red bay co. antrim saturday 29th january

Nice one lads. Well done.

HI Al I have fished that spot many, many times in the past, it fishes far better at low water. I had a 10 Lbs cod from the wee pier and two specimen plaice, one 3 1/4 the other 3 10 ozs, both on the one day and within 1/2 an hour, it was in May because I remember the bike boys going to the NW practice, the cod was in October, as far as I can remember. It is a bit far from where I live now, but had many great days fishing there, I fished it the day of the hurricane and was up in the car park, casting along side the pier, got loads of good coalies and then went to the beach, behind the golf course, and got some small cod and more decent coalies there also, I am sure you will know where I mean I do not want to say where the beach is, as I am sure you do not want everyone fishing your new found mark. You had a good session there and must have been a happy chapie, not to mention Jordan. I would advise you to go there in mid April and see if there are any early plaice in, but May is the best month for them and at low water. The pic of the pier brought back many found memories to me, thanks for posting it.

Regards Wez

great report and pic's...count is like a small trawler ...well done ye both.

As ever, a great report with plenty of Info! Sounds like a dead on session! Sounds like the Antrim Coast was busy enough las night!
cheers drew. not getting on our intended mark mabey did us a favour in the end

A very nice way to come back from the blank Al. Well done you two.

thanks tom. jordan reckons i blanked during the week because he was'nt there with me payback for him being in school while i was out fishing

well done boys again.

thanks. are you still out fishing yourselves?

Good session guys well done I'll have to sneak out myself again during the week for a cast

cheers brian. best of luck if you make it out man. the winds are fearce over this way at the moment

respectable session for a new mark and a dogfish we dont see many of them about here in the cold weather

cheers roger. wee spot fished really well. usually elbow to elbow in the summer months with the tinsel tossers. so i reckoned it had to fish

well done ye 2 again.i bet ur glad u got a cast in because i dont think its too nice from 2mor on.well done

yeah man. back to gales and rain no wonder we're called the emerald isle,,,, it's that bloody damp and wet that there's a layer of moss and mildew growing on everything!!!

Looks like a nice mark, secret?
ps:Nice mark = no rocks to break bones on

no real secret man. the way i look at it is this. if you know it, you know it. but i'm just not gonna name it as we'd like to fish it again. and good to hear the leg is on the mend man. you'll be ready to do a bit of rock hopping in the summer again

another great report lads well done nice session

cheers grady. always good to hit a new mark and get results

great report al and its good to see that the new mark fished well for yourself and jordan

cheers gerry. another pin to add to our map of marks in the north at home

Fine load of fish there again well done lads

cheers man. the doggie was the highlight for me. love catching them

Well done Al and Jordan. The definition on your camera is great! Great clarity in the colours of the fish and background.

Well done, nice report and fine pics, nice and clear!

thanks guys. that 4 megapix digital camera has lasted us for 5 years now. it's been bounced around boats and off rocks and dropped in the sand more often than i care to remember. but it just keeps going when other more expensive cameras have died. and who says you can't get a bargin outta lidle

well done, plenty of fish there!

cheers man. hopefully ballycastle and east strand will be as kind to you at the comp

50 fish between the two of yis, that a nice comeback from the blank Al, and well done to Jordan on the double coalie over 30cms .Thats a nice doggie, but put the codling at the start of the measure and dont be trying to stretch him to 23cms , and theres not a teatowel in sight

ahh dave,,,. to my eternal shame i forgot to pack a towel on that outing for the pics. and to be honest, the rag of a towel we were using was'nt up to muster to adorn the backround of our fishy pics
and as for the wee codlet. i could'nt have stretched that wee guy out any more if i had a medieval rack at my disposal

another great report there Al. and great pictures too.
hey, i was at the other side of the bay during that time! was on my own and thought i'd give it a try but i just couldnt get myself warmed up! i cast out 2 rods and nothing for 30mins. then a series of tiny bits, non-stop. eventually i pulled in a wee coley. the tiny wee bites continued (im guessing from your report that they were small coley and/or whiting) but i didnt hook much. at this stage i headed to the car to THAW the hands and warm myself up. ended up sitting in the car for over half an hour with the heat on. freezing night
came back down to the rods and reeled in a doggy. was pleased to see it. fished for a little more then packed up.
thats my report..
one of them nights, motivation wasnt there and just found it too cold (it was actually +5*C which isnt too bad!, but anyway).
so headed towards base lookin out for other anglers. saw people, which i now know to have been yourselves, from the main road. looks like yous had a much better session. nice1

hi man. you must have been on the rocks at the point beside the wee slip. that was marks 3 and 4 we had intendid to fish. we saw your lights across the bay and wondered how you were getting on sounds like you might have actually done us a favour in the end . we were'nt to cold thow as the wee wall on the slip gave us a bit of shelter from the wind when it picked up

great stuff big man and little man, busy session on a new mark, you be back i think , well done

cheers man. will indeed. handy spot too

Nice one lads. Well done.

thanks ivan. are you still getting out man?

