Went up the Skerries with RW aboard Deep Blue last Saturday. Going up was fine but when the tide changed it was wind against tide and it got a bit lively... didn't need any rocking to sleep that night. Between the three of us we caught fifteen, maybe more, Plaice, which would not win any medals for size, but it was a good fun day out. Peeler crab is a bit scarce at the moment, so we used Sainsbury's best uncooked prawn instead, to make a worm, prawn, squid cocktail bait, which did the trick so well, that paying over the odds for peelers will warrant some serious consideration next time..  Mike Conc' reckons the Garlic flavoured prawns work even better...  my guess is that a curry flavour would have a hard job getting on the hook!!

Some of the guys fishing the Western Reefs have been catching some Spring pollack and a few cod, but the amazing thing is that some fine anglers, using high quality tackle, have been smashed out of sight. Not just from one boat, but over a few days and anglers on different boats experiencing the same high speed crunching smash takes.
Maybe its time to fish a whole mackerel bait on an outfit heavier than the normal reef gear to find out what is down there.
I remember fishing from "Sunlit Waters" when Dave Elworthy owned her, when one day we caught three baby Porbeagle weighing about twenty/thirty pounds each on the very first Redgill's to hit the market. Maybe that is what it is. If the weather is kind to us on Saturday????

End of the month I am off to Cape Cod in the USA, to try and catch a double figure Striped Bass on fly. I have been just a little busy over the past few weeks tying a fly called Juro's Deep Eel. All the years I have been fishing a fly in saltwater I have always thought that there was an  ingredient that was somehow missing, which was a fly that was a really good sandeel imitation. Juro Makai is a guide on Monomoy Flats off the South end of Cape Cod, who devised the Deep Eel fly, which I reckon is totally brilliant. It looks nothing on dry land, but take it for a swim and the illusion created is, well it is just a sandeel!!  I can't wait to give it a swim off the Erme or Penlee when I get back.  More later.

2. The fishery is exploited by commercial fishermen and recreational anglers. It is estimated that in 1992 there were around 272 full-time commercial vessels employing about 430 fishermen and over 1,000 part-time vessels. The estimated first sale value of commercial bass landings in 1993 was £7.9 million with a wholesale value of £9.9 million. The recreational sector is an important element in the fishery. It is estimated that there were around 361,000 bass anglers in England and Wales in 1992, spending £18.3 million on their activities

Today's figure would likely be at the very least two or three times that amount. All money spent without grants or aid propping it up. Take away the efforts of the so called inshore fleet and the money generated by anglers would expand exponentially, as the American Striped Bass example shows very clearly. Then there would be no need for people like myself and friends to go to Cape Cod next month fishing for decent size Striped Bass, we could stop home and fish for Labrax.
This would also allow the Bass to breed, as was intended in the natural order of things. The reply to this petition clearly shows how the Fisheries minister was overawed and in my view deceived into making a poor decision. A friend who is a Professor of Marine Biology said to me that this was indeed a bad decision,  unduly influenced by those with a vested interest in keeping the status quo. A sad day for the fish, a sad day for common sense.

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Increase the MLS for Bass to 45cm for commercial and recreational anglers."

Details of Petition:

"This petition is aimed to get the government to raise the Minimum Landing Size for Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) to 45cm. This would allow every fish to spawn at least once and allow us to move to a more sustainable Bass stock. We also urge the government to lobby the EU to introduce the MLS in all member states."

• Read the petition
• Petitions home page

Read the Government's response

The Government announced on 25 October that the minimum landing size (MLS) for bass would remain at 36cm. In reaching this decision, the Government considered all the available science and evidence and listened carefully to representations from sea anglers and commercial fishermen.

Bass is a particularly important stock for the inshore fishing fleet, which would have borne the brunt of the cost of increasing the MLS. The Government cannot justify introducing a measure which would have such an impact on those fishermen given the current pressures they face and the healthy state of the stock at present.

However, a package of new measures has been announced that will provide benefits for stocks of bass and more widely for anglers. This includes plans for a review of Bass Nursery Areas (designated for the protection of juvenile bass) and inshore netting restrictions.

Been working on Sushi getting her ready for the new season, tying flies for Cape Cod next month, they reckon the Striped Bass are up there already, excellent!! Had a day with Dave Malpas fishing Blagdon last week, we had seven fish between us all on buzzer and Diawl Bach. Boy did those fish go, beautiful bars of silver almost as if they were overwintered fish. Got another day with him next week and I am looking foreword to it. Blagdon has got to be the best value for money fishery in the country if it carries on fishing like that.

