About recreational sea angling

Recreational sea angling is one of Britain's largest participant sports in which more than a million boys, girls, men and women take part. It has a long pedigree from ice age cave drawings showing fish caught with a type of rod and line for food and sport, to today where the purpose is the same and the tackle a sophisticated version of the very old.

Sea anglers today have space navigation and weather aids, a great knowledge of where to fish, which local natural or artificial baits to use and electronic fish finders. It is a diverse sport where anglers fish alone or with family and friends from sand or shingle beaches, from rocks, piers or in river estuaries. Many own boats or take charter vessels to anchor, drift or troll close to the shore or miles off the coast over wrecks.

To all anglers fishing is a recreation though some like the added spice of competing in club events or open matches. For the very best there is the draw of the international scene and a chance to represent their country against the best in the world. The world boat championships organised at Weymouth in October this year by the NFSA were the biggest so far with teams from 18 countries.

The NFSA was formed over 100 years ago to protect sea angling as a sport. Its first contact with the government then was about what they considered to be over fishing by trawlers off the Kent coast. The mission remains the same today - to ensure that a million or more can continue to enjoy their angling and that our coastal communities welcome them and enjoy to the full the benefit that their activities bring. This means their voice and that of seaside communities must be heard by government in London and Europe that sensible controls are brought in to stop fish being uselessly caught and killed en masse before they have grown to spawning age, and that the habitats where they live and breed are not ridden over roughshod by destructive fishing gear.

The NFSA exists to achieve all of that.

Friday, October 03, 2008

BASS Tells Minister to Beef Up for 2012

Don't Lose this Chance says BASS.

BASS are urging the Fisheries Minister, Jonathan Shaw, to adopt a strong position ahead of the review of the Common Fisheries Policy by 2012. BASS are demanding that UK national and regional legislation created for the protection of our close-inshore fisheries apply to all vessels fishing within the UK's 12 mile limit, whatever their nationality.

2012 may still seem a long way off, but there is much work to be done to agree the UK's position in readiness for the next formal ten-year review.

Of all the issues that most concern both anglers and inshore commercial fishermen, the amount of access allowed to other EU nations to fish-stocks within close inshore waters probably causes the greatest concern.

Although the previous review in 2002 allowed EU nations to create their own conservation rules within their own 6 to 12 mile zone (to which some other country's fleets have 'grandfather rights' of access), such rules can only apply to foreign vessels with the agreement of those nations, and the EU.

This has led to UK conservation rules such as those preventing pair-trawling for bass, and the protection of tope, both prized sport fish, only applying to UK vessels, whereas foreign boats fishing alongside UK boats close to our shores are not subject to such restrictions, considerably weakening the effectiveness of such legislation.

Of even greater concern is the reluctance of fishermen and Sea Fisheries Committees to adopt conservation measures within our own six mile limit (which is reserved for UK licensed vessels only), when foreign boats fishing only just outside the current six mile limit can legally ignore such measures. It was this situation that allowed the UK commercial sector to oppose the increase in the bass MLS from the current 36cm (650 grams) to 45cm ( 1 kilo)

BASS Restoration Project chairman John Leballeur said "It is essential for the adoption and effectiveness of UK fisheries conservation rules that they should apply to all, and that UK fishermen are not put at a disadvantage when trying to protect the valuable inshore stocks upon which both anglers and commercial fishermen depend."

"It is time to beef up the UK position to ensure a lasting legacy that will improve our fishing in the years and decades far beyond 2012"

REVIEW - STORM Richochet 300

Looking for a new reel? Well this Storm reel ticked a lot of the boxes when Roger Mortimore took it to sea.

The Richochet 300 is a 6500-sized reel with a sturdy, brass frame and a forged, solid-aluminium spool that will hold 250 yards of 16lb mono, 210 yards of 20lb mono or, if you choose, a massive amount of braid.

A levelwind gives a very good line lay, and the star-drag system is very smooth and has a fine adjustment, allowing you to set the drag for a running fish without breaking the line.

Three ball bearings ensure that the reel gives a very smooth operation and a centrifugal braking system helps you to avoid overruns when casting.

A few possible negatives I found are that the handle knob is a bit small – although maybe my hands are too big – and because it’s made of metal, it will feel unpleasant to hold on a freezing cold day. Also, if you’re casting with the reel, be careful not to nudge the handle during a cast, as a slight nudge will re-engage the reel, causing a break-off, unless the drag is slackened.

The size of the reel will make it ideal for either shore fishing or light boat fishing, so as I had a boat trip arranged the reel was loaded with 20lb braid for fishing both uptide and downtide.

When we got to the mark the tide was still steaming through so it was downtiding with 1lb of lead to start with. The action was on right from the start with codling and whiting coming aboard, and the reel handled a 3lb codling plus the 1lb of lead with no problem.

As the tide run eased, it was time to switch to a 200g breakaway lead for fishing uptide. This is where I became aware of the hair-trigger re-engagement. As the cast was made, the handle nudged my wrist and put the reel in gear, and the rig landed just 10 yards away from the boat. Fortunately the drag was slackened off, which avoided a snap-off.

Knowing of this possible problem, care was taken not to touch the handle during a cast and I carried on with no further problems and was able to send baited rigs 50 to 60 yards uptide with ease.

The retrieve ratio of 4.2:1 seemed a little slow when trying to take up slack line from an uptide bite; it took a lot of fast cranking to catch up with the fish.

All in all I was happy with the performance and would say it’s a great deal for the price, so if you’re looking for a new reel and your budget doesn’t stretch to top-of-the-range models, this one is well worth considering.

INFORMATION

Facts At A Glance

Gear ratio: 4.2:1

Ball bearings: Three

Line capacity: 210 yards of 20lb line

RRP £34.99

ROGER’S RATINGS

Appearance 8

Casting 7

Fishing 8

Value for money 9

Welcome to the world of

sidewinder sea fishing lures

New for 2009, these Sidewinder Bloodhead lures are fantastic - designed to flash red then Super-Holo silver when worked on the retrieve - they act just like wounded baitfish!

Irresistable to all predatory fish, especially BASS!

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