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Sunday, 20 November 2011
Barbel Fishing on the River Swale - 77 - YouTube
via youtube.com
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
Big cod heads list of bumper catches | Coarse Fishing Catch Reports | Angling Times | Gofishing UK
Big cod heads list of bumper catches
Fish Catches
16 November 2011 14:51
Boat anglers are enjoying a bonanza due to the fact that the summer fish haven’t quit the coast because of the warm weather, and the winter species have moved in boosting everyone’s fishing prospects.
Mark Davey from Milton Keynes proves the point with this 23lb cod, caught from the Weymouth-based Duchess II on a squid mackerel cocktail fished on a Pennell rig.
The boat's skipper Jeff Clarke revealed that over the same weekend his crews also landed big numbers of black bream and pollack to 16lb.
via gofishing.co.uk
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
Different techniques with the humble maggot
Different techniques with the humble maggot
The maggot, or ‘gentle’ as I believe they were once called (not by me!), is perhaps the most universal bait accepted by all our fish. Even predators such as pike are caught using maggots.
I still haven’t found out why they were given such an odd name, perhaps referring to the ‘gentle’ craft of angling – or in comparison to other larvae – such as wasp grubs, they are a lot easier to procure!
I must admit to using wasp ‘cake’ only once in my angling career. I was given a bag of the stuff by a Trent angler and to be honest, the dead wasps and detritus put me off. The grubs were magnificent though.
A firm believer in flavours and enhancers, I always add a little ‘something’ to increase the pulling power of the humble maggot. Scopex is perhaps my favourite, but there are lots of manufacturers out there producing excellent attractants to help us get a few more fish on the bank.
I’d like to share a couple of tips with you, which are quite easy, the first involves Horlicks powder, that well known malty drink.
If you clean half a pint of maggots through a riddle, to remove all the dust and debris, then add just a tiny amount of water and sprinkle with Horlicks. It’s amazing how sticky they become.
You’ll find you can mould the maggots into small balls, ideal for catapulting or throwing into your swim. As soon as the sticky ball of maggots hits the water, the powder starts to dissolve, enabling you to keep a very tight baited area and concentrate the fish into one spot. And there is the added bonus of a lovely malty flavour permeating the water.
The next tip takes a little more time. Again clean half a pint of maggots and put them into a three-pint bait box. Then pour boiling water over them. The idea is to ‘cook’ them. You may have to repeat the procedure a couple of times, until the maggots go stiff and rubbery. Try a few at a time, until you get the rubbery texture.
Don’t cook the maggots in the kitchen though, believe me they sniff a bit and won’t win you any brownie points.
Anglers use ‘cooked’ maggots when fishing over silt; they don’t disappear into the ooze like live maggots and it’s something the fish may not have seen before.
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Ah, to be young, free, and able to fish at will | Bermuda Tight Lines
Ah, to be young, free, and able to fish at will
-->It has that wintry look about it. The light fades quickly during the afternoon, taking on that yellowish tinge that means that the summer is truly a distant memory and that there are gales and worse to come. It has that wintry feel about it despite the fact that the warm temperatures seem to be persisting rather longer than they should. Winter is all but here, whether we acknowledge it or not.
Not that we have to look too far into the future. This weekend’s weather is not conducive to any offshore adventures and serves to highlight the fact that it is virtually impossible to make angling plans more than about 24 hours ahead of time. This works out alright for those who aren’t tied to work or familial commitments and who can take off to go fishing as and when they please. Lucky devils!
Speaking of lucky devils, as is so often the case, things that happen offshore fall into the realm of the unbelievable. Some of these events are so unlikely that the crews who experience them decide that it is far better never to mention the occurrence to what will be a hugely unbelieving public, thereby incurring their demeaning scepticism. This type of happening should help to explain where the expression “fish tale” comes from. Over the years there have been no shortage of them, and certainly, no shortage of doubters.
But as does happen occasionally, truth is stranger than fiction and just recently a local boat out commercial fishing had such an encounter and while it has not been widely disseminated, it has, in fact, been substantiated.
