31st December 2013. We have had 2 blank hauls and one "ok" haul. Got about 35 kilos of bass and 3 red mullet. Big tides now, waiting for some sign of fish in the bay before we shut again. Have a good new years eve! 

24th December 2013. There is still 10 days of good bassing weather ahead of us, so hopefully it will be a good start to the new year.

HERE'S WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

20th December 2013. The last haul we had was useless, 400 yards for just 2 bass. The market is now closed until the 2nd of January. The weather is looking good for bassing for as far as I can see (10 days ahead). We have quite a few tangle nets to sort out before we start again after Christmas, hope you all have a good one! 

17th December 2013. I have been too busy to get on here until now. The fishing has been great even though we have had a lot of weed and tangled nets. We did have the odd 'clean' tier with just fish, this 200 yards had 80 bass, which is good fishing :-


So happy that they turned up before the market shut for Christmas. There was a few mackerel with the hand liners today as well. We have two tiers to haul first light tomorrow, might have one more shut for Fridays market if it's any good.

14th December 2013. We have shut 4 tiers of bass nets to the west. It is certainly rough enough for bass, plus there were gannets working and fish marks on the meter. So I'm quietly confident about tomorrow.

13th December 2013. There wasn't much mackerel about yesterday, what was caught were mostly small. I didn't go because I smashed my car up Wednesday night. So have been busy with insurance and looking for another one. Will be netting with Hodgey soon.

11th December 2013. I found it hard going today, some boats found the squid and some of us didn't. I only managed 8 1/2 kilos and a dozen mackerel. One boat had 80 kilos of squid! It is going to be windier tomorrow, so I plan to concentrate on the mackerel. The weekend and all of next week is looking good for netting. Hoping for a big week on the bass and mullet before the market closes for Christmas. There is a porbeagle shark hanging around in the bay, it circled my boat three times today, so close I could of grabbed hold of it. I thought I had got a great film of it but my camera wasn't on! grrrrrrr. It's not that big, about 6ft long.

9th December 2013. There was no mackerel yesterday, five fish is all I had. We ended up with about 18 kilos of squid. Today we concentrated on the squid but the first 1/2hr was pretty much all of it. We made yesterdays up to 40 kilos :-


The squid were fetching 4.70 per kilo this morning, not bad for the amount thats been landed all over the weekend. It is getting a bit windier out there and the rods aren't fishing so well, the line is going away from the boat too much. So I'm going to switch to hand lines with heavier weights tomorrow. St Piran, the fisheries vessel came close today but didn't give us a visit :-


I don't think there is a size limit on squid, not that we are catching small ones at the moment. I'll have to google it just incase :)

7th December 2013. Got down the quay at 8.30 just as Frank Lander was coming in from mackereling, he didn't have a single fish, so we went squiding. After 1 1/2 hours we only had 6 squid, decided to give up and make the moorings. Found out afterwards that while we were trying to catch squid, there was quite a bit of mackerel being caught. So plan 'A' in to go mackerel hunting in the morning.

6th December 2013. Calming down nicely today but I can't go. I will be starting tomorrow with lightish southwesterlies for the weekend. Then from Monday on it is staying light to moderate southerly, which is great for this coast. Only problem we will have is deciding whether it is best to mackerel or go squiding. Squid jigs on the bottom of the mackerel set maybe?

3rd December 2013. Had a great day catching squid. There were some real beauties coming up :-


It was the first time I have done it properly, great fun :-


Made a mess of Hodgey's boat though :- 


The wind is due to freshen up from the north tomorrow, so we won't be doing another low water. It is looking good from Saturday onwards with off shore moderate southerlies.

2nd December 2013. Yesterdays fish fetched a good price this morning, 2.80 for the mediums and 4.80 for the large mediums. That was an average of 95 pound per box! But with fishing, it can soon change, it was hard going today. We did 5hrs for this :- 


Just about covering the fuel cost but Hodgey kept smiling, especially when the 1st squid aboard squirted up my nose and in my eye :- 


We are going to go early tomorrow and target the squid for at least all of the ebb tide. We might change to mackereling on the flood, depends how we are doing. I'll let you know tomorrow night how it went, if I have time.

1st December 2013. We did 3 hours mackereling on the flood for 115 kilos. Only 11k of small, 59k mediums and 45k of big stuff. Friday's prices were 2.70 for mediums and 5.40 for large mediums. Put the boat out on anchor so we can start a bit earlier in the flood tomorrow. 

29th November 2013. We had a better day yesterday, 3 boxes of mackerel on the hooks, a box of ray and quite a few mixed flatties in the nets. There is herring and whiting to be had on the hooks as well. Fresh northerly winds for two days now, looking at mackereling on Sunday next.

27th November 2013. Very little in the flatfish nets yesterday so we moved them out deeper and will let them have two nights in the water. Tried the hooks this morning but only managed about 30 kilos of mackerel. Will give it another try in the morning and then haul the nets. 

25th November 2013. Hauled the nets yesterday, hardly any fish. Just a dozen plaice, a few dabs and a turbot (nice feed). We didn't bother shutting back until today, hope for a better haul tomorrow. There is a few mackerel being caught on the hooks, so we plan to give that a try before we haul in the morning. Yesterday they had between 25k to 50k per man.

23rd November 2013. Put the flatfish nets out this morning. Mia (my girlfriends daughter) wanted to come out and take some photos for a college project and my youngest Mel (on the left) came along for the ride:-


Half way across the bay, the dolphins turned up and Mia was on cloud nine snapping away, perfect! :-


Hopefully I will have some fish to photograph tomorrow, I'll keep you posted. Hodgey tried squiding off the Island today but blanked. There wasn't much mackerel up this end either. I heard that there are good catches of both down Sennen way.

21st November 2013. I'm still dying of man flu. Today is the last of the strong winds, it's going to be a calm week ahead. A few of the St Ives men have been working from Newlyn, hand lining mackerel. Some days they have had up to 300 kilos. The last report I heard was 5 boxes (2 handed), half good and half small, with mediums fetching around the two pound mark.

18th November 2013. I have been struck with man flu! So I am grounded for a day or two, might get out in the garden to set some more bass nets. Looking at the forecast, it is only today that I am missing out on. The rest of the week is all fresh north to northeast winds. A friend of mine posted a picture on facebook of a monkfish they caught, thought I would share it with you, I have never seen one this big, monster! :-


16th November 2013. I was up early and looking forward to catching some bass on the lines. It was still dark when I got down the quay, Stuart (Boco) was there testing the lights he put up yesterday :- 


He does a great job every year :- 


When they are all up and on, it is going to look fantastic. If you appreciate what he is doing and would like to help towards making them bigger and better every year, you can pop a donation into the harbour office any week day.

