rob... carry a small t-bar with you and learn how to use it, wont have to touch your fish that way. Never mind trying ti guess if your gloves would protect you enough or not!

 

as dan said,you will find out the first time you grab one if the gloves work,it isnt worth it,use a T bar

 

Try it on a Sea Scorpion first. At least that way, if you get spiked it'll just sting like a bugger and leave you with a small chance of infection

 

And if you get spiked by a Weaver..go straight to hospital !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Most Weevers caught from the shore are very small, usually only two or three inches long at best (although the deep water greater Weever gets a bit bigger) so you will need a very small 'T' bar. A better bet is to grip the hook with a pair of forceps and shake the Weever off. If its deeply hooked just cut the line. We deal with quite a few Weever stings in Cornwall, usually people stung on the feet whilst paddling/swimming. It's pretty painful but not particularly serious. Be careful if holding them by the tail as the little sods have a nasty trick of flicking themselves around and catching the unwary on the fingers. I think gloves would be a little OTT though.

 

if it doesnt shake free i get a wet rag and run it from the head backwards so the fin and spike lay flat on its back - hold it firmly, unhook and all u got to do is shake the rag and the fish drops out and swims away. or if its possible (and the way i prefer) grab it from underneith - so the spike is away from your hand

 

Just chop its heed off - sorted!

 

Weever boy is on the mark - most people fear getting stung far more than the pain of the sting itself. Having scraped launce for years and as a surfer I have lost count of the number of times that I have been stung by a weaver.

The first time is the worst because you dont know what to expect and the pain (best described as a banging throb) starts as a sharpish scratch and seems to escalate.

Hot water (as hot as you can stand) is the best remedy, hot liquid from a flask will do but soak it, after half an hour or so the throbbing eases. Subsequent stings seem to hurt less and less - I dont know if you build up some kind of immunity. I dont even bother to stop what I am doing now.

The above does not take account of matters if you have have adverse effects from bee stings and the like in which case you should exercise EXTREME caution do to the effects of Anaphalatic Shock.

PLEASE dont just cut the heads off any fish and chuck them back - cut your trace if you have to, even though the net result may be the same it never looks good butchering fish in public.

Hope this helps - PS the best !! weaver I have ever caught was from a very deep-water rock mark - it was a greater weaver and weighed 1Lb 6oz 4drms - just shy of the then British shore Record. That would take a bit of hot water.hnoes:

 

I read somewhere that the Lesser Weaver is more venemous than the greater weaver. I won`t put that to the test personally tho
I got stung once and my lad said I had to go to hospital. har-de-har. Moi? Your big tuff dad to hozzy with a fish sting?? No way.:blahblah:
Half an hour later with tackle hastily thrown in the car I was at the hospital desk with a throbbing arm, getting some quizzical looks from staff who obviously thought I was taking the pi$$.:uhoh:
Eventually a little old Indian woman doctor came to see me and said; "Ah yes, the Weaver Fish - very painful... sit there and wait".:sleeping:
And that was it. They monitored my temperature, pulse and blood pressure every 10 minutes for an hour and then let me go home.
Like you said - the FEAR of the sting is the worst bit. Still better not to get stung tho

 

The best solution is still to "chop their heeds off".

Decapitation is the most humane way to dispatch the undesirable elements in our sport.

Just ask the French!

After all, they are venomous and verminous in the extreme.

Merry Christmas,

4D

 

Well thanx all, some very interesting info. I can see both points bout chopping/not chopping head off of fish.. It is the more humane way, but on the other hand there are plenty of people out there trying to get fishing banned and if witnessed would use such things against the angling community, I would chose to leave either of these options as a last resort, basically if i couldn't see another way around it.

Fished Barmouth beach, North Wales, yesterday morning (yes Xmas day), and caught bugger all so didn't matter, but seeing as there are plenty of Weaver fish warning signs about in this town its a good subject to be clued up on.

I do have a T-bar, its quite large.. .. well saying that i have nothing to compare it to, being a beginner i just got it when i first bought my beachcaster and sea setup, (from Weymouth Angling Center) but not had cause to use it yet.

Thanx for all the info, I'm sure it will come in handy.

Merry Xmas to everyone btw.

 

also new to fishing i better find out wot these little buggers look like as i have never heard of them before!!! looks as if the forum may of stopped me accidentaly grabbing 1 :ahhh:

 

These are black and white but should help you identify them coffee boy

John

 

just cut off thier heads?
how the hell is that in anyway the most humane way to deal with a weaver?

christ it is only a bloody fish that can sting you, that does not mean to say it has to be killed just because you catch one. that is a pathetic statement to make made even more so by the fact that newbies could read it and think it is common practice:banghead:

 

just cut off thier heads?
how the hell is that in anyway the most humane way to deal with a weaver?

christ it is only a bloody fish that can sting you, that does not mean to say it has to be killed just because you catch one. that is a pathetic statement to make made even more so by the fact that newbies could read it and think it is common practice:banghead:

Ian,

Like it or not, you are actively involved in a "Blood Sport"

If you encounter rats taking pheasant eggs, you don't just "shoo them away" you shoot them or send terriers in to deal with them.

