steve pitts

I read a book last year called Beyond The Reefs by William Travis. In the book he recounts the time he spent in the 1950's around the Seychelles, first commercial diving for green snail shell (a source of mother of pearl) with snorkels and later aqualung and when the supply ran out and an articficial m o p was developed he switched to commercial shark fishing. Using an open sail / motor vessel of some 30ft in length he soon realised that most of the Seychelles plateau was fished out of large shark by the indigineous peoples. Moving well off-shore, he developed a method of drift lining for ocean sharks such as tigers, mako and silkies. They often spent months at sea, using the Seychelles outer islands as drop-off points for the shark meat and they were very succesful for a time. Bearing in mind we are talking about the 1950's, a small sailing vessel with several crew and the Seychelles which lies 1,000 miles from anywhere in the indian ocean - within several years the commercial operation was no longer viable. The sharks were by now too widespread to make fishing worthwhile and despite a ready market for salted shark meat there was no money to be made. They had fished out the shark and the business folded. 50 years on and fishermen are still pretending that porbeagles, which mature at age 10 and have just 5 or 6 pups at a time can withstand this sort of pressure and claim ' as long as people eat them we will continue to catch them - it's our livelihood' Not for much longer, if history repeats itself. But this time it'll be off the coast of Cornwall, not in the middle of the Indean Ocean. Cheers Steve

Hi Steve If you read my post again you may notice that am not bemoaning the fact that someone has taken a swipe at Glenn and Nigel per se. My post clearly says, if you put yourself in the firing line, then someone will take pot shots and that fact has to be accepted. Perhaps I should have emphasised my comment and reason for my post in bold type - If it's one things that p*****s me off about forums, it's the flamers who hide behind the anonymity of inane 'handles' and then claim that they are upholding the right of free speech. You've read into my post something which isn't there - ref. the 'we know best' remarks you make in your reply. Cheers Steve

To Mis-quote Abe Lincoln - You can please some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time. It's a fact that has been muted on AN before - if you offer or place yourself in a position of representation, expect to be torn to shreds by someone who disagrees with what you say or do. Your motives will be called into question - the insinuation usually that you are in it for your own personal gain Your methods will be derided - even though those who hurl abuse do sweet FA themselves Your parentage will even be queried - by those who hide behind psuedonyms in order to pass there spurlous remarks without personal ownership If it's one things that p*****s me off about forums, it's the flamers who hide behind the anonymity of inane 'handles' and then claim that they are upholding the right of free speech. I'm pleased to see that the NE anglers have decided to reform in order to influence the NFSA from within and I am niether a NE angler or an NFSA personal member. Cheers Steve

The Central Fisheries Board has been monitoring the Irish bass stocks for some time and using historical catch data (mainly from angling clubs) to track bass stock abundance and capture trends. They are now recording 'O' group abundance and annual recruitment and it would appear that the Irish bass have fewer successful year-classes than UK bass do. What is different is that in Eire, the recruits to the adult stock are not hammered at first maturity en-mass, as they are in the UK, before they have spawned, thus helping to protect the already vulnerable year-classes as they enter the breeding stock. Some info. here - http://www.marine.ie/NR/rdonlyres/E25DFC6F...AllCoasts06.pdf The joint Cefas and BASS tagging study ( http://www.cefas.co.uk/data/fisheries-info...s-tagging.aspx) initially indicates that there may be little mixing between the Irish and UK / European stocks, although there is probably a case to suggest that at least some larvae arrive in S. Ireland from the Western Approaches on prevailing tides, from time to time. Once established, 'Irish' bass don't appear to then venture back to the UK, perhaps forming a descrete Eire stock. Stock assessments and 'O' group abundance are being monitored within other studies e.g. http://www.cfb.ie/fisheries_research/estuaries/index.htm http://www.cfb.ie/fisheries_research/tagging/index.htm I guess all we can say is that Eire and UK stocks are different in terms of the year-class strengths and recruitment patterns. Eire's Bass Order at least gives the stock a fighting chance of rebuilding and it most certainly offers anglers a chance of the medium-sized fish, that appear to be lacking in the UK fishery, with the higher prospect of a double or even a 14 - 15lb fish. Cheers Steve