I got up the 'Stones' just after first light. Saul on the 'Proper Job' was there trying all the different spots with live eels. I was using the new Eddystone eel 2013. Neither of us had a single bass. Before the normally quiet 2 hours when the tide slackens off, I decided to give up and beach 'Jen' outside the harbour. It was a cold morning and it got even colder when I jumped off the bow and filled my wellies up! A couple of bamboo pieces behind the radiator are now holding them over the heat :-


I must remember that these new ones are a bit shorter than my others. Frank on the 'Kelly Girl' tried mackereling, he went as far as Seal Island for just one mackerel and a scad. Trevor on the 'Lady Joan' found a few macs at first light, only about 40 fish though. There is not much life out there at the moment. I think Simon and Rob on the 'Kira' are shutting a bass net deep off on the cod track. I will try and find out what they had later on.

13th November 2013. The bass and mullet have moved off from the shore, all we had was 8 dogfish in 700 yards of net. We will wait until there is a decent stir up, then have another try. Saturday and Sunday are looking very calm, so I think I will be heading up the stones to give the poles a try for bass. Hodgey is going to try the squid. There was a box or two of mackerel caught this side today, they were big fish, so that is another option.

12th November 2013. A couple of boats tried mackereling but didn't have much, all the mackerel are around Newlyn, about 300 kilos per boat at the moment. We have shut the bass nets again. Not so much ground swell as last time, it might just be mullet in them tomorrow morning. The water is still nice and murky, so we have a good chance. Boy Stuart has shut as well.

11th November 2013. It was worth putting the nets back out on Saturday, a nice calm haul yesterday with a good bit of fish coming up. We had a bit less mullet but more bass this time. The market prices were not fantastic, but we had the quantity to make it worth our while. Bass were 4.90 (0-1), 6.10 (1-2) and the mullet were 2.40. There is a lot of bass being caught on the poles by the Newlyn men, they are having around 50 fish a day. Keeping an eye on the forecast now to see when we can have another shut.

9th November 2013. The nets are back in the water to the west. The sea conditions were really quite poor (approx norwest 6-7) but "Mary Mo" handled it brilliantly. Last night a friend of mine caught 3 bass from Manshead, so there are a few on the shore. Plenty of gannets working west of Seal Island, so I'm hopeful  for another good haul in the morning.  

8th November 2013. The haul went well apart from quite a bit of weed. Hodgey had his first taste of unmeshing :- 


He seemed quite happy with his first try netting :- 


So was I, we did well :-

 

116 mullet and 30 bass. We will be shutting back asap.

 7th November 2013. The bass gear is in the water, first shut with Hodgey on the "Mary Mo'. Everything went smoothly, we have gone down as far as Gurnards Head. I expect to see mullet tomorrow and hopefully some bass. It is great to be on a fast boat, it increases your options of where to fish. I saw Frank Lander catching a couple of mackerel as we went past, don't know what he ended up with yet. 

6th November 2013. I was hoping to get to the west with the bass gear today but at the moment it is looking too poor. On Monday Frank Lander had a box and a half of mackerel on the hooks. Karl and Boco have teamed up with Gary on the 'Bethshan' and gone around to Newlyn after the bass. I might give the herring gear another try in the bay tonight. 

4th November 2013. I put the herring nets out yesterday and hauled them today. No sign of any mackerel and just 35 kilos of herring. A couple of boxes of dogfish as well. Next move is bass nets to the west. I am teaming up with Hodgey on the "Mary Mo". I'll let you know how we get on.

2nd of November. A rough week ahead, apart from a light northerly on Monday, the rest of it is fresh to strong west or southwest winds. There might be a few fish in the bay, time will tell. 

31st October 2013. I woke up with a painful back and wasn't looking forward to hauling my 700 yards of nets aboard. Karl and Boco on the 'Gemma' were going to shut their herring gear the same time I was going to haul mine. Karl offered to haul mine and I jumped at the chance. The fishing was useless. The mackerel net had just 2 mackerel, the flatty net had about 10 plaice, 1 dab and just brown crab (5 kilos of claws), the herring net came up with 4 herring! They put their herring nets back on the quay. The sea has settled a bit and there has been a couple of boxes of mackerel caught on the hand lines. The bass netters to the west had some nice mullet and a few bass. I'm going to have a couple of days ashore getting more gear ready. 

This mornings market prices that I heard about were :- Mackerel - small 1.00, mediums 3.00 to 4.00 and large mediums 5.00. Herring 55p. Netted bass (0-1) around the 7.00 mark and mullet 3.50.

30th October 2013. Lots of herring in the nets yesterday :- 


Everyone had plenty :- 

 

Too much fish really, the price went down to 30p/40p per kilo. I had a couple of bass and a few mackerel to go with my 145k of herring.

Had a lot less today, 1/2 a dozen mackerel and 2 boxes of herring. I have put the nets back out, plus 400 yards of flat fish gear.

28th October 2013. The nets are in the water, 200 yards of herring net, 100 yards of mackerel net and 200 yards of bass net. The water is nicely murky, so hopefully there will be some fish tomorrow. Two other boats have shut herring nets and I think Stuart on the 'Little Christina' has gone west with bass gear. 

27th October 2013. Plenty of surf over rampers :- 


A lot of boats have been taken out of the harbour and put safe on dry land. It is rough but the forecast at the moment for next Sunday is worse than now, more wind, larger waves and a spring tide. If that doesn't change I will be thinking about taking mine out. Masses of sea to the west, looking very fishy :-


I'm looking forward to getting the nets in the water. 

25th October 2013. That powerful ground swell is still coming, not quite as high as first forecasted but still very strong. I'm not sure what has been caught in the last couple of days, I have been at home nursing a weak back and getting more nets ready for this stir up. It looks like working in the bay is the only option up until Wednesday, then a few of us might venture to the west with bass nets.

22nd October 2013. Hauled for nothing other than weed :- 


That was after finding my punt upside down for the second morning in a row :- 


I'm going to get the punt out of the harbour this afternoon and clean the nets. Three other boats hauled nets and had the same as me, work for nothing. The joys of being a fisherman :)

Windguru is forecasting a huge powerful swell arriving on Monday night into Tuesday. It is a long way off so it might change by the time we get there. Take a look :- WINDGURU.

21st October 2013. I thought Saturdays haul was bad, yesterday I had 1 herring in 500 yards! John on the 'Sandpiper' had 37 kilos of mackerel on the hooks Saturday afternoon, so I had a try yesterday which resulted in this :-


Just 7 kilos. I'm going to put the mackerel/herring nets back out tonight and hope that there is a wage in them tomorrow morning. 

19th October 2013. I shut last night and hauled this morning, very little fish. Only 20 kilos of herring and just 4 mackerel. The boats that went nearer to Hayle did a bit better. I'm going to shut back a bit deeper tonight. Gary on the 'Bethshan' gave up line fishing early with just 3 squid and a couple of mackerel.

18th October 2013. I had my first catch of herring yesterday, 40 kilo's, not a lot but its a start. They fetched 90p per kilo. Hopefully the catches will increase with the south/southwesterly winds set to stay for a week. Hauling at first light there were quite a lot of live ones coming up:-


I didn't shut back yesterday as I didn't want to keep the fish iced all weekend. might shut tonight for a haul tomorrow. 

