Fishing the Bass ban!!

It is very disappointing to see that there is a lack of awareness, ignorance, or general flouting of the bass ban. With the good weather this week I have heard many reports of people fishing for bass. On Wednesday night I came across two lads plugging for bass. On Thursday night my fishing buddy also came across lads plugging for bass and another individual fly fishing for bass. Their reaction when challenged is that 'it's ok we're releasing the fish.'

difficult one as anyone out fishing is not breaking the law how do u prove to a judge someone was just fishing for bass . how do u fish for flounder without getting the odd bass ? unless fishing is banned altogether for the month i personally think once all fish are returned its keeping in the spirit of good angling practice for example the midget caught his first sea trout while spinning for mack which he duely released LOCK HIM UP i hear you all cry!!!!!! , i dont think so or we may as well all throw our rods in a skip and take up darts or bowls
also when did u last see a billboard or ad on the telly or poster in a shop telling people about the ban and the reasons for it dont forget the vast numbers of anglers who only get the rods out for the fine weather and go to a tackle shop once a year!!!i,d say 95 percent of casual anglers are unaware of the ban or minimum sizes, now look at it this way we have a ban most people are unaware of, minimum sizes most are not aware of ,shag all enforcement due to lack of staff and facilities and you wonder why a lot of lads dont give a toss and flout the rules its like having speed limits and no cops or cameras to catch speeders
out of breath rant over :?

I think the only way to solve this particular issue is by raising awareness and changing minds. Just talking about it here helps to get the message out.

i think that a large poster in all the tackle shops around the contry will at least make genuine anglers who didnt know a little wiser. i mean even in a place where we dont catch many bass like here it woulndt hurt to have them there.

Roger I agree with your comments. We do need to raise awareness. However, I get frustrated with anglers who are not just casual anglers. The lads plugging are targeting bass. You don't get to the level of using plugs effectively unless you are some way sophisticated as an angler. The area they were fishing is a known bass mark and produces more bass than any other species put together. In other words other species are almost a by-product of your catch. Equally, a guy flyfishing has also reached a certain level of sophistication in his angling. Although, you are more likely to catch other species while flyfishing than plugging if you are fishing known bass spots you are going to catch bass!! It does annoy me because once you have reached this level in your sport you more than likely have done some research and surely you will have come across some information on the bass ban. Another example - in the first week of the bass ban three anglers were bottom fishing Rocky Island in Cork Harbour with crab. Although, they certainly may have caught other species this is a known big bass mark. This spot was hardly fished at all since Christmas. Why were they fishing it now? What were they targeting? Bass of course!! Did they now about the bass ban? That's questionable. So what can we as responsible anglers do to help address this situation?

i often wondered if particular beaches and harbours would benefit from signs displaying the regulations we have plenty of signs pointing out our beaches and the fish anglers can expect to catch, a large sign with the fines that can be emposed would change alot of peoples way of thinking but unfortunatly till a few law breakers are prosecuted and the facts published in the national press i personally think the ban is grossly inaffective also if free measuring rulers where given out in tackle shops with the regulations written on them and the reasons why they exist,more anglers would take notice

Yeah I heard of a few friends who went out fishing for bass recently and didn't catch any LOL. I told him that it was the bad Karma created by fishing for them during the ban... :D A guy next to him caught one and a white trout and kept both. People know about the ban and just ignore it the problem is enforcement.

Anybody ever heard of someone getting into trouble because they fished for bass during the ban?

anybody ever tell the local fisheries officer that people were fishing for bass at a particular mark during the ban?
I wouldn't expect them to come out straight a way but they could look at a few spots and ask people what they are fishing for.

Its mad, we all go out tooth and nail for this 1 month of bass abstinence...But there are cockle dredgers and commercial fishers as we speak robbing our seas of precious stocks...are we punishing ourselves here too much..dont get me wrong i wont fish bass during the ban, and havent done..but is it us we should be worrying about??

I'd agree with Pat to a great extent, it isn't only the day trippers. Some catch and release practitioners seem to think they are above the law because they're "releasing them anyway", this is a different breed of person to the ignorant "fine weather" fisherman where you can almost excuse their ignorance. There are defintely lots of people who should know better fishing them.

