[Doc]

Hi Sean,

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you say, and as you quite rightly point out the TSF article(s) (November and December 2005) show what can be achieved. We\'ve been targeting the tope for many years and have a bigger average size of fish than anywhere else in the UK (although Ian Burrett may disagree).

We\'ve been bassing for about 4 or 5 years now with some astonishing catches (45 fish in 2 and 1/2 hrs - all released), and we\'ve had quite a few to 7lb. Again the trick is to try a number of different methods to see which will work best on the day. Light gear is a must, both Dave and I use our beach bass outfits with small carp type fixed spool reels (I use 16lb Dynon with a 9kg shock/rubbing leader attached), this is the same gear we use for the pollock.

The pollacking is a reasonably new addition; although again we\'ve been targeting them for a number of years with limited success until a couple of years ago. It was simply a case of working out when, where and how, once that was sorted the fun really started, again as with the bass; there is a 100% return policy. Light gear is again a pre-requisite.

The wrecking follows a similar pattern, the days of using 1lb to 2lb pirks is long gone, and 8oz pirks are the maximum now. Of course using such light terminal gear means that the rest of the set up has to follow suit. We use 12 - 15lb class rods (Daiwa TDK or the Abu Conolon are my favourites) and SLOSH 20\'s loaded with 40lb Dynon. However, the real benefit is being able to adapt, shads and jellies will on their day out fish the small Norwegian pirks, and quite often take the bigger fish (which we all crave). The lighter gear makes the fishing so much more fun, allows the fish to give a good account of itself, but more importantly allows you to return the fish. We love wrecking, Dave more so than me ( I prefer the tope, bass and pollock, having done the wrecking thing to death through the 70\'s, 80\'s and 90\'s from Whitby and Brid), we rarely take fish home and even then only if they are damaged and won\'t go back. The beauty of using light tackle is that the fish comes up much more slowly,, as a consequence doesn\'t blow its swim bladder in the process and can be returned quite happily, in fact I can\'t remember a cod that wouldn\'t go back this year, Ling are however, a different matter, the solution is simple - we don\'t use bait, although you can\'t get away from them at times, when this is the case we simply move to another wreck.

We took a SFC officer out this year wrecking and just used shads and jellies, total catch between the four of us was conservatively estimated at 8 boxes (about 50 stone of cod and 10 stone of ling), we kept about a dozen ling and 8 or 9 cod, the rest went back quite happily.

So yes the light gear is the way forward without a doubt. And whilst the charter fleet from Bridlington and to a lesser extent Whitby do need to change their ways, the main culprit are the anglers. They still persist with the notion that by going fishing in the North Sea, they are there simply to fill the freezer, and as a consequence they need to use gear that they can winch up as quickly as possible. By doing so they are actually reducing the type of fishing they can do and reducing their catches. There are no longer dense shoals of cod on the wrecks and rough ground, fish aren\'t fighting each other to take that 2lb lump of lead that is bouncing about, less competition makes the fish more sensitive to what they are feeding on and they take notice, if it doesn\'t look right then don\'t bother, and what could look less natural that a 2lb lump of lead bouncing about in an erratic way. Anglers have to change and tell charter skippers what they want from the day, once the charter skippers see the effect they will be convinced, until such time the status quo will be maintained.

Cheers



Doc