16th October 2013. I have put 300 yards of mackerel/herring net out tonight. I am quietly confident that I will have more than last time (none!). On the way back in Boy Stuart was coming out on his new addition to his fleet, boat number 3, this one is a beauty :-


115hp on the back, thirsty but you will get to where you want in no time. The extra fishing time will more than cover the extra fuel. Very nice! I will be hauling at first light, it's about time I caught something. I'll keep you posted. 

14th October 2013. Most of the seasons are late this year, including the spider crabs leaving the bay, what a mess :- 


Not what I was hoping for. Only 3 dovers, a few dabs and the rest was plaice. the spiders are soft and unsellable. Back to the drawing board! 

13th October 2013. I got out there today and 'shut' 630 yards of flatfish nets over the eastern shore. I have just had a new combi boiler fitted at home and found a better use for the old water tank, it will hold 500 yards easily :-


After shutting the nets I went polling for three hours up the 'Stones'. It was very quiet, the catch would have just about covered the fuel cost if I didn't have it for tea :-


The smallest bass was just on the size limit. I hope to see a better result tomorrow, crab, ray, plaice and sole with a bit of luck. I'll let you know how I get on. Other catches I heard about today were mackerel up to maybe 40 kilos and squid up to around 15 kilos.

11th October 2013. It is calming down tomorrow night and looking ok for a couple of days. Will hopefully have some fish on Sunday. From Wednesday there is a strong southwesterly with a fair bit of ground swell on the way. 

8th October 2013. I went bassing on Saturday and did very well. I managed to catch 25 bass and 26 pollack. I went again on Sunday with high hopes and only had 7 bass in 7 hours, thats fishing. I was told that the squid and mackerel went quiet as well on Sunday, a lot of the boats gave up early. Apparently yesterday was useless as well, with small amounts of squid and some of the top mackerelers only having 10 kilo per man. It is looking like we are going to have fresh northerly winds starting tomorrow lunch time and lasting in strength until Saturday night. 

4th October 2013. I have been having lots of work done on my house so haven't been able to get out for a couple of days. All systems go tomorrow, plan 'A' is to get out polling at first light and hopefully be catching bass all day.  

1st October 2013. I put 200 yards of mackerel/herring net out last night and hauled it first light this morning. This was the result :-


I wasn't impressed! The hand liners didn't have much today either, 10 to 15 kilos of squid and mackerel each. I might have a go on the afternoon tide tomorrow. Stuart on the 'Little Christina' had a box of flatfish yesterday, mostly plaice with a couple of dover soles and 5 small rays. There is still a lot of soft spider crabs in the bay, they make holes in the gear, they should be gone by the next small tides hopefully.

30th September 2013. From what I can gather, there wasn't much mackerel about yesterday. The tides are now starting to jump (get bigger), so hopefully it should get better as the week progresses. The prices on Newlyn market this morning were :- Smalls 40p, Mediums 1-50, Large Meds 4-40 and squid line caught £4 to £5.

26th September 2013. Looks like a fresh easterly wind for a few days, easing and going southerly on Monday. I will take a look on Sunday, hopefully the eastern shore will be workable. I am tempted to try an overnight shut with some flatfish nets, the tides are perfect for it. Hmmm. 

25th September 2013. I have been very busy catching bass. Great day yesterday with 34 fish for 27.5 kilos. Not so many today but a better run, I had 12 fish for 13 kilos. The morning mackerel landings I saw were just one box per man. Quite a few of the mackerelers are now concentrating on the squid. I have never caught a dogfish while free lining live eels until today, it was the darkest one I've ever seen :-


22nd September 2013. I tried the eddystone eels 2012 today. They fished very well, I had 13 bass and kept 10. Only down side to them is that they aren't as tough as I hoped, didn't take many fish to destroy a lure. The mackerel weren't there over low water today like yesterday, Hodgey on the "Mary Mo" was out all day for just one box. Fresh southeasterly tomorrow, so not sure if I am going, I will take a look out the window in the morning. 

21st September 2013. I had quite a good day yesterday, 21 bass for about 15 kilos. It was a bit slower today, 13 fish weighed 10 kilos. some of the low water mackerelers had 200 kilos per man. There is still a few squid about but nothing like it was. Saul who I sell most of my bass to (wild harbour fish) has been on the bass the last two days as well. Prisky's eels have been in demand:-


He had about 20 bass today, most of them have been under a kilo. Out of 36 fish I only had 2 over a kilo :-


Prisky doesn't bait on Sundays, so I will have a go with the lures. If that fails I will try the mackerel.

19th September 2013. There was very little caught yesterday, the water was still murky. It wasn't much better this morning, the best being about a box per man. Most of that was small :-


As usual, the prices are up when they are hard to find. Smalls were 80p and mediums were 5 pounds per kilo on Newlyn market this morning. 15 squid was the best anyone did yesterday and that was for a good few hours.  

18th September 2013. It was still quite churned up out there today, a few went and tried the mackerel and squid, but I haven't heard how they got on. None of them stayed out until last light, I saw one come in and go straight on the moorings, so maybe there wasn't much to be had. I have been cutting out the old net :- 


And replacing it with new :- 


The forecast is looking good, light winds starting Friday and lasting for at least a week! Hope that doesn't change. Line caught bass will be my target, if there isn't any on the shore, I will see if there are some big ones to tempt up the stones. 

16th September 2013. We have a couple of days ashore due to the winds so I am sat doing a bit of online shopping. Buying 400 yards of mackerel nets and the same amount of bass nets, that will give me something to do when the water is too murky for hook fishing. I know what I'm doing there and that is all sorted. But now I am looking at squid jigs, not sure what's good and what's not. So I thought I would start a thread to discuss this on the 'something fishy' page. Any review, long or short, would be helpful. I know some of you like to keep successful methods to yourself, I'm guilty of that sometimes. Jigs to avoid, so not to waste money would be good to know. Tight lines!

14th September 2013. The BBC forecast was right, quite fresh from the north today. There were no bait boats out this morning so I tried mackereling with the hope of catching a few squid as well for the table. I didn't fancy polling for bass all the way up to the stones in a rocky sea :-


The fishing was dead slow, an hour and a half for just a dozen mackerel and a john dory :- 

 

I managed to scrounge a couple of squid off Boco and Karl on the 'Athena Fay' and give up for the day. Lots of wind on the way for the next few days. I have started cutting old nets out ready to make some new ones.

13th September 2013. Yesterday went well, 24 bass and I stayed dry! I was asked by Hayle's deputy harbour master to get permission from the harbour master to fish in the navigational channel. I will go and see him next week. The 24 bass weighed 17.5 kilos, so not a bad days work. The next time that I can't get live bait I will give the Eddystone Eel 2012 a try on the poles. I think they will take fish and last a bit longer than the previous ones. The nose feels a lot firmer and should take quite a battering before needing to be replaced:-


I have a few other types to try, savage and rage lures. I will test them out. Tomorrow is looking ok to go. Windguru is giving just 6mph northerly on average, but the BBC is forecasting 14mph northerly. I find windguru more accurate. Lots of wind after tomorrow, so mackereling in the bay might be the only option next week.

