Why are there no shore specimens for Ireland

Message

#1 Post by **Donagh** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:48 am

Why is there no seperate shore specimen weight and record system from the ISFC?.

Donagh

#2 Post by **corbyeire** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:58 am

have to agree with you donagh - there is no incentive really for the shore angler as the boatmen are bound to exceed and take the specimen haul - as most locations are popular boat marks

it definitely should be considered - its on the honour system that it was caught rod and line on a boat and not a net - so why not a section for shore caught

#3 Post by **kieran** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:04 pm

Yes

I agree totally, it is a disincentive to shore anglers and frankly catching an 8 lb pollack from the shore is a greater achievement than a 12 lb one from a boat... although a 12 lber would be nice!

In general I think you should look on the shore mark as being 2/3 of the boat mark, so 18 is 12, 12 is down to 8, and so on, and whilst it will not gain official recognition...

FWIW

#4 Post by **MAC** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:13 pm

Good point Donagh,

Something I have often pondered about. I really with that the IFSC would consider a shore specimin weight. Even if they started with a blank slate this year or next. Fish would have to be weighed on a certified scales plus photographs as explained in their booklet or you could also present the fish frozen for inspection. Way over due in my opinion.

Kev

#5 Post by **Donagh** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:19 pm

I haven't had an IFSA diary in a few years but I thought they had seperate weights. The IFSC should still have a seprate list. Its funny as there have been seperate records in Britian for shore and boat going back more than 50 years. The likes of Bass or flounder would have similiar boat and shore records but the likes of conger or thornback ray are almost impossible from shore as its is at present.

Donagh

#6 Post by **MAC** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:41 pm

Typo :oops:

I really think this is just plain lazyness. It would be very easy to administer. All they have to do is get a committee together and select weights for the different species. It would be especially nice to have an Irish record for shore caught fish. I would guess that all the record fish were caught off a boat. Does anyone know if they have ever been asked to compile a list of shore specimens :?:

Kev

#7 Post by **lumpy** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:02 pm

i wonder if we tried a model shore speciman list on this website and see how successful that was and then possibly present it to the irish speciman committe. it would give you a chance to remove some of the glitches that would be present with a new system like this, plus the fact that most of the work would be done for them i'm sure that it would be seen as a posative with them..any thoughts

#8 Post by **Cooke** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:17 pm

I can show you letters from twenty years ago that I received from the ISFC rejecting the concept of a seperate shore list. The proncipal arguement put forward was that a number of our record fish were in fact caught from the shore, notably bass, flounder, ballan wrasse , grey mullet, plaice, smoothhound, 3 bearded rockling, black sole, painted, spotted and sting rays.

IFSA did set up their own specimen weight list segregated into boat and shore but participation from anglers was very low. I do not think this list has been actively supported for many years.

I tried to initiate a specimen club a few years ago that would do the following :

- Seperate boat and shore specimen lists with revised weights that reflect current realistic targets.
- Accept IGFA measurement conversion rates for species such as tope.
- Work out some system to record weights at sea e.g. take the lowest of three readings.
- Do away with any requirement to kill the fish.
- Record mini-species or those snobbishly not recognised by the ISFC.

As I have said in previous posts, the ISFC is now more approachable and amenable to anglers requests. However, do not underestimate the amount of work required to record specimens. Cataloguing is the easy part. The amount of incomplete forms or follow up required for signatures, photographs, verification of species etc. is considerable.

If there is an appetite to progress this, I have a lot of preparatory work that I could dig up. I would be delighted to participatate in any way possible.

#9 Post by **squalus** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:19 pm

The IFSA still take specimen shore details, but the angler must be an IFSA member.

#10 Post by **scara** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:58 am

I've been think about this since I saw the species comp on this site. I was thinking on the lines of taking a picture beside a Bic pen. Standard size,cheap and available all over the country north and south. We could then have our own specimens list. It would at least ad some long term interest to the species comp as by Feb 50% of species will have been registered.

#11 Post by **BigPhil** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:16 pm

well, this is something that i have brought up at meetings before and got zero response.

the ifsa system for seperate boat and shore is very good, but personally i would be inclined to have seperate specimen weights worked out for each province. same idea as the system used by nfsa??? i might be wrong but i think they use diffent specimen weights for different regions to make each species a realistic chance in their area.
also brought up about mini species, but no one seemed interested.
also asked for the price of each application to be dropped, but yet again wasnt taken up on, if it was , then you might see more people bothering to put in applications.if you have to pay for an award, then its not really an award now is it....?
this has only been with ifsa by the way, not isfc