Re: Cause for concern?
Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:36 am
Re: Cause for concern?
Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:44 am
just thought id add a few things to this, found it interesting to hear what was said earlier about a bass being full off sand hoppers. ive had a few bass on size 14 shrimp patterns this year while chasing mullet, what has being very noticable is that bass have actively hunted them very agressivly. have also had 2 good bass follow them to my feet, one possibly high singles. ths kind of pattern has been repeated with pollack. a few weeks back i had about 50 pollack on the fly, initally on baitfish patterns but without much consistancy, in the noon i decided to change to trying for a few wrasse so put on 2 small shrimp flies and started getting nailed by good pollack in the same gullies that i had struggled in earlier.
finally i fished a little low water mark of mine that throws up bass on the ebb and lw, first cast and bang, fish on.. turned out to be a 4 lb pollack that was obviously living over sand by its almost silvery colouration.now the interesting thing is that this pollack was taken in 3 feet of water, over a sand bank and was stuffed with shrimp, to the extent that it was coughing up some when i landed it. in the end i had about a dozen and 2 small bass all on a little shrimp fly, baitfish and sandeel type flies were not as successful and there were hoards of sandeel about.. from what i have seen there is definately a pattern of predatory fish focusing on shrimp, sand hoppers etc.. whether this is fact i am unsure but it may explain the lack of results with plugging or soft plastics
finally i fished a little low water mark of mine that throws up bass on the ebb and lw, first cast and bang, fish on.. turned out to be a 4 lb pollack that was obviously living over sand by its almost silvery colouration.now the interesting thing is that this pollack was taken in 3 feet of water, over a sand bank and was stuffed with shrimp, to the extent that it was coughing up some when i landed it. in the end i had about a dozen and 2 small bass all on a little shrimp fly, baitfish and sandeel type flies were not as successful and there were hoards of sandeel about.. from what i have seen there is definately a pattern of predatory fish focusing on shrimp, sand hoppers etc.. whether this is fact i am unsure but it may explain the lack of results with plugging or soft plastics
Re: Cause for concern?
Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:59 am
Lads,
I'm sorry to keep banging on about this, but this really is an Irish problem and I think due to poor recruitment and phytoplankton blooms. Have a read of this report from a website on NE coast of England this week, where the bass get hammered by the nets:
Re: Bass fishing - Port Mulgrave
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2012, 01:35:49 PM »
Haven't fished Port Mulgrave before so can't advise you on that, but as Sam has said, success with Bass is more to do with how you fish for them rather than where. In the last two years I've caught them from the kayak at North Gare, River Tees, South Gare, Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Skinny, Runswick, Staithes, Kettleness & Sandsend and it's usually close-in with plugs for me. All of the marks where I've caught them were within casting distance of the shore. I'm no expert, but I've found that dusk is a good time and in calm conditions, you can sometimes hear schools of them feeding at the surface. I was fishing very close to shore at North Gare last September when I found myself in the middle of one of these schools of Bass. I could see and hear hundreds of them. It only lasted 20 minutes, but in that time I caught about 20 fish which were all the same size (approx 3lb). Being inexperienced, I think I eventually spooked them and they were gone in an instant, but as I was paddling around the pier to get back to my launch spot, there were 3 lads catching them from the rocks and having a lot of fun doing so. I asked what they were catching them with and they said 'Mag Poppers'. I only kept half-a-dozen of my catch and returned the rest, but these lads were catching with nearly every chuck.
I would say that any rocky outcrop is worth casting from and be prepared to cover a bit of ground. If the water is very clear, try not to spook them, and use your eyes and ears. I use a very light Bass rod with a Penn Captiva spinning reel and 20lb braid. There are a bewildering array of plugs and various other lures, and you need to get a bank loan to buy some of them, but take it from me, almost anything with a hook that moves will catch Bass. You may have to try a few to find out which is the most attractive for the venue and the particular conditions, so a shoulder bag with half-a-dozen different lures should suffice. Like I said, I'm still fairly new to Bass fishing, but you do learn as you go and it always helps to find out as much as you can from someone with local knowledge. I didn't catch any Bass in my first attempts because I was just casting blind most of the time, but I'll never ever forget the feeling of satisfaction I had when I reeled in my first bar of silver.