HI Al I have fished that spot many, many times in the past, it fishes far better at low water. I had a 10 Lbs cod from the wee pier and two specimen plaice, one 3 1/4 the other 3 10 ozs, both on the one day and within 1/2 an hour, it was in May because I remember the bike boys going to the NW practice, the cod was in October, as far as I can remember. It is a bit far from where I live now, but had many great days fishing there, I fished it the day of the hurricane and was up in the car park, casting along side the pier, got loads of good coalies and then went to the beach, behind the golf course, and got some small cod and more decent coalies there also, I am sure you will know where I mean I do not want to say where the beach is, as I am sure you do not want everyone fishing your new found mark. You had a good session there and must have been a happy chapie, not to mention Jordan. I would advise you to go there in mid April and see if there are any early plaice in, but May is the best month for them and at low water. The pic of the pier brought back many found memories to me, thanks for posting it.
Regards Wez

cheers wez, i know the beach your talking about man . an old fella out walking his dog told me the same of bumper cod, plaice and haddock catches in the 90's from that beach. but sadly that stretch of bays and ledges have been heavily commercially fished since then almost destroying them. but sure, we live in hope that a few nice fish avoid the nets and find our lines

great report and pic's...count is like a small trawler ...well done ye both.

thanks gerryl. i gotta admitt our catches would be a lot less active if it was'nt for all the coalies. at that size they can get out of the nets if they get scooped,, but another lot of months down the line they'll end up squished as mush in the cod end . so we'll make the best of them while we can

Hi Al, it is so sad to hear that, they have ruined what was my favorite fishing spot, I had heard that there had been trawlers just about up on the beach there, it is just not on, but they get away with it and will continue to do it as long as they can. At Monkstown wall the cheeky beggars come up and shoot their nets in front of you at times, surely there is some law to stop them from doing this, why they would want to do so I cannot understand, surely they are like all trawlermen and have their quotas filled, but then again those who would have the cheek to do what they do most likely land all the fish they catch at little piers and harbours, the black fish as they call them, plenty of that happening all round our coasts.

Good luck to you both and I hope things recover to near what the were soon and you can all have the fun I used to have there.

Regards Wez

HI Al I have fished that spot many, many times in the past, it fishes far better at low water. I had a 10 Lbs cod from the wee pier and two specimen plaice, one 3 1/4 the other 3 10 ozs, both on the one day and within 1/2 an hour, it was in May because I remember the bike boys going to the NW practice, the cod was in October, as far as I can remember. It is a bit far from where I live now, but had many great days fishing there, I fished it the day of the hurricane and was up in the car park, casting along side the pier, got loads of good coalies and then went to the beach, behind the golf course, and got some small cod and more decent coalies there also, I am sure you will know where I mean I do not want to say where the beach is, as I am sure you do not want everyone fishing your new found mark. You had a good session there and must have been a happy chapie, not to mention Jordan. I would advise you to go there in mid April and see if there are any early plaice in, but May is the best month for them and at low water. The pic of the pier brought back many found memories to me, thanks for posting it.

Regards Wez

hi wez, just saw this post you put up. i know this area well to and have fished it all my life, i still regularly do..
those sound like some fantastic fish you caught from the pier! well done. i just wanted to ask WHEN you caught them i.e. what year?!? those size of fish from the shore (or even from boat!) are something of legends nowadays.
cheers

p.s. Al, I was not on the rocks next to the wee pier, i was over on the OTHER SIDE of the bay, on the ledges!

