Beach near Killiney 5th Jan

[diego]

anyone can use size 6 hooks and catch all day but wheres the challenge

eh your wrong,

i use them down to 16's and its still a challenge.

Last night I went fishing to Ennereilly with Uvox, (he will post a report later on), I managed to "strangle" a whiting with the line it wasn't hooked at all!

Diego

[shamoo0804]

AHAB,

I'd have to disagree with you somewhat.

I have had some decent smoothies on small hooks whilst targetting flats. Same can be said for bass.

I've spent a bit of time fishing for bass this year, and would always have had another rod out with smaller baits to keep me occupied with other species. My 3 hook flapper with small hooks and baits has caught me way more bass than the pulley rigs with big crab/lug baits, both rigs/rods fished at the same time

Also, its worth noting that for some species you need as smaller hook, ie dabs, plaice, flounder, sole etc. Its each to there own really, and the angling community is made up of a wide variety of people who take pleasure out of different aspects of the sport. You cant complain at an athelete who runs 100 metres purely because others do marathons now can you

Lets face it, how many of us have had pin whiting on 3/0 pennels

But, I think we'd all agree, its not worth taking small catches home for dinner and thats the main point surely

[eyesreilly]

Yes, I did say that most fish went back by the way. The reason the fillets weren't very big is because I'm new to filleting and don't do a very good job, leaving sizeable portions of fish on the body. The two whiting I took with me didn't survive the hook.

Wow, didn't expect quite so much grief for a first attempt at a shore report; might just leave it that.

Welcome to the site Beebub2,,,i dont think you got a lot of grief at all ,,,wait till your able to upload photos any post mentioning someone actually eating fish gets a lot of replies. Look back at previous posts and you'll see. I can identify with what you were trying to say about filleting as ive been that soldier myself a short while ago. I agree with Shamoo about the polish/russian dig,,,thats just a smart comment inferring that polish/russians would take small fish home and eat them,,,,,as if .As for captain ahab and his size 2/0 hooks, maybe he can go fishing 2/3 times a week, blank 80% of the time, but some of us can only go the odd time and like to catch something when we do. Besides i've caught lots of small whiting on size 2/0's so dont know what that has to do with it. Hope this isnt your last post by the way. Best of luck with the flounder hunt,
Dave

[nicefish]

As regards eating coalfish, I worked in two hospitals for 14 years and nearly every friday in both hospitals coalfish was on the menu. The restaurants were for staff and the public so it was not the usual crap the patients get. it was always put on the menu as Cod and i never heard of anybody complaining, maybe they would have if they had know they were eating Coalfish

[beebub2]

Given that i'm new to all this, (I'm nearly scared to ask for fear of what kind of response will come back!) what's the difference in size between a size 6 and a size 2/0? I don't know what size hooks I'm using. Is there somewhere that I'll be able to see an actual size photo of a size 2/0 hook for example? Of course I could just look at the packet from which I take my hooks, before someone points that out to me, I don't have access to my gear right now.

[The Austrian]

here is one in German but it makes sense and gives you a quick reference: http://www.fischen.cc/Reload.htm?TippsTricks.htm
top right side, where it says: "Angelhaken - Hakengrößen" - click on "Artikel lesen" there is your list.

Welcome to the site and don't mind the banter

[shamoo0804]

beebub, dont worry about the agro on the site, its all part of the fun, everybody has opinions....and thats all they are, opinions

So long as we stick to any angling regulations regarding size or quantity of fish taken, then thats all we can do

Regarding the hook sizes, the best way for me to describe it its that size 1, 2,4,6,8,10 etc, they are getting progressively smaller, then from 1 to 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 they are getting bigger.

So you'd use a size 2 or 4 if your targetting smaller fish, or a size 2/0 or 3/0 for larger fish....you get the idea.

I'm sure somebody may be able to put up a link to a size chart, or alternatively you could just google " fishing hook size chart"

Best of luck with your next session

[beebub2]

Nice one. Found this:

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/do ... _chart.pdf

BTW, as a general query, if the fish you catch is a goner, do you just throw them back dead (or soon to be dead)?

[eyesreilly]

BTW, as a general query, if the fish you catch is a goner, do you just throw them back dead (or soon to be dead)?

No,,,,,its your first post ,,,,i'm not going there

[dfella25]

so it was not the usual crap the patients get

Should I ask?

[beebub2]

Sorry I don't understand, is it that I'm stating the bleeding obvious??

So clearly you take them home. That's all I was pointing out. There have been several references to regulations and the size of fish you take home in this thread, I'm just trying to establish that if people catch slightly smaller fish which don't survive the hook or they know that they're not going to survive I'm assuming they take them home rather than throw dead/ dying fish in the sea.

[shamoo0804]

Again, its down to personal preference beebub, but if you catch an undersize bass that doesnt survive, you've gotta throw it back.....them's the rules.

None of us like the small whiting masacre that can happen at times, but most of us fish on regardless.

Without having specialised knowledge on the subject, I'd think its fair to assume that the whiting over produce in high numbers to keep the species going due to there low survival rate.........its probably a genetic thing.

You can always use the dead fish as bait, or keep the local seal population well fed

AHAB, just on a side note, I'd be interested to know what you've been catching around the dublin/wicklow area on your size 2/0's recently?