Had a long conversation with Mike Concannon in the week. He had just got back from a day on the Skerries where six anglers took nearly sixty Plaice between them. The fish were disappointingly small about two and a half pounds the best fish, which could be an early indication that the Skerries is becoming a recruitment fishery, where the adult fish have been netted leaving just the young fish.

Had a day down at Innis Fishery yesterday and despite the worst weather I have ever used a fly rod in, managed to catch a few. It was the annual Innis Spring Cup competition sponsored by Snowbee. Forty anglers turned up, with some even travelling down from Wales for the day. When I said it was the worst weather I have ever tried to throw a flyline in... I was not joking, believe me it was crazy!! Having said that it was a laugh and a joke from the off, we fished through the day till everyone had completed their pegs, when there was a mad dash for the clubhouse and the ham egg and chips that Innis had laid on and of course a Guinness to wash it down. One day if we keep going long enough, the law of averages must work through to the Spring Cup competition actually enjoying a wind and rain free day, maybe even a little sunshine... now that would be good!

Last Wednesday went up East with RW aboard his boat Deep Blue 2 to visit several of the wrecks to the west of Bolt Head. We got there quite early in the day in company with Ian Williams in his boat Summer Leigh. We drifted several wrecks and took a few Pollack which looked as if they had spawned and were in need of a good feed of sandeel's, which should be arriving any time now providing we get some sunshine and settled weather.
What was quite disturbing was that the Royal Navy was conducting live firing south of the Eddystone and their electronic counter measures must have been working at full throttle because we found our GPS dropping its position every few minutes and after a while we lost our position altogether. Re-starting the GPS managed to get our position back again, but then within ten minutes it was gone again. We shouted up Brixham Coastguard to see if they had any knowledge of the subject. I think they logged the shout but seemed totally clueless about what to do. This completely banjaxed our day out and left us both somewhat grumpy. Thinking about it though this is quite a serious Marine Safety issue which needs to be addressed. I have since found out that this is a regular occurrence in the Dartmouth area when Naval Vessels visit the port and steam through off the Skerries.
War Day on Thursdays has seen our GPS suffering similar outrages. As a consequence Thursdays have become a day when finding and fishing wrecks has become almost impossible if there are Naval ships in the vicinity, so we have on numerous occasions had to slip inshore and fish the reefs. But as I have said, this is actually not a tolerable situation should we find ourselves in deteriorating conditions. I have little doubt that we could find our way home because we had to do so for many years without the convenience and accuracy of GPS. But there are a lot of visiting boats to Westcountry waters who might not be so familiar with our waters. Consider a Charter boat with 12 anglers on board who have maybe travelled down from the Midlands, paid fifty or sixty pounds each for their day out, fifty pounds a night for B&B, meals, beer and petrol, they are not going to see much change from £250's for their day out. Then the Skipper can't find the wreck because the Navy is having a war day, this cannot be!!
I think we need to take this further, so I would be glad if anyone reading this and having suffered similar experiences would contact me at russ@reelfoto.com to confirm that they have experienced similar outrages and to add their voice to representations which we intend to make on this matter.

Below are my answers to the Defra Questionnaire at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/sea-angling/index.htm

These are my own personal views and although some of you might not agree with what I have said, I would refer you to that wonderful statement made by Winston Churchill, in which he said. "I might not agree with what the Honourable Gentleman said, but I would defend to the death his right to say what he did".

Please find below my views and answers to the questions posed on the Consultation on a Recreational Sea Angling Strategy for England page of the Defra Website.

Question 1.    My views on the overall strategy document are that it is good to see that Recreational Sea Angling is at last being recognised as an industry which turns over several times the total worth of the Commercial Fishing industry, in monetary terms. I think the document itself has difficulty in reflecting this. Also the fact that there are more than a million participants in Recreational Sea Angling who catch a little over three percent of the entire Commercial catch. Which begs the question “how many would participate if say ten or twenty percent were ringfenced for RSA?” In turn how much would this be worth to UK Ltd…

Question 2. I fish on average three times each week. Mostly out of Plymouth to the reefs and wrecks of the Western Approaches.
Each year I go on Angling holidays which have included in the past few years. Czech Republic, Denmark, USA and Madagascar.
I fish from charter boats, private boats and sometimes from the shore.

