Is Sea Angling A Dying Sport?

[JB]

Is the sport of sea angling on the decline?

 

Certainly the numbers of people that come to Whitby to go sea angling on charter boats has drastically reduced over the last twenty years. I believe the same to be true of Bridlington and Hartlepool. I was speaking to a south coast charter skipper a month or so ago and he told me that although the situation is not as grave as it is in my general area, things are getting worse in his. I don’t know if there has been an increase in the number of small private boats but it certainly cannot be to the extent that the charter industry has declined.

 

Judging by what other skippers and my customers have said, most of the (very) many sea fishing clubs that used to charter boats have disbanded.

 

The rumour that pleasure boats will be unable to use commercial diesel in the future will not help matters. How this will affect charter boats, only time will tell.

 

A few on here sound disenchanted or disheartened with shore angling. Even Stavey has put his rods away for the winter.

 

I know very little about shore fishing numbers. Are the memberships of shore angling clubs dropping or increasing? Are the numbers entering shore angling competitions altering? Is the decline in boat angling commensurate with an increase in shore angling?

 

I would be interested in your views.

JB

[Guest tigger]

Is the sport of sea angling on the decline?

 

Certainly the numbers of people that come to Whitby to go sea angling on charter boats has drastically reduced over the last twenty years. I believe the same to be true of Bridlington and Hartlepool. I was speaking to a south coast charter skipper a month or so ago and he told me that although the situation is not as grave as it is in my general area, things are getting worse in his. I don’t know if there has been an increase in the number of small private boats but it certainly cannot be to the extent that the charter industry has declined.

 

Judging by what other skippers and my customers have said, most of the (very) many sea fishing clubs that used to charter boats have disbanded.

 

The rumour that pleasure boats will be unable to use commercial diesel in the future will not help matters. How this will affect charter boats, only time will tell.

 

A few on here sound disenchanted or disheartened with shore angling. Even Stavey has put his rods away for the winter.

 

I know very little about shore fishing numbers. Are the memberships of shore angling clubs dropping or increasing? Are the numbers entering shore angling competitions altering? Is the decline in boat angling commensurate with an increase in shore angling?

 

I would be interested in your views.

JB

 

 

Seems to be more shore anglers than ever !

Tigger.

[les middy]

The rumour that pleasure boats will be unable to use commercial diesel in the future will not help matters. How this will affect charter boats, only time will tell

 

why ??

 

les

[sam-cox]

Over the last 30 years the numbers have fallen. But many people are taking up bass fishing.

Many carp anglers fed up with catching Frted the thirty and wanting to catch somthing wild are turning to bass angling.

I feel with the full implementation of the BMP and the starting post that is the proposed MLS increase on bass the sport will see a stedy increase in anglers.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Hi JB,

 

I posted on this forum the other day on this subject when Winter raised a similar question.

 

I certainly do not think it is dying out but the pattern is definitely changing for a lot of reasons.

 

I went on a mini meet last Saturday arranged on another forum and we had twenty plus turn up with half a dozen young lads aged between 15 and twenty, in fact old farts like me were well outnumbered.

 

I love the freedom of forums for arranging shore and charter sessions, pick where you want to go and when, no dreaded AGMs, arguments over club funds etc.

 

When I belonged to Bournemouth and District Sea Anglers back in the sixties we would charter four or five boats once a fortnight and other clubs would be doing the same.

 

Times have changed; work patterns have altered the weekend off is no longer a fore gone conclusion.

 

The very young cannot afford charter trips, the eighteen to twenties are well represented but then they get married, nose to the grind stone to pay for a home and family life, somewhere between 40 to 50 depending how young they get married they are free of the kids and start having some spare cash and get stuck back into fishing again.

 

There are a few who do not take the hard route and a percentage that do but because they have a good income can afford family life and fishing.

 

That did not seem to be the case in the sixties, the pressure was not so great and we had a good cross section of all ages.

 

I am sure the percentage of private boat owners has gone up a lot in the past twenty years, lets face it if you have a boat for fishing it can double up for family fun as well, kill two birds with one stone.

 

The face of charters has changed a lot to, lot more pressure on skippers, qualifications, health and safety and running cost, it has become a very competitive life style and skippers are expected to produce the goods.

 

Here is an example:

 

Dear All,

 

The first ever 'True Blue' presentation Evening will be held on Tuesday 20th December 2005 from 1930 hours ( 7.30. pm ) onwards in the Lord Nelson Public House on Poole Quay.

