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North Wales Mission conger 2021/22 – Part 4. The dog of the rings.

Andy 1965

Andy 1965

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After giving the fishing a miss for a couple of weeks due to some pretty dodgy weather, it was time last night to get back to it, and I was joined by Steve O from the club for a session on Anglesey. With 20 – 30mph South Westerlies forecast, we headed for shelter at the top of the island and after a drive through some pretty heavy drizzle, not mentioned in any of the various forecasts I checked :mad:, we arrived at our chosen mark 30 minutes after high water, thankfully finding dry conditions after all.

After setting up camp on a likely looking ledge, it didn’t take long for the fish to find our baits and Steve started the session with exactly what we came for, if a little smaller than we hoped they would be ?, a strap conger of around 3lb ?.
Steve O Conger Dec 14th 2021.jpg

While Steve started with an eel, I also had a bite on my conger rod but sadly it failed to hook up ?, but I still managed to beat the blank with an obliging doggie on the scratching rod. Interestingly though, as I swung the fish ashore I immediately spotted something amiss and for the first time in a long while, I found myself looking at a doggie with a black rubber ring cutting into the flesh behind its head, and just in front of the pectoral fins ?.
Doggie ring 1.jpg

Doggie ring 2.jpg

Now this was the third time I’ve caught such a doggie on Anglesey in the last 10 years or so, and the ring was exactly the same type as the last ones I caught. Very strange and the jury is still out on how they actually get there! ?
Doggie ring 4.jpg

After removing the ring, the dog was returned, hopefully to recover and to live a long and happy life ?
Doggie ring 3.jpg

and we got straight back to the fishing.

After such a good start, we hoped that we were on for a good session but sadly the next hour was very quiet, sport did eventually pick again though and for the rest of the evening we enjoyed pretty much a bite on every cast ?. Unfortunately the culprits were most likely strap conger and they all failed to result in secure hook-ups, meaning a series of well chewed baits but no eels ☹️.

The scratching rod was another matter and I caught a steady stream of dogs, but alas and rather frustratingly, there was no sign of the whiting I hoped for, to use as fresh bait.

I did eventually manage to catch a conger of my own, but at only around a pound in weight it was nowhere near the snake I’m after ?.
Conger Dec 14th 2021.jpg

Eventually, after 4 hours of fishing and with midnight approaching, the drizzle finally caught up with us, so we called it a night and headed home to come up with a plan for our next session tomorrow night, when hopefully the snakes will come out to play ?.
 
I've seen rubber bands etc mentioned in the past on dogfish, can't see anyone doing it intentionally,if you don't like dogfish whack them on the head for potbait or have rock salmon and chips for tea??? I once spent six hours cleaning dogs out of a net, they weren't wasted.
 
Just had another look at that black ring ,it looks like a seal for something, don't know what though mate.
 
Great report mate and cracking photo’s.
I had a hound a couple of years ago with the same black band. Also had one which hat a gill net wrapped around it to the point the skin had grown over it.
Sad to see really.
 
Nice write up..
Strange about the ring thing...possibly some sort of small illegal trap type net with those rings on instead of mono netting? Maybe well off the mark there but just thinking I had bullhuss in a lobster pot set by hand at low on the first attempt. Around 6lbs how it got in there I don't know.
Or unfortunately I would say it is possible that people are twats enough to torture doggies and clip things on them...as have seen myself some Spanish anglers at Dover slicing doggies and just throwing them over also seen people kill them humanely and then just chuck them away...fuckin idiots need there head looking at lol .
 
Viaductbaggies said:
That’s the first for a long time with the band on it , it was quite common a few years ago ?‍♂️

Could it be out of crab/lobster pots ?
Click to expand...
Not a bait band or claw band.
 
Thanks all (y).

The bands are still more common than people realise, they have been around for at least 10 years now and though I hadn't seen one for a long while, I was surprised by how many people on Facebook still catch ringed dogs on a regular basis :cry:. They have also been found as far afield as Anglesey and Mostyn ?.

Personally, I don't think it's being done deliberately, as it's been happening for so long and it would mean that someone has been placing huge numbers of rings on dogs without being found out, so I'm leaning more towards either lost cargo off a ship, or o rings on some other common marine equipment, such as pots.

The rings themselves are made of quite stiff rubber and are rectangular in cross section, but I can't help thinking that if they were off pots then surely someone would have recognised them by now :unsure:.
 
Andy 1965 said:
Thanks all (y).

The bands are still more common than people realise, they have been around for at least 10 years now and though I hadn't seen one for a long while, I was surprised by how many people on Facebook still catch ringed dogs on a regular basis :cry:. They have also been found as far afield as Anglesey and Mostyn ?.

Personally, I don't think it's being done deliberately, as it's been happening for so long and it would mean that someone has been placing huge numbers of rings on dogs without being found out, so I'm leaning more towards either lost cargo off a ship, or o rings on some other common marine equipment, such as pots.

The rings themselves are made of quite stiff rubber and are rectangular in cross section, but I can't help thinking that if they were off pots then surely someone would have recognised them by now :unsure:.
Click to expand...
If they have a flat surface, do you think as i said oil filter seals?
 
The rings are quite stiff and aren't particularly stretchy, so they don't seem the ideal choice of something to deliberately place on a fish.

As you can see from this picture, they are also flat and rectangular in cross section, so I suppose they do look a little like the seal on an oil filter, but unless they are part of a lost cargo, then I can't see them getting into the sea in large enough numbers.
Doggie ring 5.jpg
 
Andy 1965 said:
The rings are quite stiff and aren't particularly stretchy, so they don't seem the ideal choice of something to deliberately place on a fish.

As you can see from this picture, they are also flat and rectangular in cross section, so I suppose they do look a little like the seal on an oil filter, but unless they are part of a lost cargo, then I can't see them getting into the sea in large enough numbers.
View attachment 19594
Click to expand...
Are there hundreds found or just the odd few?
 
Cfish said:
Nothing to do with any potting stuff I've seen!
Click to expand...
I'm no expert, but I've never been convinced by the pot theory either. For starters the rings are only 5cm across, so it would take a pretty small crab or lobster to get through them.


Dutchman said:
Are there hundreds found or just the odd few?
Click to expand...
They aren't found in huge numbers but since I first heard of them about 10 years ago, there must have been getting on for 50 dogs caught with them that I know of, along a 100 plus mile stretch of coast.

If you take into account the ones I haven't heard about, the true number must be over 100.
 
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