Bass closed season ????

Have to agree with eric, i too have grown tierd of the c&r brigade having a go when the words bass and take home are uttered in the same sentance.Once people are not abusing the system and taking more than the bag limit during open season i see no reason why they should be made to feel guilty about eating their catch.Im sure people will think twice now posting reports of big bass and that would be a pitty as i for one love seeing pics of these magnificent fish.

Totally agree with Eric, I love catching Bass but things are going OTT on here, we already have a closed season which is more than most countries do. Smoothhounds are a much better fight anyway

i have to agree with eric. im not a big fish eater but i like one every now and then . not a big fan of bass but my old fella is and i see no harm in keeping one for him when ever i catch

have to say i do and will always eat fish and bass are very nice so ill def be keeping a few this year

RR never said you couldn't keep the legal limit outside of what has become the new spawning season so he's not totally trying to convert everyone to complete c&r. That said I think yer totally wasting your time with this fantastic idea Danny.

i think anyone who fishes and catches a fish has the right to eat it if they wish

at the end of the day angling's roots derive from a sport to catch fish for consumption, its blood sport.

totally agree with both of you,i love fishing but i love eating them too, I let most of what i catch back to live another day, but if i get a nice edible species it goes in the bag for the table! I have noticed that if there is a post saying that a cod(a endangered species) has been brought home for the table there is general congratulations,but god love anyone saying that they brought home a Bass!! Now i dont condone wholesale slaughter,but the odd fish for the table is a lovely bonus after a nice day on the water!

Could not agree with you more! People here can be very selective about what species is C & R and your right - cod is NEVER a fish which receives this. Everytime there is a picture of a caught cod there are comments like "that'll be tasty" or "it'll look good with chips" but post a pic of a dead bass and WHOA! People get their knickers in a twist. Practice C & R by all means (indeed I do myself) but let the rest of us fish away without trying to ram your opinions down our throat

Lads, people are entitled to practice C&R or retain bass so long as they stay within the law. Danny did make a valid point regarding milt in bass at this time of year so perhaps it is something to consider. I think the May 15 -June 15 date has been brought up before, with opinions expressed that it was rather arbitrary and perhaps a little bit late in the year. While bass stocks seem to be improving, it is still the view of the MI that they are not of a level that would sustain a commercial fishery.

Finally,people are entitled to hold and to express their opinions on this. Please keep the debates to the issues.

For what its worth its a nice idea RR ,especially if it apears that the spawning season has come forward in the year these days.I think to be honest i don't think people have been getting knickers in a twist[jocks man myself],its just that people are passionate about bass,especially down south as they provide great fun on the right tackle and they are under threat FACT .like all other fish i hear you say which is fair enough and as Eric has said loads of bass on the east coast,which are only babies.
give them a chance to grow big so we on the south coast can continue catch the biggies .
Not stirring so sorry to all,seriously people that adhere to the bass limit fair enough IT IS LAW,but myself i prefer to return the few i catch under an elusion that i may catch them again in the future providing they have managed to run the gauntlet,that is the life of been a fish.
Tight lines

i dont agree
what else am i supposed to fish for this time of the year Flatties and Whiting ive been out over 30 times this year and caught f<<k all worth catching .this is the only time of the year you can go out and target them on the east coast and get them in good numbers whats the point in trying to stop people fishing for them i think the 1 month ban is enough over the spawning season

Why do people always say "one for the pot"? More then likely its the pan, grill or fryer.

while it may be close to that "SPECIAL" time for bass remember that ALL FISH have breeding potential for their respective breeding seasons throughout the year . some of the other posts on this mention cod in particular but lets not forget the rest. its all down to the levels of respect or/and responsability an individual has to their quarry. i myself find it amusing in ways ,how can a fisherman preach c+R whilst killing lugworm, crab, sandeel. its ok to drag the mouth off a pregnant fish type up and down the beach a few hundred yards but release it and alls fine . in a way c+r is flawed as the true caring of the beast is not to hunt it at all and join pet@. Go down the beach with rod and hooks and somethings going to get hurt (including the fisherman in some cases ). I myself sometimes practice C+R and only keep a fish with a good food value and dont break any laws regarding size or bag limits. The one and only thing i dont like about this site is the way some lads get hopped on when they post pictures not to the brigades liking , is this a fishing site . I do however believe that C+R is probably the way forward as regards insuring future stocks

my two cents worth

i think if you catch a fish and theres milt coming out of it - youd be better off to release it seen as it is its time - regardless of whether its the bass ban or not

another thing happening here lately is that if one person mentions c+r when someone keeps a fish in a report - 90% of the posts following are sledging c+r - if anything the sledging c+r brigade is more vocal than the c+r views OR the entitlement to keep a fish views

everyone is entitled to their opinion as jd said above - and as many have said, people may get turned off the site due to c+r views but equally people being slated for having that view doesnt help anyone either

lets concentrate on the tactics conditions marks - THE FISHING etc. and less on c+r, anti c+r and how good everything would look dipped in batter knocked down with a few beers !!!!

