A Sea Fishing Trip Conservation Realities - By Johnny Woodlock

Dan takes the strain

More and more these days we see personal agendas on show with no regards to heritage or country traditions and ways. Some people in the media are happy to try to raise their profiles by berating fieldsports and playing to the lowest hanging fruit without thought. I see this often. As as a board member of the Irish Seal Sanctuary I have been considered a conservationist and even as an ‘anti’ at times.

I am happy to support field sports, I shoot and fish. I was delighted to be able to tell a large group of environmentalists that I have been to a bullfight to see what actually happens. I also travelled on a boat exporting live cattle to Belgium. I would rather live and die like a Spanish fighting bull anytime. I otter hunted as a kid and beagled, enjoyed the days and yet never saw a hare or otter killed by hounds. Banning the importation of hunting trophies is popular move, but a bit of thought shows that trophy hunting supports jobs and also the very animals hunted. If an animal has a value it will be protected. I quote the Southern White Rhino as an example. In south Africa they can be hunted for trophies so are a valuable resource, Unlike the Northern White Rhino where trophy hunting is banned. The northern variety is now functionally extinct, with only two females left alive. Southern White rhino are now doing very well.

Now I hear that these ‘personalities’ are targeting lead shot as a means to get an end to shooting. If public health is their concern, I would point to more direct influences such as farmed salmon which is still marketed as a healthy food. This heavy metal approach was tried in the US and rules were introduced to have certain lead free zones, such as areas where waterfowl gather. They were picking up lead shot as grit to help with digestion but some died of lead poisoning. A lot of work has been done in the States trying to find a replacement for lead tungstun and stainless steel shot among others. I think if lead was such a problem there would be direct evidence of the harm it does to the environment long before now. How long has lead been used - hundreds if not thousands of years.

What I find most irritating about a lot of these people is their ignorance of what actually happens and few would accompany a hunt or a shooter to see the truth. Also they are happy to forget that some of their heroes like David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell started out hunting wild animals for zoos, and Peter Scott who founded WWF was a keen wildflower who used plenty of lead shot in his time.

Nothing beats a cuppa in the fresh air for this author

There are plenty of mobs out there happy to try to sabotage hunts or even angling events. The idiocy of some of these so-called “animal lovers” reached new heights when a group bought a load of live lobsters from a seaside fish shop and promptly released them back into the sea. They had not taken the effort to know that these were American lobsters imported for sale and now they have released them into our waters, to compete with our native lobsters. God knows if they brought diseases with them like the signal crayfish and grey squirrel did. Mindless acts, but again these animal rights folk think they are always right. They had ‘saved the lives of innocent lobsters.’

On the other hand, I did get out fishing late in 2021 with Kit Dunne in Wicklow and we had a great time as usual and many might think I was an ejit for going out for the day and putting my rod away after about three hours. We reached the area we were fishing just before high tide and slack water. We fished away and caught plenty of bullhuss and the odd spurdog, but nothing huge. After a time, the tide started flowing and to be honest I was happy to sit and watch the others fishing. It was a lovely day and I did not see the fun in hauling two and a half pounds weight, that was needed to keep the bait on the bottom, up from over two hundred feet each time you got a bite. I had caught a few fish and was happy to watch the others strain themselves. There were seabirds and porpoises about and the banter was good. Kit also makes a fine cup of tea.

Anyone who has fished for wild salmon will know that you are not going to catch one every time you go out trying. My ex-wife thought me mad to spend money going salmon fishing every year when I rarely caught one. I did, but catching a fish is always a bonus to a day’s fishing. Someone once said that salmon don't live in ugly places. Standing in a river fishing for a

Extreme care is for every fish that we 'catch and release’

day is worth every penny and there is always the chance of a fish. When going fishing I promise my friends I’ll try to bring them some fresh fish. But I always add if you want fish go to a fishmonger as they will have it. I might or might not catch.

You really cannot beat an evening sitting in a wood with an air rifle after squirrels. Again, they may or may not show themselves, but sitting there with your back against a tree is a great way to relax and you also get to see things you might not expect, such as being checked out by a sparrow hawk, curious to see what you are. You might get to help native wildlife by killing a grey squirrel, and you can eat it too.

I find it fascinating and dangerous that the so-called animal lovers simply cannot comprehend that anyone would spend a day hunting or fish and enjoy the day without a catch or firing a shot and that I think is the great conflict. Fieldsports and those who practise them are supposed to be bloodthirsty killers, not happy unless something is dead.

Or maybe it’s just that I'm not very good at fishing or hunting or shooting but I enjoy them - and as I have often said to others: “There are worse things you could be doing”

As for hunting with dogs, all I can say is that I have often gone out with a friend just to see the dog working. The dog knows his job and loves to do it well, You can almost see the disappointment on the dogs face if he flushes a bird and the shooter misses.

The face that says ‘you missed again after all my hard work’.

Worming for salmon