Similarly, if you encounter venomous vermin whilst sea fishing, then, as a "Blood Sportsman" you are justified in eliminating them in the most humane way at your disposal.

cheers,

4D

 

How can you class a Weever as 'vermin'? Because they have the capability to sting a potential predator? Its called survival, they aren't responsible for devouring millions of Cod eggs, they more or less just spend their life buried in the sand feeding off small inverterbrates and small fish. If you're unlucky enough to catch one, cut the line and throw it back, and if you keep catching them then fish somewhere else.

 

How can you class a Weever as 'vermin'? Because they have the capability to sting a potential predator? Its called survival, they aren't responsible for devouring millions of Cod eggs, they more or less just spend their life buried in the sand feeding off small inverterbrates and small fish. If you're unlucky enough to catch one, cut the line and throw it back, and if you keep catching them then fish somewhere else.

"Cut the line and throw them back" is not a humane way of dealing with the situation.

Statements which maintain that a high carbon hook will dissolve within days in a marine environment are simply not true. Thirty-odd years of experience in the metallurgical field bring me to that conclusion.

Unless the hook is well immersed within the stomach cavity where acids can "do their stuff"then the hook will potentially take weeks to "Dissolve" and depending on how it is hooked the fish will, in all probability, suffer a slow and lingering death.

The "cut the line" theory is only expounded by the T.V. boys (Rex Hunt et al)in order to assuage the public into thinking that it is acceptable. Of course the alternative is to go in with forceps, T Bars etc. with claret everywhere, and a fair chance that the victim will die on the operating table, anyway. Not good T.V.

Cheers,

4D

 

If Im using a stainless steel Aberdeen, then I will maybe knock the fish on the head and take the hook out if I feel that there is 0% chance of it surviving. But if Im using a high carbon hook I WILL cut the line and release the fish, as I believe that fish are more than capable of shedding the hook given time. Many people have caught fish with rusted hooks in their throat, if the fish is well enough to take a baited hook, then it may be well enough to feed and that is why I think its a total waste of time killing a fish for a hook woth a few pence. Your entitled to your opinion but I'll stick with giving the fish a chance mate. No offence.

 

Ian,

Like it or not, you are actively involved in a "Blood Sport"

If you encounter rats taking pheasant eggs, you don't just "shoo them away" you shoot them or send terriers in to deal with them.

Similarly, if you encounter venomous vermin whilst sea fishing, then, as a "Blood Sportsman" you are justified in eliminating them in the most humane way at your disposal.

cheers,

4D

i know i am involved in a blood sport. i also know that i only go fishing to eat while enjoying the social side. the idea that you could class a weaver fish as vermin i find incredible as unless i am mistaken they are part of the eco system of the sea. so do we kill bass because it can hurt us? shall we kill every dog fish we catch?

 

If Im using a stainless steel Aberdeen, then I will maybe knock the fish on the head and take the hook out if I feel that there is 0% chance of it surviving. But if Im using a high carbon hook I WILL cut the line and release the fish, as I believe that fish are more than capable of shedding the hook given time. Many people have caught fish with rusted hooks in their throat, if the fish is well enough to take a baited hook, then it may be well enough to feed and that is why I think its a total waste of time killing a fish for a hook woth a few pence. Your entitled to your opinion but I'll stick with giving the fish a chance mate. No offence.

You're just attempting to "ease your conscience" by allowing a deeply hooked fish to "live" with the hook embedded in it.

It's not a question of the "cost of a hook", it's the inhumane treatment of fish that's the issue, here.

Cheers,

$d

 

i know i am involved in a blood sport. i also know that i only go fishing to eat while enjoying the social side. the idea that you could class a weaver fish as vermin i find incredible as unless i am mistaken they are part of the eco system of the sea. so do we kill bass because it can hurt us? shall we kill every dog fish we catch?

Let's not be pedantic about the "Eco" issue. Every living thing is part of the "eco system" including "rats".

The majority of fish don't have the capacity to hospitalise humans unless handled clumsily. Weevers do! Hence the term "Vermin"

So I'll continue to eliminate them at every opportunity

Cheers,

4D

 

This is a disgusting statement,its people with comments like that who give the antis ammunition!
If you cant deal with catching fish you dont like then stop fishing!

Sparkypete,

I can deal with them quite easily, that's the point.

It's folk who return deeply hooked fish under the pretence that they will, as Rexie says "shed the hook in acouple of days" who provide ammunition for the Antis.

Cheers,

4D

 

i can pick up a dogfish with bare hands and not recieve any pain or soreness at all, but while on a boat in north wales i witnessed someone handle one and he openly bled. does this mean that they should be killed? all fish have the capacity to harm us and some a lot more than a weaver. it is your opinion and you have the right to make it just as i have the right to say it is a silly opinion

 

Fordy ur opinion sucks *** ur just acting like an arsehole just because u r scared of something u have to kill it thats bullshit m8

 

i can pick up a dogfish with bare hands and not recieve any pain or soreness at all, but while on a boat in north wales i witnessed someone handle one and he openly bled. does this mean that they should be killed? all fish have the capacity to harm us and some a lot more than a weaver. it is your opinion and you have the right to make it just as i have the right to say it is a silly opinion

A weak argument. You're not comparing like-with-like. A dogfish abrasion will not hospitallise you, a venomous weever sting will