[Forever Red]

I was walking along worthing beach with the family today when the tide was out. As i got under the pier walking eastwards towards shoreham i started to notice a really strong fishey smell in the air. Anyway i walked further along and noticed a huge gathering of seagulls and that fishey smell was getting stronger and stronger. I got to where the seagulls were, which just so happened to be right by the fishing boats opposite the dome when, to mine and the missus horror we came across no fewer than fifty dead smut pups dumped at the end of one of the groynes. I could not believe my eyes as i'd never seen anything like it before.

I know there are fish caught in nets that are just discarded and that is bad enough, but to dump these smoothounds like that especially when so many young children are playing along these beaches is diabolical.

I read some good reports from Goring and Ferring last week where so many were caught and returned carefully that it makes me feel good knowing that i fish with rods (and return fish alive) and not nets, especially if this behaviour is anything to go by.

 

[skillpot]

its a sad state of affairs, its bad enough killing smoothound pups but to dump them on a public beach is shocking. i know its not the answer but put them back in the sea, ok they are dead but better to feed other fish instead of letting them rot and eaten by birds.

 

[Why Worry Angling Charters]

I was walking along worthing beach with the family today when the tide was out. As i got under the pier walking eastwards towards shoreham i started to notice a really strong fishey smell in the air. Anyway i walked further along and noticed a huge gathering of seagulls and that fishey smell was getting stronger and stronger. I got to where the seagulls were, which just so happened to be right by the fishing boats opposite the dome when, to mine and the missus horror we came across no fewer than fifty dead smut pups dumped at the end of one of the groynes. I could not believe my eyes as i'd never seen anything like it before.

I know there are fish caught in nets that are just discarded and that is bad enough, but to dump these smoothounds like that especially when so many young children are playing along these beaches is diabolical.

I read some good reports from Goring and Ferring last week where so many were caught and returned carefully that it makes me feel good knowing that i fish with rods (and return fish alive) and not nets, especially if this behaviour is anything to go by.

If they were small then they was probably from the bigger ones when gutted.Hounds are taken in vast quatities daily....Rock eel and very nice it is too.

 

[Dytiscus]

thats never a good thing unfortunately by catch is a part of the game no one likes catching fish they can't sell you'd think if they can't use them then they would at least dump them over the side so that their put back into the food chain but dumping them on the beach for all to see thats just Grate PR imagine someone taking a photo of that and giving it to the press i dread to think because we'd all get tared with the same brush

i've had enough of dealing with the Fish Hugging Tree Kissing Brigade in my time and i don't think they need to be handed any ammo

 

[crazyplums]

i would guess that Ron is right, i was given a hound to take home a week or so back, i wasn't keen that the person had kept / killed a pup laden female, but thought it better i eat it than waste it, 8 pups later it was just a big fillet, so realistically it wouldn't take many females to leave that many pups,

the pups i had were tossed into the surf, but all ended up back against the groin by the time i was about to throw the rest of the carcass back, so i launched them right out, so it's entirely possible that they were returned to the sea, but washed up in one place, just as shellfish get dumped in one place by groins etc.

not my cup of tea to keep females in pup, but at the end of the day, it's the anglers choice to keep a fish or not, i know most on here see them as 'sport', but at the end of the day, they're a fish, and fish are food, damned fine meat on a hound.

 

[Forever Red]

Maybe i was too quick to judge but some of the fish there were probably 3lb. I don't really know too much about smoothounds but if a female was landed with eight of these fish inside her you would probably be looking at a new record.

They had not populated any other groyne for about a mile along where i walked so i doubt they were washed up either.

Anyway, take out my initial reaction the concern was how many kids were taken aback by the volume of dead fish where they were playing.

Just a bit disturbing, however they ended up there.

 

[hot wad]

Maybe i was too quick to judge but some of the fish there were probably 3lb. I don't really know too much about smoothounds but if a female was landed with eight of these fish inside her you would probably be looking at a new record.

