Winter boating

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Mike k

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Lovely day on the Mersey on a friends boat at Tranmere. Doesn't get much better than this .Must get the chips out!!

Of nautical interest ,we were rafted alongside a 1912 Morecambe bay shrimping vessel - one of the oldest vessels afloat in Liverpool bay- beauty!

Picture of fish only tho.

COD%20on.jpg
 
This maybe of interest....

North West Fisheries minimum keep size in mm.


FISH SPECIES
Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) 360
Black Seabream 230
(Spondyliosoma cantharus)
Blue ling (Molva dypterygia) 700
Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) 700Or 6.4kg
Brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) 300
Cod (Gadus morhua) 350mm
Conger eel (Conger conger) 580
Dab (Limanda limanda) 150
Flounder (Platichthys flesus) 250
Grey mullet (Chelon labrosus) 200
Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) 300
Hake (Merluccius merluccius) 270
Herring (Clupea harengus) 200
Horse Mackerel 150
(Trachurus trachurus)
Lemon Sole (Microstomus kitt) 250
Ling (Molva molva) 630
Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) 200
Megrim (Lepidorhombus spp.) 200
Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) 270
Pollack (Pollachius pollachius) 300
Red Mullet (Mullus surmuletus) 150
Red Seabream 250
(Pagellus bogaraveo)
Saithe/Coley (Pollachius virens) 350
Sole (Solea solea) 240
Swordfish (Xiphius gladius) 25kg Or lower mandible 1250
Turbot (Psetta maxima) 300
Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) 270
Witch Flounder 280 (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus)
 
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I keep a measure on board alongside the minimum requirements chart so there is no danger of talking undersized fish. Interestingly I was once approached by the fisheries people on a rib who wanted to see our catch- all in size though. By the way that fish was over 3lb Tom!!
 
Sorry if I have mislead anybody on here.... As stated I thought it would be of interest.

Many don't realise that there are minimum catch sizes for many fish and thats why I posted the chart. I wasn't questioning the size of the catch in the photo.

Incidentally, you will notice that weight on many fish isn't the criteria for keeping, many cod in the Clyde and many other areas these days are juvenile and have not reached breeding age. Over fishing, especially that of juvenile fish by illegal trawling with undersized nets is a major problem for our shores.

Sorry if you thought I was getting at the OP, the Mersey has some great fishing, due mainly to the fact they won't allow trawling to take place because of the ferry traffic.

Tom.
 
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Sorry Tom I was not suggesting you were having a go I was just saying it looked big enough to eat :)

I have always thought about doing some cod fishing off Weymouth coast could just picture us with the ebby pumping away swmbo in the saloon making tea and me trying to catch some cod on a cold calm day sounds great

I have only ever done feathering for mackerel in summer what would be the best way to catch cod on a calm winters day, bait,plugs, spoons, drifting, anchored up etc etc
 
Method for cod will change depending on the nature of the seabed, feathers, especially White is good over sandy bottoms but rocky bottoms favour dead smelly bait. The problem over rocky bottoms is the attraction of Dogfish. :encouragement:

Tom.
 
lanerboy said:
Sorry Tom I was not suggesting you were having a go I was just saying it looked big enough to eat :)

I have always thought about doing some cod fishing off Weymouth coast could just picture us with the ebby pumping away swmbo in the saloon making tea and me trying to catch some cod on a cold calm day sounds great

I have only ever done feathering for mackerel in summer what would be the best way to catch cod on a calm winters day, bait,plugs, spoons, drifting, anchored up etc etc
Click to expand...

Shawn I would go lug worm, squid and crab baits and these are well regarded lures by some:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/2612...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0
Fishing is a great hobby at sea and can keep you boating over winter. You would be best anchored though and they are bottom feeders in deepish cold water, Defo give it a go ! Like Tom said Doggies abound too but I quite enjoy a bit of Rock Salmon.
 
Nice fish Mike and thanks for sharing the report.

Laner I fish out of Poole and find that this time of year can be a long old waiting game for cod in our area. You need to fish a feature such as a bank or broken ground using large Squid or Cuttle for bait. To help add to the scent trail you could spice the bait up a bit by stuffing the above baits with black or blow lug. To present the bait properly you might need to use a pennel rig. It's easy to find more detail and diagrams courtesy of your friendly search engine.

If your interested I will happily search out suitable info for you.

All that said I haven't been out fishing since November :( but have now decided to wait for the bream to reappear which usually happens around mid april/may
 
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