From memory, it was 1991 when I first started fishing in the Bristol Channel. Since then, I’ve witnessed a lot of changes in fish movements and they are rarely mentioned.
Here are just a few of my observations on the comings and goings of some of the fish we catch here.
Whiting
For me, this is the big one. These fish were once present in huge numbers throughout the channel. On many marks they had reached plague proportions and baits intended for cod were often snaffled within moments of hitting the water. Even as kids, myself and my pals caught our share and the match anglers of the time really cleared up with this species.
If someone had told me that one day they would be gone, I’d have laughed. But sadly, that is now the case and although it is possible to catch the odd fish, it’s very difficult to catch any number.
Some years appear to be better than others, but on the whole, the whiting has done a vanishing act. Some suggest that the shoals have moved to wherever their food source is, but I’m not so sure. I have never understood why the disappearance of the whiting is seldom spoken of, yet the lack of cod is a continuous topic of discussion.
Cod
In my early years of sea fishing, it was possible to catch cod from pretty much most marks in the Bristol Channel. High water and low water marks would produce fish, and it was usually a case of how many you might catch rather than whether you’d catch anything at all. Double figure cod were common for experienced anglers most seasons and throughout my teenage years I enjoyed what was to be the tail end of the Bristol Channel cod boom that this great water way had become famous for. Commercial activity is likely to blame and following a partial demise of sport at one point in the early noughties and a subsequent ban of netting in the Irish Box, the fish returned. But twenty years on, we are enduring one of the worst seasons in the channels history.
Some anglers I know who are cod enthusiasts have yet to land a sizeable fish this winter.
Thornback Ray
The thornback is a success story, if ever there was one. During the 1980’s this species was long lined to near extinction, certainly in terms of the Bristol Channel. Targeting a ray as a sea angler was still possible, but it was a challenge. The spring time always offered the best opportunities but the location had to be carefully considered, as did the tidal state and bait of choice. It was hard going, but again, the experienced anglers who persevered and found the fish.
The last twenty years couldn’t have been more different and we are now at a point where it is possible to catch Thornbacks at practically any mark between Portishead and Hinkley Point at low or high tide. Long lining for rays was banned and the fish made a truly impressive recovery.
Smoothounds
There was a time when fishing clubs in the upper Bristol Channel would rent a mini bus for day excursions to venues such as Westward Ho! In pursuit of the hard fighting smoothhound. This mark and a couple of others in north Devon were considered the most consistent for success, with anywhere north of, say Minehead, considered a half-chance option at best.
Around the early noughties, smoothounds began figuring in catches a lot further up the Bristol Channel and to begin with it was recognised that this coincided with especially dry springs. The theory was that the lack of rainfall increased the salinity of the water in the upper reaches which encouraged the fish to travel further than before in pursuit of the shore crabs that make up the bulk of their diet. But over the course of time, numbers have increased further still. What’s interesting is that when these fish began to show, they were big. It was unusual to see a smoothhound under twelve pound in the upper reaches, but the last couple of years we have seen several smaller examples.
Fish movements certainly have changed in the time that I have been fishing and I’m sure that over the decades to come we’ll note further changes too.
The four examples above highlight both negative and positive change, but there has to be reason for this to happen. Over fishing and climate change are both reasons that are offered, but I’m not qualified to make that assessment, only to note the changes.
