seals [pests or a good omen]

[paulthespark]

when i've been fishing the shore line like every one else on this forum ,you often see a seal pop it's head up out of the water , the comments from the lads fishing when this happens, for me is amusing.you get the usual [i wish the f/cking thing would f/ck off, to if i had a gun i would shoot the ******* and every other derogery comment about seals in between] for me to see a seal or seals in the area you are fishing tells you one thing, fish are about and i dont't think they scare the fish away any more than mackerel scare sprats away, the fish that,s been hunted just ball up and when the threat has passed return to feeding on more smaller pray than themselves.i've often been fishing for mackerel when seals are about and have never had a problem hooking them on my lures ,the mackerel that is ,not seals.i think if you have a healthy seal population in your area you also have a healthy stock of fish. and remember lads we fish for the enjoyment of it, our seals really are do it for a living,apart from all that i just like to watch them.

[northeast1]

I dont mind them and would never consider harming one but in my opinion if a seal is kicking about and i was a little fish..no way would i be in the area.

Ow and i seen a seal on a wreck on Sat and we had 4 drifts for only 1x 3lb codling so it either chomped the lot or nothing about

They do eat alot of fish but we cant lay claim to the whole sea, if in doubt pack up your gear and move abit further away.

[SnaggedUpLad]

I thought that same thing, fish have got to be there but then I heard the other side, imagine pulling in a 10lber then all of a sudden the line goes slack or the it feels like a bus on the line (seal hooked) then it will be annoying, especially if you had 40 straight through could snap your rod etc.... just the other side of the arguement like.

[drof46]

Weeeell,

I've fished around the North-East and much further afield for more than thirty years and I accept that the presence of a seal indicates the presence of fish (otherwise they'd simply f--- off if there was nowt to eat) BUT, I've NEVER caught a decent fish whilst there's been a seal aboot!

Mevvies I've just been unlucky, but there you hev it!

[anthfo]

Was in jarrow tyne last night. I still caught 2 little codlins. Was there for a while two .

[Blanketyblank]

I thought that same thing, fish have got to be there but then I heard the other side, imagine pulling in a 10lber then all of a sudden the line goes slack or the it feels like a bus on the line (seal hooked) then it will be annoying, especially if you had 40 straight through could snap your rod etc.... just the other side of the arguement like.

That happened to me a few years back fishing for pollack over The Mull of Galloway. I was into a fish and i had it about half the way in.. then BANG!! I nearly sh$t meself....The drag on my reel was clamped down tight and whatever it was still managed to ripp line from me reel. Then my line went tighter and CRACK the line parted. I thought a tope had picked up the fish then i found out what it was..A huge grey seal with the pollack in its mits on the surface, juggling on it trying to get a bite out of it. It seen me and it was away like a shot.

[fishing bairn]

Seals are a pest and there is no arguments about it.
Last year a seal was terroising blyth pier attacking all the floats and scaring all the fish away.

[nemosharktale]

bout time they got culled.

[northeast1]

They prob think the same about us.

[nemosharktale]

They prob think the same about us.

thats mayb so but they cant do it like alot of fisherman are culling them right now least if they brought a cull in it would be done right insted of a big stone a back of the head 2 or 3 times or 2 or 3 shot gun blasts at them.

[paulthespark]

the reason there is a scarcity of fish in our waters is not because of the seals, the real reason is human greed.

[megmoss]

seals

As far as im concerned ,,if you see a seal in front of you ,you can forget about any fish being in the area.Theyve desimated the salmon & seatrout in our local waters.The speed they travel and the distance they can cover under water has to be seen to be belived.There is far to many of the b......ds.I for one would be in favour of a cull as long as it was done properly.

[paulthespark]

i have to disagree with you megmoss it's us human beings ,who have desimated the stocks of salmon ,trout ,cod ,herring,tuna,sandeels do you want me to go on, not the seals.

[sage]

i have never caught fish when seals have been present....but also i think that there should be a balance between seals and fish stocks....here are my thoughts on the subject.....we all know that man has ravaged the worlds fish stocks...so in our area we are seeing seals where we rarely saw them before....now are they hunting for fish further a field away from their own territory........i know thats exactly what i have done this season.............i have fished from the spurn to the borders this season............( i am from durham) in order to catch cod......if the fish numbers keep dropping.....eventually the seal population will start to starve....natural selection i think is the term....but this will take a long time ...so i think man has to intervene by managing the sea a lot better...and each country that has a fishing fleet should take responsibility....no overfishing....no disposing of fish over board...surely someone will buy them......sensible fish quotas for all vessels.......not quite sure of quantities for each species / country as i dont know enough about that...so no comment on that one yet......and last of all yes.... i think there should be seal cull in some places.......in my opinion a managed enviroment is always a healthier enviroment........one example is where abouts are all the best and most beautiful places.....all the large country estates which are managed and give this country its outstanding beauty and areas of prolific wild life.....just my thoughts

[SnaggedUpLad]

As far as im concerned ,,if you see a seal in front of you ,you can forget about any fish being in the area.Theyve desimated the salmon & seatrout in our local waters.The speed they travel and the distance they can cover under water has to be seen to be belived.There is far to many of the b......ds.I for one would be in favour of a cull as long as it was done properly.

i agree seals area problem but calling for a cull is a bit steep, its the natural world, to kill something to gain a few fish won't be worth owt... playing the cod game all winter and catching 1 good fish all year once every so often aint bad, going out every season and coming back with enough cod for a chippy is pointless. It also defeats the purpose of "hunting" which is what we do.
Plus you can't blame a animal thats lived on our shores for as long as we've been around.