Bass stocks in the Bay of Biscay are in steep decline. Due to the lack of serious protection measures, the wipe out continues.
As the European Fisheries ministers still deem it unnecessary to take strict emergency measures for the Bay of Biscay, the annual commercial slaughter of bass that assemble on the local spawning grounds in winter has taken place once again. Although the first trimester is supposed to be the 'high season' for commercial fishermen, figures from the French government institution AGRIMER show that bass landings have plummeted once again – like they have been doing since 2014.
After bass landings have gone down considerably in 2015 and 2016, the first trimester of 2017 confirms this worrying trend. In absence of any real protection measure, bass stocks are dwindling in the Bay of Biscay. With limited supply, prices are going up and consequently fishing effort is intensified. Hence the vicious circle is reinforced. If no sustainable bass management is put into place, bass stocks in the Bay of Biscay will soon go down the same sad route as stocks in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean…
(source: Stop aux massacres des bars par les senneurs)
Until recently we had no real clue regarding scientific illustrations. But that all changed when we came across this one depicting a bass.
Dicentrarchus labrax is present in society in a lot of different ways. Even in the crossover between science and arts, as the print above clearly demonstrates. It’s a so-called scientific illustration. In this field art and science come together, recording and communicating the wonders of nature. The use of illustration allows for a focus on details that convey the essential attributes of a subject with accuracy and aesthetics. In biomedical sciences traditionally illustrations are used to enable communication between scientist and author, teacher and student, or physician and patient. Unfortunately we couldn’t track the history and specific background details of this particular bass print, but Karin Spijker did a real good job on this one.
At IMA they sure know their classics. The new Yoichi 99 sinking pencil bait is the proof.
The name of the lure refers to Nasu no Yoichi, a samurai who fought in the Genpei war (1180-1185). In the Battle of Yashima in 1184 he sat atop his horse in the rocking waves, but still managed to shoot down a fan provokingly placed upon a pole on an enemy ship with only one shot. In angling terms that would roughly translate to catching a really big bass on the first cast.
With the specs (99mm, 28g) and a design that is unlikely to be affected by air resistance, the first cast with the Yoichi 99 will no doubt reach a considerable distance. The characteristic, slightly cupped lip generates moderate pulling resistance, but at the same time creates a slalom action when working the lure. You can make it swim a bit below the surface (10〜60cm) or let it sink towards the bottom – its fall posture is horizontal – and use stop & go.
The upcoming issue of the Dutch sea angling magazine Zeehengelsport features an article written by Jelmer. Make sure to check out edition #353, which will hit the shelves of bookstores in Holland somewhere around June 1.
May usually is the month when the bass season in the Netherlands really kicks off. That was the reason for the chief-editor of Zeehengelsport to ask Jelmer for a contribution about bass fishing. The subject of the article? Lures. His top ten bass lures, to be more precise. Hard baits and soft plastics, modern JDM stuff and old school Dutch classics – it’s all thrown into the mix. Make sure to pick up a copy of Zeehengelsport at your local bookstore in the beginning of June!
Rod caught bass released by anglers live to fight – and spawn – another day. This conclusion is the spin-off from a study on bass migration in Ireland.
The recent results from a study on bass migration in Cork harbour not only proved that bass display long-term residency and inter-annual fidelity to specific areas. It also demonstrated that all fish that were captured, tagged and released, survived the experience. Local Irish bass anglers did the first part of the job, using rod, line and lures. By treating the fish carefully and releasing them to the water quickly, bass will survive the encounter with an angler.
This points to catch & release angling to be the way forward to promoting good fishing and healthy bass stocks. The latter is no surprise when you look at the table below. The bigger an adult female bass gets, the more eggs she will produce for every kilo body weight. Given the fact that bass is a slow growing species, it is important to keep the spawning stock biomass as big as possible – especially now this parameter is below the biomass limit reference point.
