It was the end of a 25-year mission for Mr Gardner, who had vowed to catch a giant blue marlin after a fishing trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 1988.

The largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught reportedly weighed 636kg and was caught off the coast of Brazil in 1992.

Source: Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, BBC News

Author: Alexandra Pleffer, Approving editor: Mark Worley

Alabama James R. Bramlett angler's monstrous striped bass for the record book

An Alabama resident has reeled in a 70-pound striped bass that shattered a 34-year-old state record and could land the angler in the book of world records for the heaviest striper ever caught in a landlocked fishery.

James R. Bramlett, 65, reeled in the behemoth on the Black Warrior River on Feb. 28.

Bramlett told Joe Songer of AL.com that he credits his wife, Janice, for urging him to go fishing. She was scheduled to undergo a hospital procedure in a few days and would need him to be around and take care of her.

The catch, weighed on a certified scale, exceeds the previous record, set in 1959, by 15 pounds. (Bramlett and his catch are pictured at right.)

"It's definitely uncommon," Heath Haley, a biologist for Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, told Field & Stream. "This fish certainly, in my opinion, was an anomaly. It's a very fat, chunky fish.

"The previous record being 55 pounds, the fact that it hasn't been broken since the 1950s, it's just incredible that not only he broke it, but he shattered it. You just don't see them that big that often."

The striper measured 45.5 inches long and boasted a girth of 37.75.

According to Songer, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has already approved the catch as a state record. If approved by the International Game Fish Association it'll become a new world record (this process can take weeks or months).

The current IGFA record for landlocked stripers is a 67-pound, 8-ounce specimen landed in 1992 in Los Banos, California.

Bramlett said he saw the huge fish roll on the surface, so he tossed a bait and soon hooked up. The battle lasted 20 minutes and as soon as Bramlett could secure the catch, he telephoned his wife to share the news about the memorable catch--and, presumably, to thank her for persuading him to spend the day fishing.

--Image showing James R. Bramlett and his record striped bass is courtesy of AL.com/Joe Songer

Dugong (Sea Cow) killed in 'illegal' nets

Three dugong killed in fishing nets off the north Queensland coast may have been the target of illegal poachers, authorities say.

Federal authorities are investigating the origins of the net, which trapped and killed the marine mammals off Cairns.

Sailors aboard HMAS Labuan made the gruesome discovery on Friday.
The navy works to free the dugong.

The navy works to free the dugong.

They were able to release one live dugong, but the remaining three mammals had already died.
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State opposition environment spokesman Glen Elmes said the dugong were most likely destined for the black market had the navy not found them.

"The net picked up by the navy appears to be black cotton of the type used in the illegal trade of dugong meat," Mr Elmes said.

"That net needs to be produced and examined by local experts who will be able to tell who made it and where it came from."

Mr Elmes said said the illegal trade in dugong and turtles was rife in far north Queensland.

"The illegal trade in dugong and turtles is out of hand and it needs to be stopped," he said.

Queensland Seafood Industry Association president Michael Gardiner said the net appeared to have been made specifically to catch dugong.

"I think most people in the Cairns region probably realise what's going on with the deliberate killing of dugong, but whenever an incident like this involves a net, commercial fishermen can still suffer some collateral damage," Mr Gardiner said.

"I want to make it very clear that this net and these dugong have nothing whatsoever to do with commercial fishermen."

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones said several government departments were attempting to trace the origins of the net.

"The investigation into the incident is continuing with a number of government agencies involved," Ms Jones said.

"If there is any evidence that there is a breach of the legislation then we will be using the full force of the law to take action.

"The investigation includes analysing the net and testing the dugongs as well."

Darren Kindleysides of the Australian Marine Conservation Society said the shocking incident should prompt the state government to reconsider fishing regulations.

"Three being killed at one time - that's a really significant number," Mr Kindleysides said.

"Unfortunately this is not as uncommon as it should be."

Mr Kindleysides said the protected species faced a range of threats, including entanglement, and needed formal protection under fishing laws.

"What we need to do is really make sure we're not putting fishing nets in areas that are critical habitat for Dugongs," he said.

"Some regulations have been introduced, but it's not enough."

Australia has been considered a refuge for dugongs, with Queensland waters believed to home the largest population of the marine mammals in the world.

It is believed no more than 7500 of the vegetarian mammals remain off the Queensland coast.

Angler Caught Nearly 250 Fish Illegally

OTTER TAIL COUNTY, Minn. (WCCO) — A DNR conservation officer recently caught an angler with nearly 250 more fish than the legal limit.

Conservation officer of Evansville, Minn., caught a man, 69, of Carlos, Minn., as the man was pulling his portable fish house off West Spitzer Lake in Otter Tail County.

When the Conservation officer  visited the man’s home, along with other conservation officers, they found 22 frozen half-gallon cardboard containers, six plastic bags and several loose fish and fish filets.

The cache totaled 228 sunfish, seven bass and six northern pike more than the legal limit. The fish restitution value is $1,560.

Due to an overlimit law that took effect in March 2003, the suspect, if convicted, forfeits his or her fishing license for three years. The person also faces up to $3,000 in fines and one year in jail.

The Otter Tail County man is scheduled to appear in Douglas County Court in February.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND catch of 49 Red Snapper and two bait fish

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (March 24)- A catch of 49 Red Snapper and two bait fish are displayed after six Mexican fishermen were caught illegally fishing in U.S. waters north of the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday. Approximately 14 lancha boats were spotted illegally fishing on a routine patrol by a Coast Guard jet. Most of the lanchas fled into Mexican waters. U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Station South Padre Island.

Murray's River Matters - Fined $3367 plus court costs

A Meningie man has been convicted and fined for taking 143 undersized Mulloway in the Coorong area.

A Meningie man (for name of man click here) was fined $3367 plus court costs, and required to forfeit 370kg of fish – including almost 20kg of undersize Mulloway – and nine mullet nets.

The bulk of the 143 undersize Mulloway seized ranged between 21cm to 28 cm, well below the minimum size limit of 46cm inside the Coorong. Outside the Coorong in coastal waters a 75cm minimum size limit applies.

The 54 year-old was detected by Fisheries Officers in November last year and appeared in the Murray Bridge Magistrates’ Court last week, pleading guilty to the possession of undersized fish.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Senior Fisheries Officer, Dave Grant, said he was disappointed the man – who had 25 years previous experience in the commercial fishing industry – had ignored the minimum size limit for Mulloway.

“It is unacceptable behaviour by a person who had been involved in the commercial fishing industry for such a long time, and his conviction sends a strong message to people that wish to ignore the legislation,” Mr Grant said.

“The real issue was that he was taking clearly undersize fish which could have a significant impact on the breeding stock for future generations,” Mr Grant said.

Suspicious or illegal fishing activity can be reported through the 24 hour FISHWATCH number on 1800 065 522. Callers can choose to remain anonymous.