Read ‘The Times’ article written by Brian Clarke, Times angling correspondent, on a days fly fishing for bass off the Sussex coast with professional guide, Justin Anwyl
If you have been wondering why the Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society has been making such a fuss about the mismanagement of our premier, sporting fish then the article by Brian Clarke published in ‘The Times’ (2 September 2005) and on their website, should provide the reader with an insight into the Society’s vision for the future.
[photo – Justin Anwyl with a bass caught on a size 4 chartreuse clouser fly – photo courtesy Nick Moore]
The scenario, so beautifully highlighted by the author, brings to life the excitement, challenge and potential financial benefit to the Gross National Product of protecting this very special resource. Instead of slaughtering the stocks to satiate an ever greedier commercial fishing industry we should be taking a much more conservative route to promoting the sporting potential of those same fish, which when released, instead of being laid out on a fishmongers slab, can provide an income time and time again, instead of just once.
If you are a visitor to our site and you enjoy catching bass then perhaps this feature, together with the outline of the Bass Management Plan, will serve to highlight our aims and objectives so you too can enjoy sport on a regular basis of the calibre written about. Our hope for the future is that the sea around our coast, if carefully nurtured, can provide big bass in greater numbers for more people to enjoy. The sea is a publicly owned resource and the public have the right to demand that it be looked after for the majority and for future generations, not raped to destruction in the short term for the benefit of a few, commercial fishermen.