Heysham Bass Nursery Areas Latest

[Padsta Tel]

[i] Hate to bang on about this subject but in other parts of the country a nursery area means no fishing why should Heysham be any different even taking in size fish is not allowed if you catch a bass in any other area is more of an achievement ask Daz from Blackpool.

I have to agree, a full ban should be imposed on the basis its not possible to police it properly, If it was said only pleasure anglers can fish then who is gonna check everyone who goes there and comes off there to ensure no fish are in bags?

It has to be a complete ban then its easier to police the area, Its a shame people take fish from the area at the end of the outflow as it ruins it for sport anglers. If people did not take these fish then all could enjoy the sport of bass fishing.


I personally do not and have never fished on the outflows and have no reason to fish the area, bass can be caught around most of the bay, and its better to hunt the fish down then goto the breading ground and get an easy catch

(this opinion is of my own and in no way a Representative of the shop I work in, I voice this opinion as a personal one)

Rockin' that one
It IS like shooting fish in a barrel at times,I've walked away a bit red faced + sheepish after a slightly sick session when I'd caught far too many (ALL returned I hasten to add) before giving up early + walking off with a less than satisfied feeling,its almost spoiled my Bassing if I'm honest. Lobbing a bloody Redgill 15 yards,hoik out a schoolie, lob it back + do it again. The whole white Redgill ONLY thing is a bit tiresome too,to be honest I'd say its OK for a cheap thrill if you've never caught on a lure before,youll NOT fail in a flippin NURSERY! I think its time to close the doors,let the nursery be what it should be and get down to some serious Bass fishing where there's some actual effort + sense of achievement at the end of it.

Nice one Blanko i had a ten pound bass back in the 70s and can remember every detail how i caught it and which rig and bait off the Grosvenor prom.Even the approx tide hight and weather conditions the adrenalin was running that night.

[Blanko]

Fantastic, thats a stunning fish
The Grosvenor used to be buzzing at times back then,I used to fish it as a teenager in the 80s,never had anything of that stamp but it was magic waiting for one,I could've watched the rod tip for 24 hours solid if the tide didn't go out,I didn't care how long it took,there was always a great bunch on there too

[Martin G]

If a total ban was to come into effect wouldn't that benefit us all in a few years anyway?,
With less (barely) legal sized fish dragged from the outflows, surely more fish will move on resulting in a higher percentage of bass in and around the bay,,,, were great satisfaction can be taken in your catch.

[Blanko]

A little surprising that quite a few are excited by the prospect of a Bass fest on the outflows. Not quite as surprising is that many also feel resentful toward the netters for having the gall to lay out nets on the beach.
Now by rights as long as these netters return to their nets before the water leaves the fish high + dry~and immediately + safely return undersized ones alive then theyre doing no more wrong than the angler in the eyes of the law. So in turn where does that leave the honest sporting boat angler who maybe wishes to drop anchor off the outflows + chuck some lures from the peace + tranquility of the boat,away from the rabble (not ALL anglers are as responsible & reasonable as AA members) fighting shoulder to shoulder on the wall? At what point does this honest boat angler need legislating against?
Sure if he throws a net + takes 100 fish he's a monster in everyone's eyes (And in a nursery area he is then obviously greed driven) but the shore netsman can take the same 100,laugh and tell the world he's had a big payday. As can the shore angler,evidenced by the tarp. full of fish being carried by 3 anglers last summer - as long as theyre IN SIZE. So ONLY the boat angler apparently needs restricting
Its an almighty mess isnt it? No wonder 85% of AA voters feel it needs shutting down,our legislative system moves like a sloth through treacle,changes take FAR too long and are always poorly advised,leading to idiotic situations such as we have here with no powers to police or make needed amendments in fair time frames.
Whilst neither I nor probably the vast majority of anglers approve of netting of any kind inshore I at least have to acknowledge they have the right by law and I have to deal with that -why they have more right to catch fish than for example a responsible boat angler is another question.
Must add too that this is NOT a new situation,as a pre teenager I was told of the Bass massacres on the outflows in the 80s and even back then when we went to have a look we saw the same shoulder to shoulder anglers,many growling at one another + mobs forcing individuals out of the way,it was very often just as ugly back then so it shows how long its been coming,its the one thing the outflows are reknowned for,ask any local angler or indeed many non angling residents ~ mention the outflows + theyll say 'Probably still taking 1000s of illegal Bass?' I've heard it myself!
The problem lies with the original legislation,I remember 1st hearing about it and even as a pre-teenager the 1st question that came to my mind was 'Why are people allowed to fish it if its a nursery?'
It surprised me back then and I'm probably most shocked to find almost 30 years later the situation is still the same,bad feeling toward netters by anglers, anglers getting a bad rep. for taking undersize fish-even if you don't do it-boat anglers (rightly) wondering what they did to deserve banning.