EDIT: sorry, i just read Al's response there (and your subsequent response), i hadnt seen it before i posted this....
its true, there are no fish left in this area! its a disaster! over-trawled. i heard all these stories from years ago too - throwing back 3 and 4 lbers becos thery were too small.... . the biggest fish i caught all summer was a 2.5lb cod from a boat, but as Al says we persevere becos we love the sport and theres always that 'chance' .
i would still like to know what year you caught these fish though, just out of interest. thanks

HI Al I have fished that spot many, many times in the past, it fishes far better at low water. I had a 10 Lbs cod from the wee pier and two specimen plaice, one 3 1/4 the other 3 10 ozs, both on the one day and within 1/2 an hour, it was in May because I remember the bike boys going to the NW practice, the cod was in October, as far as I can remember. It is a bit far from where I live now, but had many great days fishing there, I fished it the day of the hurricane and was up in the car park, casting along side the pier, got loads of good coalies and then went to the beach, behind the golf course, and got some small cod and more decent coalies there also, I am sure you will know where I mean I do not want to say where the beach is, as I am sure you do not want everyone fishing your new found mark. You had a good session there and must have been a happy chapie, not to mention Jordan. I would advise you to go there in mid April and see if there are any early plaice in, but May is the best month for them and at low water. The pic of the pier brought back many found memories to me, thanks for posting it.

Regards Wez

hi wez, just saw this post you put up. i know this area well to and have fished it all my life, i still regularly do..
those sound like some fantastic fish you caught from the pier! well done. i just wanted to ask WHEN you caught them i.e. what year?!? those size of fish from the shore (or even from boat!) are something of legends nowadays.
cheers

p.s. Al, I was not on the rocks next to the wee pier, i was over on the OTHER SIDE of the bay, on the ledges!

EDIT: sorry, i just read Al's response there (and your subsequent response), i hadnt seen it before i posted this....
its true, there are no fish left in this area! its a disaster! over-trawled. i heard all these stories from years ago too - throwing back 3 and 4 lbers becos thery were too small.... . the biggest fish i caught all summer was a 2.5lb cod from a boat, but as Al says we persevere becos we love the sport and theres always that 'chance' .
i would still like to know what year you caught these fish though, just out of interest. thanks

Hi the two plaice I caught in 1990 and the cod a year or two later, I am really angry to hear that it has gone so bad these days, it is a crying shame. when fishing Cushendall beach at night you could see all the trawlers lights out far, none ever came close in, we always thought they were from Greencastle, but as I say they always stayed well off. Waterfoot pier used to be great in a good blow also, the cod would come in then, not any really big fish, but up to 1 1/2 to 3 lbs, with the very odd bigger one.

I used to fish from a boat there also, there were three banks out and we had them called, rather unimaginatively, the inner, middle and outer banks, they were more reefs then banks. This was in the day when the only GPS were used by big boats and the military, so we use landmarks to find them. The cod there were great big brutes, pirking was the best way to get them. Bobby McMullan, the father of the lad who owns the Green Isle boats, told us that there were plaice out there the size of bin lids and there used to be a guy from Carnlough, called Findley, who had a very small trawler, he never did any damage, but he used to catch massive plaice also, we never targeted the plaice, as the cod were such a sure thing and so much fun that it was difficult to drag ones self from them to fish for anything else.

Cushendunn was a great beach for cod at night, you could fish it all day and not have a bite, but once you hit it at night, with a coming tide things changed, some good cod could be had from there, just behind the galic pitch there was a bit of a bank about 140 150 yards out and the cod ran it. I only ever fished it once from a small boat and the plaice were great there also, with a good supply of dabs thrown in. The funny thing about them was that they were just about 350 yards off and in not that deep water. I heard that there were some Haddock taken from the beach about 7/8 years ago, but I should think that the have been cleaned out too.

I loved fishing all round Red Bay, it was the best but of fishing on the Antrim coast, to learn that it is now in such a bad way really makes me sad. I have been lucky enough to have fished it when it was a pristine and beautiful place, it is still a beautiful place there can be no doubt of that, but the fishing has gone so bad, by what you have told me. I feel so sorry for you guys and mostly for the young rods who are missing out what I have had in my day. I have never liked trawlermen and never will, they are greedy and irresponsible, they would fish the seas till there was nothing left for anyone, they are every bit as greedy as the poachers who are such a scourge on our rivers, they have the same attitude if it is there catch it, only when it is not economical for them to go after the fish will they stop.

I wish you guys all the very best and hope that there will be an improvement in your fortunes and that of the fish in Red Bay and that some day in the not too distant future the fish stocks will recover to their former glory. As I sit here and write this I am so saddened by the reports from up there.

