Sea Angling mags and photos

[Kieran Hanrahan]

Hi Spasor

 

In the ideal scenario 20 lb bass would be very nice but given a situation where the byelaws Ireland has passed to protect the species are roundly flouted (well I've been fishing from 20 years and never seen a bailiff so where's the surprise) I think a more realistic option would be to limit to total number of fish taken by effectively increasing the minimum size to fish of 10 lbs weight or more. You would have no problem prosecuting some 'gentleman' with a 38 cm bass who said he guessed it and thought it was 40 cms (and I've had several of those eh 'conversations')...

 

I can understand the argument about fish captures and size - the cod being the obvious example - but that would be to equate the impact commercial fishing over a century has had on the cod stock as set against the non-commercial impact anglers have or will continue to have on the bass stock (especially now with the ban on pairs trawling).

 

A 10 lb bass has been around a long time, certainly 10-15 years, in Ireland probably longer, and as such it will have spawned lots of times even if they are slow to mature as a species, whereas bass over the 40 cms minimum have only been around for half that time, so my arguement was based on a "never mind the quality, feel the width" arguement.

 

Once you have a big and properly protected population, you will inevitably get bigger wilier trickier fish. I rather have lots of bass / healthy population rather than a few larger fish.

 

AS for the Christmas cards, I only accept liquid ones originally bought in France, Chile, etc. Bugger to get through the letterbox mind!

 

Tight lines

[spanner]

I think the best method from a 'natural' perspective would be to take a balanced catch that follows the population profile, i.e. a pyramid - more little-uns and very few big-uns. That would have the minimal impact on the natural distribution as long as the total numbers were kept low, i.e. insignificant.

 

However, we don't want to follow to the currect distribution, as that is already f**ked up by man's excessive and unnatural predation, we want to modify the age distribution to boost the stock and ensure its long term viability. In that respect we want to keep the current juveniles and allow them to reach maturity so they can boost the stock levels ASAP. We also need to keep the biggest breeders in the stock, the older fish, as they will have to produce the next class of juveniles ASAP or else the bubble will burst. So that just leaves the mid-sized fish to eat.

 

I'm sure the same arguement applies to cod as well.

[Andrew Boyd]

My mates and I return 99% of our sea catch, only take the odd Cod for the pot. ALL Bass no mater the size are returned.

The Salmon angles set a good example. The majority are now returned, only the odd fish kept for the table.

Use micro barb hooks and carry some forceps.

Tight lines.

[A Norfolk Boy]

Some interesting ideas here. I do know that cod are becoming sexually mature much earlier than they they were years back. Somehow, the species knows it is under pressure and has responded accordingly by breeding younger. This must result in generally smaller fish in time, as their energy goes into breeding rather than just growing.

[Synchrouk]

spasor:

Synchrouk?

Take all the big fish out of the equasion. Then subsequent generations will be smaller? Carry that on a few generations and?.............................. .........

I haven`t got all the facts to hand. But the arguement works.

But by the time a fish has become big, its bread so many times that its genetics will be spread all over ther place.

[Newt]

Not sure about the specific species under discussion here but with some species, a larger female produces lots more eggs with a higher hatch rate than a smaller female and you know you are dealing with genetics from at least the female side that produce larger fish.

 

From Here for instance (and Flatheads are a species of US catfish)

quote:

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Simply speaking larger females produced more eggs by volume and at a rate that would hatch better than smaller females eggs. This correlates with common reasoning that larger flatheads would produce better spawns. A female of 50 pounds or more might produce a 300,000 to 400,000 eggs with most of them hatching.

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[ 12. October 2004, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[Ed Matysiak]

Write to the mags!

[Synchrouk]

No, we know the answers!!

 

What do experts know?

[spasor]

Kieran.

So there`s no point in sending a large bottle of single Scots malt to you.

OK. I`ll save a few quid.