Link to Website here:http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=27422.0
This is typical of many reports. I know many don't like to hear this and think I have some kind of agenda, but the fact remains that in many parts of the UK the bass fishing is improving and the commercial fishing there is a free for all. Now please don't take exception to this, I am just trying to help and explain things the way I see them.
I'm sorry to keep banging on about this, but this really is an Irish problem and I think due to poor recruitment and phytoplankton blooms. Have a read of this report from a website on NE coast of England this week, where the bass get hammered by the nets:
Re: Bass fishing - Port Mulgrave
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2012, 01:35:49 PM »
Haven't fished Port Mulgrave before so can't advise you on that, but as Sam has said, success with Bass is more to do with how you fish for them rather than where. In the last two years I've caught them from the kayak at North Gare, River Tees, South Gare, Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Skinny, Runswick, Staithes, Kettleness & Sandsend and it's usually close-in with plugs for me. All of the marks where I've caught them were within casting distance of the shore. I'm no expert, but I've found that dusk is a good time and in calm conditions, you can sometimes hear schools of them feeding at the surface. I was fishing very close to shore at North Gare last September when I found myself in the middle of one of these schools of Bass. I could see and hear hundreds of them. It only lasted 20 minutes, but in that time I caught about 20 fish which were all the same size (approx 3lb). Being inexperienced, I think I eventually spooked them and they were gone in an instant, but as I was paddling around the pier to get back to my launch spot, there were 3 lads catching them from the rocks and having a lot of fun doing so. I asked what they were catching them with and they said 'Mag Poppers'. I only kept half-a-dozen of my catch and returned the rest, but these lads were catching with nearly every chuck.
I would say that any rocky outcrop is worth casting from and be prepared to cover a bit of ground. If the water is very clear, try not to spook them, and use your eyes and ears. I use a very light Bass rod with a Penn Captiva spinning reel and 20lb braid. There are a bewildering array of plugs and various other lures, and you need to get a bank loan to buy some of them, but take it from me, almost anything with a hook that moves will catch Bass. You may have to try a few to find out which is the most attractive for the venue and the particular conditions, so a shoulder bag with half-a-dozen different lures should suffice. Like I said, I'm still fairly new to Bass fishing, but you do learn as you go and it always helps to find out as much as you can from someone with local knowledge. I didn't catch any Bass in my first attempts because I was just casting blind most of the time, but I'll never ever forget the feeling of satisfaction I had when I reeled in my first bar of silver.
Link to Website here:http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=27422.0
This is typical of many reports. I know many don't like to hear this and think I have some kind of agenda, but the fact remains that in many parts of the UK the bass fishing is improving and the commercial fishing there is a free for all. Now please don't take exception to this, I am just trying to help and explain things the way I see them.
Re: Cause for concern?
Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:35 pm
Pat and Henry from Henry's tackle shop were talking to me, you may want to look at
http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/2012 ... ass-survey
http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/2012 ... ass-survey
Re: Cause for concern?
Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:21 pm
This is very positive, I'll certainly support it.
Re: Cause for concern?
Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:44 pm
Hi Guys,
I should have got involved in this thread sooner but I've been busy. There are several points in this thread that I think need clarifying. The first is the issue of poor recruitment. In Ireland we have always had good and bad years for bass recruitment because we are so far north. This however does not explain the fact that we are no longer catching the large numbers of smaller fish that we were a few years ago. These fish might be bigger and slightly less plentiful but should be still in evidence. Bass can live up to 28 years so the good catches we had only a few years ago should not be stopping so abruptly. Something else may have happened to them. Dr. Ed Fahy has done the most recent scientific work on bass and his view is that the Irish stock was much more limited that some would suggest. This could mean that angling mortality coupled with illegal inshore netting could have had a major effect.