Regards Wez

well done alan and jordan a great haul of fish there the coalies seemed to have dryed up down hear

well done alan and jordan a great haul of fish there the coalies seemed to have dryed up down hear

cheers man. still plenty just under the pound mark up these parts. nothing that's gonna test you gear. but they do make for a busy session

hi wez. that's the same story i've been told by other anglers who fished the area in the late 80's and into the early 90's. quality fish were the norm back then. but sadly now if you get a 2lb pollock it's the exception to the rule. only 4 or 5 years back the lads were regularly getting 4lb pollock from the ledges. but we were on a boat trip in red bay recently and bar 1 fish there was nothing over 3lb landed for an entire day's fishing between 9 lads. the biggest fish that day was a 4lb 8oz codling and the skipper was delighted with it as it was the best codling he'd had on the boat in a while from the area. like you already said the greed of some skippers in the commercial sector is shocking. they have no moral objection to killing 1 tonne of small juvenile fish in the effort to get 1 box of sellable fish. absolute disgrace the way they target areas they know are nurseries for the next generation of stock

well done lads you caught a nice few fish

well done alan and jordan a great haul of fish there the coalies seemed to have dryed up down hear

cheers man. still plenty just under the pound mark up these parts. nothing that's gonna test you gear. but they do make for a busy session

hi wez. that's the same story i've been told by other anglers who fished the area in the late 80's and into the early 90's. quality fish were the norm back then. but sadly now if you get a 2lb pollock it's the exception to the rule. only 4 or 5 years back the lads were regularly getting 4lb pollock from the ledges. but we were on a boat trip in red bay recently and bar 1 fish there was nothing over 3lb landed for an entire day's fishing between 9 lads. the biggest fish that day was a 4lb 8oz codling and the skipper was delighted with it as it was the best codling he'd had on the boat in a while from the area. like you already said the greed of some skippers in the commercial sector is shocking. they have no moral objection to killing 1 tonne of small juvenile fish in the effort to get 1 box of sellable fish. absolute disgrace the way they target areas they know are nurseries for the next generation of stock

Yes Al it was great then, I cannot express my disgust and sorrow enough that things have got to where they are today, I am sure there are a few who may well have thought that I was exaggerating about the fish and fishing back then, but it was very true, though I can fully understand why people would think that, going by what is left there now. It would seem that the problem is not just in Red Bay. but the entire Irish Sea coast and to think that the trawlermen complained so much that they got back some of the quotas they lost, it makes my blood boil.

I fully backed Hugh's big fish fight, but he did not tell the full story it was by far too much on the side of the trawlermen, some of you guys who fish up there should have sent him a little bit of info on that they did to what was a very sustainable and beautiful inlet, not to mention the rest of the Irish Sea. I might just do it myself, he only told half the story and should be told so in no uncertain terms. Wonder how he would feel about getting a petition to finish the story by reporting the whole truth about what the trawlermen have done? I would imagine that it would get ignored, but just a thought and it might be a goer if there were enough support we all just might make him sit up and take notice. His show did more to show the "poor trawlermen" as being the underdogs in the fishing industry, he needs to be told of the damage they inflict by trawling areas where they know fish are spawning and are nursery areas.

I hope that this might generate some debate and I am sorry for hijacking you very well written thread Al, maybe some mod might like to move some of the posts to another thread and rename it something like trawlers rape the Irish Sea coast. Thanks for all your replies Al and the other who have written about the lack of fish where there were multitudes of great fish in the not too distant past.

Regards Wez

Hi Al, Wez,

Have been reading your posts on this thread. I first got out in the boat in Redbay in my early teens in the late 80's. There were good cod to be had and they werent hard to find. Everyone around here has heard of the cod banks and various people had different ideas of where the 'cod banks' were, or should I say where the best cod banks were. The fact was you could drift with feathers and pirks anywhere off Garron point or Layde and youd find them, even if you had no marks or no idea of specific banks. It was a summer and autumn season out in the boat, cod was all that people went out for, it was handy fishin and no one looked beyond them, as you have already mentioned wez. Could be frustrating when the mackerel were so thick you couldnt get a pirk of any weight to drop fast enough to get through the mackerel just to try to get down to where the cod were. That could go on for a full session, you just couldntr get down to the cod.

