Cod, off the menu

[big_cod]

I can cast (still) and I win boat matches ..

 

and I'm 61.

 

I dig 100 good lug per hour.

 

I have an array of fishes to my credit.

 

 

I'll do anything to improve prospects for UK shore an boat anglers.

 

I'll work my last 10 or 20 years (hopeful) to set the commercials (as they exist now) underground and illegal.

 

I loved potting for brown crab and lobster from Bognor with Mr Warring and I 'grouper-trapped' with Mr Dawson outa St Davids, (Bermuda) ..

 

that's called some stuff called 'sustainable'.

 

 

 

 

 

Be there ... or don't comment.

 

I could not fish with 'Trawlermen' or 'Deadliest Catch'.

 

I'd gladly give them a good 'scuttle'.

 

 

Thats a lovelly looking plaice HA we never see plaice like that on rod and line up here.

 

paul.

Edited November 4, 2009 by big_cod

[clem]

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.

[glennk]

Thats a lovelly looking plaice HA we never see plaice like that on rod and line up here.

 

paul.

 

 

Thats because you wear cod goggles. Instead of laughing at people who fish out of kayaks , you should observe their results. You may learn a thing or 2 as there are many species right under your nose that you just dont know how to target. Your never too old to learn you know and it would better your portofolio as a knowledgable charter skipper.

[Guest challenge]

Firstly Paul my response to your post with “I OK” had nothing to do with me agreeing to your statement but more to do with you accusing me of being daft with your opening line of “how daft can you get”

Secondly I can only report what I witnessed first hand (not pub talk) at a job that I was doing in the years in question, that was trawling off Whitby. I did not see tons of juvenile cod dumped ever. Sorry Paul but that’s the facts. I certainly have nothing to be ashamed off, in fact just the opposite. I am proud of my trawling career; I worked and sailed with some great lads, a very demanding job that brought the best out of you.

I left the fishing industry because I could see the writing on the wall. Quotas where being introduced and fish started to go on the back of wagons. Yes I did throw fish on the back of a wagon Paul but I only did it the once. I left the industry and took a considerable pay cut (so I didn’t leave for the money) to go to the offshore oils industry. Not an easy decision I can tell you. I certainly was never a part (as you say) of an era that dumped colossal amounts of small codlings Paul.

 

I am not disputing the large haul that was lost by a set of pair trawlers Paul. All I am saying is that when I was trawling there wasn’t the amount of small codlings on the ground being caught by commercial trawling that there is today.

I certainly agree with your comments on other species, there isn’t the fish being caught (haddock flats etc) that there was when I was trawling.

From an anglers prospective (with the massive decline of commercial activity that there is today) that things should only get better. But by the sounds of things what the majority of anglers are saying is that this is not the case.

 

So are you saying that the concentration of commercial netting of the 80,s has meant the decline of lings (although I do believe there are still a few caught by anglers today) on our inshore wrecks. If you are Paul then I agree with you because you are a part of an industry that targets these wrecks on a regular basis and therefore knows what the state of these wrecks (fish wise) is.

Regards.

 

Barry. There where some fantastic lings taken off wrecks in the 80,s by anglers. There are still lings taken off inshore wrecks by anglers, but a 20lb ling is a good ling by all accounts. I don’t think that anybody actually anchors up on wrecks to fish them in this part of the world, but I could be wrong. Maybe big cod could give you a better insight to inshore wreck fishing on the inshore grounds because that’s a big part off his workings especially during the festivals when there trying to get the biggest fish.

Regards.

Edited November 4, 2009 by challenge

[wurzel]

I can cast (still) and I win boat matches ..

 

and I'm 61.

 

I dig 100 good lug per hour.

 

I have an array of fishes to my credit.

 

 

I'll do anything to improve prospects for UK shore an boat anglers.

 

I'll work my last 10 or 20 years (hopeful) to set the commercials (as they exist now) underground and illegal.

