Poole Harbour This Wednesday - 7th Sep '05

[richsurfer]

Thanks speciman for a good trip and all your help.

 

With regards to all the catch and return comments, I thought the bass in question was too small really to take and did say this to Hungry.

 

But to suggest not taking any is just hypocrisy from a bass angler. If you cared so deeply for them you wouldn't fish for them at all - a certain percentage of catch and returns will die anyway, or their ordeal will compromise their health and reproductive success for a while. This percentage for 'guys who catch a lot of fish regularly' will obviously be a larger number.

 

From what I've read a minimum (not just-legal) and maximum size limit should be adhered to - as Simon E says.

 

As to protecting our sport - in the wider community most people I've spoken to who are not keen on, or actively dislike angling seem to think that actually catching the fish for food as opposed to 'fun' is a mitigating factor for a blood-sport.

[Simon Everett]

I knew it was somewhere in there, but would have had to lok it up because it is an odd one - the others are all easy, estuaries are nursery areas from the bar inland, or the point between the two headlands forming the river mouth - simple.

 

We weren't having a go at you S. and I understand the excitement of catching your first bass - which is why I made that comment.

 

The point of the statement was merely to educate our newcomers to the situation that bass (fishy ones) have found themselves in and the actual policies in place to try and do somethng about it.

 

We have to try and get anglers out of the mentality of "I've caught a good fish and so now I must kill it to show all my friends and family what a good hunter gatherer I am..." Modern angling has gone beyond that - and the joy of seeing a good fish go back has to be experienced to be believed.

 

The first big fish you let go will have your stomach full of butterflies as it swims away gracefully - and big bass tend to go very slowly as if to say "thank you" rather than shooting off ungratefully without even saying "good bye, see you again sometime". After a few minutes this feeling of "oh my God, what have I done letting that go?" will turn into a very pleasant feeling indeed - and the picture you have in your mind, or if you are lucky on film, will stay with you for ever. After that, letting a big fish go is easier than killing it. When you have seen a beautiful, big, sparkly silver bass lying dead after a few hours and it has gone dull, the eyes have sunk and gone red, the underside has gone red in places and the once glorious fish now looks a pitifull mess - then you will come to understand the joy of releasing.

 

Another thing. Bass are married to an area, in mountain sheep terms, they are "hefted". That means big fish are from an area and after spawning, much like salmon, they return to that same area if allowed to. If you catch a big fish of a particular rock it stays in the area AND next year, after spawning it will return to the same area. We are not sure yet just how big that area is - but not as big as you might think, maybe a few hundred yards at most. There is one big gril in S. Wales who was tagged 4 years ago, in the following 3 years she was caught 5 times, she grew from 8lbs 6ozs to a whopping 11lbs 10ozs at the last capture - ALL of those captures, over 4 years, were within 50 yards of the first time when she was tagged!!

 

Look after your bass - they are resident on your patch and when they are gone you will have to rely on a few itinerants moving in and setting up home. How long that will take depends on the food source and other pressures.

 

So, Speciman, don't take it as an atack on you, or HF for that matter, we were only pointing out for the next one he catches - and if it is between 3lbs and 5lbs then by all means take a few of those each year - it is the ones outside those sizes we need to protect - avidly. AND, just take, say, 5 fish per year. That is not doing any harm and should ensure that the bass on your table remains a special treat, not an every week ritual. If you put the ones of 2lbs back, next year they are 3lbs (ish) and there will be more of them - better fishing for you, and everyone else.

[Dan G]

I'm sorry, but bass taste wonderful. I concur with Simons comments on nursery areas etc, but one for the pot is, in my opinion, part of it. The legal sizes are there for a reason, and should be rigorously adhered to.

[Hungry Fisherman]

i agree with what you say ppl all small and large will go back there was some confusion on sizes what to keep etc if some one could list me the main fish specie and sizes here for me as in bass mullet and any other i should know of im likely to get on a yak i want to make some marks on my yak for easy reference in future as for pics taken show any made on the days we fish as we learn a lot from the feedback we get

 

as for that one i took home for over a year i have been catching bass around 60 maybe from the beach all small undersized for sure and all was released and for that year ive had a steamer at home brand spanking new unused waiting for the right sized one 45 cm works out 17" something inches on the conversion table i just used and the bass was around 19 inches [may been rough but i know how long my todger is and a trick when i was at school for measuring the distance your middle finger can reach on your palm being the same length the bass was x amount that length]

 

if thats is inacurate then ill feel guilty for the next few months if not then im glad my year long wait is over and the next time i catch one of that size i can let it go still feeling happy with myself same for any over sized and if i should ever catch more than one rest assured without reason id never keep more than what id need for one meal if id even keep one for that reason everytrip

 

we did discuss if it was legal or not for a while

while we was fishing and i did let the other one go that was about 2 inches shorter and obviously all the others smaller ones

 

but nearly legal is very mutch different from nearly not legal but its still a learning game for me and next time ill aim for the 2 pound size as the best table size

[Hungry Fisherman]

bass online says inshore min is 36cm thats around 14" thats way way smaller than the one in photo even the one i let go woulda made it though i still wouldnt of kept it

[Simon Everett]

Hungry - the new bass minimum anding size is 45cm - the 36cm size quoted is for some areas and it was the size chosen, not for conservation reasons but because that was the size the commercial fishermen said the French housewife wanted. A 36cm bass is not mature and has not spawned - so not had a chance to replace itself.

