• Becoming a member is completely free!

    • Join the community and start contributing to a large source of sea angling information.
    • Become an active member and you can enter member exclusive competitions.

    REGISTER FOR FREE HERE

Catch and release?

much prefer to catch it / or any fish on rod and line than have it dragged up in a net , if it gets of so be it , if it stays on and is more than the legal size and 1 that i enjoy eating its eaten fresh not frozen and treated with respect and served with the finest of ingredients
 
JLD said:
Personally, I don't think I'd go fishing at all if I couldn't keep something for the table and yet people do fish c&r, they are out there somewhere. Just nobody on this forum apparently.
Click to expand...
I don't eat fish, and my wife prefers gilts, plaice and home-smoked mackerel to bass, so I never keep any bass regardless of size. I fish barbless lures for them and handle them very carefully, so I don't see any moral difference between this and coarse fishing, which I also enjoy.
I wouldn't condemn anyone for keeping an in-size, in-season bass for the pot, but suggest keeping only bass in the 3-4lb range - probably the optimum eating size - and returning everything else to help the breeding stock. I fish to a slot size of 2-3lb for gilts for the same reason. PH
 
jambop said:
Interesting that you should say that, although I like them, I was reading a comment made by a guy who had caught two very different fish on the same day and cooked them on the grill later that day. One fish was a bass the other a mullet and he said he preferred the mullet for taste . I have never eaten mullet so I don't know. I do know that when I cook bass I normally bake them with a bit of spring onion, garlic and ginger in the body cavity wrapped in alu foil I find them delicious cooked like that BUT I am adding in flavours so maybe they are bland? Give me a nice bit of Haddy or a decent sized Hake stake and that will do me nothing to beat them.
Click to expand...
I agree. Lots of fish, and other foods for that matter, are bland or not worth raving about, until you apply some cooking expertise to make the effort worthwhile. A lot of folks say Pollock are bland, but it depends how you cook them. I had supermarket frozen Basa last night, baked with Garlic, chilli, cherry tom & Onion and it was delicious. Something that annoys me is the folks who religiously go on about catch & release, but are quite happy to kill Mackerel, Squid and other fish for bait. Smacks of double standards. Mackerel to me are the best eating fish in the sea.
 
Last edited:
Landlocked Northants said:
I was under the impression that there were limits to both the dates on when a Bass must be returned alive ?
January to end of July????
August to the end of December provided it was over 42cms???

Or has this EU rule finished with Brexit?
As I'm only visiting the coast for a few times each year ( not since August 2019). I usually do catch and release policy, as I get as much pleasure in catching a fish ?? or four.
To be by the sea, the waves, salty air, the views and if it's the summer, the other views as well.
On rare occasions, I have been lucky enough to catch a nice few mackies, a few nice Bass, or a plaice or three, then I will bring them back to my accommodation, as my landlord,is a mate who enjoys eating fresh ??.
Obviously, if you are local to the coast, then to stock up your freezers in good times is paramount, as there must be several times ? when you actually blankety blank, but don't like to admit it???
Click to expand...
Last year, 2 Bass may be retained per day by RSA's providing over 42cm, until 30th November. No Bass may be retained or targetted between 30th November & 1st March 2021. From British Sea fishing: "At the start of 2021 it appears that the same regulations which were in place for 2020 will continue into the new year."

Bass | British Sea Fishing

Bass are a highly sought after fish, and bass angling attracts some of Britain's most committed anglers due to the fighting qualities of this fish.
britishseafishing.co.uk
 
I tend to try and take one 3 to 4lb bass home (if I get one, of course) but anything much smaller or much larger goes back.
That’s a good eating size imo.

I’d keep one bigger if it was clearly mortally wounded, but would try and put the bigger breeding stock back these days if I can.

That’s just my personal approach now and I wouldn’t condemn someone for keeping a bigger fish, it’s up to them, but my preference is to see them returned.
 
The trouble with the Eastern Block countries are that they don't have the resources like we do, they overfish, take anything and everything.
This is why our once well stocked rivers and lakes have been decimated.
Carp, Tench and pike are a staple diet, only gotta look in Lidl or Aldi freezers, plenty of frozen fish,that we catch for sport!!!
I saw a group of Eastern Europeans fish from the arm at Shoreham, builders bucket full of fish, many undersized.
They eat anything, in fish pies perhaps.
No rules for them???
 
