Commercial Line Bass Fishing In Southern England.

[Stan]

No form of commercial fishing for bass is sustainable. It is to easy at certain times to take a large amount of bass. I have seen over 60 taken in a few hours fishing from the shore and all returned. In a boat it is possible to take even more than this.

Bass populations only recovered from commercial fishing in the last few years. I remember several summers when it was virtually impossible to catch a bass because they were over fished commercially and hope never to see that happen again.

[broony]

Even if this turns out to be a rumour it's no bad thing to keep reminding the minister that people strongly disagree with even the suggestion of re opening the fishery

[Bass Dad]

"fisher of bass" has left the debate after starting the rumour , what is the story there?

As an ex-commercial rod and line fisherman from Pembrokeshire in Wales I can assure you that even this method of fishing is not sustainable.
It is ecologically sound in the sense that there is no bycatch and undersize fish can be returned but it is too efficent, too hard to police and bass grow too slowly in our waters.
Removing bass from your waters day after day, week after week, month after month will very quickly turn your local area into an empty wasteland .
Irish waters have no-where near the amount of bass we had in Pembrokeshire. The reefs here are dominated by pollack . Yet for all the vast quantities we had in Wales on wrecks , reefs , sand banks, holes , and shoaling about the place like mackeral , they were no match for 17 foot fibreglass boats with 2 or 3 anglers and 2 tanks of sandeels. Over 4 boxes of fish was considered a good days work back then.
The fishing in Wales is shagged now , and thats what will happen here. Infact ,without wanting to sound big headed, i'd be pretty confident I could decimate Courtmacsherry Bay and maybe Clonakilty aswell in one season with the boat I own , I have the sandeel seine and the tanks. Crew always used to be easy to find too,.....
There is no room for complacency on this issue , any commercial activity will destroy the Irish bass , you just do not have the stocks to facilitate this industry!

[Stan]

Lads some good news from John Quinlan of Irish Bass.

Hi Stan,

Just arrived back home half an hour ago.
Managed to speak to Coveney yesterday.
He told me that there are no plans to change the current bass legislation and no meetings of any sort have taken place. This confirms what I have found out from the IFI.
He said that if it ever does happen in the future then all stakeholders will be involved, especially bass anglers.
There are some people who post on SAI who just like to stir up trouble and they have been very successful this time.

Hope this reassures you.
Talk soon,
John

[beachbuddy]

Thats great news Stan.Regarding the "stirrer" read between the lines i'd say

[RockHunter]

It's not the first time that "Fisher of Bass" has been spreading false rumours.
But at least it got anglers writing to the minister which hopefullly has made him aware of the benefits of maintaining the ban on commercial bass fishing.

A copy of the letter I sent is available on my blog:
http://rockhunter-southcoastbass.blogspot.com/

So while this time it has been shown to be a false alarm any anglers that have not already done so should still write to the minister pointing out the benefits of bass angling tourism and urging him to maintain the ban.

[Stan]

Great letter Frank.

The letters that have been sent can only benefit bass fishing and hopefully show the minister the benefit of same.

[beachcomber]

Fully agree with Rockhunters post. Also thanks to Fisher of Bass for the wake up call . Hopefully the postman is going to be busy down Minister Coveneys way.

[Labyrinthfish]

Lads some good news from John Quinlan of Irish Bass.

Hi Stan,

Just arrived back home half an hour ago.
Managed to speak to Coveney yesterday.
He told me that there are no plans to change the current Bass legislation and no meetings of any sort have taken place. This confirms what I have found out from the IFI.
He said that if it ever does happen in the future then all stakeholders will be involved, especially Bass anglers.
There are some people who post on SAI who just like to stir up trouble and they have been very successful this time.

Hope this reassures you.
Talk soon,
John

Very Good News.. No harm that the Minister has received a flood of our letters... IMO this should be an annual Habit we should all adopt...keeping everyone on there toes !

[Stan]

This month's Irish Angler has an interesting editorial. It is to do with salmon farming and sea trout fishing.

[Rampent Wreckfish]

Very Good News.. No harm that the Minister has received a flood of our letters... IMO this should be an annual Habit we should all adopt...keeping everyone on there toes !

Sort of like Chrismas cards for the Minister

[JonnyB]

Has anyone had a reply to their letters?

I sent mine over 2 weeks ago now, to Coveney and also to the 3 TDs in my constituency (one of whom has since sadly died, so I'll forgive him for not replying! RIP).

Just one reply so far, from Leo Varadkar. In fairness to Leo his letter actually responded to my query, rather than the usual generic acknowledgement you tend to get. However, it included the statement "I haven't studied this matter in any great detail so I don't have any personal thoughts on the subject" A bit disappointing that this is the case, given that he's the Minister for Tourism and Sport! To my amusement he also says "...in any case as I'm sure you can appreciate cabinet collective responsibility does not allow me to proffer opinions that differ from the Government line" Seems like he's a changed man since the bollocking he got off Enda for the 2nd bailout comment!

I wait with baited breath to hear from Coveney and Joan Burton, but I'm certainly relieved to read the good news from JQ above.

Keep up the good work lads

[Tanglerat]

I haven't studied this matter in any great detail

y'know, some anglers should write him a few letters giving him some points to ponder.........

[fisher of bass]

well done lads its about time ye got off your fat holes and started ....

[Tanglerat]

Fisher of bass has been granted a permanent sabbatical from SAI. Think before you post, lads.

[Danny M.]

Fisher of Bass has been granted a permanent sabbatical from SAI. Think before you post, lads.

The best news I have had all Day.

Cheers,

Danny.

[Labyrinthfish]

Fisher of Bass has been granted a permanent sabbatical from SAI. Think before you post, lads.

Good Riddance....

[seamoth]

Well we should be glad that this is a false alarm. But we cant switch off and let this happen under our noses.