steve pitts

There's no going back now Glenn ~ does this make you a bass angler now? Well done on a very nice first fish (and several others too). It's interesting that you've pretty quickly come to the same conclusion as many of us i.e. bass don't taste anything special, but they do fight like stink on plugging and fly gear. I hope that your bass fishing gets better and better When you catch a 6 pounder, you'll really be hooked on bass Cheers Steve

That was the reason for my question Steve. Personally, I see very little merit in increasing the numbers of nursery areas, when the root cause of the problem isn't being tackled. Furthermore, the existing access by boat anglers is likely to suffer i.e. be outlawed, if nursery area designation is put forward for new sites - further self-punishment. On the other hand - what is to stop some enterprising commercial fisherman (men) from bo***cksing up your local bass stocks once they realise that a buck or two is to me made, or are the commercial guys in your neck of the woods more forward-thinking than those along the south and west coast? Perhaps the increases in their fuel bills and further quota wrangles will concentrate their minds on your bass. We now have 3 regular netters on our shore marks in Purbeck and the fishing, which was recovering in recent years, has been pants this spring. Maybe that's just another coincidence I'd should enjoy your sport while you can - it may last 6 years if your lucky. Cheers Steve

Good to hear you're catching lots of bass Sam. Sounds very much like, as you say, the Thames and other estuaries local to you are nursery areas - all be it not on the 'official' bass nursery area list. Do you think that the Thames, Blackwater etc. should be designated as nursery areas and more to the point, do you think that would mean more of these fish coming through would fill the gap in the mid-sized range that appear to be missing at the present time? Cheers Steve

Just for the record Glenn - B.A.S.S isn't attempting to stop commercial bass fishing and implement an elite sports fishery. The 'O' group sampling that John carries out each year is a continuation of surveys carried out by Donovan Kelley since the 70's. I fail to see how it has to be 'dodgey' just because John and others who carry out similar work have a deep-seated interest in bass and wish to learn more about them. There is absolutely no doubt that bass are doing very well in areas that have previously not been classed as good areas for bass. The Northwards shift in bass populations is still fully unexplained, but warmer sea temps appear to be the most lkely factor. What is worrying, for those who are interested enough to consider these things, is that with these warmer sea temps we should be seeing an explosion in young bass throughout the English Channel and a similar increase in medium-sized fish as growth rates have also increased and especially where bass have historically been strongly represented in the South West and Solent. This just isn't happening and according to the sample work carried out in the South and West there is now a sustained drop to below the average recruitment levels There is no definitive proof as to why this should be occuring, but there may be a link to the past decade or so of large-scale offshore commercial fishing for pre-spawing bass We have now had a prolonged period of intensive fishing on the breeding stock and a minimum landing size set at below first maturity for male and female fish. Bass are being squeezed hard from both ends of the age range and where they have been targetted for the longest period of time, here in the SW and English Channel, gaps are beginning to appear in year classes of fish where the reverse should be true. I'm no rocket scientist, but something tells me that something ain't quite right. Alarm bells are ringing and we either take the attitude that it's a false alarm or we at least check to see if there is no smoke without fire. Cheers Steve

You're just jealous because they haven't been found in Southampton Water Norm Ken If Dave Lewis has seen one - either dead or alive, I'm sure he'd know a tarpon from a shad or herring, so there may be some truth in the story. If it is true - it would be a real attraction for the area, as long as they are not netted or clobbered out of existance for trophies. Have a look at - http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=1079 Megalops Atlanticus ranges up to Nova Scotia and across to the South of France according to fishbase, so the warm water of a power station outfall should suit them down to the ground and with females capable of carrying 12 million eggs, one or two could survive in favourable conditions. Here's one I caught on a plug on my bass gear a couple of miles South of Plymouth PS Plymouth - Tobago

Hi Sam I don't know how long the fleets were and these pics were three seperate confiscations, but all were 'fixed engines' and removed under local bylaw infringement action. The middle picture above is the catch from this net - Maybe you could hazard a guess as to the length of netting and mesh size? The EA in N. Wales seized these bass from an illegally set net in the Dee esturary a few of years ago I think that the EA are far more likely to bring a prosecution where nets are set illegally and the case can be proven. Personally, I would ring them rather than trouble the SFC....... EA 24 HOUR HOTLINE - 0800 80 70 60

It's interesting that one of the posters on the other site was surprised at the number of fish caught in that net. He didn't think that nets were so effective...... All from illegally set nets in Devon and Cornwall and confiscated by the EA, who seem too take a more active approach than SFCs in some areas.