11th September 2013. I have been away for a couple of days, first trip out today since Friday. I managed to get sandeels from Prisky and went bassing over the low water. Apart from being caught by a large surf that totally drenched me, I had a good day. 30 bass that weighed 22.5 kilos. Hope to do the same tomorrow. Not much mackerel being caught but there  are some squid showing up.   

6th September 2013. It has been a great week, managed to catch 89 bass. Not had time to update until now. There are loads of sandeels around, which helps to attract the bass. Yesterday morning all 3 bait boats were taking turns to net them :-  


Prisky had one shut this morning for 30 stone. I am off now until Tuesday, will update with any news that I get. There was a lot less mackerel with Karl and Boco on the 'Athena Fay' today. First half of next week looks a bit fresh from the north, then Thursday is flat calm and Friday being a gentle southwesterly.

2nd September 2013. I had 10 bass today and the biggest one beat my all time personal best. My best was 6 1/2lb, caught years ago down Porthmeor beach. Now it is 7lb 5 1/2 ounces, the one on top :-


None of the baiters were out this morning, so I decided to try live mackerel for bait. I caught about 15 in a couple of minutes :-

 

Not only did I catch my biggest bass ever, I caught the smallest fish compared to the bait ever as well! I was using 2 small hooks on the mackerel, one came back with the mackerel and the other with this pollack on it :-

 

Mackerel bait certainly catches the big ones, the average was just over 2 kilos per fish :-


I'm looking forward to catching some more tomorrow. Lots of sunshine and very light winds forecasted all day. 

1st September 2013. I went out on the afternoon flood and did the 11 pots I have out. There wasn't much in them, half a dozen large hen spiders and a couple of brown crab. Think they had been left unhauled for far too long. I was going to mackerel but decided against it when Trevor on the 'Lady Joan' told me the news. Plenty of fish but nearly all small. Out of 6 boxes he estimated just a 1/4 of a box of good stuff. I am up early and out hunting bass all day tomorrow, will let you know how I get on.  

30th August 2013. I haven't had time to go online for a couple of days, too busy catching bass! Wednesday was great, I caught fish all through the ebb and on the flood until a seal turned up, scared the fish off and decided to start taking my bait. I ended up with 27 fish that weighed in at 22 kilos:- 


Yesterday I fished for 2 hours and only had 2 mackerel on the rod. I was going to make the tide back in, rather than be stuck out all over low water. I had time to try one more spot for 10 minutes and still make the moorings. Glad I did, bite every cast for about 4 hours! There were a lot of undersized ones that went back but I landed 21 on the market for 14.5 kilos. No seals this time but the dolphins were close in at Porthminster point:- 


A friend sent me this picture of some handsome man displaying how the slush ice is a must for quality, the fish are straight, firm and gleaming:- 


It is a bit fresh from the north tomorrow, but Sunday is looking nice and calm. If none of the baiters are out I will try the mackerel and do the pots. Yesterday the low water mackerel men had anything from 2 boxes up to 6 boxes from what I saw. They were a better size than what was had on Wednesday, when 4/5 of the fish were small. I heard that mediums were around the 2 pounds per kilo mark. At the moment, all of next week is looking workable. Have a good weekend!

27th August 2013. I didn't go yesterday because none of the baiters were out. As for today I am being removal man for my son who is moving to a bigger flat, this is because he is going to make me a granddad again! I am itching to get back out on the bass, hopefully nothing will stop me tomorrow. I went aboard Sunday evening to try the new engine (well it has only had 9hrs running) and it burst into life 1st pull. I gave it 20 minutes sea trials and everything seems great:-


I saw that a few boats had plenty of mackerel on the market last night, well over 300 kilos some of them.   

23rd August 2013. There is still plenty of mackerel about, as I was going to the back of the Island Charles was coming in with 6 boxes. I had a few casts for nothing and then tried Porthminster point, problem there was too many mackerel grabbing the bait. I managed to catch one bass there before going over to Hayle estuary, caught a few more but there was a lot of weed clogging the hooks. Next trip will probably be Monday. I have a new engine to put on over the weekend, a Mariner 6hp four stroke, my Yamaha has seen better days and will be kept as a spare.  

21st August 2013. I have been busy catching bass, Monday was best with 45 fish. Yesterday I had 16 and today I had 15. A lot of them took snakes (greater sandeel) :-


I didn't have the best of bait but using two smalls worked a few times. Had a rare ballan wrasse take an eel on Porthminster point yesterday:- 


Plenty of life out there, a huge shoal of mullet came right up to the boat yesterday:- 


Haven't had any large bass this week but they have been a good average size, the 45 I had on Monday weighed 38 kilos. There has been plenty of mackerel caught as well. 

18th August 2013. I tried the mackerel on the afternoon flood, caught half a box straight away and that was it. Then I tried the bass lures behind the Island and Porthminster point for just 2 pollack. Only one early mackerel man found some fish this morning, they had 11 boxes but 7 of them were smalls. An early start for me tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to get some live bait to go bassing all day. 

15th August 2013. Sorry for the lack of updates but my laptop died and I have been busy retrieving my pots and untangling the mess they were in. I managed to catch 12 bass on Tuesday for 10.5 kilos. The mackerel have become thin on the ground and the price has gone back up. Yesterdays prices were :- smalls 80p mediums 2.60 ish and large mediums 4.50 ish. Todays prices were much the same. (I don't have a pound sign on this backup laptop, plenty of Arabic symbols though!) I saw a shoal of at least 100 mullet over rampers rocks on Tuesday while I was waiting for bait. Looking like a good few days of calm weather next week, big tides as well so bass will be the target. 

12th August 2013. I tried mackereling on the evening flood tide, waste of time, 10 fish in 1 1/2 hrs. No one had much this morning either. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Plan 'A' is bass angling all day with live eels. 

Update :- I mackereled for 2 hours which resulted in this :- 


About 10 kilos of mackerel and a squid. I decided to give the bass another go up the Stones. Two hours towing around and I never had a bite. It will be mackerel again tomorrow if I try anything.

11th August 2013. Well the stones was a waste of time yesterday. I did nearly 5 hours for just one bass (1.2 kilos). I have put the boat out ready for the first of the flood, think I will try the mackerel first and them maybe another go at the bass.  

10th August 2013. I went out on the ebb and tried an hours bassing with the lures. Too much seaweed in the water, the hooks were clogging up with it in no time. Going up the Stones on the flood to have a try. I will update later with how it went. 

8th August 2013. A day off today, other things to do. I might go tomorrow afternoon, it depends on how fresh the northwest wind is. Had a good look at Robert's (yoyo) 'Lucy' when I tied up alongside her on Tuesday, she makes 'Jen' look like a little punt :-  


The mackerel men were cueing up to use the crane :-


Next week is looking very calm, so should get plenty of bassing in, great news! 

