Large bass on lures

[Jim Roper]

Hugh Stoker country.

 

 

7.00 am about a month ago.

 

[ 03. May 2004, 01:33 AM: Message edited by: Jim Roper ]

[Newt]

Great pic Jim. Looks like a lake on a calm day.

 

Given the section (sea fishing) and the size of most UK waters I'll assume it is the ocean though.

 

Are there any features or is it just a matter of random casting for fish?

[Jim Roper]

It was the first time I had been there for over 30 years. There have been a lot of landslips during that time.

This is a bit closer.

The colour of the early morning Sun, shining from my back, has shown up the colours in a funny way. There is a point just out or shot, behind the headland, called Golden Cap. It is the highest point on our south coast and you can imagine how it got it's name.

The rocks on the far left, relate to the pictures here:

http://www.anglingforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=189

 

Go to multimap.com and look for 'Eype'. Then zoom in and out (left side of screen) to find out exactly where it is.

 

Hugh Stoker, who wrote a lot about the local angling, lives a little further west of this place.

 

[ 03. May 2004, 06:54 AM: Message edited by: Jim Roper ]

[Guest sslatter]

Originally posted by Newt:

Looks like a lake on a calm day.[/quote

 

 

You americans..

[Leon Roskilly]

Bass are a fish that will live for about 25 years, growing to over 20lbs, and spawning around 15 times.

 

They need a water temperature of over 9C to spawn, which is why in the past the bass have headed down to the South West to Spawn offshore.

 

The fry make their way back to the estuaries where they stay as juveniles before making their first spawning trips at around age 4 or 5.

 

Bass usually shoal for life, though larger fish now have a reputation for being solitary. They aren't, but fishing nets have usually harvested most of a shaol by the time they reach any size.

 

There is evidence that whereas juveniles are nomadic, once a bass reaches a reasonable size, they like to settle down (How many times have you heard, I used to catch seem really good bass here a few years back, but I haven't seen any big fish for a while now!) Put the 4lb+ fish back if you want a double in the next 10 years!

 

In the shallow estuaries (where there is plenty of the right food for the growing bass), the small bass are vunerable to cold winters and in the past a bad winter would wipe out most if not all of a year group quite frequently. The increasing number of smaller bass that are being caught now, and being caught further North than ever before is probably down to the succession of warm winters that we have been experiencing over recent years.

 

As the increasing number and range of bass tempts more anglers to specialise in fishing for the species, particularly with lures and salt water flies, they become frustrated that they cannot seem to break the 3-4lb barrier. Why?

 

The answer lies partly in the pair trawling that takes place during the winter, targetin the bass shoals that have left the safety of the nursery areas to shaol together for spawning. As other fisheries close due to conservation measures, more boats are heading down that way to take the bass. Because they have never been a species of great significance to the commercial fishing industry, they are not currently protected by any quota. (although there are Landing Limits of 5 tonne per vessel per week = 10 tonne per pair trawl team!)

 

Then there are the fish targeted by inshore netsmen, sometimes fishing for bass illegally in the bass nursery areas.

 

The size at which 50% of bass will have spawned for the first time is around 42cm, the Minimum Legal Landing Size (MLS) is just 36cm, and modern technology means that netsmen can fisnd and take most species once they reach their MLS, hence the abundance of small school bass and the dearth of fish big enough to delight anglers.

 

Large bass are a significant inshore predator and it's probably their removal as a competitor from the inshore ecology that has produced an increase in seal numbers, leading to calls for a seal cull by fishermen.

 

What can be done?

 

Angling organisations are calling for an end to winter pair trawling for spawning bass which is also threatening the existence of North Atlantic dolphins off our coasts.

 

We are also calling for a close season for bass fishing in UK waters, from 1st January to 31 March, when the bass are spawning.

 

(With water temperatures having risen, most bass are now spawning wthin the UK 12 mile limit where the government is now able to apply non-discriminatory rules on all EU vessels for conservation purposes)

 

And we are asking for the minimum size limit to be raised from 36cm (1lb), firstly to 42cm and eventually to 55cm (3lb), when all bass will have spawned at least once, and where the value of a fish to fishermen is much more than the value of 3 x 1lb fish (not competing with imported farmed fish!)

 

These changes are needed to protect the outstanding year 2002 group which are fast approaching the size that allows them to be slaughtered.

 

Following representations from Angling organisations, the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit has recommended that the evidence be reviewed for designating some species as a wholly recreational species, starting with bass. (As per the Striper bass fishery in the States that was bought back from near extinction, and in Ireland where an annually renewed Bass Protection Order is building a recreational fishery that is the envy of places like Wales, that has far more potential but sees anglers with their money and fishing rods catching the ferry across to better fishing in the Emerald Isle).

 

But all of this will only come about if enough anglers, and their MPs, get behind the campaign.

 

When legislation is finally debated, if few MPs support the Recreational Angling view in the face of the usual efficient lobbying by commercial fishing interests, nothing much will happen and anglers will be condemned to decades of catching school bass, rather than the 5lb, 8lb,10lb fish we should all be catching now, and maybe the more frequent 15lb, even 20lb fish in years to come.

 

Preparing for a trip means more than time and money spent on getting gear ready and picking up the bait.

 

Writing to your MP and visiting them in their surgery is even more important if you aim to land a specimen in future years.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Dan]

Thought I recognised the spot! I fish around the other side of Golden Cap (Charmouth and Lyme) biggest bass so far, 15lb on 6lb line and a toby!

 

Dan

[Snatcher]

Have just had a couple of direct e-mails off u chaps informing me how the world operates. The crack is that some dunce like me puts information out about places choc-a-bloc with fish and before you can say " I left my licence in the house " some evil gill netters have read the info and taken the lot. How dumb was I! Promise I will never do it again. On the plus side have made a couple of good contacts and hope to fish/drink together in the near future as they caravan close by. Your narf a friendly lot! Anyone know what the reward is for bringing a gill netter to justice?

 

Crabs - you swine! Snatcher

[madmax]

"Anyone know what the reward is for bringing a gill netter to justice?"

are you kidding!

apart from you'd be so lucky, i would imagine the reward couldn't be greater if shared with us all.

[Yakity - Yak - u.k.]

Leon,

 

Great Post,interesting stuff.

Pity you cant send this post to a M.P.......or can you??

Could Anglers Net collectively do something to help ??

[Snatcher]

Pal of mine says he knows a good hit-man.We could have a whip round and I am sure even some of our freshwater chums would contribute to such a good cause!

 

Crabs - you swine! Snatcher