minimum sizes for fish

Can anybody tell me where I can check out the minimum size for each species as set out by the IFSA( I think). Iv just come from their web site and there is no mention of same :?: :?
Also that site has not been updated since Jan 3rd 2005. Could this be correct :?: :?

I looked at the site a while back and it was pretty dated then. If you are using firefox the site does not work well either. Considering what we pay to join a SAC and the portion of that that goes to them you would think a better site could be achieved. Look what has been achieved on this site!

You can get the minimum commercial sizes on the Bord Iascaigh Mhara website under technical measures.

The Leinster IFSA site is regularly updated. It is http://www.ifsaleinster.com

The size limits for IFSA matches are as follows:

20cm's for all fish, excluding LSD's/Rays/Bass/Conger.

LSD's are automatically awarded points and you must measure your longest LSD in case of a tie. Rays/Conger are 45cms from tip to tail and Bass are 30cms, though it may have changed for Bass.

Regards,
Rob.

Would I be alone in thinking that a 20cm minimum size for flatties, whiting coley etc is a bit too small? Whiting that length can barely take a size 4 hook...

Welcome to the East Coast Sandman :lol: , if those limits did not exist then the most recent open held would have been one with two fish oppose to 12!, its grim I know. The UK size limits are even smaller for some species as their matches are worse than fishing a Coarse event.

I agree with Robert, its a sign of the times. Another point for anyone who knocks size limits in catch and release match fishing. All fish sizes have to abide by the law of the land if the fish are to be kept, that's because the size limits are made for the commercial industry, based on mesh sizes of nets etc.

Catch and release means you can hold a match and show a score (most of the time) I also happen to think that even under size fish should have some score, even if its just 1 pint as a fish landed. If an angler brings in 20 fish all under size and the guy next to him 2 that just make size, you cant tell me that the guy with 2 fish has more skill or has worked as hard.

Its not good to come off the beach with a blank score card after possibly having a fish every chuck. I personally don't think anglers are to blame in any way shape or form for the poor fish stocks in the seas around here. We live in a time that has the best tackle imaginable, rods, reels, line methods....and what is there to catch.....not much!!

Anyone wanting higher size limits should take into account how hard it is to catch shore caught species now compared to say 10 years ago. If a fish is put back in the sea dead after a catch and release match, then it is still in the food chain that God intended it for IMO, if its taken by French or Spanish trawlers and sold in markets ( ive seen them on the slab)under the nose of the powers in the fishery board of that land, then the shame should be on them, not match anglers of any country....my 2 cents :cry:

Tom.

There's a lot of sense in what's been said above. It is not good to blank on any competition given that we're better supplied then ever before with bait, tackle etc.

I don't want to sound like an old fart here, but I remember when fish were a lot bigger and a hell of a lot more plentiful.

However, I'd like to see the minimum size (this is just my opinion) set at 26cm for the likes of flatties and your usual competition targets etc. I also wouldn't be an advocate of a score for undersize fish - that only encourages people to target them. I'd also like to see a minimum hook size that would pretty much eliminate catching small fish.

Hell, I want to catch something that puts a bend in my rod. I'm getting rightly hacked off at having to watch my rod tip like a hawk for bites and even then often find fish on the line when I retrieve to change baits, they're that small.

If anglers are happy with 20cm fish as pretty much their lot, it's never, ever going to improve. As it is, we as anglers are hammering the smallest of the small fish. I don't know about anyone else, but the fun's going out of this competition lark - small fish are just no fun.....it's got to the point where it's a red letter day when you catch something off a beach that's big enough to eat...

Hi

If I recall we did look at the possibility of increasing minimum sizes in our own competitions on the non-East coast venues to 30 cms rather than 20 (which is tiny!) but I am not sure whether this has been adopted or not?

MAC, jd, Mb.3 - anyone care to comment on this?