When I was first taken out 20 years ago we hit a succesion of 5-8 lb cod on the first trip. It was great but it was the norm and we probably took it for granted at times. But even then we (the younger ones) were told that this was nothing, you should have seen what it used to be like. I know people who have had 20 and 30lb plus cod in this bay as recently as the 80's. My best was only 10 0r 11lb but I hooked far bigger fish, I mean really big. I lost a massive fish over the head of a jammed reel and an ancient trace of featherswhich snapped. People will probably balk at the idea of anglers taking boxes of cod home but it had been done since time began with no detriment to fish stocks and it was the done thing, the cod came in May or June and the mackerel came in July with massive numbers appearing in August. You took what you could catch and they came back next year. Anglers did not cause the collapse, regardless of how biast that may sound in todays climate of p.c.ness and conservation awareness. Commercial overfishing is to blame, full stop, the angling was sustainable. History proved it. The decline did not happen with all the angling pressure people could muster through the decades.

My bro was lucky as recently as 98 when he had a 10lber two evenings in a row just off the Cushendun end of Layde shore.

Things changed through the 90's when a 5lb cod went from a nice fish to a great fish. Then a rare fish and today, they just aint there, I havent had a cod over 4lb in 5 years.

They arent there and very few people even try that type of drifting with feathers now. You might pick up a 3lb cod in 5 sessions. IE a waste of time. I only know that because an odd wee cod is still hit while fishing for mackerel.

At this stage it is a thing of the past. I know nature can bounce back but I will be amazed if I ever see the cod in redbay back to what they were even as recently as 95, 96. It was well worth doing then.

Where did you stay when here wez? Those big plaice Bobby used to get, I saw those caught off Limerick point every summer, fish up to 5lb until about 90. Theyre gone too. A pounder now is a bloody good one.

Cathal.

well done lads you caught a nice few fish

cheers JC lets hope the weather lets us get a bash at them this weekend again

I fully backed Hugh's big fish fight, but he did not tell the full story it was by far too much on the side of the trawlermen

did the same myself wez. but it did'nt show you them crying their eyes out when they high grade the catch. for those who don't know about this practice, it' when a boat catches it's quota for a certin species but later hits into a more valuable haul of the same species and dumps the earlier catch to keep the more valueable haul. for example filling your quota of cod when you got a haul 5 days into a trip of smaller less valueable fish say for instance 3lb - 5lb fish. but near the end of the trip hit into a haul of 10lb - 20lb cod. a common practice that the skippers don't like people to be aware of or talked about

i think your right wez, i'll email HFW at river cottage and put up a seperate post to let you know what response if any i get back, if any
i fully back the idea of eliminating discards but feel the programme was sugar coated for the masses and far from objective or impartial

I hope that this might generate some debate and I am sorry for hijacking you very well written thread Al,

not at all wez anything that highlights the issues and mabey educates people to whats really going on off our shores can only be a good thing. debate and illumination on these issues should be actively encouraged in my opinion

Hi Al, Wez,

Have been reading your posts on this thread. I first got out in the boat in Redbay in my early teens in the late 80's. There were good cod to be had and they werent hard to find. Everyone around here has heard of the cod banks and various people had different ideas of where the 'cod banks' were, or should I say where the best cod banks were. The fact was you could drift with feathers and pirks anywhere off Garron point or Layde and youd find them, even if you had no marks or no idea of specific banks. It was a summer and autumn season out in the boat, cod was all that people went out for, it was handy fishin and no one looked beyond them, as you have already mentioned wez. Could be frustrating when the mackerel were so thick you couldnt get a pirk of any weight to drop fast enough to get through the mackerel just to try to get down to where the cod were. That could go on for a full session, you just couldntr get down to the cod.

When I was first taken out 20 years ago we hit a succesion of 5-8 lb cod on the first trip. It was great but it was the norm and we probably took it for granted at times. But even then we (the younger ones) were told that this was nothing, you should have seen what it used to be like. I know people who have had 20 and 30lb plus cod in this bay as recently as the 80's. My best was only 10 0r 11lb but I hooked far bigger fish, I mean really big. I lost a massive fish over the head of a jammed reel and an ancient trace of featherswhich snapped. People will probably balk at the idea of anglers taking boxes of cod home but it had been done since time began with no detriment to fish stocks and it was the done thing, the cod came in May or June and the mackerel came in July with massive numbers appearing in August. You took what you could catch and they came back next year. Anglers did not cause the collapse, regardless of how biast that may sound in todays climate of p.c.ness and conservation awareness. Commercial overfishing is to blame, full stop, the angling was sustainable. History proved it. The decline did not happen with all the angling pressure people could muster through the decades.