Any NE anglers wishing do something constructive, to ensure they are represented, could always attend this meeting - http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=76579 Not everyone wants to be represented - agreed, but if concerns held are not put to the NFSA then expect no change in its direction. With regard to SACN - from the SACN website - see - http://www.sacn.org.uk/News/Leon_Roskilly_to_Stand_Down.html from March of this year. Another opportunity for those who seek change to have their two h'penth worth Cheers Steve

In low vis conditions (murky water rather than darkness) when bass will be hunting by smell and by picking up vibrations though the lateral line, then a plug with a vigorous action - Jointed, like you suggest Christian, is probably better than one that sways from side to side rythmically. An internal rattle may help, but I'm not convinced that half the lures with rattles actually rattle when being retrieved slowly, which would be the best retrieve rate in low vis conditions. A lure that will wiggle it's arse off with a slow retrieve would be better than one with no wiggle with a rattle (effective or not), so give me a Rapala J11 every time. Surface lures do seem to work better in clearer water conditions, but don't discount them all together if the water is coloured. The surface disruption can bring fish from quite some distance to investigate, but they might take a little longer to find it.

Hi Christian That's a bit like asking 'what's the best all time bass bait' everyone will have a different answer, probably based on their own experiences. In terms of lures though - there are several that I reckon could claim the title, based on a number of catagories. For metal lures the silver ABU toby has got be a favourite, with the dexter wedge coming in a close second. For plastic lures - the Redgill has probably caught more bass than anything else, but Storm shads are coming up hot on the heals of the old Redgill. Sinking plugs - the Rapala Sliver is a killer and is one of the commercial rod and liners favourites, so it has certainly nailed a lot of bass over the years Diving (floating) plugs - 3ft plus - Rapala again: The jointed 13 centemetre J13 in blue and silver or black and silver. Shallow diving (3ft or less) This is probably the category with the most contenders including Rapala J11 and J9, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow, Jointed Bomber, Storm Jointed Thunderstick and more recently lures from Maria, like the Chase or Angel Kiss. If I had to pick just one for the title of the lure that has caught the most bass it would be the J11 because it has been around for so long and is an absolute classic. Surface lures/ poppers/sliders - the Storm Saltwater Chug Bug was one of the first and is still a top bass catcher, so others, like the Lucky Craft Sammy, Yo-Zuri Mag Popper, Rapala Skitter Pop have a lot of catching up to do. There are several articles on the BASS website about getting into bassing with lures which you might find helpful and this includes tips on how to use some of those Ive mentioned - http://ukbass.com/downloads/beginnersguide.pdf http://ukbass.com/downloads/pluggingaway.pdf http://ukbass.com/downloads/onceyoupop.pdf http://ukbass.com/downloads/chugbug.pdf Cheers Steve

Hi Elton Funnily enough, I was only thinking the other day that so few 'mainstream' anglers appear to comment in this section. No disrespect intended of course, but we are rather segregated over here in conservation and politics land. I agree with you though - we all need to get out more Cheers Steve

Hi Barry As Leon has said - the Bass Order (no commercial fishing, sale, transportation, the closed season, 40cm MLS and the 2 fish bag limit) have been in place for at least 12 years, but has been renewable every year. I think that the fisheries management have realised that it is doing some good, so have now made it a permament order - equal to our byelaws I guess, but covering all of Southern Ireland. The Bass Order was originaly put in place because Eire realised the damage that unregulated bass fishing - both commercial and recreational could have on its bass stocks and therefore part of its hugely valuable angling-related tourism. The Bass Order has been routinely ignored by commercial netsmen though and 'local' bass have been widely available in resturants and pubs, without much visible enforcement of the order and there have even been stories of anglers filling the chest freezers of their holiday lets with rod-caught bass and bringing them home by the bootfull. There has been a lot of blind eye turning going on. Maybe the permanent order will strengthen the resolve of fisheries enforcement Fishing around the ever-popular Kerry area has declined, despite the renewable order and whilst the iconic surf beaches of Inch, Brandon and Kilcummin area is still producing good numbers, the average size is lower than experienced in the heady days of Gammon and Pearson. As Cranfield says - it's still better than over here though and well worth the journey for the Craic. Anglers who are prepared to do some exploration, rather than follow the crowds (5 anglers on a mile-long beach is a crowd ) have more recently been catching some incredible bass, up to the 14lb that I mentioned. They are not all 14lb, but fish of 6 or 7 lb are now 'nothing special' to these anglers and doubles are certainly not uncommon. I think that on the whole, it could be argued that there is less fishing pressure on Eire's bass than over here anyway and given that there is a closed period during the breeding months, an MLS set at first maturity size, a daily bag limit and a commercial ban Eire is doing all it can to manage its bass in a proactive way. I wouldn't say that this was draconian - a total ban, as was imposed following the collapse of the striper stocks was draconian. Cheers Steve

