Seal Etiquette

When the seal arrives is it time to go home?
Will all the fish in an area scarper when the seal arrives? Usually I take it as a sign to wrap things up and move on. Ive had fish taken my line on the retrieve, Ive hauled in half fish, Ive had mack bait taken off hooks when hunting for conger. My biggest fear would be hooking the seal, losing my gear possibly my rod and risk injuring the seal. I usually haul all my gear in incase the seal tries to chomp on my bait and get hooked. Theyre smarter then they look because Ive felt my rod bend knowing its the seal because theres no 200lb fish in Dalkey! and retrieve my gear sans bait.

Has anyone ever hooked or snagged on a seal. Do they drive away all the fish away? What do people do? Leave theyre gear in the water? I can imagine that lure fishing would be risky incase they mistook it for a live fish.

The most impressive thing Ive seen was about 1000 mackerel go air borne out of the water in colliemore and two hungry seal leap up afer them.

Anyways, let me know!

I normally take it as a sign that there must be fish about.... seen em down in Dunlaoghaire Harbour munching on some huge Pollock just out from where i was fishing.... B******ds

One took a small pollock from a treble hook fly at least 6 times in one day. He never even touched the fly.

theres usually 2 of them in rosscarberry in west cork. anytime i was tryin for mack in the summer they were there. they usually stayed in cloce to the shore and if a mack was hooked theyd pounce as it got close. i'd be reeling in like my life depended on it and all of a sudden the rod would go left or right and line would come flying off. if you were lucky you'd still have the lure or feathers still attached.
i was at another rock mark before christmas and we were getting plenty of good sized whiting. a small shoal of dolphins(5 or 6) apeared and the fish seemed to disapear.

If theres seals patroling the area there is fish in that area.


Carpets hooked into a seal last year.
Now that was quite a story !

i think its more got to do with the mood theyre in!

if its mack season and they are chasing them well then youre going to get into trouble with them taking hooked mack or even rigs on you

probably best to leave it - i remember one time a lad had hooked a seal and was pulling for ages - the seal came to the top of the water and you could see the trace stuck in its side eventually the line broke and the rig stayed stuck onto it!

in other not so feverish feeding frenzies i had seals knocking about and still caught - pollack, wrasse whiting

another day spinning i had 3 bass with 5 seals showing up in the water

so i think it depends if they are feeding hard - or already had their fill - maybe they are curios also to see what you are at!

If theres seals patroling the area there is fish in that area.


Carpets hooked into a seal last year.
Now that was quite a story !

Was it like this one Danny

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If theres seals patroling the area there is fish in that area.


Carpets hooked into a seal last year.
Now that was quite a story !

Was it like this one Danny

Classic

On one of my local marks you can use seal activity to predict the arrival of bass. I've had them chase lures and they can become a pain but most of the time they stay far enough away (150-200m) to allow you and fish away. Once they're far enough away, they don't seem to disturb the bass.

had one take a full mack and thought i had a tope on reeled in the remains of my bait and three of them poped out their heads not 5 feet in front of me frightened the bejasus outta me (it was pitch black and i was alone) they can be a pain but i woulnt move because of one just reel in very fast if i hook a fish

managed 2 catch one, was out fishing for macks an he managed to hook himself and had a great fight with him goin left then right out and down. fougth with him for 5mins before he managed to snap the line.
seriously a great figth and my arm was hanging of me for days

hasn't released a decent single since Crazy.

was fishing beside two lads when he got hooked up on a seal while retreiving a fish, gave him one hell of a fight. he managed to get him close to the pier twice before the seal decided play time was over and made run for deep water, nearly took the lad with him only the line gave way. i wouldnt pack up if i see them just reel in baits and fish as quick as i can, as it can liven things up a bit

love the sight of seals as they eat a lot of fish they not be seen in areas where there is no fish can also understand why they hated when nets full of prime fish come up just heads left in net rest of fish gone

