Commitment To Positivety

[Snatcher]

Missed world war 3 by the sound of it,but then again I always do. Is it safe to come out yet

 

Mind you I have been moderated myself coming on full of drink and writing loads of meaningless twaddle with the occasional expletive included. Must stop doing it

 

Make love not war

[geffaz]

lol im defo guilty of that one! few drams and a contentious issue im off on one

atlest it stops me taking it out on the mrs lol

[Guest hadrianthebricky]

Nothing is better than a few pints of wife beater before breakfast.

[Snatcher]

Hadrian are you a Geordie by any chance

Edited November 29, 2005 by Snatcher

[Bob Jerunkel]

Letting the weight of a 100lb plus skate hang by a metal hook through its wing seems unnesessery.

Cant do the fish much good.

Bit like those people who hold up big live bass by the gills.

All that weight hanging on the gills cant be good.

The formula to estimate the weight only gives an approximate weight anyway.

Getting the measurements while the fish is still in the water would be close enough.

In the water the fish dont weigh anything.

Dont see many swordfish or marlin dragged into the boat nowdays.

Let alone with a gaff.

Must do some sort of muscle damage all that weight hanging on a hook.

I saw one in sea angler a couiple of years ago that looked like it had been shot because the hole was so big.

[SandTiger]

Hello Bob

 

The purpose of using a gaff on Commons is not to simply lift the skate out on its own or have it hanging from a metal hook as some might think. The gaff is a contributory factor in safely boating a skate as it allows far more control over what is a very large fish. This method is far better than trying to boat a large fish without one and faffing for valuble minutes around whilst the fish stresses.

 

The reasons for boating them are numerous - from compiling the on-going data to be used with the charts to the examination for injuries & abnormalities, removal of parasites and also the tagging etc... There is a wealth of data gathered from boating them and the fish is generally out of the water for approximately 6 minutes in total.

 

 

 

My quickest recapture is 40 minutes from release in 400 foot of water - If an animal is stressed it will not be feeding.

 

Swordfish and Marlin have a totally different physical structure to Commons and should not be used to draw a comparison.

 

The gaff is used as a steering device not a lifting device.

 

 

Clearly it is impossible to comment on one individual picture (or capture) as seen in Sea Angler but there are a number of posters on this board that regularly target Commons and have the boating of skate down to a fine art and care very passionatly about the wellbeing of the fish they target.

 

Again, I hope this is of some help and if you feel that there is something that I have failed to cover or that needs expanding on then please feel free to ask

Edited November 29, 2005 by SandTiger

[Norrie]

The formula to estimate the weight only gives an approximate weight anyway.

 

I saw one in sea angler a couiple of years ago that looked like it had been shot because the hole was so big.

 

 

Hi Bob, Tiggs forgot one thing mate....The formula has taken mibbes 15 years to work out, and is accurate to 5lb+or - of the chart weight. It was formulated using many HUNDREDS, of captures ,not one from the Sea Dangler...as has been asked of Sam Cox...if you fancy a trip out next year ,you will be MORE than welcome.....tis free too..mibbes thats why Sam didnt reply... ..you will only have your Air Flights and hotel to pay...you get driven to and from Lochaline....no gear needed either..its all there. It will give you an insight to the Tag and Release Programme...tho' there aint a guarantee that you will catch a Skate...took me 3 days of 12 hour shifts to get my first one....and have never looked back.

 

BTW, the Skate never HANGS on the gaff as Tiggs says...it is used to steer the fish aboard.....think you have been looking at too many old Common Skate capture pics ..the proud captor with the Skate hanging on a pole.....

 

After that a large piece of cargo Net is used to manouvere the fish back into the water....

 

 

 

All the best.

Norrie

[Bob Jerunkel]

Hi Bob, Tiggs forgot one thing mate....The formula has taken mibbes 15 years to work out, and is accurate to 5lb+or - of the chart weight. It was formulated using many HUNDREDS, of captures ,not one from the Sea Dangler...as has been asked of Sam Cox...if you fancy a trip out next year ,you will be MORE than welcome.....tis free too..mibbes thats why Sam didnt reply... ..you will only have your Air Flights and hotel to pay...you get driven to and from Lochaline....no gear needed either..its all there. It will give you an insight to the Tag and Release Programme...tho' there aint a guarantee that you will catch a Skate...took me 3 days of 12 hour shifts to get my first one....and have never looked back.

 

BTW, the Skate never HANGS on the gaff as Tiggs says...it is used to steer the fish aboard.....think you have been looking at too many old Common Skate capture pics ..the proud captor with the Skate hanging on a pole.....

 

After that a large piece of cargo Net is used to manouvere the fish back into the water....

All the best.

Norrie

 

Very kind offer norrie but it doesnt really apeal.

Thanks anyway.

Can you explain how the skat is lifted on to the boat.

could the measurements not be made with the fish in the water?

Must be kinder and easier surely.

[Norrie]

Very kind offer norrie but it doesnt really apeal.

Thanks anyway.

Can you explain how the skat is lifted on to the boat.

could the measurements not be made with the fish in the water?

Must be kinder and easier surely.

 

 

Hi Bob. Not a problem...but there are other species to be caught apart from Common Skate....the offer stands tho' if you ever change your mind.....

 

Re the lifting abooard of the fish...I will let Davy answer that one, as he is the expert,and is more eloquent than me,and he will reply in detail when he gets in from work. He knows about it....

 

The measuring has to be done aboard the boat, to keep the weight charts up to date, the data has to be very accurate...and the fish cant be weighed or measured properly in the water. Davy has a custom built weighing boom on board, the fish is in the net, and lifted till just clear of the deck....this enables a VERY accurate weight...of course, only if your scales are accurate, which they are....regularly checked etc. In fact, the Catchalot, a 26 foot catamaran, was custom built for the tag and release of Common Skate, programme.....

 

Hope this is of help to you, I thought I had some pics to let you see it, but lost them when my PC crashed. Davy might have some tho'. In the meantime, you could look at the site...

 

www.catchalot.co.uk/tagindx.htm

 

Cheers.

Norrie

Edited November 29, 2005 by Norrie

[sam-cox]

If you guys had of replied to me as you have to Bob I wouldnt of got upset.

Maybe its down to the way I come across, I only write as I feel.

 

All good stuff though, you guys obviously care for these fine fish.

 

I also remember the fish in Sea Angler vagely, wasnt it on the front cover caught by Alan Yates.

 

From what I can vagely remember it had a gaff hole in its wing and many wrote in complaining. I will sea if I still have the copy in my giant stack of sea angling mags, it could be interesting to read some of the letters and replies.

Edited November 29, 2005 by sam-cox