Should Whitings be banned from Club competitons and open matches ?

[Guest @Winter@]

This debate is raging on another forum on the net :

 

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19581

 

It gets to this time of year in the north east and the codling (what there is left of them) seem to dissapear. To me the only definate chance of a fish on a flat calm night in Jan and Feb is to go scratching . The catching of whiting appears to really get up the noses of the old cod only school who sit watching their rods for hours on end without a bite. Appears to me percentage wise you will catch cod less than 10% of the time on flat nights (that is at the current point in time and not 20 years ago when catch rates on flat nights were near 100%) In the end they cry "BAN THE WHITINGS" or " LETS HAVE A COD ONLY LEAGUE"

 

Anyone any thoughts ?

[Brian Carragher]

Cod only leagues and cod only match's will only lead to diminishing numbers of anglers attending.

Take your last club/open match, it was cod only and heaviest cod takes all, well given the sea conditions at the time and the fact it was cod only a lot of the match anglers I know who would have attended an all in match said they would'nt be fishing it.

 

Multiply that by the number of missing anglers along the coast and you have the recipie for a poor turn out, a few match's without any cod to weigh in(you can't guarantee sea conditions when planning match's in advance) and anglers will vote with their feet and stay away

 

Far better to have all in's whereby if the fish are in front of you and they are sizeble then they all count

[big_cod]

Disagree you can have a cod league and an overall leauge cant see naything wrong with that ,its uat some people get more enjoyment out of catching a codling rather than a whiting.

[Brian Carragher]

Agreed

But the occasional cod only match is not a bad idea it makes for a different approach and if you get one it tends to be of a decent size, some good bags too on the right night. But when planning months in advance for club matchs it pays to appeal to the majority who are in with a chance of catching rather than a die hard core of cod only fans

[Kieran Hanrahan]

But when planning months in advance for club matchs it pays to appeal to the majority who are in with a chance of catching rather than a die hard core of cod only fans

 

You could apply the same idea to common species like mackerel or coalfish at different times of the year. Landed 64 coalfish all over 30 cms in one session two years ago, absurd stuff. As a club we've yet to encounter this in competition but it is only a matter of time. I always felt that banning mackerel was unfair to an extent and very counterproductive especially in juniors where you want to encourage participation.

 

How about a one two or three per species limit, i.e. you can try for whiting but only the best one or two or three count in competition? Same rule can be applied to other shoaling species like mackerel, coalfish, etc. so that people can still catch, still enjoy the day out, and if someone targets and lands a bigger species like cod etc. they do not lose out to someone who has spend the session scratching for sand dabs, whiting and other tiddlers! It has the effect of turning most competitions into species hunts, which to my mind, is the best test of an anglers skill in that it forces peopel to adopt different tactics throughout the session...

 

Just a thought...

[johhno]

The catching of whiting appears to really get up the noses of the old cod only school who sit watching their rods for hours on end without a bite. Appears to me percentage wise you will catch cod less than 10% of the time on flat nights (that is at the current point in time and not 20 years ago when catch rates on flat nights were near 100%) In the end they cry "BAN THE WHITINGS" or " LETS HAVE A COD ONLY LEAGUE"

 

Why not move away from personal agendas and just let 'market forces' take care of it, if people want cod only matches tell them to organise them and if they are really interested then they'll survive, if not, they won't.

 

Fotr those that prefer rod watching to catching anything, why not offer a Halibut only league.

[Toerag]

How about a one two or three per species limit, i.e. you can try for whiting but only the best one or two or three count in competition? Same rule can be applied to other shoaling species like mackerel, coalfish, etc. so that people can still catch, still enjoy the day out

You run the risk of people discarding fish during the comp as they catch bigger ones with this rule. Better is a points system, where rarer species attract higher points, for instance wrasse here are 3 points per fish, bass are 30. You also get 1/4 of a point per lb of fish weighed in, so things like conger are only 1 point because you are going to get loads of points for weight. It will take tweaking, but it gives people the option to go for mass weight of whiting, or catch fewer quality fish. It's not so good for opens as the points will take too long to tot up. In these situations it's good to have species prizes, Ie. best per species, most species etc. Gives people the chance to win something if they can't compete with the heaviest bag guys.

[Guest @Winter@]

they do not lose out to someone who has spend the session scratching for sand dabs, whiting and other tiddlers! It has the effect of turning most competitions into species hunts, which to my mind, is the best test of an anglers skill in that it forces peopel to adopt different tactics throughout the session...

 

Just a thought...

 

Never thought I would say this kieren as I too love cod fishing but I have to agree with you. A friend of mine who fishes our club really opened my eyes to what is achievable. When cod have been allmost off the radar due to conditions he has been scratching and has shown great skill in regulally catching mixed bags of Whitings, Flounders, coalfish, rockling and every so often he even gets the odd codling in his scratching sessions. I have to admit I admire this lad greatly. He has learnt which areas of the beach each species is catchable at, what baits are best for each species as each one prefers something slightly different, how far to cast as the flounders he says are never beyond 20 yards whereas the coalfish he catches are at distance with a clipdown rig and lightline on a small reel. The lad is an allrounder who has caught 3 double figure cod in as many consecutive matches in recent years and as our clubs only ever qualifier for the penn sea league final he is as good as some of the best.

There are lots of people who knock this type of fishing but when you analyse it a lot of the critics have all tried the same things at times - Probably not with instant success so they retreat towhat they percieve as the moral high ground and suggest somehow it isnt quite fishing as it should be.

Edited February 16, 2006 by @Winter@

[big_cod]

Why not move away from personal agendas and just let 'market forces' take care of it, if people want cod only matches tell them to organise them and if they are really interested then they'll survive, if not, they won't.

 

Fotr those that prefer rod watching to catching anything, why not offer a Halibut only league.

 

johhno that is just what we do, there is numerous cod only open matches throughout the winter months usually 2 a month ,infact 99.9% are cod only most matches are won with fish around double figures for those who are willing to go and find them anglers have got better over the years ,better bait ,sometimes secret baits which there is one or two ,i personally would prefer catching a 7lb cod from the bottom of a cliff rather than sitting on my box on the beach catching whiting 2 at a time but that is your preference we are lucky around here we have some fantastic ground where when it gets tough for cod fishing there is still spots what will throw out good fish years of experience does obviously help with this factor ,this time of year it does go a bit quite with the codling but if we get a swell they will appear again and you have every chance of catching a double fishing the right spots but i see nothing wrong with having a cod leauge and an overall leauge as far as i know filey angling club already does this due to volume of whitings that have been weighed in over the last couple of years, all it means is a little bit of extra work by the weigh master but iam sure things can be worked out its an angling club for all anglers cod or whiting.

[Guest @Winter@]

Just been chatting to a friend who suggests a club rule of 1 hook only. Not a bad idea.

 

I guess a cod league would require more administration ? I know last time I mentioned it to the weights and measures man he wasnt too keen on the extra work. I guess someone else would have to take all that on. I will be proposing a cod only league by letter to the club chairman before the next agm. I think it has been suggested that often that the issue needs to be addressed.