Hi barry That is two fish per day . Assuming you were there for a week that's 10 if you fished for 5 days and they certainly do have bass up to 14lb and above - You have to ask yourself why that is? Illegal netting still goes on though, so I guess nowhere is perfect. Cheers Steve

Pound for pound - Mullet....... But it really does depend on the gear I guess. Most of my mullet have been caught from the south coast (Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall) both from estuaries and the open sea. If I'm targeting mullet I would use a 9ft spinning rod or an 8wt fly rod. A 5lb mullet often takes a good 20 mins to land on the fly gear. Now I can't say that I have caught a 5lb barbel (or any barbel actually ) on the fly rod and I would normally use a 1.75lb test curve rod for barbel in the Bristol Avon, where I had two doubles many moons ago, so it is difficult to compare I'll admit. I have caught a near six pound thick lip on the barbel rod, whilst fishing for bass and it had all the stamina of a barbel, took off on three or four belting runs and never seemed to give up. Now if I had a double-figure mullet on the barbel rod, I could give you the definitive answer. Mullet and barbel are often compared to bonefish (true, they are the nearest in appearance), but there is no comparison in terms of speed and duration of runs of a bonefish, but both mullet and barbel are certainly more dogged. All three fight to a stand-still though Ain't fish great? Cheers Steve

Hi Alan Of the two telescopic rods that you mention I would opt for the shimano. Telescopics have come a long way since my boy-hood years. Having said that, if getting going quickly, as opposed to being able to stash the rod in the glove box of your car is the proirity, I would happily spend the extra 30 seconds setting up a four-piece and go for a Greys or Mike Ladle for a much better rod. Cheers Steve

The FM Gold series is four-piece and mine fits nicely in my ( Carlton) suitcase (diagonally) a treat. They come with a cordura covered travel tube for extra protection, or where allowed, as carry-on luggage and have a shoulder strap too. You could certainly fish a larger river with 7 wt and in some cases, depending on the nature of the river, width, current, species expected etc. you could even step up a size or two, especially if larger pike or carp are anticipated. Cheers Steve

I notice that they don't include the Fulling Mill Gold series in that list. You can pick them up for sub-£100 and they are cracking rods for the money. Cheers Steve

--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Norm B @ Jun 23 2007, 06:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> I was just going to suggest that one side is imperial and the other metric. Is it purely length or length x girth as a fat bass will weigh more than a thin one and all my bass are fat ones. PS, when you've decided what form the tape will eventually take send me an ad and I'll run you some free ads as it's for a good cause.. Hi Norm Thanks very much for your support. Greatly appreciated. This MK I version is the product of some novel thinking on how to get a few messages out to RSAs about the bass mls. Anyone looking at the 36cm mark on the tape will realise just how small a bass that is. Next step up to 40cm (Bradshaw's compromise which didn't happen) is hardly anything at all - in fact one year's growth at current rates. 45cm is when most bass will be mature and will have spawned at least once. Even this isn't a massive fish, as some folks think (around 18 inches in old money) and will probably weigh a kilo (a couple of pounds). You are quite right about the girth measurement being important for a more accurate estimate of weight. I expect we've all caught long, lean fish - or short, fat ones of all sort of species. This kind of suggestion is the sort of thing we can can look at for the MK II version. Once we've sold the first 1,000 that we've have made for the first run, maybe we can incorporate some info. on the back of the tape as has been suggested. You'll note that the tape goes up to just over a metre and 22.5lbs (sorry about that Dave ) Rather optomistic, I'll admit, but bass of this size have been caught in France and with global warming and all we wouldn't want to have lots of complaints from tape measure owners, that it wasn't long enough..... Cheers Steve

