After getting skunked at the Ship Canal on Sunday, I thought I would try fishing in the evening when things cool off, and see if the fish were biting more. Had much better luck this time. Started fishing about a half an hour before sunset, along the Fremont side of the canal. Caught 4 smallmouth, and 2 rockbass in a little over an hour. After it really started to get dark, I had a couple of good top water strikes where the water just exploded a few feet from shore. It was kind of startling in the dim light. Great fun!

As I was fishing in the shrubby area to the west, I saw something swimming toward me. It was just a small little head peeping out at first, and I was baffled as to what sort of creature it could be. As it passed me, it 's back came out the water, and I could see it was huge. but it was just too dark to tell exactly what it was. It finally came close to shore maybe twenty feet away, where some bushes were hanging out over the water. It craned its neck out of the water, and I finally realized it was a sea lion. If I didn't know any better, I would say it was eating blackberries off the bush. It then wandered off toward the bridge and I lost sight of it.

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