October 5th, 2023: This whole post is just an excuse to show off this one grainy photo of my coho guzzling competition. I was out at the usual spot for crabs but there were a couple big, male sea lions lurking about. I would have completely missed the event but it took a surprisingly long time for him to pin down and get the salmon properly aligned for the big slurp. Long enough for sea gulls to converge and make an awful racket and for a distracted crabber to abandon his pot and pedal over. 
I don't begrudge him his salmon but I also find myself cheering for the Bigg's orcas to help keep the overall population of sea lions in check. While our resident southern orcas are endangered due to their picky eating (almost exclusively chinook salmon), the Bigg's don't turn up their noses at all sorts of marine mammals. Who knows, maybe someday the orcas will figure out how to get at the raft of lions that camp on the floating pier leading into the Ballard Locks. Can't be much harder than making waves to wash seals off of sea ice. That said, its also not a big leap for them to figure out that frito loving kayakers pack a pretty good calorie density too...