sam-cox

Thanks for that lads. Apparently we used to have congers in the Blackwater until a big freeze up in the late 50s, again can anyone shed any light?

The best time of year locally(Crouch & Blackwater) is from around May time. But the last two seasons fishing from the shore has been slow, hense experditions to Kent Piers after the BIGGIE!

Im on mod control for swearing at CJS so my post take a while to be put up.

Hello Essexbuoy. Off to Irland on the 14th back on the 22nd, would be happy to meet up.

I was told that it was quite common to catch conger eels from the Admiralty Pier in Kent years ago. Can anyone back this information up? And have any been caught in recent years?

Its to windy to take Mats boat (the Mica Lou) out and fish in comfort, even locally. So its off to the Admiralty again tonight with Mat. He beat me three bass to two last Saturday so the pressures on. We are leaving Essex at midnight, so should arive in Kent at around half two am. That way we can be all ready to go by dawn. If any anglers net members from Kent fancy a natter about fishing concervation pop along. We do not bite!

The point you make is a good one, and I would also like to say welcom to A/N. The trouble is that we no longer have lots of good quality sea angling avalible to all sea anglers. 35 years ago there was lots of fish from the shore and boat, now yes you can have a good days fishing, but they are fewer than before. For this reason there is a strong lean for marine conservation, you never know one day we might get somewhere!

I heard of a 12.5lb bass caught the other day in gill nets. The fishermen told me that 17 years ago he caught a 11.5lb bass and got a return of 77 quid, for the 12.5 he caught recently he got a return of only 40 quid. Just goes to show you have the prise of bass has plummeted. This is mainly down to small table sized farmed fish and bass sold by anglers which is more than most people think. This is a double-edged sword as it pushes the price down so the fisherman has to catch more fish to get the same money! But there does become a point where the prise is so low it’s not worth targeting them at all.

I responded ages ago I think, get a tad mudled but sure IO responded.

Now if only we could get 10,000 anglers down to Smith Square, or drown DEFRA in emails and letters! Im up for a march if thats what you are driving at Leon, but it would have to have a clear objective, .

I WILL SAY THE SAME AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, IF YOU START READING A POST AND IT BECOME APARENT THAT IT HAS A HIGH CONSERVATION CONTENT, JUST STOP READING. Conservation is an inportant part of angling Chocolate Starfish, [Load of rubbish deleted - John S]

Trouble is most rsa do not give a monkeys.

What approach would you guys recommend one should take when trying to educate other anglers in sensible angling practices? My pals and I are often talking to other anglers about conservation of fish stocks; we explain all the normal stuff like its best to return most decent fish and only to take the odd one for the pot. Some listen, most think we are bonkers. For example when catching bass recently an oriental family were very cheased off that we were letting our fish go and even offered us money for our bass. We continued to release our fish and they looked on with astonished looks on their faces. None of the anglers we spoke to said well done for letting them go. I was advised to let advise anglers to join the NFSA but I feel I cant do that until I have been a member long enough to comment on whether they are any good or not. Plus I can’t see our many foreign anglers joining. It seems to me that most SRA are in it for them selves are more often that not flog their catch to.

That was as I understood it Chappers.

As far as I know he wasnt braking any laws mate (mores the pitty). But aparently the new buyers and sellers regester came in not that long ago. I just need it explained to me in lay-mens terms.

Fair comments, I think I will carry on using them but only for large mackerel baits. The small pout baits seem to work fine with a short shank, thick set, wide gape 3/0 to 5/0.

I also have no problem un hooking fish when using trebles. But there is less room for error. For example if you miss-judge the take and hit the take a bit late, this could result in having to retrieve the hook from deeper in the fish.

After reading the resent and very interesting articles in Boat Fishing magazine by Jim O, Donnell on Josh Simmonds boat I find myself facing a dilemma. The float fishing with large live mackerel for bass using a treble hook in the nose looks excellent, but the use of trebles just don’t feel right (I did try this from a pier this weekend) especially as I like to return most of my fish. Having said that I dapperly use trebles when using lures for bass, sometimes even two trebles on some jointed models. I would be interested in others comments on this.

I often fish from piers and other popular venues in search of that ever-elusive double figure bass. Last Saturday Mat and I visited Kent; we spoke to several anglers regarding bass catches. One guy told us that he has had 19 bass so far this summer but he couldn’t catch his 20th fish for trying. We asked him of the size of his fish and his ego readily informed us that he had caught three of eight pounds with several 7,5,and 5s with his best going just over 11lb. We congratulated him on his successes and asked if he released his better fish so they could carry on breading and therefore spreading the strong genetic make up it takes to allow a fish to grow so large. His reply was F**k that I sold the lot. It turns out that he works on the pier and fishes free of charge. As far as I know he isn’t breaking any laws except maybe the new buyers and sellers register. Can anyone shed light, in laymen’s terms as I cant read links that lead to pages of confusing waffle!

Fish of a life time Steve, well done! and double well done on the C&R!

Again you miss my point, I keep saying how much I enjoyed it, . Again my point is how little in the way of numbers of fish and size of fish it takes to make me happy. Again only two years ago I could get similar results locally from the beaches and sea walls. You often offend me Cliff, PATRONISING me in your smug git way. Just because you are older doesnt mean you are wiser. Your artical about bashing schoolies on feathers wasnt very wise was it. My origanal post wasnt a whinge just an observation of how little it takes to satisfy my bass fishing craveings.

Cliff loves digging at me Im fed up with it, he always takes what I say the wrong way. My point wasnt that I wasnt happy with our catch, I really was. My point was how little it takes to make me happy. Just a few years ago this would of been a fair catch locally to me, now I have to travel a 210 mile round jorney.

[Admin note - comment removed. Completely inappropriate Sam. Newt]

we was over the moon, but it was only three years ago that we could catch that many bass from the shore locally, without driving 105 miles.

Yesterday Muttley and myself had a most enjoyable five hour fishing for bass. We got to the Admiralty Pier and fished live pout straight down the wall. Within a short time we was catching bass, thing were pritty hectic for a short time. We ended up with five bass from around 3lb to just short of five, I had two and Mat caught three, we also missed and lost several fish. My point is that this is my best days bassing this year, and it got me quite fired up, but in reality 5 fish in five hour is nothing but average really. Up until 2004 I could catch this amount of bass in a two hour session locally and think little of it. Have I now become one of the anlers that are happey to catch small amounts of small fish?