Question 3. I go Sea Angling because I love the Sea, and sea angling gives a purpose to taking a boat ten miles or in some cases a hundred miles into the Western Approaches, where in the last six months I have seen turtles, Killer whales(Orca), Minky whales and Fin whales. Caught a lot of fish and enjoyed some good company doing something worthwhile, instead of being a spectator or a couch potato!!
The biggest issue effecting my fishing at the moment is this consultation  and due recognition for RSA at the end of it. So that this consultation brings to an end the commercial fisherman's belief in his divine right to plough the seabed, set gillnets wherever he see’s fit and to harvest fish when they are congregated to enact their breeding cycle.

Question 4. I feel that the Aims and Objectives of this strategy Document are not clear in their intention, that they fail to say with some clarity what this document is to achieve or what its ultimate aim really is. An objective is a milestone toward achieving an Aim. The question I ask is what are the final Aim(s) of this consultation? Some clarity would be helpful.

Question 5. Fisheries Policy should reflect that RSA turns over more money than does the Commercial fishing Industry and does so without any subsidies. The best way to achieve that is given in (6)

Question 6. I  value the Bass above all other species. I would like to see a “no fishing season” during the months when the fish congregate to breed. Maybe this Seasonal “no fish” policy should extend to other species. By this “no fish season” I mean no one, Recreational or Commercial should fish for these fish during the breeding cycle.

Question 7.  If a Sea Angling licence were introduced I would be willing to pay £25/£30’s per annum. I already pay £65’s per annum for a full Game Fish licence, so the idea of paying for a licence is not foreign to me.

Question 8. Yes! I would support a bag limit, particularly in those areas which are breeding areas such as the Bass conservation areas. Not only a Bag limit, but also a size limit, so that fish over and under a size should be returned alive. See the USA Striped Bass regulations.
But I would not support any form of Bag limit unless the commercial fishermen were also bound by the same limit. Having a bag limit so that it would leave more fish for the commercial fishermen to catch is something I would vigorously resist.

Question 9.  I already spend a lot of money on my fishing! If I were to win the Lotto I would buy a Targa 35 with twin 500 hp engines… or maybe a 38 foot catamaran??

Question 10.  This is a silly question! By virtue of the fact that no “new” sources of information would give you the historical evidence that you are asking for. Angling business turnovers are the confidential information of the owners of that business and only shared with the Inland Revenue. Perhaps you should ask them!!

The only empirical evidence would be the results of ongoing competitions such as the Torbay Festival. There should be a list of winners and what was caught going back over half a century or more. But these results will only give the “best” fish not the numbers of fish actually caught.

From my own perspective. I am 65 in a few months and have been angling since I was a child. In my lifetime I have seen the best and am now seeing the worst.

At one time Plymouth had 28 full time charter boats licenced for 12 passengers. They were taking trips for over 200 days each season. Since the advent of Gillnets that number of full time boats has dwindled to about six full time and perhaps another six just working weekends. Entirely due to wreck netting.
The sort of evidence you are looking for only exists in the memories of people such as myself and my compatriots. Ask me about Bass and I will tell you of areas of fish off the North side of the Eddystone covering the size of two football pitches, fish browsing on the surface. Millions of fish in that one area… they are not there any more… scooped up by pair trawlers.

Comment: Give us Maritime National Parks. Say the Shambles, the Skerries, a mile radius around the Eddystone Reef. The great reefs of the Western Approaches, Hands Deep, Hatt Rock, The Brendons, as an example on my own patch. Taken all together they would only be a small percentage of the total sea area, yet they would support a thriving Charter boat industry, guesthouses, hotels and restaurants, as well as the obvious such as tackle shops and pubs. There is no easy answer to this vexed question, but Maritime National Parks would be a good start.

Russ.
 

• That Trevor Hutchings, the Defra Official in charge of this countrywide consultation was genuinely taken aback when it was put to him that Recreational Sea Anglers take just three percent of the Commercial Fishing catch, but generate three or four times the monies made by the entire Commercial Fishing industry.
   
• That the imposition of a Sea Angling licence might well cause a considerable drop in the VAT revenue that the Government harvests from the sales of fishing tackle, fuel, accommodation, boat sales etc. In fact, rather than generate money, the imposition of an RSA licence might well cause a considerable loss to the Governments coffers.
   
• That these monies generated by the Recreational Sea Angles (RSA) is done with no.... absolutely none.. subsidies from Government funds. Whereas for every person employed by the commercial fishing Industry there is a subsidy of nearly three thousand pounds.( according to a well researched speaker).
   
• Mr Hutchings was further taken aback by the vehemence of the opposition to a sea angling licence without any proof that it would be of benefit to the sea angling community. Eventually he conceded that perhaps there might have to be angling/leisure only areas, the so called "Marine Protected Areas". The idea of the "Golden Mile" all around our coast he thought would never happen.
   