Trust me no one wants to have to resort to this kind of super fine scratching Angling but it means the difference between blanking and not blanking. If the size for flatties was set at 26cm's then there would be little or none measured in at these matches on the East Coast. The nature of match fishing is that you are going to catch under-size fish so the IFSA came to a decision to use that fact instead of anglers going home empty handed.

I have fished hundreds of different matches and I know how frustrating it is when you are getting treble fish that just don't make the limit and then the guy next to you winds in a jammy 27cm flounder on his lump of mackerel and one hook trace. So from a match point of view I think its necessary to have such size limits, however from an angling and fishing point of view I think its sad our sport is reduced to this hence my new devotion to Boat Angling in search of bigger and better sport.

Personally I feel size limits should be determined by venue, i.e South Coast / South West coast should not be 20cms, the stamp of fish down there for example is 8 times out of 10 better than venues like Benone, Greystones, Wicklow etc.

If you seen a pack of wolves in the wild, you wouldn't see the little wolves getting to the food before the bigger ones, its my opinion that there are no bigger fish out there most of the time. Our sport is possibly on its last legs, if things don't get better. In Florida they have "slot" size limits, under 16" it goes back, over 27" it goes back too, we couldn't do that here.

As to hook sizes, sorry Sandman I disagree with that point in as much as Carp anglers use tiny hooks, so do most fly fishermen who target salmon, size is not such an fish issue with them. I know for a fact that the answer from any match angler would be bigger fish, if they were there, they're not.

I don't only blame the foreign fishing industry, I also blame the governments, including Ireland and the UK for all the s*** they allow to be pumped into our oceans, Fluoride is great for our kids teeth, as are many harmless to man or mammal chemicals that make there way into out waters, they brag about how they've cleaned up the rivers, yeah! that frikkin clean you or me can drink it, but the fish cant!!

I hope the soap out of the soapbox I'm on was harmless :lol: :lol:

btw....I think size changes regarding venue may work, some may say it give other some advantage, but match fishermen will always disagree about one thing or another, depending on whether it suits them or not, possibly me included :oops:

Tom.

I think for the purpose of National-level match fishing the only way to go is to have all the one size for everywhere - in the interests of fairness. On the other hand, set the sizes too high and some locations will turn up way too many blanks, which would only discourage anglers from participating.

What we really need are bigger fish. I see a two step process being required. First, we need to stop the commercials hammering the stocks, particularly inshore, and after a few years it might then be possible to start upping the minimum sizes nationwide so that anglers aren't guilty of killing small fish.

The minimum legal size for commercially caught plaice, for example, is 22cm. This might go a long way to explaining why it's something of a rarity to get a flattie over 22cm these days. For years I used to see boxes of small mixed flats landed - too small to sell, these were left on the pier for anyone to pick over and get taken for pot bait etc.

It seems clear to me that the minimum commercial landing sizes are just too small and that also we need to have some inshore limit where any form of commercial fishing by netting of any sort is banned - if we want to have a future for shore competitions. It's going to become increasingly difficult to attract anglers and keep them interested if there is little worth catching.

I'd be interested to hear what the IFSA are doing to address the issue of diminishing returns in match fishing.

i know that up until the start of 2005 here in ulster open competitions we went by the ifsa sizes of 25cm for flats and 30cm for round fish plus the other sizes for species like bass etc,we noticed the number of counting size fish steadily going down and the number of anglers attending opens going down due to this fact.
it was changed to 20cm for everything and the numbers of anglers coming out to open has went up and numbers of counting fish going up.a minimum hook size of 4 was also introduced to try a bit to eliminate all out coarse fishing tactics mentioned, it has worked well IMO.
and as a side note, on flounder marks the general size of flats caught has went up as well!! with many more fish over the 30cm mark being caught than in previous years!(nothing to do with the introduction of the new system really, probably and hopefully a combination of more anglers fishing and more mature flounder on the shoreline.
it does encourage more anglers if they have a chance of getting at least one counting fish.and with catch and release the fish still go to live another day!

The sizes in Munster are generally, Flats 250mm, Roundfish 300mm, Bass 430mm which is the measures used in catch and release competitions.