Cod etc

Indeed! The Fehmarn Sund/Belt is largely a waste of time. Primarily as
a result of overfishing, the stocks are severely depleted. Also, it is
extremely difficult to catch fish even when one finds a couple using
"traditional" pilking methods and similar. I don´t know the reason for
this. It may be that too many fish have been hooked and lost using
such methods, and the fish have "learned" to avoid such equipment, or
it may be that the remaining fish are not susceptible to such methods
by reason of evolutionary instinct, or similar. I honestly don´t
know. One only finds isolated small shoals on the sonar anyway, and
very few fish of any size. At one time shoals of large fish were quite
common, but even numbers of smaller fish are now very rare indeed.

While anglers are not primarily responsible for the stock depletion,
they do contribute to it when large numbers of them go a angling. The
rather greedy mentality common among pilkers also plays a part in
this. Even smaller fish being taken as a matter of course. This of
course depletes stocks even further, as many fish do not then reach
maturity, and this further depletes breeding stock. This is now a
common problem with many species and in many areas around the globe,
although the effects are especially devastating and noticeable in
heavily fished coastal areas around industrial countries with limited
coastlines.

We will be fishing out of Wismar on the "Sturmvogel II" for three days
from Friday. I have not fished this area before, and am not sure what
to expect, although the decline in stocks will obviously have affected
this area as well.

We will be trying out some shallow water ( ten meters) fly-fishing
techniques. Seatrout are not likely, as we will not be hugging the
coast at all, but trying shallows further out. I have a recent chart
with a number of places and sonar/computer recordings of some medium
sized shoals of fish, so we may be lucky. Also depends on the weather
in the target area. Above about force 4 fly-fishing is more or less
impossible, and we will probably revert to pilking/spinning. Just
have to wait and see. Above force 6 we wont even leave port. The
last time we simply stayed in port drinking beer for two days, which
while not unpleasant of itself is not exactly fishing!

We would normally have simply returned home, but the accommodation etc
was all paid for in advance, so we made the best of it.

There are no places free right now, although there are always some
cancellations. The next trip for which places are open is the 6.12.
but the weather is more of a problem the nearer we get to Winter, so
such bookings are always subject to cancellation at the last minute.
One may actually arrive on the boat, motor out, and be obliged to turn
back almost immediately. This is at the discretion of the
skipper.There are no refunds!!!

Some larger boats can operate in force 6 or even higher winds etc, but
fishing becomes more or less impossible under such conditions.

Anyway, if you are interested, let me know. I can´t get you aboard
this trip, and I don´t think there will be any cancellations at this
late date.

Cheers!

Mike