7th August 2013. Had two long days with the rods. Yesterday was better than today. I managed to catch 22 sized bass. They might not be worth as much as the bulk mackerel most are catching but they are a lot easier on the back. Lots of macs again this morning:- 


Another days work for 'Athena Fay' :- 


Simon on the 'Kira' did well again with 12 boxes on his own :- 


5th August 2013. There were still plenty of mackerel out there this morning. I was told that some of the mediums sold for just 40p per kilo on the market though. There were some very keen crabbers on rampers, the tide coming in didn't stop them with their baited nets :-


Prisky the bait man is out in the morning. Hopefully he will catch some large for me to use for the day. If not, I am still confident that it will be a good day on the bass. 

4th August 2013. The mackerel men continued to fill up the market for mondays auction. Tony on the 'Belle Bettina' was waiting to float from the quay, he had 4 boxes. Alex Corin missed the boat this morning so PJ had a peaceful low water on the 'Silvery Sea', with Alex left on the quay, deep in thought? :-  


I am itching to catch some more bass and don't like bulk mackerel catching at a low price. I tried the Eddystone eels down Whoare Point for an hour without a bite. Then I tried behind the Island for a bit longer and had 2 bass. One good one and one throw back. I'm looking forward to a calm Tuesday and Wednesday so I can go where the fish are. 

3rd August 2013. Lots of mackerel around, boats waiting for the tide to come in with 500 kilos onboard. Plus Newlyn side some were in and finished by 8.30 am with over 250 kilos.  

2nd August 2013. Still in pain, back to the dentist today :( 

Todays mackerel prices were :- smalls 70p, mediums £1-00 and large mediums £1-20 to £1-60.

1st August 2013. I'm still off work. Less mackerel on the market today than yesterday but the prices were much the same at smalls 30p, mediums £1.10 and large mediums £1.60. It is the bottom of the neap tides today and tomorrow so I doubt if there is much bass close to port and there is too much wind to try the stones. There is a hint of 2 or 3 days of light winds next week and the tides will be perfect, so hoping that doesn't change. Come on August, stop being unsettled!

30th July 2013. I'm not sure how much is being caught at the moment but the mackerel prices went up this morning. They were 30p - 70p for smalls, mediums were around £1-50 and large mediums were up to    £2-70 in places. I might be able to get out there tomorrow to have a go at them.

Update :- This mornings mackerel prices were as follows -  smalls 20p, mediums £1-00 and large mediums £1-50 - £2-50.

29th July 2013. I am having some time off due to a painful swollen gum after a tooth extraction. Hopefully will be ok soon. I have heard that there were lots of mackerel to the east yesterday, with some boats having 600 kilos or more. I will try and find out the prices later. 

27th July 2013. Nick on the 'Mollie Dawn' went west for first light and had 100 kilos of mackerel and a box full of pollack. That is a good days work, especially if the pollack prices are the same as I got yesterday :-


£3.60 for 1 -2 kilo and £3.90 for 2-3 kilo ones. The bassing has gone quite slow for the last few tries. Catching one per hour on average. So I am staying home tomorrow and doing my accounts, left to the last minute as usual. Looks like we have seen the end of the light winds for a while. I expect it will be mostly mackereling next week with fresh south to southwest winds. Won't be seeing glassy sea like this again for a while :-


This was a sunfish just cruising past one of my lines last night. I love the weather we have had lately. calm seas and lots of sunshine, magic :-


Back to mucky macs and oilskins on Monday, Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. 

26th July 2013. I tried again last night with the poles but it was a bit slow going. Ended up with 5 bass and 6 pollack. There was one Newlyn boat landing loads of mackerel while I was over there. Very little pollack on the market, I heard that they went for over £3.00 per kilo, so I made a shilling or two. I will have another go tonight.

25th July 2013. Plenty of mackerel last night, I know one chap had 12 boxes. This mornings mackerel prices were - Smalls 30p, Mediums 80p, Large mediums 80p - £2.20 and Large 2.50. I tried polling for bass first thing this morning but only had one. I did have a nice bit of pollack though :-


 About 30 kilos. I am going to try and add to it on this evenings tide. If I don't finish too late I will let you know how it went later.

24th July 2013. I had a bad day yesterday. Didn't catch enough to cover the bait and the petrol! Started of at Porthminster point and had one bite that I missed. Then I moved to the back of the Island where I caught 2 bass just on the size limit and one very small one. They just weren't there like they should of been, so I steamed up to the stones for the low water and first of the flood. The fisheries came into the bay and checked on a couple of crabbers but didn't bother giving me a visit :-


I never had a bite up the Stones and the wind started freshening from the south, so I moved to just off Ceres rock (inside the Bessack rock over Godrevy) :-


There was quite a bit of weed to contend with. I fished there for an hour and a half, one bite, one bass just on the size limit again. There was a kite surfer buzzing up and down which I guess didn't help matters :- 


 Not as bad as a jet ski or a boat but I prefer no disturbances :-


I was happy to pack up at moorings time. Having a day off today and will be trying the later tide tomorrow and possibly the morning high water. Mackerel wise, some of them struggled all day to catch a couple of boxes and a few others had plenty. I think it is a case of finding the birds working and that is where the mackerel are. I am off to Newlyn to get some polls to make towing easier and more efficient.

Just found out that Tony on the 'Belle Bettina' had 100 kilos of macs last night. 

22nd July 2013. There was very little mackerel with the early birds close to home. I heard that a couple of the pollack boats found good mackerel fishing deep off, as much as 20 boxes but I'm not sure how accurate that is. There were no baiters out this morning so I gave the lures another go. I had a quick try behind the Island for nothing, so steamed up to the Stones. Two hours fishing for two small pollack and I was about to pack up and go mackereling. Don't know why but I decided to give a blue 'Eddystone Jelly' a try :-


 In less than a minute this beauty grabbed hold of it! :-


2.52 Kilos, he should be worth at least £30 to me. I now have a large slush ice bin so the bass go from the hook straight into it. The pollack are gutted alive (bit gorey for some of you maybe I know), washed and then in they go. Quality has to be the way ahead. This is a priority to an old friend that I use to fish with, that has now gone into supplying top quality sea bass and other fish. You would have to look hard to find a fresher fish from Cornwall in a London restaurant to beat Saul's. Check out his website....  www.wildharbour.co.uk  I was towing two lines so put another Eddystone Jelly on. The pollack came on the feed and I had nearly 20 kilos in an hour. No more bass though :-


Chris from Hayle was towing lures up there as well, think he had 1 bass and 1 pollack while I was there. I blamed not having live eel for the lack of bass until Tasty on the 'Few Dollars More' arrived with live eels and didn't have a fish while I was there. They just weren't there today. I took the fish out of the ice bin and they were like 'bullets' solid and so fresh, should of got one ages ago :-


Plan 'A' is to hopefully get bait in the morning and fish close to home to see what is there. 

20th July 2013. The forecast is for another fresh easterly wind tomorrow until the evening. It is still looking good from Monday on for the whole week.. I have got hold of a good sized ice bin, it will hold 140 kilos of fish. My bass will be coming off the hook and straight into slush ice from now on. Most of yesterdays fish were enjoyed tonight :- 


I can see why they fetch the money they do. Bloody delicious! After the dip in prices mid week, they went back up on Fridays market :- 


I have high hopes for this coming week, bring it on! 

