fish robbing creatures in the sea????

went out last night to my favourite Bass mark and managed to land 2 but hooked into 4 more "Bassy" looking bites but lost them on the way in. id hook into a fish, get it very close to the beach then id feel a fairly big pull, it would only pull for about 5-10 seconds then it would be gone. each time the hook would be perfect and still sharp enough to use again. it was doin my head in. it was like i had a fish of about 2-3lbs on the way in, then about 15 yards out it felt like it was about 9-10lbs and then gone

about 20mins before i lost the first fish i noticed 3 sets of eyes on the beach about 40 yards away from me. ive seen foxes here before and twice with cubs so presumed that was what it was. i could also hear them screeching, it was a little like a young pups whine but more high pitched and lasted longer than a bark(if that makes sense??). then after the 3rd fish was gone i saw the eyes in the water. every time id seen the foxes they would only go in about 6 inches deep and not much further. i waded out a little to have a look and whatever it was, was in the surf about the distance of where i reckoned i was loosing fish. then as a little wave rolled in i saw another 3 sets looking at me with one about 3 yards to my left. to say i nearly soiled myself is an understatement and i legged it. i couldnt make them out properly but the looked a little like a cat but longer and otters came to mind. they were screeching/barking again as if they were calling to each other. i got a bit of courage again and went out for another look but couldnt get close enough for a pic.
i got no more bites after that so packed up.

i reckoned they were otters but after a quick search on google i found that there are supposedly no otters in the sea in Ireland so im stumped at what the little buggers were. all i know is they got 4 free fish from me

any ideas??

just did another search and found that we do have coastal otters and that " Rockling and wrasse dominate the diet of coastal otters while eel, sea scorpion, blenny and molluscs are also important" so maybe thats wahat they were after all. says nothing about Bass bein on their diet tho

I've heard plenty of stories about otters stealing fish off hooks, not sure if they taught the seals or the other way around but they both seem to be letting us do the hard work so they can have easy pickings.
their calls sound almost like whistling

I see otters all the time...but they usually clear off quickly.
Never seen them stare at you like that...creepy!
Or rob fish!

On this gettin a fright subject, i once saw a pair of eyes coming towards me on the beach (shining in my headtorch light) and as they got closer i noticed a big hairy shape coming and i was freaked!
It turned out to be a very social Irish wolf hound!!
Out for a stroll?

the calls were a bit wierd, probably more like a whistling than a screech. best way to describe it is a cross between a sea gull and flipper the dolphin .

im gonna assume they were otters. they didnt seem too bothered by me, only thing that seemed to frighten them was the flash from the camera when i tried to get a picture. they'd disapear but kept comming back 5 mins later. cant really complain tho as i was on their turf i suppose.

as for the dogs on the beach, about a month ago in the same spot i saw 2 big things running towards me and panting hard. turned out to be 2 himalayan mountain dogs, big fellas they were too. frightened the life out of me till i realised what they were. theres a few of them in a house near me and there a friendly enough breed but look a bit scary running towards ya on a dark beach at 1 in the morning.

Sounds like otters alright we have them on a couple of marks around Galway Bay never had one take a fish before though.....

nearly another new species for you Den,

ya there are a few in mayo too,but never had them after my fish mabye someone is feeding them making them braver than most

nearly another new species for you Den,

ha ha, i could have made up a live bait rig with a size 10 hook and shown them whos the boss!!!!!! like i said tho, i was on their turf. all the fish would have gone back anyway but if i had landed them theyd have gone back alive. 4 fish of 2/3lbs seems a lot for 4 small otters to be eating. there might have been more tho but thats all i saw.

ya there are a few in mayo too,but never had them after my fish mabye someone is feeding them making them braver than most

dunno, ive never seen them there before and ive been on this beach a good bit in the last few months and never heard of them being around either.

tis a strange one indeed.

use a 10/0, freeline a mackerel into the surf, wait for the bang, reel in, skin it, and give the mrs a shiny new scarf. your happy becuase its no longer robbing your bass, shes happy cause her friends are jealous of her boutique style fashion accessory

if it sounded like a whistle.....then it was otters.....deffo.....

I would say they were otters too.
A few months ago I was fishing a beach in West Waterford. I saw a small dark head out in the surf looking at me. After a while it body surfed on a wave onto the beach about 30 m down from me. I went over to have a look but it swam back out. Close to dusk it came back out of the water and ran up the beach.

Fortunately I didn't have a problem with it stealing my fish - although I think all I got that night were a few dogfish.

what about mink - could be about also?