pipefish bonanza

[foss]

Any one heard anything about a pipefish population explosion of our coast? a mate of mine has been literally pulling in hundreds in his nets. The cod hes been getting are stuffed full with them.Any one tried these as bait?

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

Not heard of it mate ,I've seen them washed up on Cambois beach before though .

[mick65]

I was aware there was a load out there. When I went boat fishing in Volante earlier this month, I noticed a few of the larger fish had them stuffed in there mouth.
Didn't try them as bait though, although I probably should have tried.

[mallconpak]

Stuffed!!

Fished north end of Whitley beach last year and all the fish were stuffed with pipe fish.
Lets hope this happens again next week with the expected northerly's

[foss]

He put a couple of bagfulls in the freezer if any one wants to try them or i could get some fresh next time he goes out.

[mickthefish]

WOULDNT IT BE LIKE FISHING FOR A SHEEP WITH A bit of grass ?,
billions of them pipeos in the summer even.

[Charlton]

for the last two summers they have been along the NE coastline in vast shoals, some charter skippers reporting that there was that many they could see the shoals around their boats. Have haerd of one or two paties trying them as bait with a good deal of success, remember these are natural food for fish, and the vast shoals could show how the fish population has declined as not very mucj there to eat them, or the fish could be just eating their natural prey as they are plentiful. The lads who i have heard using them have broken them into piece 4 to 6 inches long.

[YoursTruly]

WOULDNT IT BE LIKE FISHING FOR A SHEEP WITH A bit of grass ?,
billions of them pipeos in the summer even.

Mick is that not the same as fishing for mackerel with a sand eel?

I would give them a go if i could get hold of a few, in the interests of science and all that.

[foss]

Terry i will bring some too your shop if u want to give them a try like i say he has got frozen at the min but i get you fresh mext time he goes out.

[mickthefish]

fair point terry , but are cod as abundant as mackeral ?
only one way to find out wether theyre any good or not i suppose , as you say ,
give em a shot .

[alan]

I got a bucket full last summer and tried them as bait with very little success,i've got a feeling they might work better fresh.I froze mine and they seemed to break up once defrosted,could try freezing to your hook and chuck them out frozen.I've still got a few left that i use to bulk up my baits,handy if you run out of elastic as well

[Steve115]

Lads,

I go diving up and down the coast and there ae thousands of the little blighters in the sea at the moment. The look like sea-horses and are pretty boring really. I watched a TV report on the state of the fisheries a while ago and they were saying that the cod had basically turned to this fish as its main diet. The problem this poses is that the pipefish provides very little nutrition as it is very bony. The cod I've caught recently have all been stuffed full of them!

I cant imagine tham being any good as bait unless you strapped them on whole so the fish can see what they are. Even then youd be relying on sight not scent to attract the fish.

When the pipefish are in the water they literally just sit there looking like bits of seaweed! You can handle them easily and they make no attempt to escape!

I reckon if a fish were to stumble across a big lug cocktail and a pipefish it would go for the lug everytime.

Steve

[Steve115]

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aquarium/pages/greaterpipefish.html

This link has a bit of info on them.

Steve

[alan]

Cheers Steve
I tied mine on the same as i would tie a sand eel,it never got touched however the other bait was gone

[Steve115]

If you google "cod pipefish malnutrition" you'll find loads of write ups about malnutrition in British water cod stocks. All due to the rising temperatures supposedly!