The second point is something that all Irish bass anglers need to be aware of. EU trawlers are not catching Irish bass in the winter months. As part of research that I did for the Irish bass policy group it appears that bass are extremely rare in offshore waters in the Irish and Celtic sea. The figures I received from Mike Armstrong (CEFAS) for 2010 shows that all UK trawlers caught almost no bass in these areas for the whole year!. French statistics show that their boats also caught very few bass in these areas. The Marine Institute has 2 mordern research vessels and in 15 years of test netting they only caught 66 bass in Irish offshore waters out of a total of millions of other fish that were sampled. In fact off the west coast they did not catch even one.How is it then possible that Irish vessels could be catching bass in large quantities even though in theory they have no purpose in targeting them and yet the boats from the UK and other countries that have every incentive to target and land them can catch virtually none?
The Irish commercial fishing industry realised that they have no hope of getting access to our inshore bass stocks at the moment given that the scientific advice states that the stock is still 96% depleted. It makes much more sense for them to try and undermine the law by suggesting that EU boats are catching them in large quantities just outside our 12 mile limit while they are forced to throw them away. If it were true even I would have some sympathy for them but all the evidence shows that this is not happening. If the Irish bass laws were changed in any way then enforcement (yes I know it is very limited) would become impossible and what would be left of the legislation would collapse. The commercial sector know this only too well.
The last point I would like to make is the understandable suggestion that Irish bass move offshore to spawn. The limited science that we have simply does not back this up. The work done by Kennedy and Fitzmaurice found bass eggs that only been shed a few hours previously very close inshore in several areas around Ireland from Dublin to Kerry. These eggs had most certainly not been laid any distance offshore. Irish bass move south along the coast in the winter. It's just that in cold water they are unlikely to feed so we may not catch many of them.
Taking into account all the evidence available it appears that the Irish bass stocks stick close to our shore and unlike other EU countries we do not have an offshore stock to back them up. This makes our stock very vulnerable and would explain why it collapsed so quickly in the 1950's and again in the 1980's with only limited commercial expliotation.
The most worrying thing about all this is that the Marine Institute is aware of all these facts (one of their own scientists was on the bass policy group also) and yet are currently quite happy to back commercial fishermen in their attempt to change the law. This unfortunately has nothing to do with good science but all to do with the lobbying power and influence of the commercial sector!
I should have got involved in this thread sooner but I've been busy. There are several points in this thread that I think need clarifying. The first is the issue of poor recruitment. In Ireland we have always had good and bad years for bass recruitment because we are so far north. This however does not explain the fact that we are no longer catching the large numbers of smaller fish that we were a few years ago. These fish might be bigger and slightly less plentiful but should be still in evidence. Bass can live up to 28 years so the good catches we had only a few years ago should not be stopping so abruptly. Something else may have happened to them. Dr. Ed Fahy has done the most recent scientific work on bass and his view is that the Irish stock was much more limited that some would suggest. This could mean that angling mortality coupled with illegal inshore netting could have had a major effect.
The second point is something that all Irish bass anglers need to be aware of. EU trawlers are not catching Irish bass in the winter months. As part of research that I did for the Irish bass policy group it appears that bass are extremely rare in offshore waters in the Irish and Celtic sea. The figures I received from Mike Armstrong (CEFAS) for 2010 shows that all UK trawlers caught almost no bass in these areas for the whole year!. French statistics show that their boats also caught very few bass in these areas. The Marine Institute has 2 mordern research vessels and in 15 years of test netting they only caught 66 bass in Irish offshore waters out of a total of millions of other fish that were sampled. In fact off the west coast they did not catch even one.How is it then possible that Irish vessels could be catching bass in large quantities even though in theory they have no purpose in targeting them and yet the boats from the UK and other countries that have every incentive to target and land them can catch virtually none?
The Irish commercial fishing industry realised that they have no hope of getting access to our inshore bass stocks at the moment given that the scientific advice states that the stock is still 96% depleted. It makes much more sense for them to try and undermine the law by suggesting that EU boats are catching them in large quantities just outside our 12 mile limit while they are forced to throw them away. If it were true even I would have some sympathy for them but all the evidence shows that this is not happening. If the Irish bass laws were changed in any way then enforcement (yes I know it is very limited) would become impossible and what would be left of the legislation would collapse. The commercial sector know this only too well.