They had not populated any other groyne for about a mile along where i walked so i doubt they were washed up either.

Anyway, take out my initial reaction the concern was how many kids were taken aback by the volume of dead fish where they were playing.

Just a bit disturbing, however they ended up there.

The pups prior to birth are tiny,only a few ounces each....not 3lbers.

 

[lensman21]

i would guess that Ron is right, i was given a hound to take home a week or so back, i wasn't keen that the person had kept / killed a pup laden female, but thought it better i eat it than waste it, 8 pups later it was just a big fillet, so realistically it wouldn't take many females to leave that many pups,

the pups i had were tossed into the surf, but all ended up back against the groin by the time i was about to throw the rest of the carcass back, so i launched them right out, so it's entirely possible that they were returned to the sea, but washed up in one place, just as shellfish get dumped in one place by groins etc.

not my cup of tea to keep females in pup, but at the end of the day, it's the anglers choice to keep a fish or not, i know most on here see them as 'sport', but at the end of the day, they're a fish, and fish are food, damned fine meat on a hound.

I agree entirely, it is a difficult judgement call. If the mother fish died during the beaching/unhooking process then what would the point be of throwing it back dead ? I am an angler who enjoys eating fish but I compromise on what type and when, and the amount. I am sure that there are people who might keep ANY Hound that they catch as they keep any other species they catch too.

Lets be honest, how many Cod get thrown back alive if they are over 15" ? We should remember that Smoothound are an edible fish and it is thanks to our appreciation of them as a sport fish that so many get put back alive.

 

[crazyplums]

Maybe i was too quick to judge but some of the fish there were probably 3lb. I don't really know too much about smoothounds but if a female was landed with eight of these fish inside her you would probably be looking at a new record.

They had not populated any other groyne for about a mile along where i walked so i doubt they were washed up either.

Anyway, take out my initial reaction the concern was how many kids were taken aback by the volume of dead fish where they were playing.

Just a bit disturbing, however they ended up there.

fair play, a 3lber would give any female problems! pups are rarely more than about 25cm long, though i i don't know if the size of the female is relative to the size or number of pups bourne,

a 3lber is defo not a pup in the truest sense of the word, though more likely the previous years offspring, i have no answer as to how they ended up there, but the thrown in dead, all washed up together theory is still plausable, maybe they were bycatch from a local netter, though i would have thought they'd dump them as sea, some would sink, and not all wash up. who knows.

Hugh

 

[Why Worry Angling Charters]

fair play, a 3lber would give any female problems! pups are rarely more than about 25cm long, though i i don't know if the size of the female is relative to the size or number of pups bourne,

a 3lber is defo not a pup in the truest sense of the word, though more likely the previous years offspring, i have no answer as to how they ended up there, but the thrown in dead, all washed up together theory is still plausable, maybe they were bycatch from a local netter, though i would have thought they'd dump them as sea, some would sink, and not all wash up. who knows.

Hugh

Woudn't of thought they were 'by catch' Hugh.Even 3lb fish would of been boxed up if caught.Strange really as to why they would be there.Waste of a good feed really either way.

 

[Sussex Schumacher]

mmm ..... loadsa of dead smoothounds dumped in a pile at the bottom of the groyne where Brownriggs boat is moared on the beach and where he sells his fish ....:g: Not hard to work out where they came from ?

These are the same guys who admit that if they catch a live tope in their nets they will slit its stomach open and throw it back just so it may not damage their nets in future. :nono:

 

[igo.t.crabbs]

mmm ..... loadsa of dead smoothounds dumped in a pile at the bottom of the groyne where Brownriggs boat is moared on the beach and where he sells his fish ....:g: Not hard to work out where they came from ?

These are the same guys who admit that if they catch a live tope in their nets they will slit its stomach open and throw it back just so it may not damage their nets in future. :nono:

are these the same ones who take hammers to dog fish?

