Any fish(ing) persons?

I keep tropical fish and have been known to breed and show them.

I also like to fish, hence the daft title and tomorrow, am heading out for some cod hopefully. Today, I went digging for lug worms at the beach. Was there just over an hour and got sunburn. Now have a face like an angry tomato. Just 3 hours later, it`s lashing down and nearly dark by 5pm.

Was out last week for Mackerel. Must have got 300 between three of us. The week before, we got 30. Luckily, we have a buyer so it pays for the upkeep of the boat. We fish out of a lovely wee east neuk (corner) of Fife village called Anstruther. Most famous for having a chip shop that was (allegedly) sold for 5m quid

Any more fishy types on board. There must be

Here`s a pic of a hitch-hiker we got last week

 

He will you know

We've got our own Fishing Forum on here Andy. I hope you don't mind if I move this thread into it, its exactly what we want in there

 

Here we are then

Good luck with the Codding tomorrow. I caught a cracking one while I was feathering for Mackerell off a boat. Thought i'd snagged the bottom.

Planning on getting out soon, not been for a while due to family commitments.

 

Would love to see piccies of your catch Andy. I don't eat fish but love close ups of their markings - when they are fresh from the sea. The iridescent colouring, the rainbow hues and varying spots. Love that.
Enjoy and stay safe at sea,
Jenny namaste

 

oh why oh why do all you lovely people that still have access to boats live so damned far away, i hate not going out, please do share you stories and pictures though so i can still dream and recall what it was like !
good look with the trip today

 

Not at all Zigs. I really should have stuck it here in the first place but since I mentioned the tropical side, it was a toss-up. I can maybe start another thread sometime on fishkeeping.

Thanks buddy. I have a similar tale to yours. Some years ago, fishing off the Isle of Wight, (I was working in the lovely Hamble) I thought the same. Turns out to be a specimen plaice. Thought I was pulling up a bag of cement The guy in the pics son was with us last week and he pulled the biggest Mackerel I`d ever seen. Over 16" long and also, he pulled a 3-4lb cod. I`ve never caught cod using feathers, only bait.

I`ll see what I can do for you Jenny. Pics will only be from my fone though. Never take my camera offshore. Too much risk with the salt in the air.
Thanks and hopefully we will be safe. Although it`s at sea, we`re still in the estuary of the Forth so not too bad.

Thanks very much Kaz, and everyone else.

 

Ah well, I`d like to say we caught a load of fish today but we didn`t. 11 cod we caught. Hardly worth getting the sunburn for yesterday. Only thing we can say in our defence was we fished around slack water (low tide to the non Jack Tars amongst us) and that is the worst time. But what is it.....time and tide waits for no man? Unfortunately, due to work commitments, we can only go between sort of 10am and 3pm during the day and of course weather permitting. Turned out to be very dreich when we left the harbour but the sun came out for a bit and so I have a burnt forehead again We chased the fish all over our favoured marks but the action was very slow. We did lose quite a few though (honestly) through not setting the hook right. Rab (skipper, owner and mate for almost 40 years) got new hooks and I felt the gape was too big, allowing time for the fish to smash and grab so to speak. The three of us all lost 7 or 8 each which is very unusual for us. Probably 100 years of fishing between us.
Still.....musn`t grumble. I had a very nice fish tea made with spicy batter and it was dee-lish


Leaving the inner harbour



Leaving the outer harbour




The village of Anstruther in the distance




Was this the same hitch-hiker we had last week?




Preparing the fish for filleting and giving the seagulls a snack.




Feeding off the scraps.



The pictures are actually not bad for a Blackberry. The last one was when we were sitting in a couple of feet of water, waiting for the tide coming in to reach our mooring.

 

i remember gutting the mackeral and my kids thinking i was mean giving to the sea guls, hope you still enjoyed your day even though you didnt get much

 

Thats not a bad day Andy At least you caught your tea

Smashing pics too, looks like you're under the same cloud as us. Anything else apart from Cod?

 

A couple of Ballan Wrasse and something we call a proach. Dunno if that`s a local term or not. You only ever catch them when there is no tide whatsoever running. We are not sport fishermen I`m afraid Zigs. We catch purely for the pot. We get the occasional ling but they are getting scarce now up here. We never fish intentionally for anything other than cod and mackerel. The guy we sell the mackerel to has a load of lobster pots and he gives us crabs (oo-err) anytime we want them. We have 4 creels ourselves but have recently retired them. We weren`t there often enough to bait and empty them and they should be done every day if possible. It`s a 45 minute drive from where we live to the boat so not easy.

 

Had a great day thanks Kaz.

The rain even stayed away which was a bonus. Pelting down by the time we got home though.

 

Proach could be what we call a Pout down here, cod family with a little bib hanging from the lower jaw?

I fish to eat too Andy. Just not got out enough recently. Thanks for the report

 

Willow, when she was younger, took great delight in going down the pier & terrifying the other kids there with the still beating heart of a Mackerell

don't you just love the vegetarian sense of humour

 

Had a look and this is the closest thing. Not a pout though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Bullhead