19th July 2013. Update, I got bait from Prisky and went up past Godrevy with the rods. To start with all I could hook into was pollack, I had half a dozen of them. They were quiet good fish but not what I was after :-


As the tide eased off the bass started feeding and I ended up with a dozen of them. I learnt one thing today, got to have a landing net with me. I lost 3 good sized bass today,  2 of which I would of had with a landing net. It is going to be a fresh easterly tomorrow and Sunday so I think the next trip will be Monday. Shopping for new reels, line and maybe a slush ice bin in the morning. Monday and Tuesday are looking perfect, no wind at all and the tide jumping up in size. 

19th July 2013. I didn't get back from Newlyn until after 1am. I had a good day. Bass and pollack on the ebb and mackerel on the flood :-


12 kilos of pollack, 22 kilos of bass and 84 kilos of mackerel. A good end to the market week. I had one undersized bass and he was only 1/2lb, took an eel as long as him, he was obviously put back and swam of happily :-


Hopefully bassing again later today. I will be making it back in before the tide leaves the moorings at 5.30pm, so will have plenty of time to update on here this evening.   

17th July 2013. I have been fishing until late, so not had time to put much on here. One more late tide tomorrow and then I will be doing the earlier one. I had a brilliant day yesterday, 33 bass and a few pollack. The bass prices were down a bit but still a good days work. 10 kilos (0-1) at £6.80, 24 kilos (1-2) at £9.00 and 2 kilos (2-3) at £10.20. The fish were driving the feed to the surface and showing where they were :-  


 It all changed today, I did 8 hours for 8 bass. That's fishing! 

Tegen Mor is back in the harbour, now owned by Nathan de Rozarieux who has David ''Rags'' McClary, Davids boy Dan and John Lee ''Raggy'' working it. She's a nice boat :-


I haven't been near the mackerelers, but I have heard the catches are getting better. Yesterday they were having 60 to 100 kilos per man and today I think it got a bit more than that. I know one boat had a 4 box drift. If the bass let me down tomorrow, I might have to get my oilskins on for the flood and join them. I will update late tomorrow night if I get the chance.

15th July 2013. I had a long day angling for bass. Managed to find a nice few along with some pollack :- 


Tasty on 'A Few Dollars More' was having his share as well:- 


Not sure what mackerel was about today as I was up east of Godrevy most of the time. The Newlyn  boats are catching quite a lot, but a large percentage of it is small. I am going to do the same tomorrow as long as I can get the bait.  

14th July 2013. Yesterdays angling was partly scuppered by fog. I started at Porthminster point and had 3 undersized bass, a mackerel and these pollack :- 


It was a fish every cast as soon as I got there about an hour before high water. It went quiet for a while so I moved to the back of the Island. There was no tidal movement and the baits laid on the bottom resulting in this being caught first cast :-


Not the first I have caught on the rod, I put him back to grow bigger. Bass love to feed in the tide so it wasn't worth staying there, anchor up and off to the Stones. I got half way there and the fog came in 'thick as a bag'. With visibility down to 20 yards I had no choice other than to turn around and come back. I went back to Porthminster where I gave it 45 minutes for just one bite. Back to the Island and the tide was running this time and the bass were there. The fog was creeping closer but was a long way off :- 

 

Plenty of bites but most of the fish were tiny, I had 5 sized ones on the ebb tide. Hoping for it to be better on the flood, I anchored on the western side of the rock 'Carneverus' (not sure how you spell that). There was plenty of tide going through the gap :-


These holiday makers found out how much tide when told they were in serious danger and to paddle back to the beach. It took them half an hour of frantic paddling to travel the 100 yards with the lifegaurd standing by :-


I had another three sized bass on the flood, not as good as I hoped but that's the way it goes sometimes. The fog stayed over the eastern side of the bay, all but a thin line of it :-


I fancied going mackereling this morning but the fog had other ideas:- 


Behind the quay and out Porthmeor it was very thick. A few did go but the best of them only had half a box. I hauled my pots off Clodgy yesterday for one cock crab and a conger. I broke my favorite knife dispatching the conger, not a good result! I hope to get up the Stones tomorrow and catch some bigger fish, that's where the money is. I had £15 per kilo for the biggest.

12th July 2013. I couldn't manage 5 days in a row in that heat, took a day off and spent most of it in the shade. I did go to sea at 6pm to catch 40 macs for a big BBQ tomorrow on the harbour beach. It was hard going, after 2 hours I came in with 33 fish, that will have to do! I'll get a bass to go with them. The sea is so calm, it is like working on land. The Lifeboat was out for something today, took this picture of her coming back from the east:-


Perfect weather for the tripping boats. The water is getting warmer, even I went in for a swim the other day. I have been told that there is a few bass over Hayle Estuary, I know someone that had a 4 pounder there this week. I might have a scout around there soon. The early birds had 2 to 3 boxes a man on the macs this morning. 

11th July 2013. I managed to get up early enough to get the bass mans necessity :- 


Even with the best bait I had a slow day, but not a blank like yesterday with the lures. I only had 6 fish, 2 good ones around the 3lb mark, a couple 1/2 that size and 2 throw backs. I will try again tomorrow. I have taken a few pictures lately but not had the time or energy to post them. Here is Marcus and friend mackereling off the Island on the 'Ally Kat' (I'm looking forward to a smoked mackerel :0) :-


I'm not sure what the 'Grey Bear' is up to but she is about again :-


I would like to see a few more 'Jen' boxes looking like this :- 


I had a couple of pollack today which I put in the 2 big pots I had at Porthminster point and took them back to Clodgy point. I haven't seen a lobster for a while, will start working them now the weather is so settled. Come on you blues.

10th July 2013. Update, the early mackerel men only had one box each this morning. I was all set to have a full day bass angling again but Prisky on the bait boat finished early and I missed him, lash up! So I still went and used the artificial lures. Three hours towing them around for not one fish was enough for me. I gave up and went home out of the heat. Came back down at high tide in the evening and tried the mackerel for an hour, just three fish! The chaps that went on the flood had less than half a box. All the pollackers were in on anchor early, due to lack of fish as well. Roger Trevorrow was up early enough to get eels and caught a monster of a pollack that weighed in at 7 kilos! Plan 'A' for tomorrow is get up early enough to get bait and get back into the bass.

10th July 2013. Yesterday the early birds had 4 to 5 boxes of mackerel per man and the prices were still good. Smalls around 40p, mediums £2-50 ...ish and large mediums £3-50 but in places hit £5-30. I had another long day on the bass, caught a nice few with the biggest being 2.4 kilos, beauty! Plan to do the same today, will hopefully have time to update later.

8th July 2013. I found it, the first bass of the year!  


I broke my bass jinks and have got my teeth back into it, He was the first of quite a few :- 


 I started early and finished late but it was well worth it. Tired, sun burnt and needing to get up early to do it again. 

