Just a heads up to anyone who fishes this area for bass or for anyone thinking of visiting.Just been informed that 2 weeks ago 17boxes of bass were unloaded in ballycotton,a further 6boxes last week and more nets have been set again tonight.These fish would have been taken from the ballybranigan/balyycroneen areas.
Fishery officers
,commercial ban on bass in ireland me eye
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Bass police. You.ll be lucky. I come over to Ireland every year for the bass fishing. kerry,Cork east and west and waterford and have found the netting is worse than it is in the uk. The so called ban on commercial fishing and also the 2 fish in any 24hr period is at best a joke.
The fisheries officers are no where to be seen and are probably in on it anyway.
Will be thinking twice wether or not to make the journey next year and spend the 4 grand somewhere else. Shame , beautiful country.
Cheers
Mark.
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Reports of these catches should be made to 1890 34 74 24. This is the fisheries line to report such activities and there should be a response.
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Mark I have fished in W Waterford since 1962. When I started bass were very plentiful. Then the commercial fishing started and the bass just VANISHED. Some summers I caught nothing. Since the ban came into place the stocks have come back quite a bit and I have no doubt that they will keep on improving if given a chance. While there may be some poaching I have yet to witness any of it in the last few years. If it were happening on a large scale I would definitely see it and report it.
I have been stopped coming in from fishing by a fisheries officer to see how many bass I had on me and I know 2 others that have also been checked. So while they cannot check everyone all of the time they are doing there best and I have no doubt that if a report is made to them then they will investigate.
It is important that the authorities are contacted. If nets are at present set in E Cork at the location mentioned then the person that made this post should make the necessary call.
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Stan trust me the authorities have always been contacted regarding netting in this area,but to be honest its become a waste of time.There is a group of individuals[ordinary anglers]who have been doing the leg work for the fishery people and to be honest its been very hairy at times for them.
Direct contact with the"correct" people has always been established[as was done in these recent cases] and everyone is on first name basis with fishery people,thats how well known this group that set up the "east cork bass protection society" has become.
Stan the other thing is when is the last time you honestly can say you had a real biggie from the likes of ballyquinn ,yes the odd one still shows but in comparison to maybe 3 or 4 years ago a 6lber is now a very decent fish from there.Myself and friends regularly fish there but what we notice now is an influx of small bass that alot of anglers kill despite been undersize and the bigger fish have become very scarce,but at least a few painted ray seem to be reestablishing themselves in the whole area.
I hail from the east cork area and again bass fishing has been tailing off,not just for me but plenty of lads that i meet when out and about we can't all have become numpties over night.Commercial fishing for bass has always been going on down here by 1 or 2 boats,why has nothing been done you say.It has, but when skippers are changed by boat owners to create loopholes in the law and boxes of bass are thrown overboard as fishery officers approach some boats then you just can't win can you.
Im absolutely positive that if a few of the regular visiting anglers that come to east cork for bassing come on here to comment then they will concur with the noticeable drop rate in size and numbers of bass caught along the east cork coastline,whatever about anywhere else.
Sorry if it appears im having a go at you stan[im not] but im just so deflated about these particular incidences and feel people should be informed as what is really going down despite the so called bass ban.The worse thing with santa coming is i was actually contemplating asking for a shiny new lure rod and some soft plastics for next season to tackle the schoolies but now i think i'll just get a beachcaster for the cod,at least they seem to be around down this way at the moment
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This goes on every year around the same time in Ballycotton (late season) , if Ballycotton Seafood didn't buy the fish off the poachers they would struggle to sell the fish and probably wouldn't bother poaching. Unfortunately even though they've been done before it hasn't been a good enough deterant and so the fish get whisked off to France for sale.
17 boxes of bass need good contacts to shift , restaurant back doors couldn't deal with that amount.
Focus on the buyers and you won't need to confront the fishermen. No Market No Netting !
Its very hard for the fisheries lads to catch the poachers landing fish, they have systems to avoid getting caught and will go to the trouble of landing fish into quiet coves etc. Its trickier than you might imagine a lot of the time.
If you have any spare time keep an eye on your local area and get some binoculars , if you have the right info the fishery boys will definately act on it. There is alot of coastline out there and not many officers so anglers assistance is needed in this area. Poachers and buyers need to be caught in the act , yesterdays report won't stand up in court.
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Who do you think owns the boat
Regarding the last paragraph why do you think that protection society was set up.It was set up to get all the correct info to the fishery people and was always accurate and up to date otherwise everyones time would be wasted.
Have the binoculars etc and have been in the trenches so to speak in the past but not anymore
This was'nt a 200yd net here and there this was a major wall of death ,23 nets over 12miles.That translates into a net from ballycotton to power head.Oh in case i forgot to mention it the relevant authorities were contacted and knew the whole story
.Unfortunately they were otherwise engaged minding a few salmon closer to home!