Landlocked Northants said:
The trouble with the Eastern Block countries are that they don't have the resources like we do, they overfish, take anything and everything.
This is why our once well stocked rivers and lakes have been decimated.
Carp, Tench and pike are a staple diet, only gotta look in Lidl or Aldi freezers, plenty of frozen fish,that we catch for sport!!!
I saw a group of Eastern Europeans fish from the arm at Shoreham, builders bucket full of fish, many undersized.
They eat anything, in fish pies perhaps.
No rules for them???
Click to expand...
Last year in Norway the Slovak boys were keeping everything they caught, and I mean everything!! Was a massacre in the filleting room in the evenings

@Mr Fish ‘Fillet him’
 
To the supposed person from Kent, under the handle of MAGZY.
Welcome to our discussion, by adding a angry post, you obviously have some issues.
Don't hide behind the handle ?, come and join in the conversation.
I suspect that you are possibly living in Kent, but could be actually from across the channel???
Tis unfortunate that MOST anglers, from this part of Europe don't understand why us Brits throw fish ?? back alive,rather than take everything home.
Man up!!!!!
Join in the debate, give everyone your opinion.
 
Trampster said:
I agree. Lots of fish, and other foods for that matter, are bland or not worth raving about, until you apply some cooking expertise to make the effort worthwhile. A lot of folks say Pollock are bland, but it depends how you cook them. I had supermarket frozen Basa last night, baked with Garlic, chilli, cherry tom & Onion and it was delicious. Something that annoys me is the folks who religiously go on about catch & release, but are quite happy to kill Mackerel, Squid and other fish for bait. Smacks of double standards. Mackerel to me are the best eating fish in the sea.
Click to expand...
That is one fish i stopped buying.

Basa.

When i looked on the small print where it was from and it was "cat fish"
 
JLD said:
Personally, I don't think I'd go fishing at all if I couldn't keep something for the table and yet people do fish c&r, they are out there somewhere. Just nobody on this forum apparently.
Click to expand...
If it is undersized then it gets put back.
 
Dutchman said:
That is one fish i stopped buying.

Basa.

When i looked on the small print where it was from and it was "cat fish"
Click to expand...
Basa fish just a name the shops give it, no such thing swimming in our seas.
 
basa are farmed apparently i think Vietnam ?
only fish I eat are ones iv caught or maybe cod n chips from chippie once every 6 months or so .
i also often go fishing knowing that I'll return them all that day too ...always use big hooks n baits so don't catch many small fish that won't go back well and usually lip hooked because always strike quick.
bass rays smoothies etc lip hooked swim off fine at beach level 95% plus of the time ..(not high piers )
don't think there is a right or wrong but annoys me the 100% catch and release bass anglers usually lure anglers that will put back a bleeding bass instead of taking it home and getting meals from it ... but slag people off for taking one for table
 
Landlocked Northants said:
To the supposed person from Kent, under the handle of MAGZY.
Welcome to our discussion, by adding a angry post, you obviously have some issues.
Don't hide behind the handle ?, come and join in the conversation.
I suspect that you are possibly living in Kent, but could be actually from across the channel???
Tis unfortunate that MOST anglers, from this part of Europe don't understand why us Brits throw fish ?? back alive,rather than take everything home.
Man up!!!!!
Join in the debate, give everyone your opinion.
Click to expand...
A miss understanding, I put an angry face as I was agreeing with what you said, but angry that this disgusting slaughter happens on a day to day basis. I definitely agree with you ?.
 
Beach said:
Basa fish just a name the shops give it, no such thing swimming in our seas.
Click to expand...

Basa Fish​

Fish
Basa is a species of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong and Chao Phraya basins in Mainland Southeast Asia. These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labelled in North America and Australia as "basa fish", "swai", or "bocourti". In the UK all species of Pangasius may legally be described as "river c…
 
Landlocked Northants said:
To the supposed person from Kent, under the handle of MAGZY.
Welcome to our discussion, by adding a angry post, you obviously have some issues.
Don't hide behind the handle ?, come and join in the conversation.
I suspect that you are possibly living in Kent, but could be actually from across the channel???
Tis unfortunate that MOST anglers, from this part of Europe don't understand why us Brits throw fish ?? back alive,rather than take everything home.
Man up!!!!!
Join in the debate, give everyone your opinion.
Click to expand...
I'm definitely from kent and English to the core. I can't post on here what I truly think as I would get banned.
Tight lines.
 
Ollieollie said:
Last year in Norway the Slovak boys were keeping everything they caught, and I mean everything!! Was a massacre in the filleting room in the evenings

@Mr Fish ‘Fillet him’
Click to expand...
A miss understanding with the angry face, I was angry with what you witnessed, not with what you said.
Tight lines.
 
Back
Top