[Anton J P]

Well myself and my fishing bud Gus planned a trip to Dunwich this morning aiming to get there for around low water. I nearly called off as I woke at 4am ish with a rather unpleasant back pain that I was hoping would shake off pronto! Anyway after several strong cups of hot joe and a couple of painkillers I went for it.
We arrived to an empty car park to our surprise and made our way to our usual mark (myself still struggling with the back). We got to our mark and I just couldn’t get into the spirit whatsoever but told myself to pluck up the motivation. So I took a minute to take in the surroundings, the calmness of the water and proceeded to get going just before low water. I didn’t bother with any frozen again and armed with some lug & rag. One rod with a 2 hook flapper targeting the dabs & a pulley pen in the hope for anything else. I had a slow start but Gus had a double shot of either dab or whiting nearly every time. Must have been his new rigs he made, they did look pretty nice! Eventually I got off the mark with a few whiting that were tiny but saves a blank I told myself.
As the morning progressed, more anglers were arriving on the beach and plenty of walkers & e-bikers! Then the day for me especially went down hill.. first of all I hefted up which took me by surprise as I’ve never had been in that mark before and I thought there was no way that’s coming back but to my surprise it was coming in while I lowered the rod horizontally and walked up the beach. After 10 minutes of trying I eventually see what I had got caught up in…. a mass of fishing gear! What a mess it was. So re-rigged and got back out there then proceeded to pick through the bundle of gear and then we had a visit from a rather dam right rude dog walker trying to lecture us about fishing and how we were the cause of the low levels of fish in the oceans. To be honest Gus was taking most of the brunt but some of the stuff she was saying was terrible, I’m glad I bit my lip! That put me in an even more of a mood! Anyway, carried on fishing trying to put it behind me and then blow me I got hefted again but this definitely wasn’t budging so lost that gear. At that point I could have happily gone home! So I didn’t bother settling that rod up again and fished the one rod with the tings coming in whilst Gus was reaping the dabs. Come 12:30-13:00 we called it a day and to be honest I was glad to get home.
Gus must have had over half a dozen of dab with a lot of whiting and me just some tiny whiting. I’ve never felt like that before fishing and I hope it’s not a thing that’s going to reoccur as no matter what I’ve always enjoyed my time fishing. So I will go locally on Monday to go a press the reset button and hopefully have a better session and better frame of mind.
Tight lines
A

 

[Scuttlebutt]

These self rightious dog owners make me laugh as they actually know nothing about our sport. A trawler would discard more dead fish in a single trip than an angler would in a lifetime. I think I would have pointed out to her a few facts about dogs. How many people a year are killed by dogs, mostly kids. How many people are facially disfigured each year, again most kids. The fact that there are over 58 thousand unwanted dogs in this country because people discard them. The fact that so many people are now demanding bespoke dogs which are being bred deformed to fit what people want. Maybe she should look at her own world before finding fault with ours?

 

[Stevek65]

Well myself and my fishing bud Gus planned a trip to Dunwich this morning aiming to get there for around low water. I nearly called off as I woke at 4am ish with a rather unpleasant back pain that I was hoping would shake off pronto! Anyway after several strong cups of hot joe and a couple of painkillers I went for it.
We arrived to an empty car park to our surprise and made our way to our usual mark (myself still struggling with the back). We got to our mark and I just couldn’t get into the spirit whatsoever but told myself to pluck up the motivation. So I took a minute to take in the surroundings, the calmness of the water and proceeded to get going just before low water. I didn’t bother with any frozen again and armed with some lug & rag. One rod with a 2 hook flapper targeting the dabs & a pulley pen in the hope for anything else. I had a slow start but Gus had a double shot of either dab or whiting nearly every time. Must have been his new rigs he made, they did look pretty nice! Eventually I got off the mark with a few whiting that were tiny but saves a blank I told myself.
As the morning progressed, more anglers were arriving on the beach and plenty of walkers & e-bikers! Then the day for me especially went down hill.. first of all I hefted up which took me by surprise as I’ve never had been in that mark before and I thought there was no way that’s coming back but to my surprise it was coming in while I lowered the rod horizontally and walked up the beach. After 10 minutes of trying I eventually see what I had got caught up in…. a mass of fishing gear! What a mess it was. So re-rigged and got back out there then proceeded to pick through the bundle of gear and then we had a visit from a rather dam right rude dog walker trying to lecture us about fishing and how we were the cause of the low levels of fish in the oceans. To be honest Gus was taking most of the brunt but some of the stuff she was saying was terrible, I’m glad I bit my lip! That put me in an even more of a mood! Anyway, carried on fishing trying to put it behind me and then blow me I got hefted again but this definitely wasn’t budging so lost that gear. At that point I could have happily gone home! So I didn’t bother settling that rod up again and fished the one rod with the tings coming in whilst Gus was reaping the dabs. Come 12:30-13:00 we called it a day and to be honest I was glad to get home.
Gus must have had over half a dozen of dab with a lot of whiting and me just some tiny whiting. I’ve never felt like that before fishing and I hope it’s not a thing that’s going to reoccur as no matter what I’ve always enjoyed my time fishing. So I will go locally on Monday to go a press the reset button and hopefully have a better session and better frame of mind.
Tight lines
A