I think the real issue now is that its a CHANGE to an established system.It should never have been open to fish in the 1st place,if we're honest it flies in the face of all no fishing/no shooting/no walking restricted areas designated nowadays and is symptomatic of the lack of direction in the conservation focus of the time it was initiated. There's NO flexibility in restriction of areas nowadays and had the outflows been set up the same way in the beginning we'd all probably be fishing lures in the surrounding area and tipping our hats to the great nursery area and what it had done for Bass stocks in the Morecambe region.As it stands anglers face being forced off somewhere we probably oughtn't have been allowed on in the 1st place & thats bound to strike a nerve with many.
I don't think a ban will be as bad as many think + with the internet now able to spread word of such hotspots so rapidly itll only ever get worse abuse than it has historically.
Maybe in 20 years anglers will be taking double figure fish at Throbshire on plugs on the back of this,the closure might just be the best thing to happen to it,as much as we all hate to turn away the chance of sporting fishing when it presents itself. But the word SPORTING doesnt really describe the outflows really,the words shooting + barrel spring to mind more

[Padsta Tel]

A cracking mate were very lucky having bass so close to home let's look after them if we get hot summers the sand warms up and so does the sea when the tide comes in this must help the bass grow. :

[Dolton14]

Its not a very good plan, as i went up there today and seen people fishing. Walked over to them and altogether they had 8 bass that i know of and kept themall, all around 2-4lb a piece.

[billy bennett]

I would be totaly in favour of banning all fishing from this area as long as its not the thin end of a wedge and it is later expanded to include the other marks in the area, we can't let gangs of yobs decimate the bass stocks by taking every fish that is caught no matter what the size,I would also be in favour of banning worm pumping for a few months of the year to give the beds a chance to recover, at the moment lads are going out and getting several hundred worm per week multipy this by the people doing the pumping and thousends of worms are removed every day, the beaches can't sustain this hammering and before long lug will go the way of king and white ragworm and when the winter arrives the lug will be thinner and thinner on the ground. this is just my personal thoughts on this but I believe its a valid point.

[paulc97]

It seems that there is a huge majority in favour of a total fishing ban in the nursery area.
To date, forty responsible anglers have voiced their support for it.
In 1992, it only took thirty three signatures on a written petition for the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee to agree to a public meeting at Morecambe Town Hall to decide on the extent of a change to the then current bylaw.
Paul, as you started this thread, do you know what the next step is in the process of reviewing the present by-law and what it takes to have the suggested changes introduced?
Would another petition help?
It seems to me that if forty of us are in favour of the ban, then it would not take much effort from each of us to obtain at least ten signatures each to further support the total ban.
What do you think? If it’s favourable, how about an “official” Angling Addicts petition form that we could print and use to collect the signatures.
It would be very satisfying to think we helped remove the undesirables from the outflows, protect the nursery area from the illegal takes and increase our chances of more bass in the future.

[Paul]

I'm led to believe we are far past the "proposals" stage and this IS going ahead... They are in the process of doing all the legal stuff, i wouldn't be surprised if this was brought in this year to be honest.

I will email IFCA and see what the current status is to see if there are any developments, or even a possible date

[Paul]

Talking of petitions though. Upping the legal landing size of bass and introducing a bag limit could be something that could be petitioned


Id be interested to see what a poll would come out like with those options