Out steelheading on the nf stilly and ran into a small (I think) mountain lion this morning. Was about the size of a large golden retriever but much meatier and had a huge tail. Scared the fuck out of me.
The river was pretty high due to the rain so I had to hike up in the woods to go upstream. When I dropped down to the river and broke thru the brush, just 8-10 yards upstream of me this dude was chilling on the gravel bar. I had seen about a dozen pink salmon carcasses/bones in the woods but I thought it was just a bear bringing them up as I have seen bear tracks on this run before. It was pretty clear I startled him too as he darted upriver and into the woods after making eye contact with me for a few seconds. I had never seen one before so I really don't know if it was a baby or was just a young adult (was afraid that the little shit might go run to momma).
Freaked me out regardless, and it seemed I scared him off too. After he turned around, I followed suit and ran away like a middle school girl back downstream. Pretty sure I peed a bit too. Don't think my little fillet knife would have done me much good. Got back to my car and drove a few miles downstream to fish someplace else. I was freezing cold before this and within a few minutes I was sweating. Pretty cool experience overall
Be careful out there....
The river was pretty high due to the rain so I had to hike up in the woods to go upstream. When I dropped down to the river and broke thru the brush, just 8-10 yards upstream of me this dude was chilling on the gravel bar. I had seen about a dozen pink salmon carcasses/bones in the woods but I thought it was just a bear bringing them up as I have seen bear tracks on this run before. It was pretty clear I startled him too as he darted upriver and into the woods after making eye contact with me for a few seconds. I had never seen one before so I really don't know if it was a baby or was just a young adult (was afraid that the little shit might go run to momma).
Freaked me out regardless, and it seemed I scared him off too. After he turned around, I followed suit and ran away like a middle school girl back downstream. Pretty sure I peed a bit too. Don't think my little fillet knife would have done me much good. Got back to my car and drove a few miles downstream to fish someplace else. I was freezing cold before this and within a few minutes I was sweating. Pretty cool experience overall
Be careful out there....