Believe me Dave, we had a heated debate over whether to go with imperial or metric? Decided a compromise was in order to keep everyone happy - Euro-sceptics? Us? Perhaps we should provide a lbs to Kilos and cms to inches conversion card with each tape. Cheers Steve

Hi Jim They could well have been bass, but they could have been mullet too. Both species are to be found in close proximity sometimes, especially where there is food to be found, like shoals of fry. A different scenario to your estuary fish, admittedly, but there are mullet and bass in this YouTube clip, around 2 minutes in. Can you tell the difference? They are feeding on seaweed fly maggots on the surface and the marine woodlouse Idotea which are swimming through the water, which is only 2ft deep. Bass do tend to be smash and grab when feeding on fry or other small fish in groups. They are certainly able to herd fish into shallow water or against structures like piers and groynes to corner their prey and it's been witnessed that some (large) bass will flush out prey, whilst others wait 'in the slips' to cut off any escapees for an easy meal. They do appear to co-operate when feeding in small groups. The bow waves you describe may well have been mullet though. They will come into very shallow water along estuary and river banks and quite often swim in the type of formations as you describe, without their backs breaking the surface. If a small, shallow diving plug (9cm Maria Chase or Angel Kiss are excellent) is ignored then they are most likely mullet. Either way, a ragworm-baited spinner will catch both bass and mullet, so would be an ideal lure to solve the mystery. Cheers Steve

Elton Thanks for publicising the scale collection exercise. Carefully taken from the flank of a bass, removing a few scales does not cause lasting harm to the fish. These scales will grow back quite quickly with replacements as the fish grows. Anyone interested in working out the approx. weight of a bass, without actualy weighing it, might be interested in a ready reckoner bass measure tape. This has been produced using hundreds of weight to length measurement of bass and is pretty accurate. Ok, I admit, it's not much to look at - but believe me a lot of work has gone into sourcing the material (something called Tyvek), and adding length to weight conversion measurements. On one edge are the measuring increments and on the opposing edge are the length to weight calculations. Tyvek is rip-proof, rot-proof, water-proof - in fact it appears near enough indestructible. So ideal for a saltwater environment. They are available for the princely sum of £2 per tape with all proceeds going to the Restoration Project Fund. Please send cheques made payable to BASS to: John Halton BASS Treasurer Millway Cottage Hoofield Lane Huxley Chester CH3 9BR It's got to be the must have accessory to be seen with on the shore this season . . . . Cheers Steve

If anyone missed it - or would like to enthuse over it again - there's a clip on YouTube

Here's a prime example of what I refered to in my previous post........ The EU has invited comments on the Cod Recovery Plan. I have recieved a 40-page discussion non-paper via Defra. Anyone else wanting a copy should email - meghna.patel@defra.gsi.gov.uk or Joanna.messini@defra.gsi.gov.uk Here's a couple of extracts from the first few pages - 1.2. Can cod recover ? The Cod Symposium and STECF concur that cod is still depleted at a low level and is fished at too high a mortality rate. The fishing sector considers that there is a good abundance of juvenile cod of the 2005 year-class in 2007 in the North Sea, and this appears to be confirmed in survey results. These cod will mostly only spawn around 2010, so in order for the cod stock to recover it is essential to maintain conservation measures that will ensure that this year-class is well protected until then. 1.3. Planning for the future The cod stock should be allowed to rebuild to a safe level where a safe and stable fishery can be maintained. One of the outcomes of the "Cod Symposium" was that cod recovery is both possible and desirable, and the Commission shares this view. Although there are some indications of improvement, these are very limited and it was recognised that the existing cod recovery measures have not worked. For cod to recover there should be less fishing on cod and fewer cod must be caught. A choice needs to be made in how to reduce cod catches and to reduce fishing effort that catches cod. 1.7. How far and how fast should cod mortality be reduced ? Scientific advice indicates that cod mortality should ideally be reduced to zero as soon as possible. The Commission and Council have accepted that a higher biological risk can be accepted than scientists advise. However, it is clear that cod fishing mortality has not been reduced as much as was intended in the cod recovery process. For example, the application of the North Sea cod TAC decided in 2001 should have resulted in a 50% reduction in fishing mortality. In practice, only a reduction about 15% has been detected. The first couple of sentences of 1.7 confirms my earlier comments...... Scientific advice indicates that cod mortality should ideally be reduced to zero as soon as possible. but..... The Commission and Council have accepted that a higher biological risk can be accepted than scientists advise. The result?........ the application of the North Sea cod TAC decided in 2001 should have resulted in a 50% reduction in fishing mortality. In practice, only a reduction about 15% has been detected. So, the scientists recommend zero cod mortalilty and the Council's decision means that for the following 5 years cod stocks are overfished by levels 85% above scientific advice.