These sessions crop up from time to time buddy.
Don't let it get to you. Tight lines

 

[Anton J P]

I couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth. Each to their own and all that but to walk up to us and say “do you enjoy killing fish” was pretty outrageous in my opinion.
I have fished for as long as I can remember and to be honest I don’t know what I would do without it as I kind of use it as a therapy to unwind. I will fish for as long as I physically can for the rest of my days and like you mentioned scuttlebutt I very much doubt I’d be anywhere near the amount of waste caused by these super trawlers etc. I take great care of anything that I catch..to unhook and handle etc but sometimes you do get the unfortunate ones. But least they are going back into the food chain whether it be a Gull, seal or whatever. It’s not as if I just leave them or bin them like another report I read in pakefield.

 

[rod_2]

Walberswick, Southwold and Dunwich are the worst for that type of well-heeled dog walker.

 

[Scuttlebutt]

I couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth. Each to their own and all that but to walk up to us and say “do you enjoy killing fish” was pretty outrageous in my opinion.
I have fished for as long as I can remember and to be honest I don’t know what I would do without it as I kind of use it as a therapy to unwind. I will fish for as long as I physically can for the rest of my days and like you mentioned scuttlebutt I very much doubt I’d be anywhere near the amount of waste caused by these super trawlers etc. I take great care of anything that I catch..to unhook and handle etc but sometimes you do get the unfortunate ones. But least they are going back into the food chain whether it be a Gull, seal or whatever. It’s not as if I just leave them or bin them like another report I read in pakefield.

Yes they do go back into the food chain and whiting especially are eaten in their thousands every day by other fish, seals, birds etc so they are very much a part of the chain. I wonder what goes into the dog food she buys? She may also want to read up on how many lambs have been killed this spring by dogs and how many ewes aborted due to stress caused by dogs chasing them. It will be massive numbers as it is every year and extremely costly for the farmers.

 

[Seymour]

Exactly, what goes into making the dog food? Dogs aren't exactly good for the planet either, if she wants to get all high and mighty about things

 

[Gruzzle]

I think I was fishing next to you in the red tent. I also had a delightful conversation with that idiot. She actually called me a murderer and started to spout on about no fish left in the see because we were killing them. Talk about uneducated. I politely asked her if she could swim...needless to say she went away!!!!! As for the fishing I ended up with 11 dabs and two whiting in just under 3 hrs using one rod. Blacks and squid doing the business.

 

[robw200]

Don't give it a moments thought Anton. The fact that she upset you reflects on your regard for nature, and her uninformed disregard for the role fishing and fisherman play in environmental appreciation and care.
I got a good dog story though.
Few years back I finished work early afternoon, bought 12 quids worth of lug from the tackle shop, and hot footed and hiked it onto Holme beach. Tide was on the push so set up about 80 metres from the sea line, baited up a rod to hand, popped my now unwrapped lug on top of my box, wandered down and thought I'd fish a cast to hand back up to my kit as the tide bowled in as it does on Holme. I literally cast in, looked back, and spotted a black labrador legging it towards my box. Rod, distance, reeling in... I had no chance. The thing hit my box and chowed down on 98 lugworms and 3 sheets of the Daily Mirror in about 15 seconds. Canine dustbins. By the time I made it to my box it was looking at me with big doey eyes, wagging its tail, and was clearly asking for more... quite naturally. Several hundred yards up the beach I could see its owner, an ancient Norfolk duchess in a long wax coat and overpriced wellies, scuttling towards us and yelling quite fruity language. Myself and the labrador waited patiently. On her arrival she launched into a tirade accusing me of poisoning her dog, lodging hooks in its stomach, allergies, vets bills, stomach pumping... and demanded my name and address. (By now the dog was too embarrassed to make eye contact with me). I told her I would gladly give her my details whilst calmly explaining to her that I no longer had any bait at all, and that the evenings fishing that I was looking forward to with my 12 pounds worth of lug was now completely over so we had plenty of time to hike back to my car where I had a pen she could borrow. After some sweary huffing she scuttled off. The labrador lingered for a wee while and cocked its head... I like to think it was apologising, but I suspect it thought I had some more salty morsels in my box.
There is a moral to this story... the old duchess was rude, unreasonable, and actually quite offensive. The dog was just being a dog, was well mannered, clearly pleased to meet me, and appreciative. Ironic.