I think its a curiosity thing because most of the time they just come to the edge of a water and just stare at me (they're whores for the camera too) I presume its the scent trail from the bait that brings them in. And Ive also had the beejaysus scared out of me when one popped up right infront of me to have a snap at a doggie I was reeling in. But I guess they are a sign of a good fish population in the area so Ill leave the clubs in the car

fishing in Balscadden years ago a guy showed me how to deal with a seal.#

Take an empty 2 litre or similar plastic bottle, screw on the lid tight, add a metre or two of heavy duty gut to it. Using a baiting need thread the gut right through a fresh mackerel and tie the other end to the screw cap / top. Whip it rough the head and gills for extra security. Toss into the sea. Seal takes mackerel down, followed by bottle. Seal goes to manouvre fish to eat it, bottle pulls fish up to surface. Seal pops up, takes fish...

Hours of entertainment and you can reel in your fish without any bother...

While bass fishing, contrary to what you'd expect, if there's a seal about there's bass about. I've caught bass within minutes of casting my lure at roughly the same distance as the seal was. Last year while float fishing I had a unmerciful take with my float disappearing at knots. I struck and with the rod doubled over the line screamed off to the left at fierce pace. I thought I was into a fish of a lifetime, when after about 100yds a young seal popped up with my mackeral in his mouth. I managed to yank the mack out and retrieved the gear as fast as I could with the seal in hot pursuit. I could see him coming towards me like a torpedo. He only turned away as I lifted the gear into the boat. Luckily the mack was still alive and caught me a fine bass later on.

we've never had a problem with them from the shore, but fishing for macks from the boat is a different story. they would circle the boat in patient anticipation of someone hooking a full house and stripping the trace. but to be honest we were at bangor lots of times last summer fishing from the breakwater with them 5 feet from us, and we were still pulling in fish hand over fist. one of them got confident enough to swim over to us every time he watched us land a fish and jordan fed him the occasional mack. i had a few cross words with some numbnut on an antrim beach a few months back who spotted a seal 50 yards out in the general direction where he was cast. he began chucking golf ball sized stones at it complaining it would scare all the fish away. he was shocked to find that me and the angler to the other side of him were'nt too impressed with his actions and stopped. but it's sad that some people are so ignorant that stone chucking is fairly common place the shower of stones probably scared off more fish than the seal i'm far from being a tree hugger, but like all decent anglers i have a healthy respect of the marine enviroment i fish in. at the end of the day we are only fishing for fun, where as they're fishing for survival.

we've never had a problem with them from the shore, but fishing for macks from the boat is a different story. they would circle the boat in patient anticipation of someone hooking a full house and stripping the trace. but to be honest we were at bangor lots of times last summer fishing from the breakwater with them 5 feet from us, and we were still pulling in fish hand over fist. one of them got confident enough to swim over to us every time he watched us land a fish and jordan fed him the occasional mack. i had a few cross words with some numbnut on an antrim beach a few months back who spotted a seal 50 yards out in the general direction where he was cast. he began chucking golf ball sized stones at it complaining it would scare all the fish away. he was shocked to find that me and the angler to the other side of him were'nt too impressed with his actions and stopped. but it's sad that some people are so ignorant that stone chucking is fairly common place the shower of stones probably scared off more fish than the seal i'm far from being a tree hugger, but like all decent anglers i have a healthy respect of the marine enviroment i fish in. at the end of the day we are only fishing for fun, where as they're fishing for survival.

Well said Al.....

love the sight of seals as they eat a lot of fish they not be seen in areas where there is no fish can also understand why they hated when nets full of prime fish come up just heads left in net rest of fish gone

I know of a lot of Salmon drift net men who hate them with a passion. they reckon that once the seals find a net that the wait till there are Salmon in it and then proceed to take bites out of all of them and then sit and watch the fisherman haul his net

Most of the fishermen take Shotguns with them gust to "scare" them of.

By the way you can legally get a licence to shoot seals if they are damaging your fishing or gear