South Coast What a difference a few years makes!

[Mr Fish]

Those of us in our 50s and older have seen so much decline in the fishing over the years It is really sad how it has been so mismanaged. I’d be surprised if in another 10 years there is much of a charter fleet left and the tackle shops will continue to disappear. When retirement arrives I’d hoped to be doing a lot of beach and boat fishing but I might have to go to dark side and take up coarse fishing if I want to catch anything over 1lb!

I’ve more or less given up on charter fishing because I just don’t see the point of paying well over a ton for a day catching sub standard fish compared with what we enjoyed 20 years ago, even 10 years ago.

Used to have some cracking days wrecking with decent cod, pollack and ling.
I just don’t see those sorts of reports these days and the stamp of pollack is vastly inferior to what it was.

Going out on a boat to catch conger, spurs, tope etc just has no appeal to me.

 

[Leginfisher]

I’ve more or less given up on charter fishing because I just don’t see the point of paying well over a ton for a day catching sub standard fish compared with what we enjoyed 20 years ago, even 10 years ago.

Used to have some cracking days wrecking with decent cod, pollack and ling.
I just don’t see those sorts of reports these days and the stamp of pollack is vastly inferior to what it was.

Going out on a boat to catch conger, spurs, tope etc just has no appeal to me.

Red letter days are few and far between now. Didn’t do any charters in 2024 and not planning on doing any this year. The pollack ban has seen Brighton boats catching a few fish but I’d be surprised if they have had more than 10-15 between a crew of 10, and 1 or 2 might be doubles. I guess if you are new to the sport then maybe catching a singe pollack is a good result but not when you know what it used to be like. Ban will be lifted at some point and won’t take long to wipe them out. Cod are gone on south coast, pollack not far behind. What will they turn to next? Probably see the squid getting much more attention as there have been a lot about. Fewer predators to keep them in check.