 

[Anton J P]

I think I was fishing next to you in the red tent. I also had a delightful conversation with that idiot. She actually called me a murderer and started to spout on about no fish left in the see because we were killing them. Talk about uneducated. I politely asked her if she could swim...needless to say she went away!!!!! As for the fishing I ended up with 11 dabs and two whiting in just under 3 hrs using one rod. Blacks and squid doing the business.

Ah yes, I did see you there and we noticed she had stopped near you. She was a funny one that’s for sure.
Nice bit of fishing then mate. I ended up bringing back a bit of lug/rag, I’ll use it up tomorrow evening when it’s a bit quieter 😏

 

[OldGreyDog]

Walberswick, Southwold and Dunwich are the worst for that type of well-heeled dog walker.

Its highly likely there will be representatives of the anti brigade in these better off areas, but down in Essex I saw a report, with video of a mad woman who snatched and walked off with a Bass someone caught while doing the ani-angling rant. They live among us everywhere!

Also we here like the Dunwich and Southwold stretch and used to stay in the area quite frequently as a family, walking with our dog on the beaches was part of the pleasure of a family trip out, but we are not by any means well heeled (wealthy). It was good to see other anglers on the beach and I saw it as an opportunity to have a brief chat with them, while keeping our mutt on his lead and away from hooks/line/bait buckets.

 

[Anton J P]

Its highly likely there will be representatives of the anti brigade in these better off areas, but down in Essex I saw a report, with video of a mad woman who snatched and walked off with a Bass someone caught while doing the ani-angling rant. They live among us everywhere!

Also we here like the Dunwich and Southwold stretch and used to stay in the area quite frequently as a family, walking with our dog on the beaches was part of the pleasure of a family trip out, but we are not by any means well heeled (wealthy). It was good to see other anglers on the beach and I saw it as an opportunity to have a brief chat with them, while keeping our mutt on his lead and away from hooks/line/bait buckets.

It took me by surprise to be honest mate, in all the years I have been fishing, I have never had anything like that. As mentioned, you often get the occasional walker asking how’s it going etc to which I have no problem with what so ever. They caught me on a day where I could have done with out that 🙄

 

[OldGreyDog]

It took me by surprise to be honest mate, in all the years I have been fishing, I have never had anything like that. As mentioned, you often get the occasional walker asking how’s it going etc to which I have no problem with what so ever. They caught me on a day where I could have done with out that 🙄

👍 The mad woman who ran off with a bass in Essex - it was a kid (teenager) she picked on too… I would have been sore tempted to shove her in the creek!

 

[Scuttlebutt]

Don't give it a moments thought Anton. The fact that she upset you reflects on your regard for nature, and her uninformed disregard for the role fishing and fisherman play in environmental appreciation and care.
I got a good dog story though.
Few years back I finished work early afternoon, bought 12 quids worth of lug from the tackle shop, and hot footed and hiked it onto Holme beach. Tide was on the push so set up about 80 metres from the sea line, baited up a rod to hand, popped my now unwrapped lug on top of my box, wandered down and thought I'd fish a cast to hand back up to my kit as the tide bowled in as it does on Holme. I literally cast in, looked back, and spotted a black labrador legging it towards my box. Rod, distance, reeling in... I had no chance. The thing hit my box and chowed down on 98 lugworms and 3 sheets of the Daily Mirror in about 15 seconds. Canine dustbins. By the time I made it to my box it was looking at me with big doey eyes, wagging its tail, and was clearly asking for more... quite naturally. Several hundred yards up the beach I could see its owner, an ancient Norfolk duchess in a long wax coat and overpriced wellies, scuttling towards us and yelling quite fruity language. Myself and the labrador waited patiently. On her arrival she launched into a tirade accusing me of poisoning her dog, lodging hooks in its stomach, allergies, vets bills, stomach pumping... and demanded my name and address. (By now the dog was too embarrassed to make eye contact with me). I told her I would gladly give her my details whilst calmly explaining to her that I no longer had any bait at all, and that the evenings fishing that I was looking forward to with my 12 pounds worth of lug was now completely over so we had plenty of time to hike back to my car where I had a pen she could borrow. After some sweary huffing she scuttled off. The labrador lingered for a wee while and cocked its head... I like to think it was apologising, but I suspect it thought I had some more salty morsels in my box.
There is a moral to this story... the old duchess was rude, unreasonable, and actually quite offensive. The dog was just being a dog, was well mannered, clearly pleased to meet me, and appreciative. Ironic.