 

A free buffet will be provided and it is an opportunity to have a social drink with other 'True Blue' anglers and friends.

 

A presentation of prizes for good fish caught aboard 'True Blue' this year, 2005, will be made with many Anglers already in receipt of their 'Shimano Mission Accomplished Awards' received through the pages of Sea Angler Magazine for notable Specimen size fish.

 

The awards from me will be made to ;

 

Largest Bass, (Personal Best & SMAA Winner); Eddie Drayton.12lb 8oz.

 

Second Largest Bass, (Personal Best & SMAA Winner); Pete Newman. 12lb 0oz.

 

Third Largest Bass, (Personal Best & SMAA Winner); Leon Edwards. 10lb 4oz.

 

Largest Bass Released, (SMAA Winner); Graham Dunhill. 10lb 2oz.

 

Largest Undulate Ray, (Personal Best & SMAA Winner); Paul Stapleton. 15lb 5oz.

 

Second Largest Undulate Ray, (Personal Best & SMAA Winner); Luke Schofield. 14lb 8oz.

 

Largest Inshore (Poole Bay) Turbot, (Personal Best); Alan Hebblethwaite. 8lb 12oz.

 

Largest Inshore (Poole Bay) Pollack, (Personal Best); Alex Smith. 10lb 2oz.

 

Largest Cod of 2005; Jan Tryska, (IOW Cod Comp). 16lb 1oz.

 

 

Numerous other Anglers achieved 'Shimano Mission Accomplished Awards' for catches made from fishing aboard 'True Blue' this year and many more 'Personal Best' fish were landed. Those fortunate Anglers achieved publicity and photos of their achievements both nationally and locally for their catches through the pages of Sea Angler Magazine, Boat Fishing Monthly Magazine, Sea Angling News Paper and the local Bournemouth Echo Newspaper.

 

Many of the Anglers aboard 'True Blue' this year achieved these results even though they are novices, beginners and first time Sea Anglers. This makes some of the achievements even more remarkable considering the fish that have been caught and the experience of the Anglers involved.

 

My personal thanks go out to all of you that have fished with me this year and who have achieved success in doing so. I look forward to achieving even better results in 2006.

 

My personal thanks also go out to my fellow Poole Skippers and Local Tackle Shop owners in our continued work to elevate the status of Poole as one of the leading South Coast Ports.

 

Many thanks are also due to the magazine and newspaper staff for publishing our reports and photos, especially Cliff Brown (SeaAngler), Jim Whippy (Boat Fishing Monthly), Norman Berry (Sea Angling News) and to Chris Clark (Bournemouth Echo).

 

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible tomorrow evening for this our first Annual 'True Blue' Presentation Evening.

 

All the Best for Christmas 2005 and looking forward to 2006,

 

Regards, Malcolm.

 

They are out there but skippers need to go the extra mile now days.

 

Dear All,

 

All the winners as listed in yesterday's Newsletter will be awarded Angling related prizes that they can put to good use in 2006.

 

Prizes will be available tonight to all the winners who can make this Presentation.

 

Some more good news is that Jim Whippy of the Boat Fishing Monthly Magazine has also donated a new BFM SMOCK which will be awarded tonight and can then be claimed directly from Jim. This is a really nice gesture of support from BFM to all Anglers who fish with me aboard 'True Blue' and I have passed our thanks onto Jim.

 

Hope to see as many of you there as possible tonight from 7.30 pm.

 

All the best, Malc at www.TrueBlue-Poole.com

 

 

 

[

[Guest Feels like Winter to me]

Think our club numbers stay pretty constant but once all the old timers have gone will others replace them ??? I'm not sure. Although the fishing has been somewhat patchy most stay highly motivated. I can just about motivate myself to try catch 1 or 2 fish in a match.

I think a lot less people in these parts have made thier usual effort this winter. Fish have been thinner on the ground for many people so I guess they think why bother. At times in the past few years a walk along Whitby beach even on the calmest of nights could see 30 plus anglers between Upgang and sandsend with a good few more fishing the car park. The same situation would be true of Runswick, port mulgrave and I guess any other bays and coves right around our coast. The no show of the Whiting this year and the low numbers of cod means the beaches are all but empty. I dont think the sport has died but perhaps it is dormant . More fish next year and im certain all those rods will be back out of the shed.

