Blame it onto the sprats

[CELOCANT]

It has been reported that this year’s weather has been the coldest for thirty years. The sea temperature certainly has taken a dive and reached its lowest at 3.5c in the middle of February. Compared with this time last year it is at least four degrees colder.

This could be the reason why the angling has been a bit slow of late (check out my post COLD FISH). We as anglers tend to blame the lack of sport on everything apart from the most obvious. The most common excuse for the lack of fish at this time of year is because the sprats are in – or they have followed the sprats out to sea.

The sprat season off Deal is normally from late December until the end of February. They shoal inshore, and on the spring tides sometimes get washed up on the beach. When the tide is at its strongest they normally swim close to the seabed and very near to the shoreline where the run of the tide is at its weakest. As the tide eases they start to rise in the water and this is when the sprat netters catch them. Normally their territory would extend no further than half a mile from the beach.

It could be reasonable to assume that, in the murky water off Deal, the fish feed on the sprats when they are close to the seabed. Cod, for instance hunt in ‘dirty’ water by smell, feel (using their barbel under their chin) and possibly at the last moment by sight. When the water is clear (very seldom inshore at Deal) then the cods feeding habits would be reversed.

Throughout the season many cod are caught on small live whiting, which were either intentionally presented on the hook or accidentally left due to a missed bite. However, this fish/bait is being presented hard and fast on the seabed and available to the fish when and where it comes across it in its almost blind hunt for food. With plenty of pin whiting about at the moment we cannot blame the lack of cod on them.

Sprats are an oily fish and deteriorate quickly after being caught; therefore the ones that we buy from the fishmonger are not very good for bait – unless you use them for tipping with worm. The redder the sprat (also herrings) is around the head and gills, the older it is. Also fresh sprats, straight out of a net, are silver/black around the head and are stiff enough to be snapped in half, as opposed to the floppy ones from the shops.

Hopefully the sea temp will warm up soon, and the cod fishing, or lack of it, becomes a memory until the next season. Mind you, saying that, with last summer’s sea as warm as 18c, the fishing also seemed to take a dive – must have been the sprats.

My views on Global Warming can be summed up by ... Brrrr followed by Grrrr.

[Davefish]

I have mixed feelings about the sprats and agree they are not solely to blame for the deterioration in fishing after christmas with the cold sea temperature being a major factor..
4 or 5 yeears back we had some good fishing on the lower deck in the January and February monthly pier comps. The comps fished over the low water period produced both whiting and dogfish in numbers and some ofthe fish still had sprats in their mouths when landed. I believe we were fishing in amongst a sprat shoal and the fish had followed them.

You are right about blame it on the sprats syndrome- the epidemic has now made it to the local report in sea angling news, i have cut and paste the relevent section

"We were enjoying great fishing on Duke IV early in Jan with a fish a chuck, Whiting, Pout and Dogs and amongst all this the Cod. They seemed to be very mobile, here one day somewhere else the next. A strong tide stream was when you got the Cod. The smaller fish would slow off and then up comes a Cod then maybe a couple more then back to the smaller stuff, the tide slacken's so we move find a bit more tide and we are back amongst the Cod. Keeps the fishing interesting and we are lucky here at Ramsgate with the English Channel meeting the Thames Estuary and the North Sea on our doorstep there is always a good tide somewhere. Lug and Squid the bait of choice with whole Squid next. Then the sprats moved in! I have never seen them so thick! The sounder would show a constant line of them around 15 feet below the surface and at times the screen would show them as the seabed so thick are they in places.

With all this fodder around its hardly surprising that the Cod along with everything else has come up in the water to feed on them, totally ignoring our baits. The fish I think, are here but we cant catch much at the moment. The upside of this situation is that the fish are having a good feed and putting on weight so we can look forward to some good Codding when the sprats move on, this should be anytime now! Where do all those sprats go the rest of the year"

Full reports on
http://www.harvey-mayson.co.uk/reports.html

To conclude then let's not be too hard on the sprat they are a good bait, good to eat (altough not my cup of tea) and vital in the seas food chain.

Davefish

[CELOCANT]

I totally agree that, at times, the fish do glut-up on sprats. However, my question is, how do they feed on them when the water is thick as I cannot envisage them hunting in mid water by sight. I think the larger fish carry on with there business of bottom feeding and then snatch, almost by instinct, at what ever they come across. Under these circumstances, to feed mid water would be a waste of the fish’s energy and a very hit or miss way of getting food.

It is different when the sea clears a bit, then I can understand the fish coming off the bottom and chasing the sprats. This usually affects only the boat anglers, as the water colour is normally thick inshore at Deal in the winter months. Even out to sea the clarity is never that where the use of white cod feathers have been any good as an imitation sprat – unless tipped with bait.

I can remember many years ago catching sprats, in a drop net, in the well of the pier as the tide was running. It was the middle of summer and I was told the locals called them Micklemas Sprats. I must admit I’m fascinated at the amount of out-of-season herrings that were caught last year from the pier on feathers. That is going to be a challenge for me this year – it’s great to be retired (or is that retarded).