What a dog does and what a dog eats is entirely the responsibility of the owner and they are required to have their animal under control in any public area. The offence here is theft of your bait and she is responsible, you are entirely blameless if she is not controlling her dog. Let's hope it puked on her best carpet when she got home. Let's face it, all dog owners know what their dog is likely to do but make no attempt to prevent it from happening. The fact that they try to blame someone else for their lack of care and common courtesy says it all.

 

[OldGreyDog]

Don't give it a moments thought Anton. The fact that she upset you reflects on your regard for nature, and her uninformed disregard for the role fishing and fisherman play in environmental appreciation and care.
I got a good dog story though.
Few years back I finished work early afternoon, bought 12 quids worth of lug from the tackle shop, and hot footed and hiked it onto Holme beach. Tide was on the push so set up about 80 metres from the sea line, baited up a rod to hand, popped my now unwrapped lug on top of my box, wandered down and thought I'd fish a cast to hand back up to my kit as the tide bowled in as it does on Holme. I literally cast in, looked back, and spotted a black labrador legging it towards my box. Rod, distance, reeling in... I had no chance. The thing hit my box and chowed down on 98 lugworms and 3 sheets of the Daily Mirror in about 15 seconds. Canine dustbins. By the time I made it to my box it was looking at me with big doey eyes, wagging its tail, and was clearly asking for more... quite naturally. Several hundred yards up the beach I could see its owner, an ancient Norfolk duchess in a long wax coat and overpriced wellies, scuttling towards us and yelling quite fruity language. Myself and the labrador waited patiently. On her arrival she launched into a tirade accusing me of poisoning her dog, lodging hooks in its stomach, allergies, vets bills, stomach pumping... and demanded my name and address. (By now the dog was too embarrassed to make eye contact with me). I told her I would gladly give her my details whilst calmly explaining to her that I no longer had any bait at all, and that the evenings fishing that I was looking forward to with my 12 pounds worth of lug was now completely over so we had plenty of time to hike back to my car where I had a pen she could borrow. After some sweary huffing she scuttled off. The labrador lingered for a wee while and cocked its head... I like to think it was apologising, but I suspect it thought I had some more salty morsels in my box.
There is a moral to this story... the old duchess was rude, unreasonable, and actually quite offensive. The dog was just being a dog, was well mannered, clearly pleased to meet me, and appreciative. Ironic.

No chance with an off lead mobile dustbin (any retriever). As a former dog owner i’m pleased it didn’t swallow any hooks, even though its a PITA losing all your bait, especially early in a session. I feel it was the dog owner who should be apologising and offering to pay for your bait (thats what I would have done). However while our last dog would have gobbled your bait given half a chance - I always put him on a lead when anywhere near anglers. As an afterthought, given what our dog snatched off beaches, ate, and survived over the years I wouldn’t think lugworm would have any permanent effect.

 

[Scuttlebutt]

UK Rules for Controlling Your Dog in Public and Private Areas

Information in this guide clarifies the rules for controlling your dog in communal areas and how Public Spaces Protection Orders work in England and Wales.

www.theukrules.co.uk

The above link is an interesting read. I don't think lugworm qualify as livestock though so you can't shoot the dog. However any injury caused by a dog does carry a heavy penalty which includes merely tripping over it. Also for anyone to merely feel threatened by a dog is any offence. How many dog owners even know the rules or the penalties? Further to this a dog is deemed to be under control if it returns to it's owner on a verbal command or signal (i,e, a whistle). If not then it must be kept under control by means of a lead. We as anglers should not take any verbal garbage from the owners are we are abiding by the law. They are in fact infringing on our civil liberty by allowing their dog anywhere near us. I would not presume to go up to a dog and stroke it without asking the owner first so why do they allow their dogs to run over to us and spoil our enjoyment?