7th July 2013. Well things didn't quite go to plan yesterday. My girlfriend had enough time off to come out for a trip, first time for ages. I found out that there were 9 bass caught by someone at Porthminster Point Thursday evening and the 'Ammo' bait boat was out, so the rods went aboard in anticipation. Thought the bait boat would be in Porthmeor but it wasn't, managed to get through on the phone to find out they weren't baiting but out deep angling. So the bassing was called off again and we headed out for a drift on the mackerel. As soon as the lead hit the sea bed the engine started spluttering and stopped. Had the plugs out, they looked ok. Fuel seemed to be getting to it ok, she wouldn't start though. Daryl on the 'Shikari' came over to see if we were ok and offered a tow, told him to have another drift and keep an eye on us while I kept trying to start it. SS1 was heading in and also offered a tow so we took it :-


Back on the moorings I continued to try and fix the engine. I'm a logical kind of chap, don't believe in superstition (anymore). But...... I know about the ''unlucky to have a woman aboard'' one. Plus there is one that might be exclusive to me, every time someone wished me good luck on the way to go fishing, I never had a good day. As we left to go, my girlfriends cousin's last words were ''good luck'' Hmmmm.... It's a coincidence (isn't it). The good news is that I fixed the engine. A wire had corroded off. It is running better than ever. It wasn't worth going back out by that time so we called it a day. I knew that single magpie stood on my car first thing this morning was bad news! We cancelled all the bad luck out by finishing the day perfectly, sat on Porthmeor beach, watching the sunset with a cider. There is nowhere better in the world :-


5th July 2013. There were about eight of us mackereling on the afternoon tide. It was hard going. I only managed a box full, most of which were smalls. Some had a couple of boxes. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. The pollack men were all out today, Not sure how they got on yet. The dolphins showed up again at about 2pm close to the Island. Prisky tried baiting first thing, but all he had was very small eels, no good for packing, or live baiting. Two more boats arrived from Newlyn today, 'Mark and James' and 'Boy Brax'. With there being no macs in Newlyn, this mornings prices might of tempted them around. They were :- smalls up to £1.70! mediums up to £3.30 in places and large mediums a staggering ....£6.20 in places.

Happy Birthday to my boy Dan, 24 today! xxxxx.

4th July 2013. Robert Yo launched the new boat today, all seems well and it won't be long until Johnny and him will be out there with the other pollack men :- 


I don't know much about her yet (SS4). Not sure what she is called, I know it has 2 x 20hp Yamaha outboards. I'm sure there will be more about her soon. As normal if I don't go the others have a bit of fish. One to three boxes per man today :- 


They weren't bad sized fish :- 


Boy Stuart helping Trevor out, he also rescued John boys boat  'Janet Ann' this morning. She had parted out an outside mooring and was drifting away across the bay. Work together, help each other, that's what it all about. I better get my backside out there tomorrow, well summer starts and is going to last at least 2 weeks. Maybe..... 

P.S. There was only about a dozen boxes of mackerel on the market this morning, mediums went up to £3.00 and large mediums were £3.60.

3rd July 2013. I heard that Lewis Stevens had a few boxes of macs yesterday morning early. No one had much today, counting the fish (on one hand some of us) not the boxes. It was dead when I went and had two drifts, one mackerel and half a dozen sandeels. I cut the mackerel in half and put it in the two pots I have on the Eastern Carracks (Porthminster Point). Only one good sized brown crab worth keeping. I discovered how delicious home smoked mackerel is yesterday. Marcus on the 'Ally Kat' gave me a sample of his freshly smoked fillets with a hint of bourbon, I loved it so much I am going to get myself a smoker. Nice one Marcus!

* there has been a few sightings of mullet in the harbour * hopefully there are a few bass about as well, they do tend to arrive at the same time.  

2nd July 2013. With it being wet, windy and very few fish about, I decided to wait until tomorrow to give the mackerel another try. Market prices today were  smalls 30 - 80p, mediums - steady around the £1-20 mark and large mediums £3-60 and at times touched £4-00.    

1st July 2013. I did a couple of hours mackereling on the flood for half a box. It felt like the fish were there but not keen to feed. Maybe as the tide gets bigger it will get better. Took a look at the pots and there is only one end showing out of four. Might of lost a string of 9 so will need to take a look on a low water to see if they are there. Hopefully they will show up somewhere. Will try the mackerel again tomorrow. Apparently this mornings prices started at smalls 50p, mediums £1-20 and large mediums 1-80. Then as they got towards Saturday's fish...smalls 50 - 80p, mediums £1-60 - £2-40 and large mediums ...anything up to     £3-60! They paid a better price for the older fish, does that make sense to anyone? There is a fresh south southwesterly tomorrow, then a couple of days of moderate westerlies, followed by very light winds from Friday onwards. 

30th June 2013. Well I did 2 hours on the ebb for a dozen mackerel, so dropped anchor and went home for a few hours. Went back out for another 2 hours on the flood and ended up with this poor result :- 


The herring were a good size. A few boats fished the low water down Seal Island and had about 2 boxes per man. John on the 'Sandpiper' fished Porthmeor from the fleeting and some of the ebb for 25 to 30 kilos of good sized macs. I will be doing that tide tomorrow. There are quite a lot of jellyfish about, saw 3 types today. These guys were a bit close to the rocks I thought, don't want to scratch those canoes :-


I guess they only draw a few inches of water. The pots are well overdue so if the mackereling is dead tomorrow I will have a haul. 

29th June 2013. Back to sea tomorrow afternoon. I will be mackereling over the low water until tide back in at 9pm. Yesterdays mackerel prices were much the same with mediums around the £1.20 mark. Hopefully I will update with some interesting info late tomorrow night.

27th June 2013. Update, I know that there was a nice bit of fish on the morning tide, David Basset had nearly 100 kilos. Hopefully I will be back in action on Sunday. Mackerel prices this morning were :-  smalls 30p, mediums £1.20 ish and large mediums £1.60 - £2.30

27th June 2013. I heard that the best of the mackereling yesterday was by the midday low water men, not much before or after. I have begrudgingly decided to sell my bait net, it is a beast! It will be a bargain for what it is.Some more detail here.

26th June 2013. I started back at work a bit too soon. Need a couple more days off. I haven't been down the harbour today but did find out this mornings mackerel prices.  smalls 30p - 80p, mediums around the £1.20 - £1.50 mark and Large mediums £1.80 - £2.70.

25th June 2013. There was a bit of mackerel last night, up to 3 boxes. Not so much this morning, about a box per man. I got my rods and reels ready but missed the bait men. So I tried trolling an Eddystone eel and a sidewinder. Lots of weed in the water at the back of the Island and no fish, so I went down Whore Point :-


Exactly the same down there, weed and no fish. Another quick try at the Island again on the way back up produced nothing as well. Would of went mackereling but the back isn't quite right yet. I left the boat on anchor and put it away this evening. The pollack men are doing nicely, catching boxes of them ;-


Some good sized fish for Rob and Simon :-

 

24th June 2013. My back is on the mend, managed to get down the quay today and check Jen and my punt. My old mooring neighbour ''Brissons'' is back in the harbour :-


Owner Richard is over from France for a month or two, hoping to have the best of the fishing weather and catches. Big tide today and the sea has calmed down nicely :- 


I think the water is still a bit murky, a few boats tried mackereling this morning but one box is the best any of them did. There wasn't much mackerel on the market this morning but the price didn't reflect that. Smalls 30-40p, mediums £1-20 and large mediums £2-30 ish. I have heard that the Newlyn boats started catching this morning, think this is true as there was a group of them just Newlyn side of Mousehole Island, they wouldn't all be there for nothing. 