The last point I would like to make is the understandable suggestion that Irish bass move offshore to spawn. The limited science that we have simply does not back this up. The work done by Kennedy and Fitzmaurice found bass eggs that only been shed a few hours previously very close inshore in several areas around Ireland from Dublin to Kerry. These eggs had most certainly not been laid any distance offshore. Irish bass move south along the coast in the winter. It's just that in cold water they are unlikely to feed so we may not catch many of them.
Taking into account all the evidence available it appears that the Irish bass stocks stick close to our shore and unlike other EU countries we do not have an offshore stock to back them up. This makes our stock very vulnerable and would explain why it collapsed so quickly in the 1950's and again in the 1980's with only limited commercial expliotation.
The most worrying thing about all this is that the Marine Institute is aware of all these facts (one of their own scientists was on the bass policy group also) and yet are currently quite happy to back commercial fishermen in their attempt to change the law. This unfortunately has nothing to do with good science but all to do with the lobbying power and influence of the commercial sector!
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:44 am
I know i had said i was taking a sebactle on this one but after reading John's post i feel its the most informative and truthful post on the subject for years and is'nt just someone blowing their own trumpet with their limited knowledge on the bass front gained in the last few years.
I hope at last people will finally get the message and start to understand the current status.This is a serious situation and one that needs heads coming together.Johns post is the definative post and for that John i thank you.
I hope at last people will finally get the message and start to understand the current status.This is a serious situation and one that needs heads coming together.Johns post is the definative post and for that John i thank you.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:27 pm
Well said beachbuddy!
I think it's worth copying and pasting the following two paragraphs from John Q's post again:
"The second point is something that all Irish Bass anglers need to be aware of. EU trawlers are not catching Irish Bass in the winter months. As part of research that I did for the Irish Bass policy group it appears that Bass are extremely rare in offshore waters in the Irish and Celtic sea. The figures I received from Mike Armstrong (CEFAS) for 2010 shows that all UK trawlers caught almost no Bass in these areas for the whole year! French statistics show that their boats also caught very few Bass in these areas. The Marine Institute has 2 modern research vessels and in 15 years of test netting they only caught 66 Bass in Irish offshore waters out of a total of millions of other fish that were sampled. In fact off the west coast they did not catch even one. How is it then possible that Irish vessels could be catching Bass in large quantities even though in theory they have no purpose in targeting them and yet the boats from the UK and other countries that have every incentive to target and land them can catch virtually none?
The most worrying thing about all this is that the Marine Institute is aware of all these facts (one of their own scientists was on the Bass policy group also) and yet are currently quite happy to back commercial fishermen in their attempt to change the law. This unfortunately has nothing to do with good science but all to do with the lobbying power and influence of the commercial sector!"
I urge everyone to please consider this and its implications.
John D.
I think it's worth copying and pasting the following two paragraphs from John Q's post again:
"The second point is something that all Irish Bass anglers need to be aware of. EU trawlers are not catching Irish Bass in the winter months. As part of research that I did for the Irish Bass policy group it appears that Bass are extremely rare in offshore waters in the Irish and Celtic sea. The figures I received from Mike Armstrong (CEFAS) for 2010 shows that all UK trawlers caught almost no Bass in these areas for the whole year! French statistics show that their boats also caught very few Bass in these areas. The Marine Institute has 2 modern research vessels and in 15 years of test netting they only caught 66 Bass in Irish offshore waters out of a total of millions of other fish that were sampled. In fact off the west coast they did not catch even one. How is it then possible that Irish vessels could be catching Bass in large quantities even though in theory they have no purpose in targeting them and yet the boats from the UK and other countries that have every incentive to target and land them can catch virtually none?
