Long line sea fishing

[Doc Holliday]

I was thinking about getting back into this. I used to do it some 30 years back. I just spoke to the one decent inland shop down this way that does sea fishing tackle (Maidstone Tackle) and happened to mention my intentions and was surprised when they guy said I should double check on the local regs, etc., and did explain why, although the area I am considering doing this has very little human/animal traffic and I will be present for the duration of the tide coming in and going out again. 

However, I did do a quick check through DEFRA & the local authority, plus a Google search but there seems to be precious little info on this. Does anyone know of or has had any experience with the legal aspect of this? 

Thanks!

[Stephen-H]

Don't think it's illegal but could be frowned upon as if you aren't there as the tide drops back anything under sized will die or be attacked by the gulls.

( I know you've stated you will be there at both state's of the tide ) 

There is someone that does it with nets along a stretch of coast on the flyde he has / had a YouTube channel doing it also does the shrimp/ prawn nets 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Stephen-H

[wymberley]

Much more fun using a 'Galloping Gerty" - see the quoted thread

[Old Boggy]

I used to set a long line off my local beach during the winter months to coincide with a spring tide . My line consisted of about 20 hooks on 2 foot long traces baited with lugworm and sometimes king rag. This was about 60 odd years ago and I was nobbut a lad !

As I was in walking distance of the beach, the line was set on a Friday evening, checked Saturday morning whilst the tide was still going out and the line was still under water, reset, checked again on Sunday morning and taken up on Sunday evening. I was pretty successful with bags of plaice, dabs, flounders, dogfish, codling, and the occasional bass. I don`t recall ever having a blank tide and remember the excitement and anticipation of not knowing what was going to be caught. They were indeed happy days of my youth, but I doubt if it were still allowed (and I see no reason why not) that the fish stocks are there now.

OB

[Old Boggy]

11 minutes ago, wymberley said:

Much more fun using a 'Galloping Gerty" - see the quoted thread

What is a Galloping Gerty please?

I just googled it and it came up with reference to a suspension bridge !!

[Old Boggy]

Whilst on the subject of fishing, perhaps someone could enlighten me as to what this little beauty might be used for. Not dabs methinks

[wymberley]

8 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

Whilst on the subject of fishing, perhaps someone could enlighten me as to what this little beauty might be used for. Not dabs methinks

May just be a big hook - halibut or tunny, but I'd say it's a flying gaff for the same species.

[Old Boggy]

5 minutes ago, wymberley said:

May just be a big hook - halibut or tunny, but I'd say it's a flying gaff for the same species.

Thanks for that. Would a flying gaff have a swivel?

[wymberley]

50 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

What is a Galloping Gerty please?

I just googled it and it came up with reference to a suspension bridge !!

Imagine a rectangular frame with a  raised  fore and aft across the longer sides - this to stop it digging in on the way out and the way in. Mounted in the middle on the longer sides there's a hinged cross piece which is a 'sail'. Being an aircraft type, all made from light alloy. A operating line went through a loop at the back with a stop on either side of the loop. The rear one to stop the sail going much passed the vertical and the front one to keep the sail flat on retrieval. Baited as per a long line and best run out on an outgoing tide. Sail goes up on an outgoing flow so Gerty gallops, but on an incoming one she lays still with the sail flat. North Devon at the time with Croyde and Woolacombe close by. 

 

17 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

Thanks for that. Would a flying gaff have a swivel?

Don't think it would be amiss on something that size. but I take your point - it may well have needed some form of rod to 'set' it - unless you were to get close up and personal.

Edit: Looking again, would that mechanism at the top lock up initially?

Edited May 23, 2023 by wymberley

[Dave at kelton]

This topic has brought back memories of setting long lines of about forty hooks from our little rowing boat when on summer holidays as a child. I also once came across an old boy who went out onto the Ribble Estuary for flatties. He didn’t use hooks but 1.25” brass pins bent at about 30 degrees. He had whipped on nylon line over half the length to the bend. He explained that he threaded a worm on and had fifty or more on a line. The flatties sucked in the worm and once ingested the pin straightened out filling the throat. Never seen or heard of it before, nor tried it myself. Perhaps I should here on the Solway.

[Dasher]

4 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

Whilst on the subject of fishing, perhaps someone could enlighten me as to what this little beauty might be used for. Not dabs methinks

Think it's a very old conger eel hook, conger eels are renowned for spinning when caught and the eye of the hook was made like a swivel to allow the spin without throwing the hook. I think the hook shank was made very long to prevent it being completely swallowed so the eel couldn't bite through the fishing line.  

[Dave at kelton]

1 hour ago, Dasher said:

Think it's a very old conger eel hook, conger eels are renowned for spinning when caught and the eye of the hook was made like a swivel to allow the spin without throwing the hook. I think the hook shank was made very long to prevent it being completely swallowed so the eel couldn't bite through the fishing line.  

Yes it’s a conger hook. I used them with my grandfather over fifty years ago. Fishing for congers then was rather more barbaric. 

[wymberley]

Some blanks for my conger boat rods:

[snow white]

It’s a conger eel hook I think I still have some in them used them down in Plymouth back in the sixties and seventies of the conger boats we used to try to get (artillery man two with skipper George Dickinson )if I remember correctly it was about £40 each for the day 12 hours had some lovely fish in them days