A Morning In The Life Of A Commercial Fisherman

[Norrie]

Aye...But NO matches to light it wiv......

[SandTiger]

Aye...But NO matches to light it wiv......

 

We had plenty of matches but no stove to light wiv them...

[Norrie]

Wish we'd stayed near each other ......

[SandTiger]

Wish we'd stayed near each other ......

 

Tiss okay, we torched the local church for warmth...

[Norrie]

Yes, I heard about it from a "Mole"....I hear thats why you moved as far away from where you were, to where you are now......

[Norm B]

Its early April and its mild, low water is at 05.00 and you’re a crew for a commercial fisherman.

The plan is to fish the very last of the ebb tide and the very first of flood tide.

 

Fishing for bass your using gill nets drifted when the tide is running at its weakest.

You leave your mooring at 03.00, first thing first the kettles put on.

 

Its been blowing an Easterly six for the previous three days and there is plenty of color in the water. The wind has now dropped to a force 3 but there is still a nice chop on the water. Expectations are high these conditions are good for bass and the chop will help keep the weed out of the gear.

 

Its only a short 50 minute steam 6 miles up river to where you intend to shoot your nets, just enough time to get the gear ready and drink a tea.

Your mind is racing with thoughts, what you caught from where this time on these tides last year for one.

A decision is made to put two 400-yard fleets close in on the South shore, and another two fleets very shallow across the mouths of some creeks on the North shore.

 

The gear is marked at one end by a dan and at the other by a large orange buoy; the dan is thrown over the transom of the boat while she is steaming forward. This pulls the nets into the water until finally the orange buoy goes over and the first fleet is shot. This process is repeated for the other three fleets at the chosen marks and the kettle goes on.

 

Now the sun is starting to rise and as you sip your tea you feel like the luckiest man alive.

 

The gear can’t be in the water to long, as it could start to twist up or catch lots of rubbish if left until the flood tide starts to run hard. So the tea is finished and a course steered to the first fleet of gear.

Its day light as the dan is lifted on board and the bridle rope starts coming through the hauler.

The first fish to come through is not a bass but a large female thornback of about 10lb; 5 bass of around one and a half pounds each follow this.

Not as good as you had hoped but a start.

The second fleet has only two bass but there are four large thornbacks as a small consolation.

It’s now time to haul the two fleets you shot on the North shore in the shallow water.

The first of these has fifteen bass of between 1.5lb and 2.5lb, you start to cheer up.

The second fleet has the same amount of bass with one of around five pounds and another large thornback of about ten pounds.

 

A course is set for home on the auto pilot and you start to wing the thornbacks and flake the nets out.

 

You have around three and a half stone of bass and two and a half stone of thornbacks; this is about £230 of fish.

Not bad for 5 hours work.

Not being rude Sam but who wrote this for you? It's not your usual standard of 4 lines with 6 spelling mistakes is it.

[guernseybass]

We do not all have to agree on hear, but at least we can try and educate our selves to understand someones opinion.

 

 

well said there Sam, i think that goes for both sides too. good thread chap.

 

 

Interesting the other input about costs, forms etc too. Its clear to me that such operators are not where the real problems lie in our fisheries but with more the deep sea boats and pair trawlers etc. not to mention the CFP.

 

If we renegotiate the CFP, prohibit these factory ships and pair trawlers, reduce bycatches, increase regulation etc then hopefully there will be more money for these small local operations, and more of them too, along with greater employment in recreational fishing and tourism for depressed rural (coastal) areas.

 

GB

[Steve Coppolo]

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QUOTE(Norm B @ Nov 20 2005, 11:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not being rude Sam but who wrote this for you? It's not your usual standard of 4 lines with 6 spelling mistakes is it.

 

I say Norman old chap, if that's your idea of not being rude, I'd hate to see you really let rip!

[sam-cox]

As I said, I wrote it on word then pasted it.

[Norm B]

--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Norm B @ Nov 20 2005, 11:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->

Not being rude Sam but who wrote this for you? It's not your usual standard of 4 lines with 6 spelling mistakes is it.

I say Norman old chap, if that's your idea of not being rude, I'd hate to see you really let rip!

Sorry Steve it was meant as a light hearted jest, nothing personal, just that the thread was getting a bit heavy and I tried to lighten it up. No getting at Sam intended but I didn't think you or anyone else would take it seriously. Obviously they did so I apologise again.

 

As I said, I wrote it on word then pasted it.

Sorry if you took it as a slight Sam, not intended that way. Just an attempt at humour, obviously it failed.

Edited November 20, 2005 by Norm B