Right or wrong?

Here’s a picture of a catch of cod and Pollack taken from a wreck a couple of miles off Deal in the late 70s. Unfortunately this photo is no longer deemed PC … what are your views?

Hmm tough one that Dave, them days it was ok but now I don't think so, a handful as keepers would be sufficent now, but saying that you can get carried away I had 30+ Bass on the sister ship ( ) and kept 20 of them all for consumption though.

Btw, is that Brian May on the left in the picture?

Maybe the question should be, if they could see what would happen in years to come, would they have kept so many ?

You often see on Rons site, a boat load of fish laying on the deck, and the anglers justifying there greed, then the same anglers then moaning when they aint catching.

As you say "back in the day" it was deemed ok to fill the boat like this but it makes you wonder what sort of a dent this catch has made in the breeding cycle as they are all "adult" fish and are capable of spawning?
I think with the digital camera there is no need to do this even if you could these days, a handful for the pot is enough in my opinion.

sawnee wrote:As you say "back in the day" it was deemed ok to fill the boat like this but it makes you wonder what sort of a dent this catch has made in the breeding cycle as they are all "adult" fish and are capable of spawning?
I think with the digital camera there is no need to do this even if you could these days, a handful for the pot is enough in my opinion.

A valid point of view. I once had a discussion (well, one of many) with a gill netter about the damage they did to the inshore stocks of cod. He said that they were conservational, as they only used large mesh to catch adult or 5lb plus fish. My answer was that they were the breeding stock size … and they fetched a better price than ‘small’ at market.

It’s strange how the Continentals prefer smaller fish on their table as opposed to the British who want big fish to eat.

As Mick says its a tough one.
I dont really think what cod anglers catch has a material effect on stocks. All the time the commercial boys have to put them back dead because of the quota system i have no qualms about keeping any I am lucky enough to catch as long as i have a home for.
I am sure all the fish in this were taking for eaten, I miss my regular feed of cod, cant bring myself to buy it have you seen the price. Eating wise I much prefer a 3 pounder to those bigguns.
With hindsight I wish I had done a bit more boat fishing in Deal the 70s and 80s - did manage one fill the boat session off Iceland though in the mid 80's.
Dave