Of course anglers certainly are not the only ones to chip in here. Heck, from a sustainable fish stocks management point of view recreational angling should be highly favoured over commercial fishing – which has depleted bass stocks in the Northeast Atlantic over the last few decades. But then again, every little contribution counts when it comes to safeguarding the future of our bass.
Savage Gear has added a new member to its sandeel range: the 3D Line Thru Sandeel.
After the line thru Y-system was introduced in trout, pike and roach imitations, Savage Gear now presents the 3D LT Sandeel. This sandeel imitation is quite different from the more traditional Saltwater Sandeel. It is made from a 3D scan of a real sandeel and has a spear inside that ensures long casting distances. Moreover, the line thru system prevents the fish from throwing the hook by using the weight of the lure. The 3D LT Sandeel swims with a slim S-curve and its head slightly up. When you stop reeling in, it flutters and rolls backwards – like a sandeel fleeing and trying to dig itself into the sand. Available in three sizes (125mm and 19g, 150mm and 27g, 175mm and 40g) and six colours.
Bass larvae colonise coastal lagoons and estuaries. These nursery grounds offer refuge, abundant food and provide shelter from high turbulence conditions.
Wind speed is a meteorological factor that affects bass swimming behaviour. For example, wind speed higher than 8 ms–1 increases swimming activity. One of the effects of wind on coastal waters is the generation of waves and turbulence in the breaking zone. Moderate turbulence increases contact rates between predator and prey, therefore stimulating bass to feed – it’s no wonder bass anglers like to see fizzing conditions for their fishing.
However, too much turbulence – mainly in extreme events like storms – also has negative effects. Especially for bass larvae inhabiting estuarine environments. High turbulence conditions increase diffusive mixing, and negatively affect swimming speed and performance. Moreover, the hydro-mechanical signals and sensory field that bass larvae use to detect prey, may be blurred. As a result the success of pursuit, the attack efficiency, and the capture of prey are reduced. Thus turbulence acts as a limiting factor for feeding activity of bass larvae.
Yet they can cope with high turbulence conditions in strong tidal areas or during storms. Researchers reported that a 0-group bass of the Mont Saint Michel Bay (France, English Channel) displayed an intermittent feeding strategy during the short current reversal periods between flood and ebb. Furthermore, the high inter-individual variability in feeding efficiency under high turbulent conditions offers a mechanism of natural selection by intra-specific competition.
Bass distribution has expanded north in the past 25 years in response to a series of warmer summers, mild winters and against a general background of rising water temperatures. This also indicates the establishment of new local spawning grounds in the southern North Sea.
Due to the northward expansion of bass populations, seasonal migration occurs less frequently in recent years. Research has revealed that more and more adult bass seem to hibernate and presumably also spawn in the southern North Sea. Indicators for this assumption are the discovery of early stage bass eggs and bass larvae around the Dogger Bank and west of the Voordelta (the coastal area located to the west of the islands of the Dutch provinces of South Holland and Zeeland, around the deltas of Haringvliet, Grevelingen and Oosterschelde) during IMARES surveys. The idea that bass spawn in the Dutch and Belgian part of the North Sea is confirmed by market sampling research of landed bass in the Netherlands (Bierman et al. 2010).
If bass spawning in these areas is an annual recurring phenomenon, is not clear. The new, more northern spawning activity is likely to be much more dynamic in terms of timing and location, reflecting changing conditions in the southern North Sea. Moreover the presence of bass larvae in the southern North Sea is difficult to interpret. Either they originate from the English Channel or from closer to the shore. It is difficult to establish what’s what as the standard larvae and egg surveys have two big deficiencies. Firstly they are not conducted during spring (April and May), which is bass spawning season in the southern North Sea. Secondly they don’t cover enough possible spawning grounds. The area around the Dogger Bank is only partially surveyed and the shallower coastal zones are a blind spot as no surveys have been carried out there.
[Bites & Pieces] Varivas Avani Sea Bass PE Super Sensitive
The first thought that came to mind was that Varivas has decided to follow the example of skin cosmetics commercials. Lo and behold the latest addition to the Avani Sea Bass range: Super Sensitive LS8 braid.