The boat in question, which will remain nameless to protect the innocent, was working the eastern turn on the Bank when a tuna strike was had. The fish peeled off a pile of line as they do and was in the process of being reeled in when the hook-up suddenly turned wild and more line was stripped off the reel and it felt as if the tuna had put on some serious weight.
This was explained when the fish was brought alongside the boat and, instead of being the expected tuna; proved to be a blue marlin in the 650-pound range. This windfall of prime lobster bait was duly gaffed and boated, at which point the hooked 40odd pound tuna popped forth from its maw, thus rewarding the fishermen with what they had expected in the first place in addition to the big bonus. At no point had the hook ever been imbedded in the marlin. Best of all, the tuna was still in perfectly marketable condition. So, not only did this event have a happy outcome from the fisherman’s point of view but the fact that here was hard evidence in the cockpit to support the story. Not to mention, that there must still be some trophy fish lurking the deep waters around this Island.
This is by no means the first story of a billfish being caught, having inhaled some hooked offering but it also provides some insight into just how tenaciously a predator will hang on to its prey. Marlin stories are probably exceptional but there are plenty of accounts of wahoo chomping down on a hook or leader and not letting go until after they are residing on the floor of the boat, never having had the hook actually snag them.
Another positive is that this is evidence that there are some fish out there. It’s not as if there have been a whole lot of fishing opportunities but there are some wahoo and tuna on the offshore grounds and where there was one blue marlin there are probably others, be they few and far between.
Another species that has always been at least an occasional here is the bluefin tuna. A mighty fish that is the subject of all sorts of international management measures and economic controls, the bluefin tuna was recorded here many decades ago but since then only a few have been caught. Most of the lack of success stems from the sheer size and power of these fish that up until relatively recently never really had to cope with anything approaching adequate tackle.
A quick look at giant hot spots and world records shows one thing: these big fish are caught in relatively shallow water. The Gulf of the St. Lawrence, arguably the world’s largest estuary and a fabled piece of bottom for giant bluefin angling has an average depth of about 60 fathoms. So, while that powerhouse can run and strip off hundreds of yards of line, the boat can follow it wherever it goes until finally the fish tires and then the end of the battle is imminent. In the deep water that surrounds this Island, a hooked bluefin can point its nose toward the bottom and peel off a load of line that has not be dragged back with little or no real assistance from the boat, no matter how manoeuvrable it is.
Although the conservationists and various fisheries managers are gravely concerned over the fishing pressure on the bluefin throughout its rather extensive range, the reports form sport fishermen and commercial operators in the Canadian Maritime provinces and United States northeast are reporting increasing numbers of large fish. While at first, this seems like good news, it also rings alarm bells for a couple of reasons.
Not least of these is that an abundance of large fish usually comes at the expense of small fish. In other words, a healthy population of fish should have lots of little ones (younger specimens), a fair number of middle sized and aged fish, with a relative handful of granddaddies making up the real giants. So when the giants are numerous, the question has to be asked: where are the younger fish? Like most populations, youth should dominate the numbers and the age groups gradually peter out as they get older. If all that is left are the old folks then that population is in big trouble with extinction maybe not all that far in the future. That is the scenario that the fisheries managers are trying to avoid. Most anglers and fishermen look at the here and now without too much concern for ten years’ time and that is all too often where the problem lies.
The upshot of this situation, from our point of view, is that with the migration pattern of the bluefin tuna taking the large fish out of the mouth of the St. Lawrence and back across the Atlantic with a general trend toward more southern climes, the likelihood of at least some of them traversing our waters is extremely good.
This means that local anglers may well encounter one or more of these leviathans over the next few weeks. In the past, catches have been made during December and fish answering their description have been seen off the southern and eastern portions of Bermuda’s Edge during January and early February when tunas have often put in an appearance at the East End of the Island. Local longlining operations have also met up with bluefin during the spring but those boats are operating a lot farther afield than any anglers would normally. Still a rarity for most locals, the one thing that you can be certain of is that if you do happen to hook into one, you will give a new meaning to the expression Tight lines!!!
via royalgazette.com
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
Public Comment to be Received on Striped Bass Regulations
The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has decided to consider proposed striped bass regulations at their February meeting in Sacramento.
