Weirdest Ever Day Fishing––Near Ring Co, Waterford

People: Me

Venue: Beach near Ring

Tackle: Various rigs, though pennell pulley mostly.

Bait: Mackerel, sandeel, frozen crab

Like a true tackle slut, I was seduced by Veals' offer of a Greys G-Mag multiplier 6 or 7 for £99. So, when my G-Mag 7 arrived during the week, I was only itching to out it through its paces over a rough-ground beach that I'd been meaning to fish for a while as I'd never had a chance before.

Anyway, the day started off disastrously when the car wouldn't start. Despite the well-meaning but utterly misguided advice of someone who doesn't the inside of a car from the dark side of the moon, I finally figured it was the battery and got the wretched thing jump started from the other car––though by now I'd wasted three good hours of fishing time, so my plan of fishing from low to high was knocked on the head.

When I finally got to the beach, things only got better, as it was a lot rougher ground than I remembered, and I lost two traces plus shock leader over the first two casts. In an effort to move away from whatever was snagging me, I went further up the beach. And it was here that the weirdness began.

Once I'd humped all my gear up the beach and cast out, I noticed a sight that makes the heart of every angler sink––a seal's head bobbing up and down between the waves. I debated going somewhere else, but as I'd lost so much time already, I decided to stick it out. The thing was, though, that the seal wasn't going away; in fact, he was staring at me from a thirty yard distance, if seals can stare. And then it was 20. And then it was 10. And then he was hauling himself up the beach towards me. At first I thought the smell of the mack might have drawn him in, but I tried feeding him and he wouldn't take any. Instead, he started rooting around in my bags like he was looking for something else. All of this was charming enough, but I started to get a bit sick of when he began to gnaw my wellies (while I was wearing them) and bark at me. I moved twenty yards back the beach, but he was worse than mutt and he followed me there too.

Eventually, seeing as I wasn't catching anything, I decided to pack it and I went home. For all I know, the seal is still there, waiting for me to come back. Or worse, some stormy night I'll hear a flippery thump at the front door and a throaty 'woof', and it won't be the neighbour's dog ...

Anyway, just in case no one believes me, see the pics below.

Lodore.

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looks like a seal pup had the same thing happen to me about 3 or 4 months ago near courtown went to feed it same thing didnt want it

is seal good bait

haha! you got scared off the beach by a baby seal

haha! you got scared off the beach by a baby seal

lol! Actually, was gonna take it home, pretend it was a really ugly baby, and claim child benefit for it; but seeing as Biffo and his chums are about to get rid of that as well as everything else, I didn't bother.

Thats a wierd one alright. From the look of the sand and shingle, I've an idea where you might have been (twisty road down to it?) and if I'm right, its a spot that always had a couple of resident seals. Looks like theyre breeding now...

I reckon he thought you were his ma!

Thats a wierd one alright. From the look of the sand and shingle, I've an idea where you might have been (twisty road down to it?) and if I'm right, its a spot that always had a couple of resident seals. Looks like theyre breeding now...

Good detective work there, Hugo. It is indeed the beach you describe (for there can be only one such windy road!). I was told by the resident old man and his dog that there was people catching decent bass there, so I didn't want to advertise it in case there were more skillful anglers than me making something of the place. Don't suppose you know anything about it fishing-wise––i.e. baits, species, tides etc.? Then again, if there's a resident seal colony, I guess fishing might be kind of pointless ...

I reckon he thought you were his ma!

Y'know, it crossed my mind: I was wearing navy to black oil skins, and I reckon from a distance I might have looked a bit like a seal. Glad he wasn't an orca or a great white shark

jeese man. that's a weird one alright did you spot any adult seals when you were there? it takes very little for the adults to abandon their young for some reason

jeese man. that's a weird one alright did you spot any adult seals when you were there? it takes very little for the adults to abandon their young for some reason

No, just him and me on the beach. Wouldn't have said no to a few fish to make the zoo a little bit more diverse, but 'twas not to be. All the same, looks like we'll have to send a few social workers out to those negligent seal parents. I reckon they find fishing more fun than bringing up the kids

Yep definitely a very young seal pup. Still has its baby pelt. I'm sure it was hungry but wouldn't take the mack as its probably still on the milk. Wouldn't know what to do with a fish. Unfortunately his prospects aren't to good being abandoned so young.

great photos pity no fishies hopefully it will improve a bit during the week

jeese man. that's a weird one alright did you spot any adult seals when you were there? it takes very little for the adults to abandon their young for some reason

Apparently if a young seal pup comes to the shore and makes human contact the scent of human makes the mammy and daddy seals not bring back babi seal into the big blue sea

iv had some very nice recipies for fresh seal on this forum earlier in the season 1000000 eskimos cant be wrong the stirfry
looked lovely dont they look cute when there pups wait till next season and hes pulling fish off your rigs who will be the cute one then

you could have tried breast feeding owch

:lol: great photos pity no fishies hopefully it will improve a bit during the week

Cheers Seanie. I reckon Wednesday's spring tide (I think it's Wednesday anyway) will wash out the million gallons of fresh that have been dumped in lately and maybe the fish will start feeding again.

you could have tried breast feeding owch

I've been called a tit a fair bit in my life, but I never knew that this was what people meant