I've just had one of those 'it popped into my head' thoughts about the proposed RSA licence. It went something like this - Sea Anglers are recognised stakeholders - right? The government introduced Stakeholder Pensions a few years ago and has recently made its intentions known that it intends to introduce a range of Stakeholder savings products, to encourage us all to save. So that the 'Stakeholders' hard earned savings aren't erroded by greedy insurance companies and financial advisers, these products will have to be run on a maximum Annual Management Charge (AMC) of 1.5% for the first 10 years of the plan and then reducing to 1% AMC for the remainder of the life of the plan e.g. Personal Pension, Child's Trust Fund, Individual Savings Account (ISA). It's all here - http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/200...ps_amd_regs.pdf on page 6. Bear in mind that the insurance companies have to foot the bill for printing brochures, administration involved in setting up the plan and on-going running costs like training staff, running offices, managing funds and sending out statements etc. from this maximum 1.5% charge. Now - If one Government department (The Dept. of Work and Pensions) considers it reasonable and expects the world of finance to run long-term savings and pension schemes on a management charge of 1.5% per year, is it not unreasonable for RSA to expect another Government department (Defra) to expend no more than 1.5% of any revenues raised from an RSA licence on managing the licence scheme itself, with the remainder going straight back into RSA related project funding? Personally - I don't see why not Cheers Steve

Hi Barry They most certainly are! By its own admission - scientific advice, to reduce exploitation on stocks 'most of which are below viable levels' has been ignored year after year and they wonder why and then ask US what to do? The millions of euros being sunk into EU fish dept. each year are spent on more and more scientific studies on fish stocks, which produce the same conclusions and advice - reduce effort, then during the horse trading between EU member states it all gets thrown in the bin and next year it all starts over again. It reminds me of the vultures in the Disney film Jungle Book (modelled on the Beatles). They sit on a branch surveying the wilderness around them. One says 'What we gonna do?' another says 'Dunno - what d'you wanna do?.... pause...... Then the first one says 'What we gonna do? second one says 'I dunno - what d'you wanna do?' and so it goes on. I can't help but feel that after asking what we (the people) think, the beaurocrats are likely to take the same line with our offerings as they do with the scientific advice, but it's worth a shot. Cheers Steve

I don't disagree with your reasoning Glenn - different groups will have different views in every walk of life. The whole purpose of a public consultation is to get reactions from as wide a cross-section as possible and thereby gain an insight into the thoughts of 'Joe public' - That's assuming that they haven't already made their minds up and all of our letters aren't a waste of time. Cheesr Steve

Oddly enough, they are doing so right now. The Marine Bill is the piece of legislation which will allow Government to introduce a sea angling licence. The PUBLIC consultation closes on Friday 8th June. You could email your thoughts on the introduction of a licence to - marinebillconsultation@defra.gsi.gov.uk You don't have to be a member of a club or any angling group. Individuals with something to say can respond and their comments added to the others. Each response is counted seperately. Leon has posted some other info. in the Golden Mile post which is very helpful. It's a shame that so few RSAs know about this very important consultation. Have seen little about it in the sea angling press and it's been running for the past 3 months. It would have been nice to see thousands of RSAs telling Defra where to stick the licence, but I doubt that will happen due to the usual apathy. Cheers Steve

Talking of licences - Has anyone put their thoughts on the subject to the Marine Bill consultation team. email - marinebillconsultation@defra.gsi.gov.uk The consultation closes on the 6th June if I remember rightly. Cheers Steve