 

I loved potting for brown crab and lobster from Bognor with Mr Warring and I 'grouper-trapped' with Mr Dawson outa St Davids, (Bermuda) ..

 

that's called some stuff called 'sustainable'.

 

 

 

Be there ... or don't comment.

 

I could not fish with 'Trawlermen' or 'Deadliest Catch'.

 

I'd gladly give them a good 'scuttle'.

 

 

From what I can make out Traps don't work well in the dirty water on our coast I might have considered using them otherwise, Still need to catch the same amount of fish to make a living so what’s the difference ?

[big_cod]

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.

 

Gillnetting was a big thing in the 80ss clive the sea was full of enders here off whitby miles upon miles of gillnets now you hardly see one the big black you are talking about i saw mostly form the trawlers towing the pipes in the 90ss between the oil platforms some of them coalies were hugh fish the odd one or two with the guts in looked around the 40lb mark but the same as cod they got smaller and smaller but you cant catch them twice i worked offshore for a few years off Aberdeen and the Shetlands and the big coalies would often come to the surface round the platforms towards dusk it was alive with them daft as it seems clive gillneting today with the size off the meshes they use today especially when targetting cod is actually conservation minded you hardly get a cod under 3lb in the gillnets they pass through not to be said for other kinds of comercial fishing.

 

paul.

Edited November 5, 2009 by big_cod

[glennk]

Gillnetting was a big thing in the 80ss clive

 

paul.

 

Its Howard isnt it ?

[big_cod]

Its Howard isnt it ?

 

I actually did a little bit myself glen but howard was the daddy he told me a few tales i enjoyed long lineing i did it one winter the feeling when you pick the ender up come to the ankhor and take hold of the line you could allways tell when there was lot of fish on the line you could feel the cod pulling like hell the most memorable was when we shot worm lines this was very early 80ss you allways shot the lines as it came in dark in the soft or sand if you shot them to early starfish would cover the worm baits dusk was the prime time and then you hauled them as daylight broke the fish on the worm lines were nearly all over 6or 7lb a lot in double figures the bigger cod allways moved into the soft ground off the hard ground when the really big tides were running.

 

paul.

Edited November 5, 2009 by big_cod

[glennk]

Hi Paul,

 

I think you may have misunderstood me. You are calling Clem Clive. But I think Clem is Howard not Clive mate ??

[Guest challenge]

I actually did a little bit myself glen but howard was the daddy he told me a few tales i enjoyed long lineing i did it one winter the feeling when you pick the ender up come to the ankhor and take hold of the line you could allways tell when there was lot of fish on the line you could feel the cod pulling like hell the most memorable was when we shot worm lines this was very early 80ss you allways shot the lines as it came in dark in the soft or sand if you shot them to early starfish would cover the worm baits dusk was the prime time and then you hauled them as daylight broke the fish on the worm lines were nearly all over 6or 7lb a lot in double figures the bigger cod allways moved into the soft ground off the hard ground when the really big tides were running.

 

paul.

The phenomenon you talk about Paul, seeing all the coal fish coming to the surface was one that I was also privileged to of seen on many occasions when I worked on the oil rigs. It was an amazing sight seeing all the fish coming to the surface like they did. Most of the rigs I was on where in about 80 meters (or there about) of water. You would watch the massive shoals come up (chasing the feed) and then boil up on the surface like mackerel do when chasing sprats.

I remember on one occasion watching the coal fish coming to the surface and then seeing sharks chasing into the shoals feeding on the coalies. Quite an amazing sight and one that I will never forget.

Like you say long lining must be one of the most exciting fishing methods (commercially) that there is. I never did much of it but did have a few trips out with the late John Brennan who was one of the best long line fishermen to work out of Whitby in the 80,s.

I go with Andy straw when he goes with the lines sometimes in winter and although he doesn’t work the amount of lines that John and many others worked he does fish well for the amount of hooks he works.