The most worrying thing about all this is that the Marine Institute is aware of all these facts (one of their own scientists was on the Bass policy group also) and yet are currently quite happy to back commercial fishermen in their attempt to change the law. This unfortunately has nothing to do with good science but all to do with the lobbying power and influence of the commercial sector!"
I urge everyone to please consider this and its implications.
John D.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:47 pm
Sometimes I get a feeling that too many bass anglers take the fishery for granted and just expect everything to be okay in the morning. They seem to be unrealistically optimistic and don't adequately rise to the challenge of any threat to their sport. This latest call to immediately re-open the commercial bass fishery is a very real and immediate threat that we should all take very serioulsy.
I know everybody's different but if you genuinely love the sport of bass angling please consider doing something, no matter how small you think it is. Write a letter, send an e-mail, start filling out the 'Henry's Tackle' log book - everything makes a difference!
Yours hopefully,
John D.
I know everybody's different but if you genuinely love the sport of bass angling please consider doing something, no matter how small you think it is. Write a letter, send an e-mail, start filling out the 'Henry's Tackle' log book - everything makes a difference!
Yours hopefully,
John D.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:33 pm
I think the following lines from John Q's very good input are worthy of expansion and discussion:
"Bass can live up to 28 years so the good catches we had only a few years ago should not be stopping so abruptly. Something else may have happened to them. Dr. Ed Fahy has done the most recent scientific work on Bass and his view is that the Irish stock was much more limited that some would suggest. This could mean that angling mortality coupled with illegal inshore netting could have had a major effect. "
My bass fishing takes me to venues in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Cork on a regular basis. What I have witnessed personally in the past 3/4 years is that anglers specifically fishing for bass has increased on some marks by 5/6/7 + times. Marks where I could arrive on a Saturday morning at 5am and either find no anglers or maybe 1 or 2 now have a stream of anglers fishing them. What is also very evident if you spend time on marks observing other anglers is that the level of catch and take has also definitely increased substantially. I'm observing anglers taking their legal limit and anglers taking more than their legal limit. What is also very evident is that when a mark is 'on' and bass can be caught readily, the pressure that goes onto that mark with an influx of anglers is very, very heavy, again increased catch and take being evident. Within all of this activity there is a propensity for anglers to keep the larger trophy fish. I personally saw pictures of multiple bass on a phone laid out on grass including a 10lb fish off a mark in Wexford caught by a local angler.
This pressure must be starting to make a difference to stocks.
Then there is illegal netting. There is comprehensive first hand evidence that this is widespread along the coast, certainly in the North East, South East and South Coasts. The IFI have recently confirmed that this activity has been increasing with the onset of the economic down turn. The level of prosecutions (note I didn't even go as far as saying convictions) is so miniscule that it acts as no deterrent to this illegal activity.
Add into these 2 activities the increase that has taken place in spearfishing and other naturally occurring issues such as the current weather systems and it is not difficult to imagine that a growing yet fragile bass stock could be halted and reversed in number and quality very, very quickly. (over a few recent seasons perhaps).
Another element of John Q's post is also worthy of discussion:
"The most worrying thing about all this is that the Marine Institute is aware of all these facts (one of their own scientists was on the Bass policy group also) and yet are currently quite happy to back commercial fishermen in their attempt to change the law. This unfortunately has nothing to do with good science but all to do with the lobbying power and influence of the commercial sector!"
Lobbying power - The outstanding question for me is how do we come together as a group to lobby for our own interests in a way that the IFI and other relevant bodies are in no doubt as to our size and scale.
Recreational anglers, tackle shops, fishing forums, hotels, guesthouses etc etc that benefit from our sport, how do we harness these and point them at the powers to be so that they actually start ACTING on the activities that are slowly killing sport.