Guys and Gals can i give you a suggestion

Could all members of this site give Bass a chance and give them a break for the next 2 months ???

Just think about it guys .... how many of the latest posts have said about the Bass that they caught flowing with S***M.

Come on lads we want. and need a future for our kids

Lads read my original post again...................................... I never mentioned C&R

All I'm trying to say is to give the fish a chance by extending the closed season

...lets concentrate on the tactics conditions marks - THE FISHING etc. and less on c+r, anti c+r and how good everything would look dipped in batter knocked down with a few beers !!!!

can only fully agree to this, well said

Lads read my original post again...................................... I never mentioned C&R

True.....What you were saying is to not fish for them at all, which most people would have even more of a problem with.

a full month in one year is more loving than most anglers get

im off out bass hunting .... i mean filleting

while it may be close to that "SPECIAL" time for Bass remember that ALL FISH have breeding potential for their respective breeding seasons throughout the year . some of the other posts on this mention cod in particular but lets not forget the rest. its all down to the levels of respect or/and responsability an individual has to their quarry. i myself find it amusing in ways ,how can a fisherman preach c+R whilst killing lugworm, crab, sandeel. its ok to drag the mouth off a pregnant fish type up and down the beach a few hundred yards but release it and alls fine . in a way c+r is flawed as the true caring of the beast is not to hunt it at all and join pet@. Go down the beach with rod and hooks and somethings going to get hurt (including the fisherman in some cases ). I myself sometimes practice C+R and only keep a fish with a good food value and dont break any laws regarding size or bag limits. The one and only thing i dont like about this site is the way some lads get hopped on when they post pictures not to the brigades liking , is this a fishing site . I do however believe that C+R is probably the way forward as regards insuring future stocks

Excellent Post Sean, One thing that I always felt about people who actively and vocally support C&R, is why do we not campaign the mass slaughter of Cod and other white fish when the ARE spawning. This is one of the main reasons these species are being fishing to extinction. They group up to spawn, scientific data has show where and when this happens, and the Trawlers turn up and scoop up a mass of spawning fish.... Now if half as much energy went into campaigning against this atrocity as goes into sledging a fellow angler,,,, (I know you didn't Danny, excellent post by the way) anglers would be a far more effective lobby group.

Angling is one of the biggest participation sports in the country.... FACT, but because of the constant back biting and bickering, and in disagreements between the various angling groups, we couldn't influence any politician to save our lives.... If only angling could get it's act together...... More chance of the recession ending tomorrow.

Keep the debate going by all means, but start a separate thread... and stop jumping on your fellow angler every chance you get.... NO LAWS WERE BROKEN.....

Kev

Interesting stuff guys and valid points on both sides. My own opinion is the ban is flawed anyhow as i have caught fish dripping milt from feb to july. I dont think realistically that a one month ban serves a pile of purpose but at the same time i dont think there would be a huge amount of benefit from extending it by a month either. Anglers are NOT the primary cause of the collapse in stocks, we need to remember that too. Spawning fish are not something any of us set out to destroy but it is definitely the case the bass attract so much more attention. Noone says a word when were targetting big flounder in late autumn loaded with spawn, theres no mention of reef pollack which we caught recently and on gutting discovered every one we kept was loaded with eggs, indeed all salmon anglers are actively targetting spawning fish, the list goes on. Indeed, a wonderful dish that is commonplace in uk chip shops is a cod roe fish cake type thing. Concentrate on the poachers who i have no doubt hammer the jesus out of bass on quiet beaches throughout the ban and leave responsible anglers have their fun.

I’m new to this forum and was trawling (pardon the pun) around when I dipped into this thread. Haven’t read all the contributions very carefully, the conclusion I have reached is that those who agree with C&R should do just that. Those that don’t, whether their fish are dripping spawn or not, should take their fish home.
At the end of the day, we, the angler are the eyes and ears of what happens around the coastline of our country.
Not too long ago, I was reading on this forum that there was uproar in the Cork region about factory boats taking more than their quotas and depleting the Bass stocks. How many anti-C&R merchants were shouting from their ivory towers then? They were the ones complaining.
Look, it’s not as though we catch too many Bass in a year. So let’s give the stock a chance and perhaps bring home one every so often.