salvelinus

Maybe prawn/shrimp oil or just ground up extract of same... But then again if you want to base it on something more concrete than my untested guess try extract of conger but avoid extract of butterfish and spider crab... http://www.mikeladle.com/chapter3.html sal

Fishing from the rocks with shrimp yields loads of small fish (less than 12 inches), sea breams, damsel fish, combers and many more. Have never tried with lures but think it is later in the evening that they become useful. Barracudas are supposed to be around but I never met one, though I saw 3 little guys snorkelling around the rocks. There is a good tackleshop in Buggiba (St Pauls BaY I think) with fresh and frozen bait and plenty of local advice. Local charter target everything from these samllies up to tunas. Depends on how fancy the boat you choose is.

Stumac, Maitland is probably the best person to talk to about fish populations/communities in Britain. Char would be naturally the first fish to colonise after (in the melt waters of) an ice age because of their biology. The are the most northerly distributed freshwater species. Powan/white fish would have been soon after along with eels and trout and soon after that salmon. Char only (And trout only) lakes used to exist in Scotland and Ireland. While some remain most have had extra species (trout, perch and pike most commonly) added by anglers and locals looking for increased food supplies and increased sporting opportunities. Pike are absent from the south west of Ireland. None of the river systems or lakes have naturally occuring populations. It is strange that while char, trout, salmon, eels are present in all geographical areas (North, south east and west) that pike never colonised the southwest corner of ireland. If you are interested in single species communities look at the research into char only lake in Iceland, Sweden and elsewhere - you will find it very interesting.

It seems spot on to me. Even has an accurate fact file on the pikes basic biology. The problem is not pike it is "anglers" moving them to new waters. In Ireland the movement of pike, roach, perch and dace (and more recently chubb and crucian carp) to waters where they did not previuosly exist has had a very negative effect on species like rudd and char, which in the face of increased competion and predation can become extinct (or for some rudd populations only present as a hybrid). It is an accepted fact that the spread of roach and dace is directly due to pike anglers introducing live baits to new waters to develop a local supply. They did the same with pike in waters where they felt there should me "more choice". In fairness Ron Greer knows what he is on about, he wrote a great book about Ferox Trout and Char which is a great asset to any predator angler.

There is old RTE news footage (in Ireland ) of locals chasing pike with a terrier when the lake (Carra I think, though apparently the more famous place for this activity was Loughrea) was frozen over. Once the fish tired a lump hammer was used to break the ice and or stun the fish and then the ubiqutious hay fork applied to get him out of the water. The old news footage is quite funny as plenty of old farmers break their holes on the ice. A shotgun on spawning pike was not unsual on Corrib in by-gone days. Some of the most ingenious methods I have witnessed were used by poachers. I saw a shopping trolley used as a trap in a weir once. You should contact the Fishery Boards in Ireland and the EA baliffs in the UK for verifyable poaching methods.

The site has added the pdf of the 2003 report. 65 sea species are covered... Also news of the new Irish record ling (55lb) is available with pics on the site. S

The site has added the pdf of the 2003 report. So any of you who were lucky enough to catch a biggun in Ireland in 2003 will be able to prove it to the to the nay sayers! S

I think there is some sort of evolutionary order. It starts with the sharks and rays and then goes on to bony fishes. I am not sure after that though. I suppose an alpabetised index would not go astray... They might add it on if anyone wanted them too. I have already suggested they add a couple of "new" species like bluemouth which has made it the Specimen Fish List it gets caught so regularly now. They said they would progress that idea.

I know this is a bit of a cross post- but it is for a free book which covers coarse, game and sea species. I thought that those amongst you who travel to Ireland to wet a line would be interested. Free fish id book "Irish Sport Fishes A guide to their Identification" published by the central fisheries Board in Ireland is now available to all from the page below as a pdf. http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/fish_id.htm S

I know this is a bit of a cross post- but it is for a free book which covers coarse, game and sea species. I thought that those amongst you who travel to Ireland to wet a line would be interested. Free fish id book "Irish Sport Fishes A guide to their Identification" published by the central fisheries Board in Ireland is now available to all from the page below as a pdf. http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/fish_id.htm S

I know this is a bit of a cross post- but it is for a free book which covers coarse, game and sea species. I thought that those amongst you who travel to Ireland to wet a line would be interested. Free fish id book "Irish Sport Fishes A guide to their Identification" published by the central fisheries Board in Ireland is now available to all from the page below as a pdf. http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/fish_id.htm S

That Balsam is all over Irish rivers too. Places where giant hog weed used to be is where we see it now. It can grow quite dense but at least it does not burn the skin off you. The popping seed heads must be sight - but I have yet to witness it. On the bulls, you can have mature bulls share a field so ong as they don't have a reason to fight... what could that be you ask... lady cows, what else?

A lot of fish puke when you play them. Sharks just go one step further. Tope often trow-up the stomach to try to rid themselves of a hook despite being hooked cleanly in the corner of the mouth. And its not depth related - I have had shore caught bullhuss vom all over me! The swim bladder thing is a different issue, relating to retrieving fish with this organ (the cod and wrasse families for example) from depth at a fast rate. Using a needle/canula to "deflate swim-bladders" may work, but a slow retrieve is a better option. If you are going to deflate a swim bladder it is the body cavity you need to pierce - not anything sticking out of the fishs mouth or hole. The link given by Cranfield is pretty much spot on.

Hi all, most of you are probably aware of the Central Fisheries Board in Ireland. One of the staff there compiles a fishing report for the whole of the country on a weekly basis. This can be seen at http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/index.htm But you probably knew that already. The news is that each time there is an update the CFB will email you the highlights. For free obviously. Could come in handy if you are planning a trip. You can subscribe here http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/updat...e/subscribe.htm All the best, S PS I ran this by Elton before posting in case any of you think this might be a spam effort. (Also if you don't see any info on your destination you can contact us for any latest news or angling gossip.)

Hi all, most of you are probably aware of the Central Fisheries Board in Ireland. One of the staff there compiles a fishing report for the whole of the country on a weekly basis. This can be seen at http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/index.htm But you probably knew that already. The news is that each time there is an update the CFB will email you the highlights. For free obviously. Could come in handy if you are planning a trip. You can subscribe here http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/updat...e/subscribe.htm All the best, S PS I ran this by Elton before posting in case any of you think this might be a spam effort