Hi Sam I've copied and pasted this from the BASS forum, where you posed a similar question - The answer (perhaps?) is that we do not have just one rep for RSA, so the collective experience, knowledge, time spent out on the shore / boat, species sought, even commercial background etc. all come into play. Just because someone doesn't fish as much as he used to (take me as an example ) doesn't mean that the 35 years of sea angling that I have under my belt and the experiences that I have accumulated, both on and off the water, are not as valid as someone who currently fishes 16 hours a week, like you claim to. It's the combined diversity of our reps' backgrounds that makes the sum total. Even those who rarely fish may have other skills which can be utilised and shouldn't therefore be overlooked as valuable contributors. WRT the bass mls consultation - 2,750 responses were received and 87% were in favour of increasing the mls. I would imagine that the majority of that number (nearly 2,400) were RSAs, many of whom were represented by local clubs and regional federations etc. as well as national bodies. A lot of RSAs do want some form of representation, but clearly, not all do. Sad to see you've dropped out of BASS - you must be one of the later .

My response to the question - •Would you support a bag limit for certain species where there is a conservation need and there are controls on commercial exploitation of the same species? The subject of bag limits is contentious amongst anglers, but as an individual angler I could accept the concept of bag limits as part of an overall species management plan, which also includes the capping of commercial effort. I could support the implementation of bag limits, but only on the condition that similar controls were implemented on the commercial sector at the same time. To impose bag limits on anglers under any other circumstances would be to restrict anglers for the benefit of the commercial fishing sector. This would be discriminatory and would further deteriorate the angling experience. I would vigorously oppose the imposition of bag limits on anglers, as part of a pseudo-conservation measure, when the underlying motive is to allow and encourage greater commercial levels of prosecution, such as bag limits for bass which were proposed in 2007 by Defra and some SFCs.

Hi Dave My response to the question Which species of fish do you value most (RSA strategy consultation) is as follows - Of the fish that I specifically set out to catch my ‘top 10’ species are bass, cod, conger eel, flounder, mullet, pollock, smoothhound, spurdog, tope and wrasse (alphabetically listed). It's a question that Defra are asking, presumably to identify which fish are important to anglers, so an ideal opportunity to let them know via the consultation process. I'm sure that the current problems with flounder was made a special mention of and put forward by David Rowe (NFSA) as one of the top three favourites amongst anglers at a RSA/Defra meeting that I attended in Nov 07. Whether Defra took any heed is another matter. Regards Steve

Hi Ian I'd prefer to congratulate you and SOS and all those who contributed to the consultation (the 92%). I find it hard to congratulate those that are paid handsomely enough to manage our fisheries on our behalf, bearing in mind the state of our stocks, but I would concede that some have earned their keep more recently, so a to them at the elasmobracnches dept. Do you think that they would like to transfer to the Coastal Waters Policy Unit or the Fishing Industry Management Division where their foresight is sorely needed ? Regards Steve

I think you're right Ian - I would be mightily cheesed off if bass were made the subject of a compulsory catch and release order, whereas I'm pleased that such protection has been afforded tope. There was certainly no sour grapes intended in my post wrt the achievement of those who put the effort in and I hope that dogs and hounds follow. My concern is that if phrases like 'tope are UK's first angling only species' are used by anglers, then Defra and our fisheries Minister will pick it up and say - 'look what we are doing for sea anglers - we've made tope a recreational only species. Now pay us your licence money'. I just think that we are better focusing on the conservation value of the decision than blowing Defra's trumpet for them . Regards Steve

Hi Ian Firstly - I applaud the efforts of those who initiated the consultation and respoded in such a resounding manner. However - I don't think that we should be using phrases like 'Tope are Europe's first RSA only species' because that certainly wasn't Defra's intension As you are obviously aware; They are not introducing these measures for the benefit of RSA, but for very real conservation reasons. Catch and release RSA is being tolerated for tope because such a good case was put forward by the anglers and RSA-related businesses who responed . Which is in some way a victory, but certainly not a result upon which to rest our laurels or become complacent that Defra are at last on our side and tope will be the first of many RSA only species. I happen to think that prevention is better than cure in this instance and the combination of catch and release for hook and line and the bycatch limit should be enough to deter anyone from trying to make a quick buck out of angling for tope, although there will probably be some chancer who will try . Cheers Steve

