Seal robs mathew

[big cod]

Over the years in past festival seals have caused havoc and have took fish which would have won festivals this has happened on no les then 3 occasions in major compettions on my vessel where a seal has took a fish yesterday was no exception but the fish wouldnt have won the 1st prize of £5000 but would probably have took 2nd which is £1000 mathew a regular on sea- otter 2 was winding what he thought was a fish which would have got him amoung the main prizes in the festival his rod was bouncing around and i new he had a very good fish on he managed to get it well past half way up when all a sudden his line started to shoot off his reel at speed instantly i thought no not a seal i was right i told all the lads to wind up as quick as possible so i could set the boat off towards the seal i told mathew to keep good tension on his line without giving it to much pressure seals have to come up for air and can tire quite easy it was cat and mouse with it for for about 15 minuites mathew did a great job keep pressure on his line and giving line when needed eventually the seal got sick and let go of the ling matt got his fish but the seal had allready took out its stomach and guts the fish in my oppinion would have been at least 3lb heavier it still weighed over 15lb which won the last days daily prize but it could have been so much different poor mat wasnt very happy with the seal and now has took a dislike to them i wonder why .

Mathew with his ling after the struggle.

PAUL.

 

[billyturbot]

Ouch £6000 lost bet he was gutted (no pun intended)

 

[big ling]

Very unlucky Paul.

 

[canman]

Great descriptive report, so that fish lost a canny few £s & lbs. Must of been very frustrating and not much more you could have done.

 

[Paul_h]

I know what you mean Paul, we had a seal on a wreck and it took 5 from us, just picking it up mid water and shooting off like a rocket.

bad luck on Mathew especially on a prize winning fish.

Paul

 

[jameswlong1941]

Seals.

Seals.

A great report Paul m8 but shocking to see fish landed in the state it was in and with seals being around they are nothing but pests and very annoying grabbing fish thats on line as to me they are not fast enough to catch the fish while they are swimming freely so they rob you of your catch and i think they should be killed of as there are too many of them nowadays.I cannot stand seals being around while i am fishing as if i see them i move elsewhere so hard luck m8 and better luck next time m8.