"Bass can live up to 28 years so the good catches we had only a few years ago should not be stopping so abruptly. Something else may have happened to them. Dr. Ed Fahy has done the most recent scientific work on Bass and his view is that the Irish stock was much more limited that some would suggest. This could mean that angling mortality coupled with illegal inshore netting could have had a major effect. "
My bass fishing takes me to venues in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Cork on a regular basis. What I have witnessed personally in the past 3/4 years is that anglers specifically fishing for bass has increased on some marks by 5/6/7 + times. Marks where I could arrive on a Saturday morning at 5am and either find no anglers or maybe 1 or 2 now have a stream of anglers fishing them. What is also very evident if you spend time on marks observing other anglers is that the level of catch and take has also definitely increased substantially. I'm observing anglers taking their legal limit and anglers taking more than their legal limit. What is also very evident is that when a mark is 'on' and bass can be caught readily, the pressure that goes onto that mark with an influx of anglers is very, very heavy, again increased catch and take being evident. Within all of this activity there is a propensity for anglers to keep the larger trophy fish. I personally saw pictures of multiple bass on a phone laid out on grass including a 10lb fish off a mark in Wexford caught by a local angler.
This pressure must be starting to make a difference to stocks.
Then there is illegal netting. There is comprehensive first hand evidence that this is widespread along the coast, certainly in the North East, South East and South Coasts. The IFI have recently confirmed that this activity has been increasing with the onset of the economic down turn. The level of prosecutions (note I didn't even go as far as saying convictions) is so miniscule that it acts as no deterrent to this illegal activity.
Add into these 2 activities the increase that has taken place in spearfishing and other naturally occurring issues such as the current weather systems and it is not difficult to imagine that a growing yet fragile bass stock could be halted and reversed in number and quality very, very quickly. (over a few recent seasons perhaps).
Another element of John Q's post is also worthy of discussion:
"The most worrying thing about all this is that the Marine Institute is aware of all these facts (one of their own scientists was on the Bass policy group also) and yet are currently quite happy to back commercial fishermen in their attempt to change the law. This unfortunately has nothing to do with good science but all to do with the lobbying power and influence of the commercial sector!"
Lobbying power - The outstanding question for me is how do we come together as a group to lobby for our own interests in a way that the IFI and other relevant bodies are in no doubt as to our size and scale.
Recreational anglers, tackle shops, fishing forums, hotels, guesthouses etc etc that benefit from our sport, how do we harness these and point them at the powers to be so that they actually start ACTING on the activities that are slowly killing sport.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:29 pm
I enjoyed your post Colm - particularly the latter part of it!
Thanks,
John D.
Thanks,
John D.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:42 pm
lastcast wrote:Lads,
I'm sorry to keep banging on about this, but this really is an Irish problem and I think due to poor recruitment and phytoplankton blooms. Have a read of this report from a website on NE coast of England this week, where the Bass get hammered by the nets:
Re: Bass fishing - Port Mulgrave
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2012, 01:35:49 PM »
Haven't fished Port Mulgrave before so can't advise you on that, but as Sam has said, success with Bass is more to do with how you fish for them rather than where. In the last two years I've caught them from the kayak at North Gare, River Tees, South Gare, Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Skinny, Runswick, Staithes, Kettleness & Sandsend and it's usually close-in with plugs for me. All of the marks where I've caught them were within casting distance of the shore. I'm no expert, but I've found that dusk is a good time and in calm conditions, you can sometimes hear schools of them feeding at the surface. I was fishing very close to shore at North Gare last September when I found myself in the middle of one of these schools of Bass. I could see and hear hundreds of them. It only lasted 20 minutes, but in that time I caught about 20 fish which were all the same size (approx 3lb).
Link to Website here:http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=27422.0
This is typical of many reports. I know many don't like to hear this and think I have some kind of agenda, but the fact remains that in many parts of the UK the Bass fishing is improving and the commercial fishing there is a free for all. Now please don't take exception to this, I am just trying to help and explain things the way I see them.
I feel like I am being pedantic here, but what you are saying is not true. The mark the guy is talking about is the North Gare in Hartlepool. This mark is half a mile from Hartlepool powerstation which is a known nursery for Bass. Much the same as Torness is in the Scottish Borders. These two locations have highly concentrated stocks of Bass, but they are localised to a very small area, where the hot water outflows are. They are not indicative of the North East.