Hi Glenn I doubt that anyone needs scientists to prove that it is acceptable for anglers to kill bass and no-one should feel under pressure not to take bass for the table. There is no shortage of bass - I think scientists, commercial fishermen and anglers agree on this (for once), but the falling numbers of medium to larger bass, available inshore, is begining to worry anglers who have fished for them for many years. Many places where good catches of meduim sized to big fish have historically beeen caught are all but devoid of anything but fish of less than 2lb now and the decline has been rapid in places where close inshore netting has caught on. I started fishing for bass 30 odd years ago and most years I could catch several fish above 6 or 7 pounds on plugs and bait from the shore. During the last decade, I haven't caught a bass over 5lb and even then, catching a fish as 'big' as that is a real red-letter day. Most of the bass I catch now are between 1 and 2lb, so I would say that my bass fishing is nowhere near as good as it was, because I like to catch big fish, not lots of small ones. If the video that you refered to was the one that I posted, it was just to illustrate that not all anglers kill every bass they catch, which was the suggestion that Wurzel was making in the other thread. In fact a good percentage are released by anglers (somewhere around 80% according to a study done by CEMARE), which is not the case with bass caught in nets, which was the other point that I was trying to get across. As a matter of fact, every angler in that clip has killed bass in the past and continues to be selective (like Steve C.) of those that they take for personal consumption, including me. I would defend any angler's right to take bass to eat, but I am opposed the taking of immature bass, or for that matter, more than is neccesary for a good feed. It still comes down to personal choice and whether the angler fishes purley for sport, or for food too. Cheers Steve

Just for info. Another public consultation recently launched - http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/...lford/index.htm

Same deal with starfish perhaps? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770

Hi Wurzel I'd consider it, but not for long. versus

Thanks for clarifying that Leon It's all rather academic anyway since you can't catch a bass of more than 2lb from this mark anymore. Which is a shame because it used to produce doubles, 8's and 9's with regularity. I can't understand where all those big bass have gone

I think it reads that the byelaw is only enforceable within those areas - most of which are salmonid specific. Everywhere else is open season .

When the video (from which the above stills were taken) was shot, there were no byelaws to prohibit the setting of fixed nets in this area. The fact that this took place within the bounderies of the Purbeck Marine Reserve, was even more galling. http://www.coastlink.org/kimmeridge/ The depth of water varies from 3 meters at HW springs to dry at LW springs. You're right - it was close (as per my earlier post).

Hi Glen HA's post covers the decision to delay implimenting the increase in the bass mls by Ben Bradshaw. The decision not to increase the mls and reject the majority of consultation respondants, who were in favour of an increase and the scientific advice at the time to increase to 45cm, was taken by the current minister - Jonathan Shaw You might like to have a look at a recent issue of the BASS newsletter, which gives the overall history and the reasons why the mls was not increased. http://ukbass.com/downloads/news8.pdf Nothing to do with economics, or science, biology, equality or what is best for the long-term benefit of the fishery - just backing down to the inshore commericals who were having to face quota cuts was the reason. Cheers Steve

1 Mile (as in the golden mile) would do nicely sir. In reality - I have experienced on numerous occasions (30 or more times) gill nets set in very shallow water, within casting range of a plug (a lure weighing about 28 grams). So that would be around 40 metres from the shore. I have even been fishing and a commercial from Weymouth arrives and proceeds to set a net directly infront of me - again, within casting (and swearing) range. Sets net at 6:30am recovers net (+ bass, mullet, wrasse and crabs) 24 hours later I have no hesitation in suggesting that a minimum of 500 metres from the shoreline and around piers/ jetties would be an appropriate distance to set a no netting demarkation zone along with the complete closure of estuaries to all forms of netting, except for strictly licenced research activities. Trawling should be banned within 1 mile.

You could also have a look at the BASS website. The graph here - http://ukbass.com/fishingbits/index.html indicates that April is the month when bass fishing tends to kick off, but bass have been reported on fly gear by our members in Cornwall and Dorset during the past week, so it does rather depend on where you live / fish and if you can brave the easterlies . A few ideas on where to fish here - http://ukbass.com/fishingbits/wheretofish.html and different methods / baits here - http://ukbass.com/fishingbits/fishingarticles.html Cheers Steve

How about Mindblowingly Shortsighted Catching-sector?

I'll bet you a tenner here and now that they'll 'feel the need' Leon CEFAS seem remarkably adept at securing just one more study for the scientific record. Shame that Defra ignore most of the studies they fund.