My bro was lucky as recently as 98 when he had a 10lber two evenings in a row just off the Cushendun end of Layde shore.

Things changed through the 90's when a 5lb cod went from a nice fish to a great fish. Then a rare fish and today, they just aint there, I havent had a cod over 4lb in 5 years.

They arent there and very few people even try that type of drifting with feathers now. You might pick up a 3lb cod in 5 sessions. IE a waste of time. I only know that because an odd wee cod is still hit while fishing for mackerel.

At this stage it is a thing of the past. I know nature can bounce back but I will be amazed if I ever see the cod in redbay back to what they were even as recently as 95, 96. It was well worth doing then.

Where did you stay when here wez? Those big plaice Bobby used to get, I saw those caught off Limerick point every summer, fish up to 5lb until about 90. Theyre gone too. A pounder now is a bloody good one.

Cathal.

great post cathal. very informative and well written. thanks man

Hi Al, Wez,

Have been reading your posts on this thread. I first got out in the boat in Redbay in my early teens in the late 80's. There were good cod to be had and they werent hard to find. Everyone around here has heard of the cod banks and various people had different ideas of where the 'cod banks' were, or should I say where the best cod banks were. The fact was you could drift with feathers and pirks anywhere off Garron point or Layde and youd find them, even if you had no marks or no idea of specific banks. It was a summer and autumn season out in the boat, cod was all that people went out for, it was handy fishin and no one looked beyond them, as you have already mentioned wez. Could be frustrating when the mackerel were so thick you couldnt get a pirk of any weight to drop fast enough to get through the mackerel just to try to get down to where the cod were. That could go on for a full session, you just couldntr get down to the cod.

When I was first taken out 20 years ago we hit a succesion of 5-8 lb cod on the first trip. It was great but it was the norm and we probably took it for granted at times. But even then we (the younger ones) were told that this was nothing, you should have seen what it used to be like. I know people who have had 20 and 30lb plus cod in this bay as recently as the 80's. My best was only 10 0r 11lb but I hooked far bigger fish, I mean really big. I lost a massive fish over the head of a jammed reel and an ancient trace of featherswhich snapped. People will probably balk at the idea of anglers taking boxes of cod home but it had been done since time began with no detriment to fish stocks and it was the done thing, the cod came in May or June and the mackerel came in July with massive numbers appearing in August. You took what you could catch and they came back next year. Anglers did not cause the collapse, regardless of how biast that may sound in todays climate of p.c.ness and conservation awareness. Commercial overfishing is to blame, full stop, the angling was sustainable. History proved it. The decline did not happen with all the angling pressure people could muster through the decades.

My bro was lucky as recently as 98 when he had a 10lber two evenings in a row just off the Cushendun end of Layde shore.

Things changed through the 90's when a 5lb cod went from a nice fish to a great fish. Then a rare fish and today, they just aint there, I havent had a cod over 4lb in 5 years.

They arent there and very few people even try that type of drifting with feathers now. You might pick up a 3lb cod in 5 sessions. IE a waste of time. I only know that because an odd wee cod is still hit while fishing for mackerel.

At this stage it is a thing of the past. I know nature can bounce back but I will be amazed if I ever see the cod in redbay back to what they were even as recently as 95, 96. It was well worth doing then.

Where did you stay when here wez? Those big plaice Bobby used to get, I saw those caught off Limerick point every summer, fish up to 5lb until about 90. Theyre gone too. A pounder now is a bloody good one.

Cathal.

Hi Cathal very good post mate, that is the way I remember things also, there is nothing but truth in your well written post. There was no way angling would have ever had any impact on the fish stocks, that is as true today as it was then, I do not subscribe to this catch and release mullarky, why should we put keepable fish back, just to let a trawler come along and scoop them up? I do return fish in rivers, but in the sea it is both useless (as a conservation method) and silly as a lot of the fish will die anyway or be eaten by predictors, whilst they are in a weakened state.

I well remember the frustration that we endured at not being able to get through the macks to the cod, not to mention the disappointed one felt when the heavy fighting fish on the end of the link turned out to be a thumping pollock we just did not want them back then, though to have one of them now would be an amazing occurance and worthy of reporting. I was told, as you were, about the fish which were caught in earlier days, the same as you were, but I was quite happy with the fish we were getting back then. It is not so bad for me, because I never get to fish there any more, but the news of how severe the lack of fish really is has made me very sad.