 

[Scuttlebutt]

Further interesting info. I have just been on jury service and met a lot of different people whilst waiting around for a case. They shuffle the jury pool so you get to meet a lot of people. Anyway in one group a young lady said she had a very scarey encounter prior to Christmas whilst walking he small dog near Newmarket. A much larger dog came running over barking and after initially pausing it suddenly went for her dog. Her dog escaped and she managed to pick it up and fended the bigger dog off with her hiking stick which she luckily had with her. She said she screamed for help and another dog walker came to her aid. The site of him with his big dog on a lead was enough to drive the angry dog away. No owner was in sight. She said she had no way to identify the aggressive dog or it's owner so never made a complaint however she has since been told of the following. Firstly this qualified as Anit-Social Behaviour under section 5 patagragh 2 and that the dog could have been identified by means of a scanner. All dogs must be micro chipped now and a scanner costs around £40. If you are able to restrain a dog safely and scan it you can then report the incident. You will need a witness or preferably two or three but the report will be acted upon. She said this also applies to a dog merely being a nuisance in a public area. Now I'm not saying that we should all buy expensive scanners but it is worth knowing that such behaviour from dog owners is defined as Anti-Social. I looked up the East Suffolk Council website and it is clearly shown under the ASB section as she said. Section 5.2. The majority of dog owners are ok but we certainly shouldn't have to put up with those that do not control their dogs and don't give a f*ck what their dogs get up to.

 

[andy170165]

Dogs should be on leads period.
Except on the owners private property.
They are a flipping menace the amount of dog crap bagged up in bins to be chucked in landfill is frightening.
As for the wellhealed of Dunwich most ofm them will be second home owners up from London on a jolly.
They really boil my ****.
Rant over and breathe🤣

 

[Gary k]

Dogs should be on leads period.
Except on the owners private property.
They are a flipping menace the amount of dog crap bagged up in bins to be chucked in landfill is frightening.
As for the wellhealed of Dunwich most ofm them will be second home owners up from London on a jolly.
They really boil my ****.
Rant over and breathe🤣

Dogs require freedom to be able to exercise properly. My spaniel is taken to the local park, during the week for around 2 hours a day and would spend all day covering every blade of grass given the chance. He would go mad if forced to be on a lead. We take him further afield at weekends including the dunes at Gt Yarmouth but I am very careful when near the beach to make sure there is no one fishing and I never let him roam along the edge as he WILL find any old bait or any baited rig that was left or washed up.
Most people clear up from their own garden using bags also so unfortunately it still goes into landfill. What really gets me are the owners who presumably bag up because there are other people around but then "lose" the bag at the first opportunity and leave them hanging in trees until someone else clears it up or the bag falls apart

 

[sventhechef]

Well myself and my fishing bud Gus planned a trip to Dunwich this morning aiming to get there for around low water. I nearly called off as I woke at 4am ish with a rather unpleasant back pain that I was hoping would shake off pronto! Anyway after several strong cups of hot joe and a couple of painkillers I went for it.
We arrived to an empty car park to our surprise and made our way to our usual mark (myself still struggling with the back). We got to our mark and I just couldn’t get into the spirit whatsoever but told myself to pluck up the motivation. So I took a minute to take in the surroundings, the calmness of the water and proceeded to get going just before low water. I didn’t bother with any frozen again and armed with some lug & rag. One rod with a 2 hook flapper targeting the dabs & a pulley pen in the hope for anything else. I had a slow start but Gus had a double shot of either dab or whiting nearly every time. Must have been his new rigs he made, they did look pretty nice! Eventually I got off the mark with a few whiting that were tiny but saves a blank I told myself.
As the morning progressed, more anglers were arriving on the beach and plenty of walkers & e-bikers! Then the day for me especially went down hill.. first of all I hefted up which took me by surprise as I’ve never had been in that mark before and I thought there was no way that’s coming back but to my surprise it was coming in while I lowered the rod horizontally and walked up the beach. After 10 minutes of trying I eventually see what I had got caught up in…. a mass of fishing gear! What a mess it was. So re-rigged and got back out there then proceeded to pick through the bundle of gear and then we had a visit from a rather dam right rude dog walker trying to lecture us about fishing and how we were the cause of the low levels of fish in the oceans. To be honest Gus was taking most of the brunt but some of the stuff she was saying was terrible, I’m glad I bit my lip! That put me in an even more of a mood! Anyway, carried on fishing trying to put it behind me and then blow me I got hefted again but this definitely wasn’t budging so lost that gear. At that point I could have happily gone home! So I didn’t bother settling that rod up again and fished the one rod with the tings coming in whilst Gus was reaping the dabs. Come 12:30-13:00 we called it a day and to be honest I was glad to get home.
Gus must have had over half a dozen of dab with a lot of whiting and me just some tiny whiting. I’ve never felt like that before fishing and I hope it’s not a thing that’s going to reoccur as no matter what I’ve always enjoyed my time fishing. So I will go locally on Monday to go a press the reset button and hopefully have a better session and better frame of mind.
Tight lines
A

Dunwich is my local beach and I've never had any of this sort of thing happen . The usual brain dead swimmers and dog walkers but we share the space and so it goes.
If it happens to me I'll be taking pics and reporting it to the police. I'd urge others to do the same .
We are not breaking the law , they are.