Has this ever happend anyone.....

I got a cracking take on Saturday night, rod bouncing in the tripod. Struck it and the rod doubled over and the fish ran to the left. Immediatly I thought it was a Bass. The rod continued to bounce as I reeled the fish in all the time thinking "Dont come off, please dont come off". Convinced I had hooked what felt like a 3Ib bass........
As it came through the surf you can imagine my surprise when I saw a doggie. I checked to see if it was a smoothie but no it was definitly a doggie..! I wanna know who sold this fish speed...!

Much of a Tide Run where ur Fishing mate? Maybe the Critter just Rolled down at speed with the Tide?

No tide run at all. Didnt need grippers. This mental fish just took off on one. Not the typical doggie "fight"..

Ok.... I'll Join in, Who's been Selling Speed to the Doggies? :lol:

i've had the very odd doggie that has given a good fight.. it's very rare it happens but it does..out of the hundreds(probably thousands) of doggies ive caught i can only recollect about 3 that have put up fight..

just what you think you have a good fish, a doggie apears.. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Yeah exactly...! I feel robbed..! He wasnt even a big doggie but fair play to him. If all doggies fought like this dude the world would be a happy place.

1st dogfish I ever caught put up a great scrap - I couldn't understand why everyone was so annoyed by them.

Still don't to be honest - better than blanking...!

I couldn't understand why everyone was so annoyed by them.

The reason I get annoyed with them is they feel such a dead weight on the line with the occasional kick, and it feels like you've hooked something bigger only to see a ball of sandpaper coming out of the sea :roll: :) ,better than blanking I suppose but they just remind me of the rats of the sea!

the boys in conservation thread wont like me for this - but would they be any use as bait - havent heard of it - or even for ground feeding and the like :?:

A Woofer on a 10/0! Skate bait!

i like the way you think drew - i really do :lol:

Big Phil reckons they use doggies as a skate bait in Scotland. Should work the same here. So that's at least one use for them. And if anything, they've increased in number over the last few years as far as I can see. That says something about the value of having NO commercial value....

Don't mind doggies that much, a very nice looking fish IMO. Just absolutely hate unhooking them so after 2 or 3 have had my limit. Plus its annoying when you are targeting more interesting fish and they allways get to the bait first!

col

yea well this is the ecologist coming out in me - so if the doggies are going up do they selectively predate anything or is that why they are so easy to catch as they feed on anything

they have to be outcompeting other species with the lack of them but have to be depleting some food source :?:

They're not fussy eaters and I suspect that they are expanding to fill the niche left by other fish that have been reduced in number by commercial exploitation. Who knows what that might be doing to the food web...

Yip i agree and am convinced they survive the nets too due to being indestructable. All the other small fish die, they go back in and have a good munching, grow to the same silly size as every other doggy and then go about their day. They must love trawlers. 'Look theres a net quick! me first no me!' Thats why they don't put up a fight. They are too cute and have the whole thing sussed... You must have caught a mongo dogfish that was'nt clued in. Either that or he must smell or something or was a spanish mut who did'nt know the lingo :D 8)

As it came through the surf you can imagine my surprise when I saw a doggie. I checked to see if it was a smoothie but no it was definitly a doggie..! I wanna know who sold this fish speed...!

How was it hooked. Foul hooked doggies can move around a bit.

I once foul hooked one in the claspers (tackle, not in the fishing sense) ... he moved about a fair bit, poor sod.

I took it on the strike just in the corner of the mouth. I too have had that before. Best was a 4Ib Bass i hooked in the tail with a spinner....holy crap. Unreal fight. Bot no, the Doggie was hooked normally.

Brave fish though, not nearly as skittish as Pollock, Bass. Mullet or flattie's when you meet them underwater..was sknoriling last week and 3 or tem circled around.... i guess they were trying to figure if you would fit in there mouths.

I seen em used as bait in Pots around these parts, some people eat em... the french probably have a recipe for em...

The line might have been fouled around the tail and unclipped as it left the water.. or maybe he was watching the World Cup and was trying to get back to his TV.....

You must have caught a mongo dogfish that was'nt clued in.

That's quality stuff Luke, couldn't imagine seeing that on the Irish Angler or Sea Angler help page. :D