Mike, theres loads of cod out there, you only have to ask the trawlermen and they\'ll tell you exactly whats going on. In their opinion, and they should know (apparently), all the fishing sectors are showing huge numbers of cod. So much so that they are having to dump large quantities overboard because their quota\'s (TACs) are so pityful. No matter where they go fishing its the same picture, from the Northern North Sea to the Norwegian sector, from Iceland to the German and Dutch sectors its cod everywhere!!!!
Asking them to explain the dearth of cod inshore and the usual response is \"global warming\" or that \"they are there, but they are up in the water feeding on herring and sprat\".
To put it into perspective I carried out a fish survey 2 weeks ago off Ringboro (East Yorks). We used a 6 metre otter trawl with rockhopper gears, deployed from the stern of a 17m trawler, we carried out 16 number 2km trawls, trawling from within 200m of the shore to nearly 3km offshore. Total area of seabed covered; just over 1/5th of a square kilometre, total number of cod; 21. This relates to 1 cod every 1.5 kilometre band (6m width) or in real terms for every square kiometre there will be 105 cod. In addition to this, just less than 50% (10) where undersize. So in real angling terms the picture is worse and relates to 55 sizeable cod every square kilometre. In all probability, there were more anglers fishing the Daiwa open than there were cod available. If you consider that 200m is the greatest distance offshore anyone is likely to be fishing (Including topecatcher and young Jordan M.), you can split a square kilometre into 5 bands, so 1 sq km would cover a 5km stretch of coast. Given the distance from Bridlington tp Spurn Point is approximately 70 km, taking into account the sq km split (70 divided by 5 = 14 x 55 = 770) Therefore there were 902 anglers chasing 770 cod, simple isn\'t it. absolutely NOT!!!!, because we haven\'t taken into account the efficiency of the sampling gear e.g. the trawler, which does not operate at 100% efficiency. Given that most beam trawls operate at an efficiency of approximately 33%, I would estimate that the otter trawl over that particular ground (fairly rough patches) would operate at about 45% efficiency. Therefore we should multiply the original sum by 2 (near as damn it). This gives a figure of 1,540 cod between 902 anglers and works out at 1.7 cod per angler, Yes, well no not really, because!!!
Not every angler is going to be able to catch at the same distance as other anglers (casting ability), not all stretches of the coast have the same carrying capacity of cod. For example Brid south beach would not have the same spread of fish (cod) as say the stretch between north Withernsea and Tunstall/Hilston, due to conditions on the day, tidal size and water depth. It once again just shows that generally, success on the day boils down to choice of venue, casting ability or variability and a huge slice of luck.
The largest cod we had during the survey was 5lb, so there is no evidence of \'BIG SPRAGG\' inshore, although the biggest fish we had weighed just under 18lb, was caught approximately 200m offshore, tasted absolutely gorgeous, and was a Halibut. What a fish!!
Well done Donna, I hope you didn\'t get another Fladen suit in the prizes, Ones enough !!!!!
Nigel