This new, blue green, tight tension and low stretch 8-strand braid is available in four breaking strains (PE#0.8, PE#1.0, PE#1.2 and PE#1.5). Allegedly it is very smooth as a result of something called super fluoride processing – but aren’t all Varivas braids rather nice and silky anyway? On the other hand your wallet must not be super sensitive and low stretch, because this stuff ain’t cheap: a 150m spool retails around €34 in Japan.
In Cork harbour an innovative tagging study using acoustic telemetry was launched in 2014 to investigate the summer movements and seasonal migrations of individual bass. The results have just been published and show that bass are extraordinarily faithful to their home coastal patch.
A team of Irish scientists – led by Dr. tom Doyle of NUIG – monitored the movements of sea bass in Cork harbour over a period of three years using acoustic tags. They found that the vast majority of tagged sea bass stayed for 167 days on average in one place, and had a 93% return rate to specific areas. Individual fish had ‘core’ residential areas, swimming in a radius of 3km or less. Sometimes bass were so parochial that even the east and west siders wouldn’t mix.
“Knowing that sea bass return to the same little patch of coastal water each year is absolutely fascinating, and asks so many questions about how they navigate and recognise when they are home”, Dr Doyle says. “But it also has important implications for the conservation of this species. Overfishing of these local populations may take tens of years or longer to recover as any recruitment to these coastal areas may be initially due to chance”, he told The Irish Times.
Local anglers worked closely with the researchers during the study. Their expertise was essential for the success of the project as they caught the fish which were tagged. Co-author Jim Clohessy from Cork Angling Hub said the tagging study represented a phenomenal marriage between science and angling. The importance of ‘Citizen Science’ in supporting bass research is evident: bass is the only marine fish species in Ireland that is managed exclusively for angling.
The collaborative tagging study is part of Inland Fisheries Ireland’s National Bass Conservation Research Programme and designed to provide improved information for managing this popular sport fish species.
Daybreak somewhere in France, fall 2016. A long shot without any expectations whatsoever turns into a bass session to remember.
In bass fishing you never know what you are going to get. There are so many factors involved, that it’s usually merely an educated guess on behalf of the angler what will be the outcome of the time spent chucking out lures. This can be frustrating sometimes – there are occasions that make you want to pull out your hair – but it’s also one of the reasons that make bass fishing such a great pastime. If we knew the result beforehand, the joy and fun of catching fish would be drastically reduced. The element of surprise is key here.
That morning on a particular piece of the French shoreline was a prime example of what makes bass fishing so great. I didn’t know the mark, simply took a punt and hoped for the best – including that the approaching storm (which prevented a boat fishing trip that day) stayed away for a while. The first hour all was quiet, but as soon as the outgoing tide started running things got going. Surface lures did the trick when the water was still relatively high, soft plastics on lightweight jig heads were the key to success towards the end of the ebb tide. A couple of hours later I had caught a nice mixed bag of wrasse and bass – and a big smile on my face. Right time, right place? We can only guess.
This certainly got our mind spinning: a wading boot with interchangeable soles. Depending on the terrain you are fishing, you pick and lock one of the three available soles (wade, drift, surf). We don't know if this really is the 'next step in wading boot technology' as Hodgman claims, but it surely looks neat and innovative.
This is the time of year when things get tough at the Labrax Squad HQ. Spring is in the air, but there is still no sign of bass in the Dutch coastal waters.
In the Netherlands the bass season usually starts somewhere in May and runs until mid-November. During the winter break we sort out and clean our gear, do ‘some’ fishing tackle shopping and turn to lure fishing for fresh water predators like perch and zander. This keeps us busy till the end of March. And that’s when things get tricky.
The closed season for lure fishing in inland waters starts on 1 April (no joke!) and lasts until the end of May. At the same time spring announces itself. The urge to go bass fishing is fueled by catch reports from other parts of Europe where they enjoy an earlier start of the season. However, the rise of the sea water temperature in our neck of the woods always seems to take ages.
