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zigs

mackerell fishing

could i just post this link to a thread i've got running on anglers net,
it's about catch and release with regard to mackerell

cheers guys

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=64059
Bodger

I'm glad that some one else has posted on this section , I thought that it was never going to happen again.
Ziggy, I've read the piece that you mentioned but surely the best answer to the problem is self discipline . When you've caught enough for your own uses stop fishing and then you don't have to worry about how you handle your fish.
dpack

i stop when i have dinner
i eat what i catch
i like fishing but only catch for food anything else is wrong ,ive never understood catch and return folk thats animal abuse
i hate seeing dinner wasted if you have too many smoke or freeze them for later or stop and enjoy the environment ,my freezer has early season fish i may get a few more for winter (before 1 oct ) but enough is plenty .
zigs

yeah, i thought this section had died too !

i agree with what you guys are saying, i fish to eat, and for bait, and i do stop mackerell fishing when i've got enough. I fill the freezer from the spring run, these are partly used for bait, partly smoked & partly eaten as they are. by sept/oct the stock has been used & i stock up for winter as the run comes back down the channel.

however, during fishing sessions, i do catch undersized fish, which i need to return safely also, mackerell will take bottom fished baits when targeting other species such as flatfish, gurnard, dogfish etc.

the main purpose of the thread on anglers net ( which i have got pinned for the summer ) is to educate anglers visiting the site & to shame the tourists who regularly slaughter hundreds of fish, only to dump them in dustbin sacks or (as happened a few weeks ago ) leave hundreds of dead fish on a pier.

this is totally unacceptable behavior in the 21st century & we must do our best to stamp it out.

like it or not dpack, catch & release is a very popular past time in the uk and one that i suppose you could say i practice when i am returning non target species.

leaving a fish to die in the hot sun when you dont even want it for the table, now THATS animal abuse. angry8
dpack

they do it to pike round here Shocked one of my favourite freshies both as undertaker / culler of the sick and as food ,what a waste .
zigs

never eaten a pike, how do you rate them ? any good ?
Jonnyboy

Good advice Ziggy, thanks.
Bodger

In the bad old days pike were just summarily bonked on the head and left on the bank . It doesn't happen nearly as much now, as anglers have become more and more into catch and release. Pike are now looked upon as a mainstream sport fish and tend to be treated accordingly.
I've eaten pike, but as most people who have tried will tell you they are impossible to fillet and are better steaked. Their bones are deadly. Give me a fillet of perch over and above a pike anyday.
dpack

poached ,boned (be careful )and pied pike is nice .
perch is nice though
macrel are best really fresh so get enough for one meal and eat them now ,minutes count .pretty good as sashami Wink
prince of fish .
if you eat them as fillets the bits make lasks and hookbait for other fish .
most folk on holiday will not have the means to ,dry,salt,pickle or smoke them and freezing is not best tasty (unless they are smoked first )so they reall shoud show restraint ,i re read this stuff and the catch and dump is wrong Evil or Very Mad
alex.swann

A few years ago I was in the Amazon and some locals were catching and killing (but not eating) Pirahnas.

Even though it was as stretch of river I had a bath in I still thought it wrong.

I did eat them - far to bony.

But very easy to catch!
dpack

as a slight aside on by catch the boneyest thing ive ever eaten was a garfish ( scarey ugly as well )
leebu

dpack wrote:

i like fishing but only catch for food anything else is wrong ,ive never understood catch and return folk thats animal abuse


I think that's very harsh Dpack- and not really very logical. Either fishing is abuse or it isn't- end of story. In a society where it is easy to live without eating fish, whether you eat them or return them is immaterial surely? The only real difference is respect for what you catch, how they are caught, handled, unhooked and either returned or dispatched.
Unfortunately this is still something which some anglers are slow to catch on to. I will never use a live bait even though pike are my favoutire prey is it seems callous for the sake of it.
For the record I also eat what I catch but have to admit there are plenty of times I've returned a perch of good eating size because it seems a shame to kill such a beautiful fish simply for a quick meal. Didn't seem a particularly cruel act at the time... Surprised

Having said that I am a total novice with sea angling and am aware that there are times when fish can't be returned unharmed because of damage to their swim bladders, but I've no idea how wide spread this problem is or whether species specific. So it's possible that in some cases it is immoral to fish for reasons other than food as the fish would die for no reason other than the anglers pleasure (like live bait I might add). But safe catch and release in coarse angling seems a perfectly acceptable way of passing time to me-if the welfare of the fish and other wild life is respected..
'cept worms and maggots. Oh and slugs. Wink
Bodger

Leebu.
The swim bladder problem is associated with certain species of sea fish and the depths that they are caught at . The problem isn't met with in shallow coastal waters.
mrutty

dpack wrote:
i like fishing but only catch for food anything else is wrong ,ive never understood catch and return folk thats animal abuse


I've gone whole seasons in fresh water where I haven't caught anything worth eating or being too good to eat. Catch and release is what I hope everyone follows and then pick out those that are right for eating.. It's not like shooting where you can pick the target.

Once killed then yes they must be eaten.
leebu

Bodger,
So it only affects boat fishing then? What about fishing off the rocks- does the depth have to be hundreds of feet?
Just curious..
Bodger

Never known it offf the rocks leebu.
You would have to have a heck of a depth of water and bring them in very quickly.
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