Has developed their own version of a Vulcan mind wipe, yes I realise its a mind meld but I tell ya, last night I had a blog in my head to type up today and is it still there ? is it buggery!. So what to put in place of what at the time seemed like a good idea ? Nope no idea so I guess Im sat here trying to think up some waffle and, tbh Ive got nothing. hmmmm
ok lets start by saying , thank fek for the Bream. If it wasn’t for them fishing on the marina during the day over he last few weeks would be fairly grim and very tough going. Its not like anyone is going too announce that they went to the marina to catch spider crabs is it.
Is it ?….. well tbh even that isn’t true!

I must admit that yes indeed there are people perhaps taking time out too find something for the kids to do and we have indeed had a fair few groups with youngsters and nets hunting crabs down the side of the walls. Its a fairly easy thing too do and they are still plentiful for anyone with bored kids its not a bad way to spend an afternoon/day and isnt too taxing in the current heat wave or what ever they are calling it this week.

Now I do realise I often curse the crab invasion but anglers do get a lot of benefit from them I guess too off set the lost of snipped off hooks & bait. Other than bringing a few families out onto the marina they have served a purpose in drawing the Bass close too the walls when feeding, add to that a few weeks ago we saw an increase in hound activity and the debris from the feeding predators has been beneficial too the smaller species including Bream and Wrasse as they feed on what some may call leftovers as the crabs are broken open by the larger predators crating a mini food cycle that can only serve too encourage better numbers of fish.

There are some signs of recovery in the fish stock even though the fishing atm is so poor. Reports from boats fishing around the wind farm indicate very healthy stocks of various fry drawing in feeding fish of all sizes. Now I realise that is over on the wind farm so some may wonder how the fek that would benefit us 2-3 miles away but it all does have a knock on impact.

Healthy fish feeding around the wind farm will slowly go from being visitor to resident in the region and the likes of bream and Wrasse will start small colonies of nests that slowly spread in range over the rockier regions. The inshore trawler bans also mean that the kelp and various seaweed species get the chance too re-grown and establish itself back in traditional waters.
How many here remember the huge piles of seaweed piling up on the shore lines in late August /September ? part caused by seasonal blows as the Autumn arrives but also part the result of fishing activity pulling the seaweed out as large nets were dragged through it.

The kelp/seaweed is recovering, its benefit is natural hides for smaller fish encouraging further nesting and the increase in general of common local species. I realise the recovery is slow and we are seemingly recovering from the brink so too speak. The ecology can be a fragile thing if nature is messed with by man, I doubt anyone would have thought that ICES would have for the 1st time I am aware of listed mackerel as at serious risk, yup that means endangered. I don’t have a solution other than say perhaps protection methods are not strict enough.

Rec anglers have had a limit on Bass as they are we are told at risk and protective measures were needed. Great, Im all for that but FFS if any species is at risk surely the best solution is close the fishery and not just for one group be it recreational or commercial.
What is the point of half measures such as we have for Bass ? So anglers are set a restrictive number of catches and commercials have limits set that are often well under what they actually catch on the inshore fleets. All that did imo was slow down the number of fish recreational anglers took home and gave token recovery numbers.
Oh great we get told the numbers look good and Bass are recovering so well what do the law makers do ? rather than continue the measures or even tighten up a bit more they open up how many we can take increasing the daily take by 50%. WTF! yep they are still endangered but its ok coz there are a few extra you can keep.
madness
If a species is truly at risk stop all fishing across the board for everyone. Something stinks in Denmark. The fish police tend too stop recreational fishing first in favour of free access too the commercial fleets … or so it seems. Ive no issue with restrictions but ffs make it an equal measure for all.
So mackerel are at serious risk , what do the EU and various countries do?
well it seems that Spain and Portugal have stopped rec fishing for Macies, the commercials can still go for em but no one else. Over in France they set a rec limit of 5 fish per day, yay great stuff you may think but it again means that commercial fleets have free access. No doubt there will be talk later this year when they review fish stocks and welfare that a mackerel ban for recreational fishing will be discussed. You can bet your life Comms fleets will get token restrictions while the average joe on the beaches get told nope you cant have them fish !

Now, at this point if you are still reading you could be getting the impression that I have an axe too grind with commercial fishing and that is simply not the case. I know a few of the local guys that work out of Brighton, mostly Bass boats but I know they work bloody hard too make a living. They like the average Joe tend too also get shafted by petty rules and red tape making thier trade much harder than it needs too be. My grumble is with the Authorities that set uneven regulations. IMO any restriction or ban needs too be done universally to at least give stocks a fair chance of recovery. Pointless putting commercial bans on say COD when the same doesnt apply to the recreational and charter boats as happend not over long ago. Protect the stock simply by banning the take of a species. Any ship that breaches the rules deliberately have the ship impounded for a period of time. Fines are pointless, remove the ability too fish. that simple.

And right now I realise I have indeed managed too ramble and waffle with barely mentioning yesterday and Monday nights fishing.
I did give a huge clue as too yesterday on the walls in that it was a case of thank fek for the Bream and in their own way them crabs as the daytime session was very tough going unless you were fortunate enough too be on the bream or on the marina with kids hunting crabs.

In its own way seeing the juniors on the walls is always a good sight and should always be encouraged. In an environment of electronics and gadgets it is good too see youngsters enjoying being out on the wall. Even the once crabbing are future anglers, especially if they see some fish being caught and want too try it for them selves and should be encouraged as much as possible.

So, again tough going on the walls but a small glimmer of hope as from the west toilet block in the afternoon what looked like a large shoal of mackerel was entertaining a load of gulls dive bombing it. OK, they were nearly 2 miles out but were very visible and cant be too far from making the jump into inshore reach of the anglers on the marina walls. When ? well that is another matter all of its own and could be hours, days even weeks away. This years fishing is seemingly breaking all the normal expectations and definitely the quietest i have seen in years !

Over on the west at night, yep Monday night again produced some decent numbers. Not at the crazy levels of friday but there were plenty of Bass and bream caught too keep most anglers satisfied. Hopefully the dead zone is moving behind us now and things will slowly pick up, I realise I have said that b4 but I guess it is better too think positive rather than dwell on the crap year so far;)

Thats it for today, and so I will sign of as I do with , until the next one
I bid you all ADIEU
F