Bass.... C&R or 1 for the Table. Info and debate

[Gillaroo]

For an angler who puts in so many dedicated hours, who is now giving freely his advice and the wisdom of his experience, what incentive does he now have to post reports in future? Maybe a separate forum thread should now be opened for those inclined to exclusively catch and release, whom are offended by photos of legitimately dispatched and taken fish - or is this suggestion as ridiculous as the implied criticism and assumptions some have made.

[Marty Harrison]

Maybe a separate forum thread should now be opened for those inclined to exclusively catch and release, whom are offended by photos of legitimately dispatched and taken fish - or is this suggestion as ridiculous as the implied criticism and assumptions some have made.

Imagine the same post if the pic was by the sea, no one would know about the fishes fate and nothing would have been said. Pretty simple really.

Marty

[Andy Elliott]

For an angler who puts in so many dedicated hours, who is now giving freely his advice and the wisdom of his experience, what incentive does he now have to post reports in future? Maybe a separate forum thread should now be opened for those inclined to exclusively catch and release, whom are offended by photos of legitimately dispatched and taken fish - or is this suggestion as ridiculous as the implied criticism and assumptions some have made.

I think your missing the point that Jim has been trying to get accross

If an angler catches a fish kills it and takes a foto and posts it to an open forum and others like this, then i think he has to expect some response - positive and otherwise. There is a degree of responsibility here in relation to perception especially in todays difficult angling arena..

Todays difficult angling arena being[url=http://www.pisces.demon.co.uk/]here[/url] and[url=http://www.that organisation beginning with P.org/]here[/url]
If you want to kill a fish for the table .go ahead ... just dont post a photo of it in your kitchen.
Take Big Cols avatar as an example, is that fish alive or dead ? was it relesed unharmed or kept for the table ? Hard to tell isnt it .

Perhaps a read at [url=http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bulletin%20board/viewtopic.php?t=8280&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0]this[/url] thread might refresh everyones memory :roll:

Andy

[dbrock]

great fish mate hope it taste as good as it looked have to say i would have done the same

[BigPhil]

i think that this has been taken way out of proportion by some, there is no one in this thread giving the captor a hard time about it or anything like that.......i look at the replies as a good source of information for any bass angler, and also i think it would be good for all anglers to have rough guidelines as to the size of bass recommended to take for the table if they so desire (ie, not mature reproductive stock) or small schoolies just starting out to increase future stocks.?
ps rodger, what bait did the fish fall to?

[roger de dodger]

they say a picture is worth a thousand words !!!
firstly may i say hello to all the members who have posted on this thread
as a new member i hope all my reports get the same amount of views and responses as this my first ever one!
with reguards to the amount of fish i return the percentage would be aprox 99.% on 1 occasion i have returned 8 bass in one session some under 40cm some not .And would think twice about keeping a cod due to the fact that they now seem more rare than a bass .
Even though the bag limit is two fish per day i must admitt that i would find it sad if anybody was tempted to take more than one and must admitt their is a feel good factor to watching a fish swim off to fight another day (any fish not just bass!!).
In responce to people who make a living as guides for others you obviosly have a vested interest in bass stocks .Its a shame for the humble cod that they dont take the fly and fight like trains then maybe we would have a few more left in the sea .
I hope non of my veiws have offended anyone as i enjoyed reading ALL the posts after all this is what a forum is for, The road to angling enlightenment :)p.s phil lug .

[BigPhil]

good to hear roger, happy posting.
what bait did it take again?

[roger de dodger]

look at the smiley

[JOHN1]

cracking fish roger. i hope you land plenty more of them in future :lol: fantastic start to any anglers season just a pity it wasnt me posting that picture. dont forget to claim your points in the species comp.

ps. is that a 2005 calender on the wall :lol: :lol: :lol: .

[W F Sweeney]

The inconsistency is apalling - a previous posting on this form showing 6 dead sea trout on a tackle box was passed with indifference yet the sight of a fish in a kitchen (no laws broken remember) brings righteous indignation. People who rush to such facile conclusions as have been vented here do not have the judgement to be capable of doing anything in the service of angling.

[BigPhil]

ah, sorry roger! :oops: :lol:
missed that bit at the end !
cheers, always interesting to know

[BigPhil]

The inconsistency is apalling - a previous posting on this form showing 6 dead sea trout on a tackle box was passed with indifference yet the sight of a fish in a kitchen (no laws broken remember) brings righteous indignation. People who rush to such facile conclusions as have been vented here do not have the judgement to be capable of doing anything in the service of angling.

sorry W F, i think thats a bit off the mark, and an unfair statement to make...at least some of us who HAVE REGULARLY CONTRIBUTED to the forums on conservation measures, trying to increase stocks etc are making the effort and most of the regular users will know our stances on these measures by now. as for sea trout, if i catch any, they are returned as well, which i also encourage others to do at every opportunity.
what have you contributed to this forum on issues on bass, cod or sea trout and the like before for you to make such comments about others???
sorry, i just personally think its a bit out of order.....