It will take some time, but I know the fishing will recover, if given the chance, but that chance might never come, as I feel every effort to restrict over exploitation of the oceans will be contravened and the needs of a few to have the right to rape and destroy our seas and oceans accepted over what is morally right and the simple needs of the angler, to have a few fish to catch. I am sorry to go off n a tangent, but the way the people of this planet are breeding and over populating it, there can never be a return to the way things were. It is time the world was told that you have got to reduce the number of people on this small piece of rock we call our home. Any fool can understand that a field can only support a defined number of sheep or cattle, the planet we live on has no less a defined number of soles it can sustain and keep in good health. As long as we have this over populated world we will have, then too many demands will be placed on natural resources to provide for that population, demands that will eventually result in the demise of lots of the species we now consider common and that is not the worst of it, all the domesticated animals which will be required to sustain the too large a population, will continue to emit greenhouse gases, one bovine emits the same amount of greenhouse gases a car does, the worse state the planet will in. It is time the world were told the truth and less chat were concentrated on motors and electricity production, the base problem is not highlighted, why do we need so much electricity or motor cars, because there are so many more people who use it/them. People need to be told we must stop breeding too many offspring, if we do not then all the wars which have taken place in all of history will pale into insignificance compared to that which will come.

Anyway back to the fishing, I well remember the plaice from Limerick Point and the rocks along Dallreada Drive, there were indeed great days to be had all round red Bay, from the shore and a boat. At one time the bay was full of great Haddock, not that there were any left when I started fishing it, but the guys who had been fishing it for some years old me that they were there in huge numbers and good big fish at that. The oldtimers used haddock spoons, small silver elongate spoon type appendages which were soldered to a long shanked hook, used to be a common sight in tackle shops everywhere, have not seen them for years now, not any big surprise there though, haddock have become so rare there is no market for the spoons any more.

I am going to finish now, sorry for the rant over the earth and it's problems, my laptop is acting up and very slow I am running scans for spywear and viruses and do not want to have a restart and loss all this.

Best regards Wez

People need to be told we must stop breeding too many offspring, if we do not then all the wars which have taken place in all of history will pale into insignificance compared to that which will come.

viva la revolucion!!

i think the quickest way to restore the fish stocks is to ban all commercial fishing buy off the fishermen and give them enough to retire on and then have the royal navy patrol the waters and do like they do in austrailia with anyone caught fishing, arrest the crew and burn the boat.

all in i still reckon it will still cost less that what is cost to bail out the banks.

im sure if people have to do without fish for a few years they wont take them for granted any more

im fascinated by this conversation, great posts there from everyone. interesting stuff, and i couldnt agree more.

i went out fishing with the McMullens on the Green Isle in 1987 and caught a 10.5lb cod - great memories, but it just isnt the same any more. every time i head fishing now i just keep asking myself if its really worth it... catches really are quite grim (and its not down to lack of ability and poor bait choices etc... ) i go out just hoping for at least one decent fish that i may take home but its just an ongoing struggle to land anything decent! its because i enjoy the sport too much and of course theres always that minuscule hope of catching a great fish, you never know i suppose.

yes, i watched hugh fearnley whittingstalls Fish Fight too and i too couldnt understand why he was siding all the time with the trawler-men. they are the guilty ones! i reckon yngkmd isnt far off the mark, well stated (the aussies wouldnt tolerate this crap), trawlers need outlawed!
this trawling carry-on is the single most destructive means of fishing imaginable. not only because of needless bycatch but for the total devastation it reeks on the sea bed. its too efficient and completely destructive, its an absolute joke. forget about these quotas and crap, these boats should not be operating. i think that any cod, or mackerel, or haddock, or any other fish, should be line caught only - if indeed they should be fished for at all at the moment. This would save by-catch, the destruction of habitats, and, if necessary, hopefully mean being able to return unwanted fish alive. on a similar note, im also even dubious about the way hugh.f.w. is suggesting trying different species, this will just encourage trawler-men to keep at it.

i hope that no-one finds this conversation depressing or distressing by the way, as i certainly dont. i reckon im just stating a matter of fact and that its just the way things are at the moment.
from here i believe that we just need to keep making people aware of the whole situation - how things used to be and how things are now etc. i feel, and only hope, that the smarter and more decent people of the world will recognise the whole problem and will influence everyone else. there IS hope

lets hope for an improvement in matters in the future

Al if you do email HFW at river cottage then i am quite happy to relate this whole argument in his direction too. no problem. he is a big angler after all..

