Worst Season in 20 Years

[Robbo66]

Buddies and I have never experienced it as bad as this.....unprecedented.

Maybe this is why ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...ne-as-overfishing-takes-its-toll-9601423.html

 

[foxfish]

Sad state of affairs mate, it is interesting to note that one quarter of wild bass are harvested by recreational fishermen!
Simple logic tells me that as long as the world population keeps increasing then the demand for fish will keep increasing.
In the 45 years I have been diving, I can honestly say the decline in fish overall has been dramatic!!
Probably the most noticeable would be sandeels & Atherine sand smelt, at one time both species were is such numbers as to be a nuisance when spearfishing!
I can recall huge dense shoals, so thick that you could not see through them & this was only 10 years ago.
The big bold ballan wrasse, the conger & the red bream are all but a rare site for me now.

 

[Broseidon]

I have to say, I haven't had the best season so far - although I haven't really fished that much and some of my most productive spots were destroyed by the storms so I've had to explore new grounds. There generally seems to be a lack of bass about for everyone.

Sad state of affairs mate, it is interesting to note that one quarter of wild bass are harvested by recreational fishermen!

I'm really, really struggling to believe this figure - I don't think it's physically possible - I'm pretty sure a single trawler could take in a night, more bass than all the anglers in Wales could in a year..?

 

[mirror]

At the entrance to a local estuary to me ( Teignmouth ) at every low tide there is always people fishing from both shores some " semi / professionally" and often from a bridge and other spots further in to the estuary , also just outside by boat , this goes on day and night virtually all summer long and some are pretty successful ! many are " catch and release " and under size returned but a lot are not this really cannot be sustainable . This is probably the situation at most other estuaries as well . I do not think bass are often trawled , as they are not really an open water pelagic or bottom dwelling fish , the majority of bass consumed in the UK are farmed . It is also quite amazing the number of bass that seem to have been taken from around Portland Bill over the years but they still seem to keep coming !

 

[arrowloopboy]

Thankfully ,here in Ireland,its shaping up to be a reasonably good season ,with decent numbers of Bass seen on every session,and lots of mullet,if you want to dive certain mullet marks,i'll probably get accused of been a tree hugger again,but maybe its time that the u.k introduced some protection for its premier saltwater gamefish ,its easy to blame others ,as in French/Spanish trawlers ,but when I was bassing strong with my crew ,ground baiting and plugging ,we often had over 100 bass in a night/dawn session ,if we were killing everything ,we could of killed a couple of tonne of Bass in a season,every season.That was just 3 guys with a couple of rods each,now multiply this by thousands of anglers,albe it not all as good as us .

 

[Broseidon]

^^^^

Ok, last 2 two posts have maybe given me a better perspective on things! I didn't realise that anglers could be so successful!

 

[Robbo66]

Same marks, all states of tides and practically zero Bass. All of us.
No schools either, very little life in general.
Bass we have speared have been full of hoppers, not shore crab etc.
Wondering if the storms have wrecked the shore crab stocks and Bass have stayed off shore.
Local fisherman complaining too.
Interestingly, the areas that are normally teeming with seals.....aren't.

 

[mirror]

when I was bassing strong with my crew ,ground baiting and plugging ,we often had over 100 bass in a night/dawn session ,if we were killing everything ,we could of killed a couple of tonne of Bass in a season,every season.That was just 3 guys with a couple of rods each,now multiply this by thousands of anglers,albe it not all as good as us .[/QUOTE]
Sounds to me like YOU were part of the problem and why the 2 bass limit was introduced !!

 

[SurfnSpear]

On the wrasse numbers.....this year I have never seen so many at all spots north and south coast.....and healthy huge specimens at that....luckily they don't taste like grouper.

 

[kkdavids]

I think a lot of it could be down to the winter we have had (both Mild and windy). Personally I found somedays really fishy and others very quiet. And as mentioned above the ground in some areas has changed.


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[spearo Clark]

Thankfully ,here in Ireland,its shaping up to be a reasonably good season ,with decent numbers of Bass seen on every session,and lots of mullet,if you want to dive certain mullet marks,i'll probably get accused of been a tree hugger again,but maybe its time that the u.k introduced some protection for its premier saltwater gamefish ,its easy to blame others ,as in French/Spanish trawlers ,but when I was bassing strong with my crew ,ground baiting and plugging ,we often had over 100 bass in a night/dawn session ,if we were killing everything ,we could of killed a couple of tonne of Bass in a season,every season.That was just 3 guys with a couple of rods each,now multiply this by thousands of anglers,albe it not all as good as us .

Can't blame French and Spanish trawlers!!

In previous years Pair trawling by the French landed 78ton of bass in one day at Plymouth!!

 

[beer mat]

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/championing-coastal-waters-and-communities

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this action plan. Interesting case study towards the back RE:French pair trawlers.

 

[spearo Clark]

This bit pretty much makes me feel sick!

 

[beer mat]

View attachment 39108

This bit pretty much makes me feel sick!

That was my response exactly. Something has to change.

 

[mirror]

As to the original post ...... has it improved this month ? I have not been in much but managed a few bass but there seems to be very few catch reports , is no one catching or is it just that no one is posting , and why ?

 

[Robbo66]

Gil netting should be a capital offence.
Our usual spots look like wimbledon.
At least there's a reason for this lack of fish generally.

 

[arrowloopboy]

Gil netting should be a capital offence.
Our usual spots look like wimbledon.
At least there's a reason for this lack of fish generally.

I raised the subject of some conservation measures for the u.k on a couple of treads ,and got accused of been a treehugger(if they only knew),the notion of bag limits and such like was aggressively opposed ,by most of your fellow u.k based ''sportsmen'',when their all gone they can all sit about and blame somebody else,the logic of fools.

 

[foxfish]

There is talk about the high water temperatures being responsible for what we perceive as a lack of fish but is in fact a lull in between new species arriving & other species looking for cooler water!
Just overfishing I would say!!

 

[xristos]

Sad story.. if not depressing. I just hope that we will manage to force governments make some parks where fishing will not be allowed so that we won't teach the names of the fish to our children through history books or encyclopedias

 

[spearo Clark]

The mackerel are around our shores in numbers.........I was starting to think the trawlers had sucked them all up!!!