Mickfish
Member
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2024
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 90
- Points
- 13
- Location
- Warrington
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
As I am about to return to shore fishing after many decades (though I do have yearly boat trips for bass and cod with my old mates) I got down several of my sea angling books from the loft and I bought several more second hand, many in nearly new condition at excellent prices. Reading them and looking at the illustrations and recalling my own more distant memories of shore fishing from my youth, I pondered the difference between shore fishing then and what it seems to be (because I haven't started in earnest) yet.
What struck me when I looked at the older books, like the Guiness Book of Sea Angling, is just how many fish were killed that wouldn't be now. What now seem unpleasant pictures of huge specimen conger, skate and sharks (the latter shown in ignominious positions hung up on pulley hooks on the quayside) and dripping with blood would not be seen now. We have simply become more conservation minded and specimen catches can be recorded with camera or phones and released. God knows with the appalling demand for shark fins in the Asian market this wonderful predator is suffering devastating losses globally in the most cruel and barbaric way, so its good to UK anglers adopting a more enlightened attitude than yesteryear. When I was young there were many wet fish shops and skinned skate wings (still an expensive delicacy in many high end restaurants), dog fish, sold as "wuff” in Sunderland, or sold as rock salmon in the fish and chip shops of Norwich when I was a student, were common plate fish. But stewed "wuff" with its strong smell is not attractive to modern families, I suppose it’s gone the same way as tripe - it's a generational thing. BTW when in North Shields fish market many decades ago buying bait, I watched a skilled worker skin a dog fish in seconds, placing it on a nail and slitting its skin in a circular fashion and peeling it off like a sock! Similarly, last year when fishing the Mersey in a boat hoping for cod, none turned up but thornback after thornback came to our baits, all were released with not a thought about killing them and removing their wings, all were released safely - Rick Stein would be very surprised, I guess having his 'beurre noir' (burnt butter) ready and waiting in the pan.
Watching a you tube fishing video recently of "Spartan" - Steve Parton of Northumberland collecting masses of dangerous and unsafe discarded anglers waste line and the like, conscientiously baggingthen binning it, made me realise that not much has changed since my youth. Two years ago, lure fishing for Bass just below Penmon in Anglesey, I collected masses of heavy duty discarded line left by two young lads fishing ahead of me. The thought of what this might have done to sea birds was frightening, or marine life if it were blown into the sea. Steve understandably berated those responsible in his video but as a nation we are still appalling litter droppers and this seems to still extend to some sea anglers today still sadly.
One thing I will always remember from my youth was the appalling treatment of fish caught, especially "by catch". blennies and eels were treated barbarically and flounders who had engorged a hook similarly so. Once again YouTube angers like Darren of "North East Angling" take the time to show how to safely unhook a flounder which has engorged the hook. But is advice heeded today? You tell me. Also when anglers catch a fish for the pot is it despatched quickly today rather than slowly suffocating and wriggling for ages on the ground? And on the subject of YouTube what a revolution that facility and the internet in general is a a guide and encouragement to new or returning anglers like me, with many altruistic anglers "posting" their films and wonderful forums like this there to help and entertain its members. Only books in my youth, but we were perhaps more avid readers then.
Tackle has advanced immensely, of course, but I remember the old guys of Sunderland Old Pier casting Scarborough Reels and Rods with wonderful skill in the cold winters of the late 50's and early 60s to catch fine codling with their mussel baits to the cod entering the Wear estuary in search of food. But commercial fishing was not so ruthless then and there were clearly more fish about. Now we have wonderful tackle but less fish or smaller fish to seek out in the main and from my travels that seems to be a far reaching phenomenon. Florida Gulfside with its strict conservation measures being an example of what wonderful angling sport can be made available (to the benefit of the local economy) if sensible conservation measures are adopted. But sadly the wonderful fishing I experienced in the Isle of Arran in the 70's fishing for cod and haddock and in the Firth of Clyde generally is a thing of the past due to the ravages of over fishing and dreadful clam dredging in particular. Though the expansion of bass as a UK wide shore fish is one great positive developments for sport angling today. A few years back I was fishing in a small estuary for sea trout off the Kyle of Tongue in the northernmost part of Scotland. They had not arrived but we had wonderful sport catching small bass (all released) on light fly rods. Certainly no bass in the North East in my youth but they have colonised that coast too today.
Lastly, sea angling still thankfully remains a very chummy and friendly sport, helped by forums like this and just the sheer kindness of sea anglers. There is a mental health crisis in this country and group activities with fresh air and physical exertion such as walking and angling is surely a way to build up people's social confidence. Authorities should take note as with greater chance of catching something for the pot more people might be encouraged to take up this wonderful sport. How much could our economy benefit by restricting the worst ravages of commercial fishing to bring more people into shore fishing to enhance their health in what is an island nation anyway?