 

Next time there is a large northerly John take a walk along the west pier and see what you think.

 

Im pretty certain if you speak to someone like Bigcod who has fished here for many years he will tell you that the number of shore anglers has doubled over the past 20 years. Always tells me how you used to have most marks to yourself. I cant remember fishing a mark on my own this year, I was at Runswick 2 weeks back and there must have been 40 other anglers in the bay - Lit up like Blackpool in autumn.

Edited December 20, 2005 by Feels like Winter to me

[Guest binatone]

By the sounds of some of the moans and groans that you get on here, it’s going through the motions of committing suicide.

[Fastd]

I think Ken has summed it up nicely.

 

You no longer need to join a sea angling club to book a boat trip. They can be arranged in different ways.

 

I know our town has a sea angling club who book one boat a month all year round, but they exist on a small membership and there is not exactly a waiting list to get in.

 

With regards to people buying their own boats I dont think this a reason for falling charter bookings as the number of private boat owners can not have increased by that much. I know people have a higher disposable income these days but owning and running a bout is not cheep. Before i bought mine I was going out every weekend on a charter boat from hartlepool, with taking my son and bait and winner takes all for largest fish this was costing £65 per weekend, so I thought it would be quids in with my own boat.

 

After a full summer running the boat I reckon it costs me around £50 every time I hook it up to the van. when you compare this to the costs for a good day out with Big_cod which cost me £40 it certainly doesn't make financial sense owning your own boat. But the pleasure of being able to do what you want when you want far outweighs the cost.

 

Its been stated that shore angling is growing rapidly so perhaps its the commercial bookins that are down.

 

People have a massive choice of charter boats and are prepared to travel. Modern electronics means the gap between the skilled skipper of 20 years ago and a new skipper has narowed dramatically and so people have a larger choice of boats that will give them some kind of result, perhaps not as good as that experienced skipper, but it is all competition in a competitive industry. That has to lead to less anglers per boat per weekend. Could this be your problem?

 

Or are people travelling further afield for their sport because they have a higher disposable income?

 

Food for thought...and all you can do about it is provide superb service on every trip to ensure your existing customers dont even think about going elsewhere. I run my own business on that basis and it is working for me.

 

But in answer to your question sea angling isn't dying its on a boom imo, its just that boom times create competition, and that can be hard on those who went through the rough times.

 

Dave

[stavey]

As long as there is one pouting left in the sea there will always be someone willing to catch it and that is why sea angling will probably never die, that is off the beach, i do feel though as stocks get more and more depleted which will happen (no matter what wurzel and binatone and people with a similar short sighted view) boat angling may, as the cost may outstrip the value side of things (it already has in my book)

 

A lot of anglers on this forum are quite content to catch whatever comes along when beach fishing and if that ends up as a big fat zero then it realy does not matter as they half expected it anyway, myself on the other hand cannot be doing with that attitude to me catching a decent fish is the only reason i would go in the first place, as john has said i have hung my rods up until i know when i can actualy stand a real chance of a catching something over a pound in weight, we are all different and most here will disagree with my views and thats ok but i do feel that if i was not like this i would not have had the motivation to wright the amount of letters to mp's/ liase with club committees/ sfc's/ respond to consultations etc etc etc about conservation, which is what a lot of the everday semi content beach anglers severely lack, i hate to say it but they realy cant be ar*ed, if you dont believe me check out steve's post who's responded to the bmp, the responce is pathetic..........

 

So to get back on the subject john i think charter boat fishing may go down the pan mate and beach fishing wont get bigger but it wont be so popular as it was a couple of decades ago and even here the numbers will decline, if i was you john i would not think to far ahead with your current business ideas on catching cod on distant marks mate i think by the end of this decade it will soon be like the cod fishing down here, non existant, unless us sea anglers do something about it that is, forget the commercials they wont do jack sh*t only exasperate the problem................

[Steve Coppolo]

The future of sea angling depends on what happens during the next 12 months. If the first phase of the BMP proposals get implemented, and the rest of the plan is put to consultation next year, then sea angling is set to really take off as it has in other countries like America, New Zealand and Australia.

 

If the proposed increased MLS for bass gets watered down, or compromised in any way, then we might as well sell our sea tackle and all take up course fishing. This is crunch time for our sport. If the politicians don't have the stomach to stand up to commercial pressure over the BMP, then they will never have the stomach to do anything for us as sea anglers.