You link to the Whitby Sea Anglers site. Do a quick search on their for the keyword Bass and you will notice much fewer Bass catch reports from this year compared to the last few. We are seeing similar reduction in numbers as the rest of the UK and Ireland. You will also see a report from the site admin of a recent trip to the Mull Of Galloway in South West Scotland where he notes that the Bass were scarse for their trip. Have a look at his reports from previous years over there and you will see the fishing is well down on last year.
This year
http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum ... ic=27445.0
Last year
http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum ... #msg197012
There is also very little commercial pressure for Bass at the moment. There definately isn't widespread netting going on as you suggest, although there are a few doing it. Any commercial netting is for Salmon and Sea trout and is still on a small scale. I am aware of one guy commercially fishing soleley for Bass on the Yorkshire coast, using a long line with 100 hooks.
Here is a bit on Hartlepool powerstation. 6 posts in there is a bit on the history of netting there and the scale of it now:
http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum ... ic=11614.0
I am not trying to be awkward here, but I think it is imoportant for the discussion on what is happening to your fishing over there is being reflected in our fishing over here. Painting the North East of England as a thriving Bass fishery is just not true. Hope I haven't offend you or anyione else.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:09 pm
Broony
Here is a post from the website just today,( entitled "Bass a plenty")
http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum ... ic=27509.0
The bass are being hammered there by the guys gillnetting cod inshore. Just take a walk onto Redcar beach when the boats come in and look at their catches. There is even a guy on Reighton Sands who has nets on the beach (featured on TV). I know the area well.. I come from there and my family live there. The bass are not localised to the power station outfalls, they extend from Co. Durham right down into Lincolnshire and beyond. I am not suggesting that the fishing is fantastic or anywhere near S. Ireland at it's best, nor that everything is rosey, but the fishing in the UK has not suffered the same dramatic decline as it appears to have done in Ireland over the last few years, and commercial bass fishing there is unregulated.
As for offending me, I am not in the slightest bit offended, I did take exception to one poster who made some offensive personal remarks, but that was it.
Here is a post from the website just today,( entitled "Bass a plenty")
http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/forum ... ic=27509.0
The bass are being hammered there by the guys gillnetting cod inshore. Just take a walk onto Redcar beach when the boats come in and look at their catches. There is even a guy on Reighton Sands who has nets on the beach (featured on TV). I know the area well.. I come from there and my family live there. The bass are not localised to the power station outfalls, they extend from Co. Durham right down into Lincolnshire and beyond. I am not suggesting that the fishing is fantastic or anywhere near S. Ireland at it's best, nor that everything is rosey, but the fishing in the UK has not suffered the same dramatic decline as it appears to have done in Ireland over the last few years, and commercial bass fishing there is unregulated.
As for offending me, I am not in the slightest bit offended, I did take exception to one poster who made some offensive personal remarks, but that was it.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 6:31 pm
lastcast wrote:I did take exception to one poster who made some offensive personal remarks, but that was it.
Report any offensive personal remarks, the mods are watching but may not pick up on everything.
I may have to cut'n'shut some of the latest posts here into that other thread that was spun off from this one. I'll look at that in due course.
As regards Jim's initial post, I doubt there's a lot that we as anglers can do to discover and understand the underlying cause of the concern. The best we can do is fish and take fish responsibly ourselves, educate other anglers, report illegal fishing (both netting and anglers exceeding the bag limit), campaign for greater enforcement of existing legislation, and remain vigilant to the wiles of the commercial lobby wanting reopen a commercial bass fishery, and campaign against that.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:29 pm
My last post on this regarding NE England as its taking the thread off topic
I'm glad you took the post the right way. I live in Newcastle and mostly fish the area from here up to the borders. I agree that the bass are not localised at the power stations but that is the only places you will find a real abundance of Bass. They are all over, but not in any numbers. That catch report is the first that has been on there in a week or two for bass. Last year there were bass catches reported in there every other day at this time.
I've done ok this year with a fair few local bass but it is definately down in last year. In general the fish are smaller on average though. All I'm saying is the decline in Bass numbers you are seeing in Ireland is also happening here.
