22lb Cod - River Mersey

[Elton]

Nice fish, both of them. I'd love one like that!

 

As for the "should have been returned" comments, can someone more qualified than me please clarify....

 

I'd have thought a fish like that would have spawned many times. What age/size do cod start and stop spawning at?

 

I was under the impression it's the juvenile fish that need protecting.

[big_cod]

One of the longliners yesterday caught a cod at 35lb that was with the guts out when it was weighed on the fishquay , he was only fishing at just over half a mile from the shore in approx 60ft of water, there was a boat uptiding near by nice if he had captured that one.

[Guest CJS2]

Nice fish, both of them. I'd love one like that!

 

As for the "should have been returned" comments, can someone more qualified than me please clarify....

 

I'd have thought a fish like that would have spawned many times. What age/size do cod start and stop spawning at?

 

I was under the impression it's the juvenile fish that need protecting.

 

'Should have been returned?' . . . I would very much echo these sentiments Elton, knee jurk reaction, in a sensative situation????

 

[Guest CJS2]

Just been looking at "A lesson in fish conservation", if the inital post is anything to go by, these large doubles are OK to take, they have done their bit for the cod poulation twice or more. As I say, 'knee jurk'?????

 

Edited December 23, 2005 by CJS2

[A Norfolk Boy]

One of the longliners yesterday caught a cod at 35lb that was with the guts out when it was weighed on the fishquay , he was only fishing at just over half a mile from the shore in approx 60ft of water, there was a boat uptiding near by nice if he had captured that one.

 

 

 

[stavey]

Just been looking at "A lesson in fish conservation", if the inital post is anything to go by, these large doubles are OK to take, they have done their bit for the cod poulation twice or more. As I say, 'knee jurk'?????

 

 

It maybe a knee jurk reaction cjs2, there have been many anglers on here endorsing what the scietists have been saying for the last several years ie, a zero catch for cod, i just find it a little bit of a hypocritical pill to swallow as an angler seeing other sea anglers acting just like our beloved commercials thats all, carry on doing what you are if you want to fine, but dont give me any crap about conserving fish stocks and then make excuses to do otherwise. put the blo*dy things back and make do with just the chips it aint gonna kill ya's

 

If and when the cod stocks improve and theres plenty in the sea again then sure take a couple! but as things are in such a desperate state all you are doing is hammering another nail into the coffin its as simple as that, catch the cod take the picture revive it if needed let it go, then display the pictures here thats what everyone does anyway, you dont see a picture of the angler getting stuck in with a pile of chips and the fish heaped on top do you? well i have not on here.

 

If we as anglers can show we are prepared to do are bit and make sacrifices if you like for conservation, and be seen to put back such fish, it will atleast show we can practice what we preech and when we do its not emitted from our arseh*les, cheers....................

[Guest CJS2]

It maybe a knee jurk reaction cjs2, there have been many anglers on here endorsing what the scietists have been saying for the last several years ie, a zero catch for cod, i just find it a little bit of a hypocritical pill to swallow as an angler seeing other sea anglers acting just like our beloved commercials thats all, carry on doing what you are if you want to fine, but dont give me any crap about conserving fish stocks and then make excuses to do otherwise. put the blo*dy things back and make do with just the chips it aint gonna kill ya's

 

If and when the cod stocks improve and theres plenty in the sea again then sure take a couple! but as things are in such a desperate state all you are doing is hammering another nail into the coffin its as simple as that, catch the cod take the picture revive it if needed let it go, then display the pictures here thats what everyone does anyway, you dont see a picture of the angler getting stuck in with a pile of chips and the fish heaped on top do you? well i have not on here.

 

If we as anglers can show we are prepared to do are bit and make sacrifices if you like for conservation, and be seen to put back such fish, it will atleast show we can practice what we preech and when we do its not emitted from our arseh*les, cheers....................

 

KO, however, I think that a couple of steps back would be a good idea, from all parties and interests, passions are running high. Personaly I hold with the 'keep a couple put the rest back', lobby, being inteligent over size. Simply throwing everything back? . . . untill the comercials do somthing about their activities and thinking, is a futile act achiveing nothing. On Sunday, I caught half a dozen codling, took two (one was gut hooked anyway) released the rest, thats more than the comercials are doing, cant see them returning two thirds of their days cod catch? There is more than one school of thought on the reasons why stocks are so low, are they low even??? Curently we are going around in circles on thess points, in fact I think we are being led deliberatly in circles, keep us from looking to hard at the succesfull fisheries.