[lumpy]

well said, as i maintain the killing of certain species of fish,in this case bass, but also ray, conger, tope to name a few is a very contentious issue with alot of anglers who hold this sport dearly. if you post a picture depicting a large bass or any of the above fish (and others) dead then you expect negative comeback, its something that sickens alot of anglers, especially those who have put a great deal of effort into positively promoting our sport, and to question their morality regarding other posts is laughable.

[BigPhil]

Well, anything under 50cm is probably too young to have bred at least once, and we need at least one spawning to keep the genetic diversity up - we lose that if we leave all the breeding to a few old fish.
But the older fish produce the larger and more robust spawnings, so we don't really want to be taking them out either.
It's a tough call.....in some ways I'd be tempted to recommend that only the biggest fish be taken as they have the shortest time to live left...but overall, given stocks here, a decade of Catch&Release is the only advisable suggestion I can honestly make...
But overall, we should really be thinking that given the poor recruitment and heavy netting pressure, anglers should really think hard before they decide to keep a fish...
Peraps in an area where there are good numbers of bass caught, taking one from that for the table will not effect stocks, but that isnt the case up here im afraid.
Good numbers of schoolie and big bass used to be caught up here, but due to anglers knowing no better and not looking to the future - plus offshore,inshore and onbeach netting on a pretty large scale, the numbers dropped away to a point where if you got one in a session it was and still is considered to be a fairly good session.
We now use C&R in almost all IFSA shore competitions, which is to protect the sport in the future, this should be seen as an example to other anglers.
If Catch & Release is used by all, these days can , and will return....but as i said before its down to each individual angler to think before they knock one on the head next time....

[corbyeire]

i agree with big phil there - as reagards the post of w f sweeney

i think the pic you were on about was understood to be an old one - and as phil said - we know where particular anglers stance in relation to keeping fish - thats why nothing was said

if rodger had been better known to forum members - this thread would have been totally different

the main thing here is discourse has had it turn - conservation has been hightlighted - and rodger has let his views been know - and is likely to post again and not been unduly offended or startled by this whole thread

this i think is a good thing and ads to the strength of the site in the long run

and in the broader context as other posters have indicated

[jd]

Could I respectfully suggest in all seriousness that if you must, after considering the above, post pics of obviously dead fish, at least indicate if it was deep-hooked etc and had to be kept, or that this was one of the few that was for the pot, to be given the full garlic, ginger & spring onion honours and toasted on it's way to fish heaven with a decent chardonnay rather than just being pictured dead in a garden/living room/whatever?

Pat, are you suggesting this for any fish, or just bass?
jd

[teacher]

Could I respectfully suggest in all seriousness that if you must, after considering the above, post pics of obviously dead fish, at least indicate if it was deep-hooked etc and had to be kept, or that this was one of the few that was for the pot, to be given the full garlic, ginger & spring onion honours and toasted on it's way to fish heaven with a decent chardonnay rather than just being pictured dead in a garden/living room/whatever?

Pat, are you suggesting this for any fish, or just bass?
jd

I suggested a discussion of this before. Don't think I'll be going down that road again ...

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... php?t=7240

[BigPhil]

it could be done with reasonable guidelines though... like sandman suggested?

[Stan]

I believe that an angler killing the odd bass has very little effect on the local bass population. I am bass fishing for over 40 years. In the 60's and 70's we killed every bass....not knowing that there was a finite population. There were large shoals and it was possible to catch fish almost daily. Problems only arose when the local small boatmen started netting them. Box after box was landed.

I still kill about 3-4 bass per season. One net on a local beach will take hundreds of fish in one go. This is the problem.

Nobody should be criticized for killing a fish now and then....certainly not be anglers.

WELL DONE ROGER

[BigPhil]

I believe that an angler killing the odd bass has very little effect on the local bass population. I am bass fishing for over 40 years. In the 60's and 70's we killed every bass....not knowing that there was a finite population. There were large shoals and it was possible to catch fish almost daily. Problems only arose when the local small boatmen started netting them. Box after box was landed.

I still kill about 3-4 bass per season. One net on a local beach will take hundreds of fish in one go. This is the problem.

Nobody should be criticized for killing a fish now and then....certainly not be anglers.

an angler killing the odd bass will have an affect up here due to the lack of them in certain areas.....most of us up here would be doing well catching 3-4 bass in a session, never mind killing that in a season.....
there is no doubt that the netters do more harm by a mile than anglers but i feel we all have to do our part...
i dont see it as critisism here of other anglers, as has been stated before in the thread it is merely education for those who may not know the impact on their local populations....