I am not asking this question in a sarcastic manner, just wondering should I be upping my hook size

[Loughers]

are you polish or russian?

Don't post often, but didn't like the casual racism of that post.

If AHAB cared to look through the images on the shore report, he'd see a litany of undersized juvenile fish, many caught as a part of a "mini species" hunt and many caught to avoid a blank.

Personally I'd rather have a blank than catch a load of undersized fish that will not survive release no matter what the angler says.

I'm quite happy to state that I will kill suitably sized fish as and when I wish to. Cooking and eating freshly caught catch is one of the delights of fishing as far as I am concerned. Coalfish in a beer batter is superb.

[derek yeates]

my other half is polish

she soesnt eat carp

I caught 2 bass in canada this year from a small rowing boat she was with me and started to cry cause i was hurting the fish even do i put them both back

when i bring her polish friends out fishing i tell them the rules which they follow and continue to follow

there is as many irish anglers abusing the fish stocks as there is polish russin german latvian in fact theres probably more irish because there is more of us its just the fn are an easier target to blame

[Eoghan]

Personally I prefer to use a 2/0 as my smallest hook, most are 6/0's.
As I am only targeting bass, and their mouths are huge as you all know, it makes it easier to return the fish.
You would be surprised how many fish we catch on 6/0's that are not Bass.

I would also prefer to blank than throw back a whiting I know is toast.
It also reduces the chance of you catching a juvenile fish which will most likely die from being handled or through hook injury.

Ok you have blanked but its not like the fight from the whiting would be anything to talk about.

Im not going to criticise anyone for using smaller hooks though, each to their own.

[RockHunter]

I'm just trying to establish that if people catch slightly smaller fish which don't survive the hook or they know that they're not going to survive I'm assuming they take them home rather than throw dead/ dying fish in the sea.

If you are not going to eat them or you don't have a cat to feed them to don't bring them home - what are you going to do with them there?
Use them as bait or chuck them back into the sea - something will eat them, birds, other fish, crabs - they just get added back into the food chain.

Don't take an notice of guys giving you grief over keeping a few fish - how may fish are caught and how many discarded, dead and dying, by a trawler on an average days fishing? - more than a typical angler would catch in a life time. Obviously it is not good to keep small juvenile fish but I see nothing wrong in keeping a few good size fish for the table - its fresh and good for you.

A year or so ago there was a cookery program on TV - may have been "Corrigan on Food" -but I could be wrong - he went out on a small comercial fishing boat (not even a trawler). They hauled in the nets and sorted out the fish - they picked out a monkfish (which he cooked) and a handfull of others and they dumped the rest - about 95% of the catch - doubt any of those fish survived. So its not anglers who are to blame for declining fish stocks but the commercial fishing methods which are indiscriminate in what they catch.

Which reminds me of another topic - people have been commenting of the lack of coalfish this winter - I don't know how far they move off shore in the Summer - but in 2008 it was noticable how close to the shore the trawlers were fishing due to the high fuel costs (by close I mean that some of them wern't out beyond the horizon) - could that have something to do with the lack of coalfish?

[beebub2]

Glad to have started a bit of a debate; I'm starting to enjoy it now !

Again, all of this is new to me so I'm learning new stuff with each new contributor. All of the whiting that I caught and released swam away from me as I put them in the water. From what I'm reading above, it's likely that they're not going to survive. Is that correct? They were all caught just at the mouth and the hook came out easily. Is it that they won't survive the small hole in their mouths or the shock or what? As I said, they looked pretty ok when I put them back in the water.

Might buy some bigger hooks on the way home!

[RockHunter]

All of the whiting that I caught and released swam away from me as I put them in the water.

If they swam away I think most of them will be fine - maybe a few might suffer some internal injuries if they got a bit squeezed while you were removing the hook - maybe that will slow them up a bit so that a cod can eat them

By all means get some bigger hooks for bigger fish - but dont give up on the small hooks - they will catch big fish too - I had 4 bass (2.5 to 4 lb) on size 6 hooks last year.

[eyesreilly]

Glad to have started a bit of a debate; I'm starting to enjoy it now !

Again, all of this is new to me so I'm learning new stuff with each new contributor. All of the whiting that I caught and released swam away from me as I put them in the water. From what I'm reading above, it's likely that they're not going to survive. Is that correct? They were all caught just at the mouth and the hook came out easily. Is it that they won't survive the small hole in their mouths or the shock or what? As I said, they looked pretty ok when I put them back in the water.

Might buy some bigger hooks on the way home!

I've been told that the heat from our hands burns their skin so use a wet towel/or shake them off the hook if you can. I put them into a bucket of sea-water sometimes to recover ,,if i have one (I dont normally go around with a bucket of seawater,only when i'm fishing ) ,,and i think this improves their chances. I did this at the comp on Sunday and didnt see any belly up,,,,there again i didnt get much of a chance to check them,,its a pretty fast and furious business

[Stephen8wood]

I better get a whiting recovery bucket. Thats another bloody thing to carry along with the two rods, stand, two bags, bag of bait, flask, seven layers of tee shirts, jumpers, jackets, long johns, welly boots, 3 pairs of socks, torch, head lamp, gloves....winter fishing at it's best.