Experiences in previous years have taught us to remain calm and not to hurry the first bass session of the year – a considerable number of consecutive (and logically expected) blanks just ain’t the way to kick off the season. So in the next couple of weeks we’ll try to be zen and keep our cool. Heck, we might even go float fishing for carp to pass the time...
The Jersey Lure League hosts the Battle of The Bass competition from 8th-10th September. As you might have guessed Jersey is the scene for this three days bass fishing streak.
The Jersey Lure League has been created to encourage friendly competition among lure anglers in Jersey – a Channel Island off the coast of Normandy. The League runs from 1st February to the 30th November and promotes multi-species fishing on lures. They also have some special competitions during the year, one of them being the battle of the bass. In 2017 the third edition of this competition (lure only, catch & release) will take place. Notwithstanding the name of the League, bass anglers from outside of Jersey can also partake in the battle. To make it easier for visiting anglers they have put together a Battle of The Bass travel package (including ferry and hotel reservation). Check out the Jersey Lure League or Mr Fish Jersey Facebook pages for more info.
With the first signs of spring, cabin fever is raging. Consequently the search for new and shiny tackle is at its peak. And that’s how we discovered the SFT Seadream 115F hard lure.
This 115mm and 21g floating hard lure is built to last. The streamlined body is constructed with a one piece stainless steel through wire, has a long-range casting movable weight center and is rigged with two Owner ST-56 #2 trebles. The Seadream has a diving depth of around 1.2m and a so-called ‘spin Akira swing (scroll + tour swing)’ swimming action (we’re still looking into what that exactly means...). The lure is designed to target all kinds of saltwater predators (blue fish, snook, red fish, skipjack tuna, striped bass) and will no doubt also catch you bass. It is also available in a sinking version (115mm, 27g, 2.3m snorkel depth).
Better data on the value and impact of recreational fisheries in Europe are vital to give recreational angling the place it deserves in the Common Fisheries Policy. That was the message transmitted in a seminar organised in the European Parliament by the Recreational Fisheries Forum.
The focus at this seminar called ‘Sustainable fisheries management and recreational sea fisheries: socio-economic value, data collection and data use in EU and US management’ on March 8 focused mainly on recreational sea angling - the biggest of the recreational segments measured in number of participants and economic impact. Europe’s 8 to 10 million recreational sea anglers spend on average about € 1,000 annually per person on their activity, an estimated total of 8-10 billion euro.
However, to this date the EU institutions have shown little interest in recreational angling. In the current Common Fisheries Policy, the recreational sector is not recognised or managed in its own right or on an equal footing with commercial fisheries and aquaculture. “This has to change”, Mr. Jean-Claude Bel (CEO of the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association) said. “Recreational angling is a sustainable activity of immense importance to European citizens and businesses. The recreational fisheries sector wants, and deserves, full recognition in the Common Fisheries Policy when it is up for revision, if not before.”
In this respect it is a hopeful sign that there will be conducted an important pioneer study on the value of recreational fishing and its impact on fish stocks and the environment as requested by the European Parliament. Although the budget allocated to this study is limited and its final outcome will be less than what is needed in future, it expectedly will set the direction for future studies. And if there consequently occurs a change in the EU Minister’s perception about recreational fisheries, the EU can benefit much more from this sector than it does today.
This one's for all you kayak bass anglers with a competitive edge. You might want to set sail for the Orbetello lagoon from 5 to 7 May 2017. That’s where and when the first edition of Branzino The Challenge will take place.
This two day lure only bass fishing tournament in the Argentario area (two hours north of Rome) is held competing with kayaks. The battlefield is the 27 square kilometers big lagoon next to the city of Orbetello. The Challenge consists of two individual fishing sessions – 7 hours each – and is 100% catch & release. Check out this promo video to get a glimpse of what it will be like to fish the Orbetello lagoon in Tuscany. Go to the Branzino homepage for more info on the program, tournament rules, prize table and registration.
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