California Man Dragged Under His Boat By Hungry Sea Lion

In many of our favorite fishing grounds, sea lions are a common sight, and they can also be notorious bait hounds. However, a 62 year old California man found out the hard way that you shouldn’t stand in the way of a sea lion and his dinner.

The man was fishing in Mission Beach Channel near San Diego when he caught the fish of the day, and naturally posed for a picture with the fish hanging a little too close to the side of the boat. The opportunistic sea lion then suddenly attacked the fish – and ended up inadventently grabbing the man’s hand and dragging him underwater.

“It was estimated that he was in the water for 15 to 20 seconds. At that point the sea lion let go and he was able to jump back into his boat,” Lt. John Sandmeyer of the San Diego lifeguards told the Los Angeles Times. “He was in pretty good shape, so there was no near-drowning potential but it was just a scary event.”

Although he was taken to a local hospital for minor lacerations he is expected to be fine. Check out the full news story below:

[h/t YouTube]

This story makes us think about a trip a few years ago to Cabo San Lucas…the Red Tuna crew was returning from a successful striped marlin trip when our remaining caballitos (large jackfish-like baits) where eaten by this guy…the notorious Pancho, who seemingly eats dozens of baits every day. Apparently he is the only sea lion who ventures into the harbor to beg for bait…