Consideration of the proposed regulations was originally scheduled to take place at the Commission meeting in San Diego in December. This decision came after Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Director Charlton H. Bonham requested the change in order to allow interested members of the public residing near the Delta the opportunity to voice their opinions to the Commission.
“After the DFG public meeting in the Delta last week, we learned there are many passionate anglers who would like the opportunity to share their views on the draft proposal,” Bonham said. “I think it’s important to hear these views. The discussion is welcome. Moving the public discussion to Sacramento from San Diego will allow these constituents to attend the meeting. It’s the right thing to do.”
The proposed draft changes regulations related to anadromous striped bass. The draft language, which is now available at https://nrmsecure.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=39586, would authorize additional harvest of striped bass.
The basic proposed changes are as follows:
- Raising the daily bag limit for striped bass from two to six fish.
- Raising the possession limit for striped bass from two to 12 fish.
- Lowering the minimum size for striped bass from 18 to 12 inches.
- Establishing a “hot spot” for striped bass fishing at Clifton Court Forebay and specified adjacent waterways at which the daily bag limit will be 20 fish, the possession limit will be 40 fish and there will be no size limit. Anglers fishing at the hot spot would be required to fill out a report card and deposit it in an iron ranger or similar receptacle.
- Changes to the sport fishing regulations for the Carmel, Pajaro and Salinas Rivers to allow harvest of striped bass when the fishery would otherwise be closed.
DFG is also recommending an adaptive management plan that will help assess how the new regulations influence the fishery.
The Commissioners will decide whether to pursue the proposed regulations at their February meeting in Sacramento. If they choose to pursue the proposal it begins a process that includes at least three public hearings and the completion of an environmental document. A final decision is not expected until later in 2012.
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
Friday, 18 November 2011
Weekly Fishing Report - Calaveras Enterprise: Sports: hunting, fishing, outdoors,
Weekly Fishing Report
Samoan crew member found dead on Alaska fishing vessel
A man believed to be Samoan was found dead on board a fishing vessel docked in Dutch Harbor, Alaska last week and an autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of death.
Anchorage Daily News reports that fellow crewmen found Sui Filisi, 37, dead last Wednesday onboard the catcher-processor Alaska Warrior and Filisi's body was sent to Anchorage for an autopsy.
Police interviewed all of the Alaska Warrior's crew, took pictures of the area where Filisi was found and further processed the scene. They found nothing outwardly suspicious, the newspaper reports.
The Alaska Warrior, a 215-foot vessel, is owned by Seattle-based Fishing Company of Alaska.
via samoanews.com
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
Fishing company fined over two deaths
TWO men who died in a shark-fishing tragedy were only working for a feed of fish, a court was told.
Adam Nicolai and Justin Hellyer, both aged 28, died when the 7.5 metre vessel they were aboard foundered and sank in rough weather on September 28, 2008.
The skipper and owner, Andrew Pisani, survived after swimming several kilometres to shore.
The SA Industrial Relations Court on Friday fined B&A Fisheries Pty Ltd and ordered the company to compensate the victim's families after it pleaded guilty to failing to provide plant in a safe condition and safe systems of work.
A SafeWork SA investigation found the two men were working that evening in exchange for a "feed of fish" as payment but they were still employees under law.
No one was wearing a lifejacket, the boat was unstable due to a heavy reel and inboard motor, and an EPIRB rescue beacon that should have been deployed was stowed within the bow.
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SafeWork said in a statement on Friday that Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke recorded a conviction and imposed a nominal fine of $200,000 that would have been slashed 20 per cent for the guilty plea, cooperation, and contrition.
But this was reduced, due to the company's diminished financial standing, to $20,000 plus court costs.
The company must pay the mothers of both victims $5,000 each and pay $10,000 to the partner and young son of one of the men.
B&A Fisheries must also publish at its own expense, notices in The Advertiser newspaper and five prominent regional newspapers outlining to the commercial fishing industry the importance of wearing personal flotation devices and the dangers of unstable craft.
SafeWork SA acting executive director Bryan Russell said in the statement that work at sea had many inherent dangers but these could be managed.
"Lessons from this case should serve as a powerful warning to the industry of the terrible price that complacency at sea can extract," Mr Russell said.
via heraldsun.com.au
~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~
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