 

As for the size to take? No one has put anything concret forward as to which is best, I favour larger single figer fish, they eat better, thats not a scientific argument, just a personal observation. Thats the over all problem, we all have our personal views, we get passionat, and there is no universal acceptance of scientific evidance, there apperars to be a good deal of conflicting evidance????

 

Stop all fishing for cod in the north sea? I am sure we (anglers) will abide by the rules, for the moment we (most anglers?) have to address our concience . . . . . . keep a couple put the rest back!

 

To many ????? in my mind at the moment to be sure about anything other than the fish are generaly small compared with 10-15 years ago, that is fact!!!!

 

Edited December 24, 2005 by CJS2

[Steve Coppolo]

.

 

As for the size to take? No one has put anything concret forward as to which is best, I favour larger single figer fish, they eat better, thats not a scientific argument, just a personal observation. Thats the over all problem, we all have our personal views, we get passionat, and there is no universal acceptance of scientific evidance, there apperars to be a good deal of conflicting evidance????

 

 

 

There are two schools of thought regarding the best size fish to take. On the one hand, the juvenile fish do need protecting so that they have a chance to spawn. On the other hand, the big fish produce far more young and genetics dictate that big fish produce more big fish.

 

If you take Cod, there is scientific evidence that as their numbers become fewer, they mature and reproduce earlier. But these small fish are producing more small fish that will mature earlier, etc, etc. A big Cod of say 30lb will produce millions of eggs and these, if left alone, will grow to be 30lb. Hypothetically, if they were dogs, the small Cod would be Jack Russels and the 30 pounders would be Great Danes. If you take away all the Great danes, you'll end up with the sea full of Jack Russels!

 

So taking just small fish would eventually lead to there being no Cod left to spawn once the breeding stock has died of old age, assuming that it would be possible to catch all the small ones, and taking all the big ones would mean that a) Cod wouldn't grow to those sizes in the future and the year classes would be very weak because small fish aren't the most successful spawners.

 

In an ideal world there would be slot sizes where you could take anything above 6lb, for arguments sake, and anything under 15lb.

 

Doesn't answer the question does it?

Edited December 23, 2005 by Steve Coppolo

[stavey]

KO, however, I think that a couple of steps back would be a good idea, from all parties and interests, passions are running high. Personaly I hold with and the 'keep a couple put the rest back', lobby, being inteligent over the size. Simply throwing everything back? . . . untill the comercials do somthing about their activities and thinking, is a futile act achiveing nothing. On Sunday, I caught half a dozen codling, took two (one was gut hooked anyway) released the rest, thats more than the comercials are doing, cant see them returning two thirds of their days cod catch? There is more than one school of thought on the reasons why stocks are so low, are they low even??? Curently we are going around in circles on thess points, in fact I think we are being led deliberatly in circles, keep us from looking to hard at the succesfull fisheries.

 

As for the size to take? No one has put anything concret forward as to which is best, I favour larger single figer fish, they eat better, thats not a scientific argument, just a personal observation. Thats the over all problem, we all have our personal views, we get passionat, and there is no universal acceptance of scientific evidance, there apperars to be a good deal of conflicting evidance????

 

Stop all fishing for cod in the north sea? I am sure we (anglers) will abide by the rules, for the moment we (most anglers?) have to address our concience . . . . . . keep a couple put the rest back!

 

To many ????? in my mind at the moment to be sure about anything other than the fish are generaly small compared with 10-15 years ago, that is fact!!!!

 

 

 

Some fair comments cjs2, i will agree about the run of the mill size of the cod today (excluding down here as there are none of anysize in my location any more) i was watching the landinds by the commercials in scotland peterhead i think it was? on the news, and the boxes of cod i saw had not a single fish that looked at all double figures more like codling size 5lb and less all of them, its no wonder the commercials dont want anything to do with bigger mesh sizes i guess they would catch jack if they did, i can understand this and i wish they would be honest and say so instead of saying different.

 

I have said what i have said and i will stick to it, i will do my bit for the bmp because there intended target of 55cm mls is what i want not 45cm but we have to start somewhere and guess what i dont retain any bass i catch i return everyone, i am even just as passionate about mullet same self imposed rules they all go back, in actual fact everything i catch goes back now and that would include a cod whether it be 20lb or 2lb if i was ever lucky enough to catch one these days? i give myself the same chances of catching a marlin here in sussex as i would a cod.................

[wurzel]

Hello Steve

 

quote

If you take Cod, there is scientific evidence that as their numbers become fewer, they mature and reproduce earlier

 

I think the scientific evidence has changed, they now say that warmer temps cause cod to mature and reproduse earlier.