Catch report Dunstanburgh Castle

[Charlie2005]

What a day i\'ve had arrived at destination at 12\'o\'clock to find about 2 people fishing the mark,got my spinning rod ready and began my days fishing no word of a lie from the time i started fishing till around 8pm me and my friend must of caught in excess of 300 mackrel i can\'t believe the sheer amount of fish out there we had people stopping in amazment at the volume of fish that we were catching put it this way we couldn\'t fail to catch every cast i could only put it down to a massive shoal of sand ell that was parading the rock edges that the mackrel had cornered i can\'t get over the sheer amount of fish out there.There was even seal popping there head out of the water but that didnt scare the fish off at all.An excellent day out one of the best i\'ve had and the only thing that made it end so soon was my fixed spool breaking on me must of been the sheer weight of the fish i had hauled in during the day,i wouldn\'t care its only around 2 months old so i\'ll be taking it back to the shop; on monday.i have pictures but i can\'t upload them.

[sless]

did you keep them all

[Charlie2005]

i only kept 21 will do me for some bait and the dogs dinnerand of course for me :P

[fishfinder]

so what happened to the 0ther 280

[Charlie2005]

they were all returned safely to the sea

[TC]

\"they were all returned safely to the sea\"


How did you get them off the hooks to return them, Charlie?

[Stuey]

What was the catch return process for these fish Charlie?

[sless]

take the hook out and let them swim away

[Charlie2005]

like sless said take the hook out and return them to the sea

[uggy26]

I think the reason there is an interest in how you returned your fish Charlie, is because mackeral die after being handled.

I\'d guess a very, very high percentage of anglers, especially the mackeral brigade, don\'t know about the fragile flesh of a mackeral, as it hasn\'t really been known that long to ourselves. Anyone who says they have never returned a mackeral after handling it is not telling the truth.

Even if the fish are dead now, they were released with good intentions, but for future reference Charlie, handling a mackeral before returning it will most likely kill the fish within a day or two, it\'s to do with skin damage interfering with their ability to maintain osmotic balance.

Best way to return is basicly shake it of the hook(preferably barbless) without touching.

I have seen on a few forums, this topic has been made \'sticky\' throughout the mackeral months to inform anglers of the danger to these fish, instead of waiting for a report of released fish before shooting the angler down.

[TC]

Nobody\'s \"shooting the angler down\", uggy.......merely asking how the fish had been released.

It may well have been that Charlie did know about the consequences of handling mackeral and had returned them by shaking them off the hooks, so I didn\'t want to appear to be \"teaching grandma how to suck eggs\", so to speak.........however, from his reply, I guess not.

There\'s an interesting piece by Leon Roskilly which goes into the whole \"returning of mackerel\" business. Here are a couple of interesting quotes:

1. \"..........once a mackerel has been touched by an anglers hands, even though the fish may swim away energetically, it is doomed.

Something to do with the heat/oil of the anglers hands (where it has been touched can often be seen as a handmark on the fish\'s skin).

Even though only microscopically damaged, the mackerel\'s skin continues to break down with death inevitable within 30 hours.

Shaking the fish off the hook or handling with wetted neoprene gloves is said to prevent the problem.\"


2. \"The problem is that when the mackerel shoals are on the beach, anglers will soon catch their self-imposed limit, but can\'t seem to stop fishing, often changing from feathers to a light spinning outfit and returning every fish they catch.

If the above is correct, then they are better advised to cease fishing for mackerel and trying for the bass beyond/underneath the shoals perhaps, with less guarantee of catching.\"


So whilst Charlie was under the impression that he was doing the \"right thing\" by returning the unwanted mackerel, it\'s very likely that (if the fish had been handled), they are now all dead.

What I can\'t understand is why .........\" me and my friend must of caught in excess of 300 mackrel\".............this is really macky bashing gone stupid.........and I\'d suggest that Leons\' mention of trying for other species (such as bass) should be remembered. However........how many bass would be enough ????

[mark]

anyone actually tried to get down through a shoal of mackeral to get to bass?? nigh on impossible, believe me I\'ve tried. So what\'s the answer?? stop fishing altogether??

they may die within 30 hours, but at least they die back in the natural food chain, rather than been used as toys for retards on the piers, and they are gonna perish in an area where there will be plenty of juvenile fish glad of an easy meal, wonder how many cod will have put a few extra ounces on as a result

If your fishing off the rocks, how do you shake a mackeral off the hook without it getting damaged then?? its gonna hit the rocks from where it has to be transferred back to the water somehow... without being touched, not easy

Anyone who says they have never returned a mackeral after handling it is not telling the truth

then everyone is guilty then

I\'ve read similar things on other forums, with people banging on about this, yet proudly telling everyone of the 20lb cod or 10lb bass they caught and killed, I know which I\'d rather see returned to the water

the number of fish that would perish after a 300 a day session by even a few thousand anglers pales into insignificance, when you\'ve seen russian factory ships pass up and down the minch in scotland and in 7 days land and process 50,000 tons of em, all perfectly llegal and above board

[Charlie2005]

Well i didn\'t know that if you handle a mackrel they would die,i can say i didnt handle that many as i was more comtempt to hold the spinner and let the fish un hook itself as i had removed the barbs on the hooks.And thats the TRUTH.As for mackrel bashing i disagree we went fishing for the pleasure there was other species landed for example Pollack but you couldnt target them for the sheer mass of the shoal of mackrel that was present at the mark.No matter where you fish off Dunstanburgh Castle the Mackrel are there.

[morgs]

Charlie I was only made aware of the problem returning mackeral a few weeks ago, however reading further there seems to be a differenece of opinion.

Quote from another source. \"It\'s not all doom and gloom, there was a Mackerel tagging programme run a few years back where the mackerel were tagged by hand and released. Even though these fish were handled by bare hands, a good percentage of them DID survive to be re caught.

It could well be that they can in fact survive the initial handling and only die if put under additional stress such as being kept in a live bait well, being transported or kept in Aquariums\"

[uggy26]

That quote is probably correct morgs, I wouldn\'t have thought all fish to die.
As in catch 300, keep 21, release 279, 300 die!