Extremely unfortunate little dogfish, 27 Feb 2011.

[cathalger]

Last week it was a stickleback sticking out of the throat of a pollack, this week there was a 10cm dogfish with most of the skin digested off it in a pollacks gut and what could be the remains of a herring( tiny bit of very silver skin remains).

The pollack was caught on a spinner off a Co Antrim rock mark and was only 1lb 3oz. There is very little of the wee dogs skin left but a bit near the tail. I dont think I'll bother trying to decide whether this is LSD or GSD, for all I know its a baby great white.

Kind of ironic, discussion took place during the week about Dogs eating up the juveniles of other species, something which could well be a problem in certain areas but I never expected to pull a juvenile dog out of a pollack.

The list of species being taken from pollacks throats is getting longer, last Spring a friend took a 21cm salmon smolt from a 2.5lb pollacks throat.

[Danny M.]

The little doggie is a cool looking little yoke.

Strange what some fish regurgitate !

[tight lines]

it goes to show when your hungry you will eat anything great photos and nice pollock

[lucky]

nice one .. cracking photos... so will we take it that dog fish can be used as bait from now on.....

[Jayball10]

Excellent photos. Id say there will be a few people chopping up dogs this week... I have heard of them being used as bait before.

[chuckaroo]

good stuff cathal. great pics
most fish will have a go at anything that they can get into their mouths. opportunists
or.. hungry gets!

[gfkelly1969]

well done cathal lovely pollack,great photos,that doggie must be just out of the mermaids purse

[saving private brian]

well done.good job that 1 wasnt taken home

[Sweetwrasse]

Great photos Wonder how a baby doggie soft-plastic lure would do?!

[fishy1987]

belter of a pollack there!the doggie is a pity alright though!nice one on the good session though

[Al and Jordan]

more great pollack fishing again cathal . pics are top class as always mate i have wee rubber lures like that. i'll have to give them a chuck

[Donnyboy1]

Crazy stuff allright, great fishing also

[roger de dodger]

i was out on the boat with denis and got a codling into the boat that threw up a cotton bud i think thats why they advise you not to stick em into your ear canal too far after all canal,s always have fish in em

[polmac]

nice one lad, some good pics there

[Cormdogg]

I think that winner for smallest dogfish! Strange how you rarely catch tiny doggies

[cathalger]

Thanks for the flood of responses, yeah it was an interesting one, its a pity the tiny doggie was in the state of decomposition it was in, itd have been nice to have got pics of it with its skin still on. Ger Id say your right and it isnt that long out of the purse, I wonder just how small they are when newly hatched, this is definitely the youngest one Ive seen.

Aye Roger a cotton bud! Very good.

[pete]

Class, cool looking wee fish First time i've seen one that size, hard to figure out what the heck happens to them after hatching to when we start catching the normal ones. Small ones seem to be rare as hens teeth.

[Bryan1]

i was out on the boat with denis and got a codling into the boat that threw up a cotton bud i think thats why they advise you not to stick em into your ear canal too far after all canal,s always have fish in em

nice one rodger have to say never seen a baby lsd, in any fish never thought another fish would be interested in them. you live & learn.

[cathalger]

nice one .. cracking photos... so will we take it that dog fish can be used as bait from now on.....

Hi lucky, it was unexpected alright but Im starting to gather that pollack arent picky eaters, as Charlie says, quite rightly- opportunistic. I reckon if a swallowable sized fish strays into the vision of a pollack they get it into their stomachs and ask questions later. . A predator in every sense of the word. Not a fussy fish, thankfully, makes for a sporting fish for the likes of us!

Heres the 2lb 9oz fish that had the salmon smolt stuck in its throat last May. It was caught on a rubber eel fished from a boat by a friend of mine, an SAI member. Itd be interesting to know what proportion of young salmon heading off to the feeding grounds befall this fate? Would also be nice to know where the wee salmon was spawned, ie which river. Could have been the Glenarm near where it was caught but could just as easily have been the Boyne, Liffey or Slaney, Dargle, Fane, God only knows. Could be English or Welsh???

Its also interesting that these gorbs take a lure when theres already a food item stuck in their throat that they cant properly swallow. I once caught a good pollack on a lure and there was a half pound mackerel sticking out of its throat.
Gorbs. How do they intend to swallow another thing when their throat is blocked?