clem

http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/...ederick-Forsyth Seems its not only us "moaning"flaps!

The only facts I have Barry is that 10yrs ago you hardly saw a seal . Now the commercial beach fishery is been plauged by them and every wreck weve been to this year has had its resident seal on it. This points to a large increase in population or a migration. Make no mistake they are a problem up here.

Flapper I am slightly re-assured by your information regarding the close monitoring of the foreign armada of large trawlers recently working off Yorkshire maybe thats why they buggered off? The concerns expressed by the presence of these vessels are perfectly legitimate and your apparent indifference to them puzzling. The nature of the fishery is there will have been a substantial by-catch and discards which when done by a group of such large boats must have some detrimental, if only temparary effect on the local fishing. They have in recent years caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to static gear and do indeed often "dissappear" during darkness in darker winter months who knows why one can only speculate. As for the seals another perfectly legitimate and growing problem not helped by the rescuing of stranded pups upsetting natures balance.

Hiya Steve, The AIS is available to anyone. Never been on VMS but out of interest what does that give you the AIS doesnt?

I do not know the ons and offs of VMS AIS but I cannot think what turning off AIS achieves if not invisibility Im sure they do not turn it off for fun. Steve the MMO are just a bunch of quango paper munchers full of money , paperwork and more paperwork or pointless red tape if you prefare. They claim to monitor vessels from their HQ well so can I and millions of others from their P C at home!! I sometimes do it out of hrs when the MMO staff will be tucked up in bed dreaming of their fat pensions.

Funny there appear to have been more halibuts off the N.E. coast in recent years. I cannot see a unilateral ban having any effect especially in the short/medium term and reckon the fish will become like Scottish skate a catch and release case eventually. But hey having said that Iceland do look after there fish in a dynamic and cut the bullshit way. Can you imagine the E U trying a halibut ban? the bloody idiots would spend millions, a couple of forests and lots of large suppers tying themselves up in knots.

Well it just beggers belief in these hard times of austerity that they are by the looks of things hell bent on some sort of rapid expansion of their empire. What a complete waste of scarce public money There has been a no-take zone @ Flamborough now for about a year and the very small area must be costing 000s to police the multi million £ fisheries boat is always anchoured up there It heads back home to Whitby for tea @ around 3.30pm most days. There was a hell of a storm the other week and it was like "Whisky Galore " on the beach with debris and the whole zone got smashed to bits Its just not me with these veiws everybodys saying the same. H.

I know the herring spawn fishery is a disgrace and a subject you have felt passionatly about for a lot of years M8. The closure of it would do so much for the cod recovery and all would benefit within a short period of time all the dead mops would survive into good size fish. Back to the congers. It could be they are slowly making there way up the coast and becoming more numerous. I do trust some of the divers tales of sightings. This years been so good for the wrecks with cod and ling I do not think other other species got a look-in. Good luck with the anchoring thing I did it last year a couple of times with Dave on Lucymay and we got a box of fish no problem while all other boats struggled in the coloured water. Remember youll loose some anchors though we use lumps of old iron or blocks of stone on a rotten bottom they would not hold yours though anyway youll sus it .You nevr know it might be a winter of high pressures and clear water. All the best! H.

There was one caught by a boat anchoring a large wreck in Brilington bay a couple of weeks back Paul. It is rare for boats to fish in this way up our neck of the woods as you well know but it came off one of them were weve been snapped off many times by BIG fish. Theres been a lot of diving going on recently in Brid bay and they are a bloody nuisence but they report very large ling and some conger about although the cod have gone for now. Bloody winds eh!! H.

E. A. Ha Ha What a fat,bloated over funded quango. One of the 1st to feel the full weight of the cuts I hope. Its there own fault aswell talk about taking their eye off the ball. Concentrate on the ENVIRONMENT boys not hobby fishermen.

You get your van sorted Paul the weather looks crap for ages maybe even time to clean the cab out.......then again back to the real world Sometimes they say the belts changed when it hasnt been but youll know all that. Anyway m8 back to fishin water cleared out like hell last thurs on flood got 7 good cod all full of crab on jigger 40ft Bemmo thought summer was here then this lot came. South of us the green fishin is reported as very good the netters are doing well so the fish look like there not going to let us down this year anyway. Got new engine for me boat being fitted tomorrow the price of a new car but going to extend me range and be a lot more economical. Roll on high pressure. H.