• Mr Hutchings had some difficulty with the results of a scientific paper recently published in Science Journal, which showed that the waters around the UK were some of the most environmentally damaged in the world. Due in large part to overfishing and beam trawling.
   
• The Bass issue was brushed aside with the comment that the Minister was acting on the best scientific advice, that there was sufficient Bass biomass to sustain a healthy fishery. How this advice was arrived at considering that Bass has no quota or pressure stock records is something of a mystery to me, also to a highly qualified Marine Scientist who I regularly fish with. How can an opinion be formed without records? Speaking personally, I have fished for Bass for over fifty years and I have memories of acres of Bass browsing on the surface on the Eddystone Reef. I haven't seen that for more than thirty years. The scientists who advised the Minister were not speaking with the evidence of history to back their claims. I do not think they have any idea of how many Bass there once were.
   
• There was open derision when the "No Trawling at any Time" zone on the bottom end of the Skerries Bank was mentioned.
   
• I brought up the idea of "Seasons" where RSA and Commercial fishermen could not fish for species such as Bass, Pollack and Cod during the off season. If the Bass were used as a model for seasonal fishing, there would be no fishing for Bass at all during the months of December, January and February whilst the fish congregated to breed. If that was to happen there would be no need for minimum sizes because there would be a bountiful supply of fish.

These are not all the points raised and for those that I have missed, I apologise. But these were the points that stuck in my mind and will serve to give a flavour of the meeting.
There is a consultation document on the Defra website which although written for civil servants, is worth ploughing through even if only to judge the mindset of the people who wrote it. See www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/sea-angling/index.htm
Whilst on the Defra website click on the link to "Letter to consultees and consultation questions" which is worth putting some thought to.
My feelings are that Defra are paying lip service to their Commercial Fishing masters. That they are going through the motions dictated by Government, in order that they can be seen to have ticked the right boxes and to have offered the right opportunities to RSA to participate in the decision making process. This I feel is a short sighted approach. My thoughts are that perhaps had they taken the opportunity to take a more pro-active approach toward the RSA community, then the future of Defra and its employee's would be even more secure. After all their own figures say that there are one point four million recreational sea anglers. A bumper sticker from he Recreational Fishing Alliance of America springs to mind....."I Fish...I Vote"
We know that the National Federation of Sea Anglers is a weak organisation for one reason or another. But should their avowed intention to join and be a full member of the fledgling Fishing and Conservation Trust (FACT) or whatever its future name will be, is enacted. Then there will be a single voice representing a little over five million recreational anglers. Then the chips will fall somewhat differently. I have every confidence that this organisation will be in place and working in 2008. This is a beginning, not the end of this matter.

For another view of the same meeting, take a look at Mike Concannon's website at www.fishingdartmouth.co.uk/how_fishing.htm

At a thousand watts in 50 and 200kHz it should give us a magnificent picture on the Lowrance. Something we have been sadly lacking for the past season. I think the previous transducer had become damaged somehow. But hey ho these things happen.
This tilted Element transducer is one of the first to make its way to this side of the pond so the results should be more than a little interesting.

Next week we have to do some woodwork to fit a seat in the cockpit and then just the antifoul, back in the following week, when hopefully we will get a few days calm to go and try the new toys on the backend of the winter fish.

                                                                    Take a look at these fabulous transducers at www.airmar.com

Some of the other boats went deep, it really was that nice. But they had a wasted journey, the wrecks were totally barren. One of the guys visited eleven wrecks for just a few fish. Checking out other boats up and down the coast from Falmouth to Dartmouth it was the same story, not much fish at all. Seems strange, but it has happened before back in the mid nineties. All the fish were out in mid water chasing the mackerel, herring, sprats etc. Then in mid February they were back on the wrecks fat and sassy when that fishing lasted on right through the summer. I suspect that this year (hope that) this year will be the same.

This is a sounding of a wreck showing the fish towering above, which is what I suspect will happen again toward the middle/backend of February when the shoals of baitfish move off into deep water again.

There is a lot of "politicking" going on at the moment in relation to the Governments attitude toward Recreational Sea Angling (RSA). They seem to have discovered that there are a lot of us out there, all spending money each week and it seems that they are not content with the VAT that they receive on what we spend. They are building the spin, facts and figures toward imposing a Licence on us. I have this inevitable notion that it will happen whether we like it or not. Say what you like RSA does not have an effective organisation in place to put up even a token resistance. The NFSA is full of good intentions, but can only speak for a minority because its membership is only a small percentage of the whole.
The NFSA should (in my humble opinion) pull out all the stops to become a part of FACT (Fishing and Conservation Trust) which will speak to the Government on behalf of the whole of the Coarse and Game Fishing Community, with Sea Anglers on board that would mean the FACT would speak on behalf of nearly five million anglers of all persuasions. The best explanation I have seen of this organisation is given in the Salmon and Trout Associations latest newsletter.  Down at the bottom of this newsletter there is a hyperlink to an information sheet which pursues the argument for joining FACT even further.
I truly believe that this is the way foreword and will do all I can to further this dream.....

