Sorry I havn't blogged for so long but I have been away at sea for quite a while. The fishing has been good of late and we have been able to put a few good trips in, as the weather has remained very settled.

We are seeing a good mix of fish with the John dory's turning up in the last few weeks and there is still a nice few monks and lemons on the grounds. The haddock fishing has been steady but not a huge amount so far.

We are also seeing a nice few megs when we are working further to the west but the prices have been poor for the megs as they are mainly exported to spain, and the spanish are not buying fish like they used to due to the recession.

Read More...

We sailed last tuesday week and we had a short trip to the south so that we could catch a good market again on the Friday. The fishing has been good of late and we knocked up over 100 boxes for our couple of days, we are seeing a nice few lemon sole's now with a few dovers in amongst the catch and the haddocks are coming on stronger now each week.

We had a quick turn around on thursday evening and we headed off to the grounds to the south of the lizzard point, the fishing was good once again with a steady catch of monks with lemons,haddocks,sole's,brills,whiting and a sprinkling of john dorys.

On the Saturday we were joined by a couple of dutch seine net boats who steamed down from the east to fish with us further west. Seine net fishing always fascenates me, as it is a very efficient way to fish if the right fish are on the grounds.

Read More...

With easter just round the corner we were keen to get a landing in before the last market before the holiday weekend, as usually the prices can be good. Then we were hoping to work over the easter weekend to land middle of next week.

We sailed on friday afternoon after the wind had eased and we headed south to shoot our gear off the lizzard point. It was still quite poor when we shot and we had a bit of a job as the swell was huge and we had to shoot into the weather. We worked away through the night on friday but the fishing wasn't the best as the swell remained heavy from the southwest which was probibly lifting the gear, so this meant we didn't fish as well as we could have.

The weather eased by the morning, but our first daylight haul we picked up a heavy weight and we had to haul our gear. We got the gear to the surface but the weight was in the cod end so we had to heave it over the stern and as it was still quite a swell running and this proved to be quite dangerous.

Read More...

We arrived back into Newlyn yesterday evening after a three day trip, we had good fishing for the time that we were at sea. The lemon fishing has started to come on and we are still seeing a nice few of monks on the ground.

The good news is that the haddocks after an abscense of three mounths have started to turn up again, not a huge  amount but it's a good sign

I had a visitor in the wheelhouse with me on wednesday night, the mist came down and a swallow came down out of the mist and spent the night sleeping in the wheelhouse above the barometer. They usually show this time of year and quite often if it turns foggy they stop aboard to recover and try to regain there bearings.

Read More...

A few weeks back we took Tom a student from Falmouth school of photography to sea with us for three days.

He  spent the few days at sea taking pictures of the crew and I at work and  what life was like onboard a trawling at sea.

The pictures turned out really good and what is different is, that they are shot on black and white film which gives a earthy feel to the shots.

Read More...

The boat sailed on monday and they are hoping to push through until sunday evening. Alec has the boat away this trip, the weather was good at the start of the trip but it has turned unsettled from the west. The wind has been up and down with sixes and sevens at time's but the fishing isn't to bad, so that helps when its an ucomfortable week at sea.

They have been all over the grounds this week moving around with the tide and they are currently to the south of the scillies, they are seeing a nice bit of monk,lemons,megs, whittens and a few more haddocks are starting to show.

We have been working in amongst the beamers quite a bit recently as they are chasing the monk and sole which swim closer to the coast this time of year, we are also seeing quite a few visiting beamers from Brixham and they have been landing their catches into Newlyn and trucking it to Plymouth for sale.

Read More...

We have just arrived back in from a five day trip, We have had some good fishing this week, with plenty of lemon sole and dover soles to be had.

We have been working all over this week following the fish as they moved around with the tide and I am glad to see the back of the winter and I am looking foreward to the spring, when the fishing is usually far better for us.

The fresh east

Read More...

We got back in yestrday evening after a couple of days fishing, this was our secound trip this week, as we landed our catch last friday so we could take advantage of the good prices at the end of last week.

We have been working out to the southered again off the lizard, in the beginning of the trip we were seeing a nice bit of squid and cytlle with some whitings, haddocks brills, sole and

Read More...

We sailed last wednesday and we headed west and shot to the south of the scillies, the weather when we sailed was fresh from the northeast and a large swell was starting to build. Before we left I had a forecast and we were going to have a series of low pressures pass overhead with the wind being cyclonic and strong at times so we new this would be an unpredictable trip.

The fishing

Read More...

We sailed last wednesday night and we are due into land our catch to PTA this evening. The fishing has been difficult this week and we have had to move grounds alot to stay fishing, we have a good mix of prime and flats but the whitefishing has been slacker. 

This is quite the norm for mid february as it can always go slack this time of year and with a long spell of cold easterly winds

Read More...