Surethingsfly attitude to the sea fishing this year.

Hi Conor,

No fish yet, I’ve spent some time thinking in how best to answer your email/message. In my heart I really wanted in my heart to send a positive reply, but as an angler I do not want to give a false impression.
The fishing in reality has been the worst in living memory. I’m not saying you won’t catch a Bass or a fish as they are been caught, though numbers are very small and quite isolated. Pollock haven’t featured at all yet and god knows I’ve tried. Yes I’ve been catching them on the fly but all under 2lb. There has been no early run of Pollock at all and mackerel numbers have fallen off a cliff.
Shoals of sandeel are nearly nonexistent with little or no seed too.  In my humble opinion there are no sandeel = no mackerel = no Pollock, blah, blah.
More frightening is I believe the mackerel are gone anyway. I think we are witnessing a complete collapse!   Trawlers are scouring the bay relentlessly for the last two months.  Two of them would have been only a soft cast away with my spinning rod (they were that close to the shore). Even a big factory ship made an appearance. It’s a race to the finish line I think! Soon as in maybe right now we are witnessing the complete collapse of all fishing stocks. I’m so upset about the whole thing I feel lost, as a child I did not have a rod but a bag to catch the mackerel flapping on the rocks in Salthill (no hooks or rod were needed) . All I remember is the sound of sprats in there millions hitting the surface as far as the eye could see.

If you haven’t lost the will to live after reading all that please watch my son catch his fist fish.

ATB, Peter.

http://youtu.be/3-umUWfjfgE

Numbers of macks in the Bay have gotten progressively worse over the last 4 years whilst 12 hours on the kayak have yielded 2 macks over the past month. In the past I would have been able to bring a few home and use a couple for bait. The pollock fishing also has been very poor in areas in the Bay that I frequent and I put 99% of them back: although there are a good numbers of 1 lb or smaller pollock about pollock 2 or 3 lb + plus in size have been pretty rare. In Connemara where I also go for pollock at a few marks, they haven't been out about this year or last year and I put them all back except for the odd one.
Regarding sprat or sandeels I've seen them about this year but not in the same volume/numbers as 3 or 4 years ago. Just my observations from the kayak where I've been to over the last 5 years.
Numbers of 3 lb + pollock about the Aran islands seem good though whilst boat fishing.

Great if depressing post. Check out the trailer of this 2009 documentary fittingly named End of the Line.


http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/end-of-line-world-without-fish/


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its the sad depressing truth all right. no pollack and very few mackerel up this way too
and it seems to be getting progressively worse year-on-year, now there just seems to be nothing left at all there's nothing left of any species as far as i can see

I've been up in the north Atlantic on a scientific research vessel and have witnessed the Russians (and others) hammering all the mackerel shoals up there too (our same mackerel). its scary, great big factory ships, there's nowhere for them to hide

we've had the sprat up this way too but not in the same numbers since years ago, there were only small pollack and coley chasing them. i have heard of boats down in Killybegs filled to the gunnels with sprat, over-loaded! so anything that's left over from all the over-fishing (doggies, pin whiting, etc etc) is being hoovered up now to make into feed for the farmed salmon - another unnatural and environmentally destructive story IMHO..

so what are we meant to do about it all..? just hope that the fisheries guys take control and reverse the whole situation?? well unfortunately they have just approved the go-ahead to trawl the shoals of mullet (is there seriously anything left..) around our waters. again, probably to feed farmed fish

grim indeed. blah blah blah indeed.
good post all the same
go on the wee man