MISSING SEA TROUT?

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#1 Post by **captain AHAB** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:35 pm

anyone else notice a severe decline in sea trout numbers this year?.i fish most beaches/estuaries from laytown-howth but this year very few fish showing.i was thinking the explosion in seal population must have something to do with it ie. up to 20 seals @ skerries,20+ @ howth etc,all fat,hungry,greedy,useless lumps of fat.

#2 Post by **WrasseBasher** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:36 am

its more likely to do with fat greedy humans who trawl the sea and net the coast and rivers, the seals were here long before us and lived in balance with the eco system for thousands of years unlike humans who seem to only be able to upset the balance of nature. by yourself a good camera and get some photos of one of irelands remaining large mammals before it goes the way of the bears ,beavers, wolves, wild boar etc.... just a thought

#3 Post by **Tom Maher** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:42 am

or maybe the seals have learned how to use nets':wink:'

#4 Post by **shambobala** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:37 pm

captain AHAB wrote:,all fat,hungry,greedy,useless lumps of fat.

covers a lot of humanity that.

:D

#5 Post by **cd07** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:36 pm

Yes, there are far fewer sea trout about this year. i fish the same stretch of coast as you and havnt seen many about at all. As for the seals,theres way to many and when they catch the sea trout they dont even eat the whole fish. theres feck all mackerel around compared with this time last year too.

#6 Post by **corbyeire** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:21 am

could easily be the boat men in close to shore fishing the place out due to the price of diesel...

#7 Post by **fishermannum1** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:08 pm

still getting good catch's of them up my way, this year has been the best i'v seen in years 8) i only fish for them now on last hour of rising tide an half an hour or so after, manage to catch 2-4 trout each session, tho they do seem to be getting a bit on the small side this last few weeks, they are an average of 1/2lb to 3/4lb. but still good crack on light gear....

#8 Post by **captain AHAB** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:33 pm

yes plenty of tiddlers around here too as the seals only take the large juicy ones.up till this year there were plenty of fish in the 2-6lb range and some much bigger.nobody nets fish along the shoreline that i fish and although its possible they,ve been netted further down the coast its highly unlikely.an adult seal must need at least 50kg fish per day,and with maybe 200+ seals between drogheda and howth our baas and sea trout fishing days look to be numbered.a cull is probably on the cards and the sooner the better before its too late. :x [/url][/list][/quote][/u]

#9 Post by **captain AHAB** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:34 pm

yes plenty of tiddlers around here too as the seals only take the large juicy ones.up till this year there were plenty of fish in the 2-6lb range and some much bigger.nobody nets fish along the shoreline that i fish and although its possible they,ve been netted further down the coast its highly unlikely.an adult seal must need at least 50kg fish per day,and with maybe 200+ seals between drogheda and howth our baas and sea trout fishing days look to be numbered.a cull is probably on the cards and the sooner the better before its too late. :x [/url][/list][/quote][/u]

#10 Post by **corbyeire** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:58 pm

yes dont get any data to back this up...

do you have any?

maybe go like the trawler men down in kerry and get the shot guns out

ive heard the whole fleet down there can reach their quotas all over again now that they took the seals out of it :roll:

give me more than a whim if you think a cull will solve the problem

id say it has far more to do with overfishing/pollution than the seals

#11 Post by **captain AHAB** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:43 pm

its just my opinion,i dont have any data but when i started fishing 25 years ago and up until only a few years ago you`d be lucky to see 1 or 2 seals around harbours and certainly never around the mouths of shallow estuaries.i now regularly encounter groups of seals @ these spots gulping down fish after fish after fish(in as little as 4 feet water),it must have an impact and you cant deny the explosion in the seal population.pollution,although a problem,is not to blame and overfishing is unlikely as sea trout travel in shoals of upto 200,are targeted only by certain anglers and are fairly tricky to catch.

#12 Post by **anthony2carr** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:06 am

There may be a miriad of other reasons:
1) Water is warmer/colder this year in that location.
2) Area is polluted (Picky little buggers).
3) The housing prices in Dublin have dropped.

#13 Post by **shamoo0804** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:12 am

There may be a miriad of other reasons:
1) Water is warmer/colder this year in that location.
2) Area is polluted (Picky little buggers).
3) The housing prices in Dublin have dropped.

Dont forget the increasing price of fuel, can they afford to travel this far :?:

teacher · #14 Post by **teacher** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:48 pm

I spoke to someone in the Irish Seal Sanctuary about this and looked at the NPWS seal census.

Seals are not fast enough to catch healthy salmon and sea trout in the open sea. They can only catch injured or dying fish or fish caught in nets. (Taking fish from nets seems to be a significant source of food, or was until the draft net ban came in.) They may be able to corner sea trout in estuaries.

Also, teh NPWS census suggests only a small possible inclrease in population (possible because the data prior to 2005 is not good). For example, it looks like the population near Dublin increased by just 15% (estimate) between 1995 and 2005. At least that's my reading of the data.

I have not noticed a significant increase in visibility in the North Wexford area. There were good numbers of seals in evidence as far back as I can remember.

#15 Post by **pete** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:36 pm

"Seals are not fast enough to catch healthy salmon and sea trout in the open sea," whoever told you that Jonathan is talking bollocks :roll: I've seen seals pop up their heads a number of times with perfectly healthy salmon between their gobs. I've lost count of the many times I've seen them chasing salmon in the tidal pool of the river near the gaff.

teacher · #16 Post by **teacher** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:45 pm

pete wrote:"Seals are not fast enough to catch healthy salmon and sea trout in the open sea," whoever told you that Jonathan is talking bollocks

I'll pass that on to him ;)

They did qualify qualified it by saying "in the open sea". They can obviously feed on s/t&s in shallow water and confined areas (e.g. estuaries). I've seen it myself in areas where the s/t gather between rocky reefs.

Sea Angling Ireland