I'm glad you took the post the right way. I live in Newcastle and mostly fish the area from here up to the borders. I agree that the bass are not localised at the power stations but that is the only places you will find a real abundance of Bass. They are all over, but not in any numbers. That catch report is the first that has been on there in a week or two for bass. Last year there were bass catches reported in there every other day at this time.
I've done ok this year with a fair few local bass but it is definately down in last year. In general the fish are smaller on average though. All I'm saying is the decline in Bass numbers you are seeing in Ireland is also happening here.
Re: Cause for concern?
Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:41 pm
Tanglerat wrote:lastcast wrote:I did take exception to one poster who made some offensive personal remarks, but that was it.
Report any offensive personal remarks, the mods are watching but may not pick up on everything.
I may have to cut'n'shut some of the latest posts here into that other thread that was spun off from this one. I'll look at that in due course.
As regards Jim's initial post, I doubt there's a lot that we as anglers can do to discover and understand the underlying cause of the concern. The best we can do is fish and take fish responsibly ourselves, educate other anglers, report illegal fishing (both netting and anglers exceeding the bag limit), campaign for greater enforcement of existing legislation, and remain vigilant to the wiles of the commercial lobby wanting reopen a commercial Bass fishery, and campaign against that.
Hi T, there is a lot in your list but its fairly on the money. The bigger issue we have is HOW we begin to tackle some of these problems.
Re: Cause for concern?
Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:54 pm
Good points Tanglerat.
And let's not forget that Pat from 'Henry's Tackle' is trying to get a handle on catch rates through the logbook. So can everyone make an effort to fill the bass catch logbook out please? I will be anyway.
Yours hopefully,
John D.
And let's not forget that Pat from 'Henry's Tackle' is trying to get a handle on catch rates through the logbook. So can everyone make an effort to fill the bass catch logbook out please? I will be anyway.
Yours hopefully,
John D.
Re: Cause for concern?
Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:50 pm
While illegal netting and increased recreational angling has undoubtly had an detrimental effect on the bass population I still maintain that the recent lack of bass is a climatic/environmental effect.
I reckon that bass catches will dramatically improve over the next few weeks now that we are finally getting some warm weather.
I reckon that bass catches will dramatically improve over the next few weeks now that we are finally getting some warm weather.
Re: Cause for concern?
Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:39 pm
Frank if you look at the July weather stats its pretty grim stuff - I do and always have believed its a 'weather' influence.
http://www.probassfisher.com/2012/08/th ... -july.html
After 20 days of remarkable experiences with remarkably patient, enthusiastic and great people I can only reflect on the many many moments. The methods and locations, from shallow running surf through driving current, into estuaries, climbing out onto sunny flats, from distance casting soft baits to double hauling ten inch flies fished on T-17 and an XL50!
The fun the frustration the joy the tired sore bones and muscles and wet waders and resignation and hope and ready to try again and again.
Londoners, Dubliners, Newcastle, Ireland, France, men and women battling the environment, the weather, reaching within themselves to push the techniques to perfect it to realise that no forum or book or blog can replace learning it, doing it!
Perseverance has its own rewards. http://www.probassfisher.com/2012/08/tw ... laces.html
http://www.probassfisher.com/2012/08/th ... -july.html
After 20 days of remarkable experiences with remarkably patient, enthusiastic and great people I can only reflect on the many many moments. The methods and locations, from shallow running surf through driving current, into estuaries, climbing out onto sunny flats, from distance casting soft baits to double hauling ten inch flies fished on T-17 and an XL50!
The fun the frustration the joy the tired sore bones and muscles and wet waders and resignation and hope and ready to try again and again.
Londoners, Dubliners, Newcastle, Ireland, France, men and women battling the environment, the weather, reaching within themselves to push the techniques to perfect it to realise that no forum or book or blog can replace learning it, doing it!
Perseverance has its own rewards. http://www.probassfisher.com/2012/08/tw ... laces.html
Re: Cause for concern?
Wed Aug 08, 2012 12:09 pm
Here's hoping RockHunter!!