 

[mike (spud)]

my mate phoned me last night and told me there was some dead hound next to the pier aswell and said he think this was due to the kids that were messing about at the same place as the dead hound .

how true this is I dont no

I am still in search for my first hound and to hear so many were found dead :nono::nono::nono:

I only sometimes eat fish so most of the fish i catch go back alive.

its also a shame to find dead lsd on the beach my son always ask how did that shark die and why is it were it is lol bless him he only 5 .

anyway i got to go to work.

:fishing1::fishing1::fishing1::fishing1::fishing1:

 

[dkstenson]

Anyway, take out my initial reaction the concern was how many kids were taken aback by the volume of dead fish where they were playing.

I agree with your initial sentiments, but same can be said if you take a kid to a battery farm. Take a kid to a pig farm, take a kid to a sheep farm.

Yes we all want to exist in the ideal world, but the thing with angling, is that in the main it can not be hidden behind closed doors.

If you could follow trawlers out to sea and look at what they chuck back as either "over quotered" "Non target species" "Undersize but dead", then I am sure we would all be screaming...

Sorry to say its life, and absolutely no ammount of condemnation on boards like this will ever change it.. All it does it take up a lot of space and give the "Holier than thou" brigade a chance to vent their spiel...

Not agreeing that what you saw is correct, but not a week goes by now without someone on here mentioning dead dogfish washed up, or smuts...

I would suspect there was a reason, so a shame to jump to conclusions.

 

[Why Worry Angling Charters]

mmm ..... loadsa of dead smoothounds dumped in a pile at the bottom of the groyne where Brownriggs boat is moared on the beach and where he sells his fish ....:g: Not hard to work out where they came from ?

These are the same guys who admit that if they catch a live tope in their nets they will slit its stomach open and throw it back just so it may not damage their nets in future. :nono:

Be very careful what you accuse someone of.A woman was convicted and fined £20,000 yesterday in a case of deformation of charactor for posting crap on the Internet.
Why would they dump fish that you can land with no quota and that makes plenty of money?
You post just for the reaction....:uhuh:

 

[albe2]

mmm ..... loadsa of dead smoothounds dumped in a pile at the bottom of the groyne where Brownriggs boat is moared on the beach and where he sells his fish ....:g: Not hard to work out where they came from ?

These are the same guys who admit that if they catch a live tope in their nets they will slit its stomach open and throw it back just so it may not damage their nets in future. :nono:

No-one out of newhaven would dump them nor would they kill a live tope,my mate rob cut a big hole in a brand new net last week so he could release a big female tope.Luckily round here we don't get many in the nets.

 

[aquabell]

Why would they dump fish that you can land with no quota and that makes plenty of money?
No Buyers??

 

[igo.t.crabbs]

RON..................go back under your bridge.......

'clip clop clip clop'

 

[Sussex Schumacher]

Be very careful what you accuse someone of.A woman was convicted and fined £20,000 yesterday in a case of deformation of charactor for posting crap on the Internet.
Why would they dump fish that you can land with no quota and that makes plenty of money?
You post just for the reaction....:uhuh:

OK for your pleasure here is what must of what have Happened

Once upon a time some smoothounds decided to have a trip to Worthing Seafront and enjoy the sunny weather. They all jumped out of the water and hired some deck chairs to sit on , rubbing sun tanlotion at regular intervals to protect their skin. The groyne they chose happened to be where a local commercial fisherman operates daily and the hounds waved their fins to the local fisherman as they passed.

A few hours later after having a few pints and a quick snooze the smoothounds suddenly found the tide had gone out and they were stuck! Unable to reach the water again the smoothounds simply died in the heat. What an unlucky event .... so if you see any smoothounds sunbathing please remind them to swim away before the tide disappears. Also a couple of their friends who were stingrays who also attended the party also died.

 

[Sussex Schumacher]

are these the same ones who take hammers to dog fish?

No ... they operate either side of the Half Brick Pub.