Even with the old 36cm size, there are other areas where, through local byelaws, the limit was raised to 38cm and even 42cms.

 

The whole reason of releasing fish is NOT TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW BUT TO CONSERVE STOCKS. The reason we have a 45cm limit at the moment - note, at the moment, is to protect the very valuable year class of 2000, which are just coming up to their 5th year - the year they will start to breed! It was a particularly strong year class and if we can protect them NOW the entire fishery will explode in 5 years time with many, many, many 5lb+ fish - the bigger, better fishing that BASS have been preaching for the last 30 years - yes 30 years it has taken us to get this far! We are nearly there - and to further protect the fishery the 45cm MLS (Minimum Landing Size) is an interim measure - ultimately we want that raised again to 55cms WHAT, you all cry, that is a 4lber or more. YES, but if the year 2000 fish make it due to the protection measures being in place in time, there will hundreds of thousnds of 55cm fish to catch - and the 2 fish per angler per day limit will give you more than enough fish for the freezer and still provide a massive fishing resource worth well over 10 times the value of those fish dead on the fishmongers slab.

 

The whole problem is trying to get anglers to visualise a time when you can go fishing and EXPECT to catch an 8lb bass - 5 lb bass will be commonplace and the 10lb fish of a lifetime will no longer be just a dream - you will all have a very good chance of catching one each and every year - by the way, a 10lber is close to 25 years old - yes a quarter of century it takes to produce a double figure bass - so when you get one next time, just try and imagine her birthday - January/February 1980 for those out there at the moment.

 

The commercial fishermen should be very happy too - because instead of getting £3 for the bass they land, they will be able to go out and fill their quotas in a couple of months and earn 4x as much for less work - more pay for less work, have any of you ever heard of someone turning that down before?

 

The figures - 2lb bass is worth £3 now - let it grow and the population grow so that that fish is a 4lber and the value of THAT SAME FISH has gone up to £10 - £12. Catch a limit of say 500 fish per year - £500x 4lbs @ £12 = £6000.

OR currently 500x 2lbs @ £3 = £1500 which would you rather have? The actual landings will be different - but the multiplication factor is the same.

 

This scenario is only 5 years away. Those who don't know about it, look at some of the striped bass information on the Cape Cod region. The Striped bass was virtually wiped out. They called a complete halt to the killing of them - NOBODY could kill a bass. Two restaurants were found with bass on the menu - the restaurants were closed down. Literally - sorry chum , your entire business is forfeit because you have bass on the menu.

The situation over there now, because the bass stocks have replenished so well (it took 10 years) is such that you can go out before breakfast from the hotel nad catch 20 BIG bass then come in for your grits, ham and eggs. The commercial fishermen make so much money out of the bass now that THEY police the fishery themselves - they know what it was like before and they don't want to see the bounty ruined. The last thing they want is to kill the goose which lays the golden egg - we must get our fishermen to see the light and to act in a similar mnanner, but they don't want to, they want to be greedy and have it ALL - NOW, not a bit at a time over their lifetime.

[musket]

I kept my first bass this year but have released all since.That bass(in photo)should have gone back and I'm sure HF will adhere to catch and release from now on BUT FULL MARKS for his enthusiasm,getting up at midnight then driving for three hours to the venue.Well done HF it's infectious.

Excellent post Simon -food for thought.

Jon

[GB]

Nice sesion guys and well done HF even if it was a tad small you look well chuffed with it. Just think what it will be like when you get the biggy and watch it swim away after trying to rip you from your yak

 

Simon I only wish there were more people like yourself who are willing to speak up. You have some valid points there, as an ex comercial Bass fisherman I can confirm that it is down to "ALL" anglers pleasure and comercial alike to protect what little we have left and nurse it back to how it once was.

 

I personaly dont like Bass for the table but I do take 1 or 2 a year for my kids who love it. As for slipping the hook on a big fish, I agree there is something special when they just slither away slowly back to the depths

[JRT]

richsurfer:

But to suggest not taking any is just hypocrisy from a bass angler.  If you cared so deeply for them you wouldn't fish for them at all - a certain percentage of catch and returns will die anyway, or their ordeal will compromise their health and reproductive success for a while.  This percentage for 'guys who catch a lot of fish regularly' will obviously be a larger number.

I have to disagree Rich. Bass are extremely hardy and if handled and released carefully will not be damaged at all. As Simon states some tagged fish have been caught 4 times!

 

Also it's the sportsman who protects his sport. If it wasn't for BASS and other pressure groups bass would probably be under much more pressure than now.

Personally I see some light at the end of the tunnel. The C&R is getting through to many, fisherman are being recognised as voice to listen to and commercials are now being scrutinised more.

 

Maybe one day catching a 5lber will be no big deal?

 

JRT

[richsurfer]

Hopefully I am wrong JRT and our bass are hardier than the striped - studies of which have shown that anything up to 10% or so of catch and returns die depending on fishing method.

The undoubted extreme stress placed on a caught fish is sure not going to do it any good - reproduction is one of the first physiological functions of an animal to be affected by stress.

 

I'd be interested to know if the moratoria imposed on bass fishing in the USA which led to their recovery banned all fishing for them or just the killing of them?