well done lads you caught a nice few fish

cheers JC lets hope the weather lets us get a bash at them this weekend again

I fully backed Hugh's big fish fight, but he did not tell the full story it was by far too much on the side of the trawlermen

did the same myself wez. but it did'nt show you them crying their eyes out when they high grade the catch. for those who don't know about this practice, it' when a boat catches it's quota for a certin species but later hits into a more valuable haul of the same species and dumps the earlier catch to keep the more valueable haul. for example filling your quota of cod when you got a haul 5 days into a trip of smaller less valueable fish say for instance 3lb - 5lb fish. but near the end of the trip hit into a haul of 10lb - 20lb cod. a common practice that the skippers don't like people to be aware of or talked about

i think your right wez, i'll email HFW at river cottage and put up a seperate post to let you know what response if any i get back, if any
i fully back the idea of eliminating discards but feel the programme was sugar coated for the masses and far from objective or impartial

I hope that this might generate some debate and I am sorry for hijacking you very well written thread Al,

not at all wez anything that highlights the issues and mabey educates people to whats really going on off our shores can only be a good thing. debate and illumination on these issues should be actively encouraged in my opinion

Hi Al if you have HFW's e-mail address it would do no harm to let us all have it, provided it is within the rules and allowed. If it is allowed, then we can all send him e-mails and let him know that even though we all signed up to his crusade, we feel very let down by his partial reporting of what the trawlermen get up to. He has to understand our distaste for his reporting, which I think we all agree, painted the trawlermen as victims and saints, far from the whole truth.

I fully understand that if had he told the full sad and unsavory story of what they get up to, he would have not had very many people sign up to his petition/crusade, we can hardly blame him as his objective was to highlight the by-catch, but to only show one side of what happens was criminal in my opinion. I feel if he gets sufficient mails concerning this, none too trivial, matter then he might be shamed into making a follow up, after all he is in the business of making TV shows and from them making money, we should never forget that is what he does, with that in mind it should be put to him that he has a moral obligation to right his miss-informing of the people of these islands.

If any Mod is reading this thread, which I again apologise for hijacking, and they feel that we should have the right to make HFW fully aware of our disgust of his making fools of the people of these islands and for insulting us anglers, to a none too slight degree, then please do start a new thread to ask what the members feel we should do to try and make him right the misconceptions he created in his show. It could be made into a poll and if it is found that the majority of members feel the way most posters in this thread do, then we should have a letter of protest drawn up, to which we could all put or signatures. Just a thought and in the hope that it might come to fruition.

If we sit here on our laptops and PCs and do nothing, how should the up and coming anglers view us? Were I an up and coming angler, be that a young or older one, I would not have a very good opinion of those who let this chance slip past, we seem to have a lot in common and the opportunity is there, we just need to act on it, for the good of those who are new to our compelling and wonderful sport and those yet to start. It is my fervent and sincere hope that we can band together and make something happen. OK he might not even acknowledge us, but to not have tried would be unforgivable and we would deserve all the scorn and displeasure which would be directed in our direction.

Best regards Wez

Good session there lads

thats a nice session ya had lads,,,great variety of fish,,,,,,,,,,,nice one

Anyway back to the fishing, I well remember the plaice from Limerick Point and the rocks along Dallreada Drive, there were indeed great days to be had all round red Bay, from the shore and a boat. At one time the bay was full of great Haddock, not that there were any left when I started fishing it, but the guys who had been fishing it for some years old me that they were there in huge numbers and good big fish at that. The oldtimers used haddock spoons, small silver elongate spoon type appendages which were soldered to a long shanked hook, used to be a common sight in tackle shops everywhere, have not seen them for years now, not any big surprise there though, haddock have become so rare there is no market for the spoons any more. (quote)

Wez, I totally forgot about the good pollack we used to bring up and the ridiculous feeling of disappointment when you discovered it wasnt a cod. Its been so long.
For a few years there in the mid to late 90's when the cod all but vanished we started to catch some haddock. I dont think I saw a haddock until about 95? We kinda felt they had filled a niche left empty by the cod but it only lasted a couple of years. They werent big haddock, mostly 1- 1.5lb with a very odd fish about 2lb but they were great eating. I dont expect to catch a haddock these days, its been 4 or 5 years since Ive seen one.

Charlie good post, the destructiveness of trawling cant be mentioned too much!!!

Al you prob didnt intend for all this discussion on your thread, hope you dont mind!

Cathal.