Mick
What struck me when I looked at the older books, like the Guiness Book of Sea Angling, is just how many fish were killed that wouldn't be now. What now seem unpleasant pictures of huge specimen conger, skate and sharks (the latter shown in ignominious positions hung up on pulley hooks on the quayside) and dripping with blood would not be seen now. We have simply become more conservation minded and specimen catches can be recorded with camera or phones and released. God knows with the appalling demand for shark fins in the Asian market this wonderful predator is suffering devastating losses globally in the most cruel and barbaric way, so its good to UK anglers adopting a more enlightened attitude than yesteryear. When I was young there were many wet fish shops and skinned skate wings (still an expensive delicacy in many high end restaurants), dog fish, sold as "wuff” in Sunderland, or sold as rock salmon in the fish and chip shops of Norwich when I was a student, were common plate fish. But stewed "wuff" with its strong smell is not attractive to modern families, I suppose it’s gone the same way as tripe - it's a generational thing. BTW when in North Shields fish market many decades ago buying bait, I watched a skilled worker skin a dog fish in seconds, placing it on a nail and slitting its skin in a circular fashion and peeling it off like a sock! Similarly, last year when fishing the Mersey in a boat hoping for cod, none turned up but thornback after thornback came to our baits, all were released with not a thought about killing them and removing their wings, all were released safely - Rick Stein would be very surprised, I guess having his 'beurre noir' (burnt butter) ready and waiting in the pan.
Watching a you tube fishing video recently of "Spartan" - Steve Parton of Northumberland collecting masses of dangerous and unsafe discarded anglers waste line and the like, conscientiously baggingthen binning it, made me realise that not much has changed since my youth. Two years ago, lure fishing for Bass just below Penmon in Anglesey, I collected masses of heavy duty discarded line left by two young lads fishing ahead of me. The thought of what this might have done to sea birds was frightening, or marine life if it were blown into the sea. Steve understandably berated those responsible in his video but as a nation we are still appalling litter droppers and this seems to still extend to some sea anglers today still sadly.
One thing I will always remember from my youth was the appalling treatment of fish caught, especially "by catch". blennies and eels were treated barbarically and flounders who had engorged a hook similarly so. Once again YouTube angers like Darren of "North East Angling" take the time to show how to safely unhook a flounder which has engorged the hook. But is advice heeded today? You tell me. Also when anglers catch a fish for the pot is it despatched quickly today rather than slowly suffocating and wriggling for ages on the ground? And on the subject of YouTube what a revolution that facility and the internet in general is a a guide and encouragement to new or returning anglers like me, with many altruistic anglers "posting" their films and wonderful forums like this there to help and entertain its members. Only books in my youth, but we were perhaps more avid readers then.
Tackle has advanced immensely, of course, but I remember the old guys of Sunderland Old Pier casting Scarborough Reels and Rods with wonderful skill in the cold winters of the late 50's and early 60s to catch fine codling with their mussel baits to the cod entering the Wear estuary in search of food. But commercial fishing was not so ruthless then and there were clearly more fish about. Now we have wonderful tackle but less fish or smaller fish to seek out in the main and from my travels that seems to be a far reaching phenomenon. Florida Gulfside with its strict conservation measures being an example of what wonderful angling sport can be made available (to the benefit of the local economy) if sensible conservation measures are adopted. But sadly the wonderful fishing I experienced in the Isle of Arran in the 70's fishing for cod and haddock and in the Firth of Clyde generally is a thing of the past due to the ravages of over fishing and dreadful clam dredging in particular. Though the expansion of bass as a UK wide shore fish is one great positive developments for sport angling today. A few years back I was fishing in a small estuary for sea trout off the Kyle of Tongue in the northernmost part of Scotland. They had not arrived but we had wonderful sport catching small bass (all released) on light fly rods. Certainly no bass in the North East in my youth but they have colonised that coast too today.
Lastly, sea angling still thankfully remains a very chummy and friendly sport, helped by forums like this and just the sheer kindness of sea anglers. There is a mental health crisis in this country and group activities with fresh air and physical exertion such as walking and angling is surely a way to build up people's social confidence. Authorities should take note as with greater chance of catching something for the pot more people might be encouraged to take up this wonderful sport. How much could our economy benefit by restricting the worst ravages of commercial fishing to bring more people into shore fishing to enhance their health in what is an island nation anyway?
Mick
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