Cannot read, click here
Home News About Membership S&TA Store Issues & Conservation Events Branches Scotland Learning to Fish Becoming a Coach Where to Fish Links Contact  Forward to a Friend	New Unified Body for Angling? I am writing to inform you of a potential new organisation to represent the interests of all anglers and fishery managers in England. The major angling and fisheries organisations believe that, if we are to have the status and influence we should command with Government, its agencies and other relevant bodies, and to achieve maximum impact at national and international levels, then we must unite into one single organisation.   Discussions between Chairmen have been ongoing for some time, and now the Board of S&TA has decided to further research the principle of uniting with the Anglers Conservation Association (ACA), the National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives (NAFAC) and the National Federation of Anglers (NFA) to create that one, single, powerful voice for game and coarse angling and fisheries. It is expected that the National Federation of Sea Anglers will also join in the process by the spring of 2008, so making the concept of unity complete.   Our recent work on the Blueprint for Water, during which ACA and ourselves represented the rest of our angling and fisheries colleagues alongside other organisations such as RSPB, WWF, National Trust etc, showed that we had the ability to punch well above our weight. Despite this success we feel that the time has come to raise our game and operate at our rightful position, as leading stakeholders in the aquatic environment. We can only achieve this if we have the resources to do so, backed up by a large and enthusiastic membership.   However, before we can achieve this unification, we need the support of S&TA members and, although much work still needs to be done, I thought it right to inform you of developments to date. Our plan is to further research the unification issues over the coming months and to present a special resolution to the AGM on April 22nd 2008. Prior to this, we will circulate the membership with the proposed structure and makeup of the new unified body, together with a voting slip so that we can accurately gauge the wishes of the membership.   If all organisations vote to go ahead with the merger, we hope and expect the transfer of administrative and operational systems and services to be as painless as possible for S&TA members. The only difference should be that subscriptions would be paid to the new organisation as from 2009, whenever your particular membership renewal falls due, and that, very shortly afterwards, you would enjoy better services and benefits than ever before   One assurance I can give you is that the work we presently do in support of game anglers and fisheries interests would not diminish in any way. Indeed, it would be greatly enhanced by the unified approach to environmental management and conservation, fish stock protection and enhancement and angling development and education. Neither will it affect the way that S&TA Branches can continue to operate, in that, local groups of game anglers will still meet as they do at present, and those who presently operate fisheries for their members will continue to do so. I must reiterate that we seek to greatly enhance the benefits of membership in the future, not curtail them in any way.   I expect to write to you again in late February, well before the AGM and allowing plenty of time for a full membership vote on the proposed merger. Meanwhile, for a short paper detailing some of the benefits we believe a unified organisation would bring to members click here.   With best wishes,   James Carr Chairman

Just checking out some pix and came across this one showing a Basking Shark coming right for the boat. Needless to say it went under the boat. I am sure it came across to take a look at us......

Hopefully the weather will be kind to us this year. Maybe the Gulf Stream will flow long and hard to bring us the warm seas, move the fish up the Channel and allow us days at sea wearing shorts, crocs and fishing shirts..... Now wouldn't that be the DB's.....

Been busy recently finishing the pix for 2008 tackle catalogues, which should start landing on your doormats in about a month to six weeks time. There is some wonderful new tackle for this season and truthfully I am as big a sucker for it as anyone.
I need a couple of new reels this year. The first one a hi-speed spinning reel to take about 250 yards of 12lb mono, which I plan to use for plugging with some monster plugs which have been lurking in my loft since the middle of last year... if it works it could be sensational... if it doesn't then the rod I have built and the reel to go with it will be just great for inshore baitfishing, chunking and floatfishing sandeel and mackerel.
The second reel is going to be another Accurate, I think..  Narrow spool, 6:1 ratio, to take 300/400 yards of 15lb Power Pro, so that I can use it with a 12 lb class rod and fish mini jigs and shads on the reefs, as well as the summer fish over the wrecks. Mind you a thirty pound cod or ling might make it earn its keep!
I am looking foreword to 2008.... I hope you are as well...