Was the bass fishery stopped or just finished? Did the new NTZ effect them? As far as I know Peter the pair team that do the bass off Flamborough have not been stopped but have chosen to go scalloping with the Scots. We were at a meeting @ Brid. with fisheries 2wks ago I asked the ? why so many resources were been put in to restricting small time under 10s and beach netters when a mile off on the bass it was a free for all. There was no answer apart from "good point"! Anyway unless things have changed in the last few days thats the case. The pair bassing can only be done on neaps anyway. The NTZ is only a small area round Sewerby to Danes Dyke extending to 300meters out. The Multi million ££ fisheries boat was round there last w/end protecting the sponges. Although the rib launched to go get "fish and chips"and a newspaper. No joking aside they got several illegal beach nets with lots and lots of big bass in them. These went to old folks homes so not wasted. No point in going for these bass with rod and line they just wont have it . God knows weve tried. H.

There was one bit of sea last winter when a good friend of mine gathered up 21 size lobsters and a bucket full of porks. No hearsay or made-up numbers here cause I saw them. This was just one small area the carnage would put a Dutch beamer to shame . This is nature not anglers. You are right Paul the countrys going nuts!

I do not know quite how we are onto crabs but it is my experience that the majority of tag holders do not use them year in year out there are also many that proudly attach them to a pot but never actuall go to sea with it. I do not know anyone who works the full ten pots and if they did work ten pots well they would be over the catch limit most times they came to haul. I know you only gave POTENTIAL numbers John but the actual numbers are tiny but the enforcement and harassment by you guys is way over the top and the cost to the taxpayer to save a few porks must be enourmous. Paul is right the licensing , bylaws and costs of enforcement is getting stupid. With a change of government on the cards and talk of a serious thinning out of all these Quangos then I feel this is the only option unless the coastlines become a war zone because that is what will happen believe me more rules and regs will not be taken lightly you are talking generations loosing their rights.

Plop the bugger on Wheel barrow it will be full of cod(and halibut) by spring

The shore fishing is off to a very slow start down Holderness as last year it seems to start later these days even the whiting are not as numerous yet. Ive not started yet because the cod is not there and theres loads of crabs still. Best bet is the river with odd good fish coming out. It is not through lack of fishing effort though Paul the beaches have been fished hard for weeks now I suspect unemployment is a factor. Last I heard the beach netters were having a poor time of it too. I hope you get a good winter fishing we are in uncertain times both fishing wise and economically me thinks. H.

Yep its me H! Pauls been on the sherry. He must be seeing giant blackjacks in his sleep. Come on Paul whats the fishing like at the moment with all this fine weather despite the big tides are the codlings still around?

Remember this vessel Paul? Used to net all the wrecks for years. The number and size of the cod,ling and blacks was unbelievable. I remember waiting on the wall @ Scarborough for it to land just to see the big fish. The boat left bits of net all over though that took years to rot. It looks a sad sight now. H.

I hope you are right John I really do but I know loads of anglers and a few commercials and they all say the same thing.H.

Well I really am shocked at this statement There has been a real scarcity of small codlings for the last couple of years and this year they have been even fewer. Almost all the codlings we have caught(inshore boat angling) this year have been in the 5-10lb class and last winter the shore fishing reflected this with a thin picking of large fish. Are you winding us up John? or do you know were all these mops are hiding?

I would say were a month behind normal in yorkshire with the summer fishing just starting to take off.

With the poor forecast for wed.,the poor fishing on the Flamborough grounds and the reports of good fishing @Whitby it really was tempting to have a trip. All aboard with Paul on trot on. 20min steam to th 1st bit of ground it was hard to avoid the mackerel but it soon became evident that the fish that had over the last few days been so prolific on the ground had moved on.Anyway no time wasted straight to the 1st of 5 wrecks and the fish started coming aboard,mainly to shads as this method was the prefered way of avoiding the mackerel.A really good stamp of fish caught with most in the 5-10lb range,a suprise haddock of about 2lb with a few pollock and ling. Everyone caught and the skillful boat positioning by the skipper meant tackle losses were kept to an absolute minimum (I only lost 2sets of gear all day). Brill day out with a proven 1st class skipper and boat. Ended up with over 2 stone of cod fillet and as many good mackys as you wanted.

It has to be seen to be believed Glenn. Its produced on behalf of the united nations and appears to be geared more towards freshwater but dont have half a day to sit and read it all. There are a couple of pages on fishwelfare about handling and all that. Why they are doing all this when they could be concentrating on all the fishery problems around the world is beyond me. If you do get to open it take a sedative before reading.H.

WHAT A LOAD OF GUNK. How much and by who are these people paid?

Yes of course I eat cod 2-3 times a week all self caught of course it makes a nice change from the common bass. You cannot in my opinion beat haddock or plaice but they are very thin on the ground in Yorkshire so its cod or bass. Makes me laugh when chippys claim to be selling "sustainable fish" are they stamped with a mark or something? My goodness people are nieve I know someone who buys battery eggs and sells them as free range eggs - nice little earner.