I agree with what rodger said,theres still a possibility to catch bass unless fishing is ban during the period.What i cant stand hearing is a people that know bout the rule and its purpose but still using "by the way i am not gonna eat it,i'll release it" as an excuse,and saying that in the tackle shop.Last week i have a chat with local angler while fishing dun laogheire west pier,i ask him wether its possible or not to catch bass here,and he tell me its possible.then i tell him that i want to try it,but maybe after 16 because of the ban,his face change imediately and tell me theres no such law....he tell me this is the time that we all catch bass here and theres no such law of banning the bass fishing.I just keep quiet after that,dont wanna get into any argument or trouble.Some times its just sad to see all this things happened,i've seen the extinction to most of all the good fighting species back home.The problem is the same,lack of awareness,when we realize it,its already too late.

i think the major problem is maybe not lack of awareness but the tackle shops. i think alot of the tackle shops will not tell people they are not allowed to fish for bass because they are scared to lose business. i have been in tackle shops in the past(during the ban) where the person behind the counter has said where it is possible to catch bass around here. like i said in my earlier post, i think the way to reduce this/educate people is to educate the tackle shops and get them to do everything possible to educate their costumers.

i agree with alex

i myself stopped fishing for bass 2 weeks before the ban i was having my best night ever catch and release of 8 bass all around the 30cm mark what stoped me was i noticed milt like fluid from the last 2 fish as i watched them swim away this put me on a right downer guilt stepped in and i packed up my gear on a night that would have been most likely my best ever, it made me think about how short a time we allow the bass to do there thing before we attack them again, is the ban 2 late or 2 short this and 100 other things went on in my head as i packed up the gear but me i have it in my mind that its both of the above 2 late an 2 short, having said all that i cant wait to attack them i have got the bug as much and a lot more then people i know for bass but i will hold back another couple of weeks in case i start to feel guilty again, the nearest i came to the feeling was when i tarmacked a cat coming back from kerry, oops i hope the owner dont see this,

This is typical of this country. The Irish government awards a sport fishing status to a threatened species incorporating a closed season and number and size limits. The only sea fish in Europe with this status might i add, and yet anglers disrespect the bye laws.

In the same breath sea anglers are quick to blame fisheries officers, lack of resources and enforcement for many issues yet simply cannot abide by the law.

Comparing or contrasting one evil to another dissolves the issue - it is illegal to fish for bass during the closed season.

Do not hide it under the guise of bream fishing or seatrout fishing or any other game playing semantics. If you are a fisherman with any sporting ethos and respect for the species you do your utmost to avoid disturbing or catching the species during the ban. You practice Catch, Photo, Return during the remainder of the season.

Its time sea anglers did something rather than simply point out the obvious. Yes there are no resources, yes there is no enforcement, yes people fish for or in places where bass are during the closed season. Yes anglers seek absolution if they practice catch and release. Yes anglers fish with three barbed treble hooks.

So i'll say it again, rather than continuosly point out the obvious isnt it time to DO something, anything!

Print an A4 page of the bass bye laws fotocopy it and put it in your local shop.

Talk to your school about a short lesson for 'older' classes about conservation.

Remind people of the bye laws regularly

Report accurate and regular suspect activity - demand action it is your right to expect public servants to respond.

Re-enforce the sportfishing ethos at any opportunity (without becoming a pain)

Talk to local clubs and aske their senior members if you can discuss bass conservation at AGM's so club members can have a far reaching influence on the beaches.

Build all and more of these things into a strong cohesive force of Sportfish enthusiasm, conservation, protection and enjoyment instead of sitting on your ar$%£ and watching it dissapear before your eyes.

Jim,

Excellent post, can I pick up on one particular thing, just to clarify it for myself.

Report accurate and regular suspect activity - demand action it is your right to expect public servants to respond.

On the Sunday of the June weekend I spent the day with the girlfriend and as usual went on a reconaissance mission dressed up as a romantic walk along the beach - great trick I recommend it :-)

Anyways in the space of an hour I watched three 'visiting' anglers take four seatrout in the 2 - 3 lb bracket along with a lovely bass near the five pound mark. Everything was knocked on the head needless to say. No tags for the trout either. The SWFB office in Macroom was closed naturally enough when I rang, these guys are entitled to their bank holiday weekend too.

The question is simple, can I ring the guards in a case like this and is it their duty to respond?

Cheers,
Liam

Liamo

you bet your life you can phone the guards. I got a call last saturday about some guys putting a stake net at rosslare burrow, it was a saturday evening. I rang the guards at Wexford and acknowledged/discussed that they were busy with the usual issues.

They put me through to rosslare station and the guards there said they would put a car on the place within 20 minutes. I needed to explain to them the details, which leads me to believe its another avenue for anglers to go down and explore with the Gardai.

Clarity of communication/involvment around fisheries protection regarding the guards needs also to be discussed with anglers and Gardai - add it to the list above.


Best
Jim

Bravo! JimH.

Tom.

And of course lads you can join the Irish Bass Protection and Awareness Group free of charge at http://www.irishbass.org. The more members we have the more of a mandate we have when talking to the fisheries etc. also the more reports of netting we have shows the extent of the problems the bass face.