I'm not sure how sustainable this set up of hook and line fishing is but it is  impressive :- 


21st June 2013. There was a lot of fish on the market this morning, mackerel prices were just about the lowest they have been for the year: smalls were 30p to 50p, mediums were 80p to £1.50 and large mediums £1.50 to £2.50. Plenty of ground swell coming, peaking early Sunday morning with 35 mph winds. Then it settles down to a west northwest light to moderate breeze all next week. Couldn't reach to put my socks on today with my backache,but should be ok in a couple of days. 

20th June 2013. Yesterdays gardening effort has messed my back up, sat here waiting for the tablets to work, grrrr. I will still be posting what info I can get hold of. Today's mackerel prices were smalls 40p, mediums £1.20 ish and large mediums £2.80 to £3.30. Looking calm enough for the pollackers out there today, I know Chris on the 'Peter Pan' did well a couple of days ago with about 300 kilos, very nice!

19th June 2013. Update: Very little fish about on this coast and there has been large amounts caught by some of the Newlyn boats, 300 to 400 kilos per man yesterday. So I canceled mackereling today and will be trying the bass tomorrow. Medium macs went down to £1.20 per kilo which is ok if you are catching plenty but they aren't here yet. Tesco will still be charging £5 per kilo I expect, even when they start turning a bit brown like these ones :-

 

Yuck. Here are a couple more pictures of the dolphins yesterday:-  

 

They were playing right inside Clodgy Point :- 

 

A quick glance at the long range forecast looks like after a very windy weekend, next week will be settled with light westerlies. That with the big spring tide will hopefully bring plenty of fish with it. Looks like a bass week to me, got to break my duck, three trips without catching one so far.

19th June 2013. Been busy, will update in full later, headlines are :- not much fish over the high water, the late low water down west is producing and there are dolphins everywhere :- 

 

17th June 2013. One more day resting my back. I have heard from one boat that is mackereling down the Carricks (Seal Island) this morning and they are catching nothing. Apparently there are doldhins all over the place, they tend to kill the fishing when about. I don't think there was much about last night, I know Charles went, but all he had was bad luck when one of the hooks found a home in his middle finger, ouch :- 

 

Very little fish about all around the coast, I have been reliably informed that the market was all over in 20 minutes this morning. There was a bit of mackerel sold that went  £3.30 for mediums and £5.30 for large mediums. 

16th June 2013. I'm enjoying a whole weekend off, not much fish out there, the tides are not good, it's raining, flu meds stopped to reveal back ache, so I don't feel guilty doing nothing. The forecast is changing a few times everyday. At the moment tomorrow is easterly going northerly, but a workable strength. Tuesday looks the best day of the week, mostly light from the southern quarter. I wont go into further detail as it is changing all the time. Nearly the longest day of the year and the weather hasn't settled. This planet is in trouble folkes, but we all know that. Bailed punt and boat out, time to bleach 'Jen' again :-

 

No matter how bad things are, always remember that there is someone worse off than you, this applies to boat bums as well... 'Jen' looks clean shaved compared to this one :- 

  

When you have been fishing for a long time, you know when it's not worth trying. (90% of the time you are right) looking over the quay today, it just looks empty, bleak, lifeless :-

 

No plan 'A' yet, will look over the quay wall tomorrow.  

Update :- Another 18ft Plymouth Pilot for sale on the forum, it is a good time to buy, just as the mackerel catches are getting better.  

15th June 213. There has been two more boats for sale added to the forum, plus nets, ropes etc. Click here if interested. 

I'm still feeling like the sea, rough, so no fishing for me today. I know of 4 boats that went mackereling this morning, 2 had nothing, one had 1/2 a box and the other had a box. So I'm not missing much. Time to tie up some more feathers. The forecast is for a fresh southeasterly tomorrow, they are normally stronger than what is given. Monday is looking a lot better with a light east going northeast. But it is the dead of the neaps (small, slow moving tide) so the fishing might be the same, slow! 

14th June 2013. Boat for sale added to the 'Have your say' page.  

The talented Em Cooper who made my video clip for 'A taste of St Ives' has been working on a film for the last year called 'Kiss the Water'. Here is a description of it :-

A rich documentary inspired by the life and work of Megan Boyd, a legendary Scottish maker of salmon flies. Filled with tributes and recollections from those who knew this solitary and enigmatic woman, this elegiac film draws further inspiration from the colours and textures of Boyd’s handmade, featheradorned flies. The film also takes off into flights of expressive fantasy, courtesy of Em Cooper’s oil-painted animation.

And here is a short clip:-

 

14th June2013. There were a few out this morning but I don't know what they had yet. Last night was great, I managed another 5 boxes and the run of fish was very good. My mediums were up a bit in price and the large mediums down a bit from yesterday. I had 16k smalls at £1.00, 69k mediums at £1.70, 39k large mediums at £3.50 and 4k large at £4.40. I have been fighting flu like symptoms for a week now and they are winning today, so plan 'A' is to start again tomorrow. Not much other news, it is mostly mackereling at the moment. Too windy for much else. Boy Stuart and myself going back up for another drift, oilskin top conditions:- 

 

13th June 2013. The early birds had 3 boxes per man yesterday morning and this morning. I did well lastnight and managed to catch 6 boxes. 38 kilo's were large mediums that fetched £4.10, 92 kilos of mediums at £1.40 and 20 kilos of small at £1.00. Off out to catch some more tonight.

12th June 2013. The fish weren't there yesterday on the flood. I gave it a good few hours for just half a box. I think the early birds had fish this morning, will find out later. I am going to try the evening tide. 

11th June 2013. Had a quick try on the ebb this morning but only had 2 fish. I have left the boat out on anchor so I can start again at low water. Yesterdays fish grossed £209. Small 40p, mediums £2.50 and large mediums were £4.40. 

10th June 2013. Update number two : I got back out and started fishing at 3pm. There was a bit of fish out porthmeor as soon as I got there (wish I had floated sooner), I fished until 6pm and ended up with 71 kilos. It was a good run of fish, 3k small, 48k (good) mediums and 20k large mediums. Some of the Newlyn boats are having 3 or 4 boxes each but 2/3 are small with the rest mediums. I plan to do much the same tomorrow. 

Update number one : I fished the ebb at the corner of the Island for 1 1/2 hours which resulted in this :-  

 

There was a fresh southeast wind which didn't help the fishing. I don't think the early birds had much fish, I know 'Dream Catcher' only had 10 kilos. I have beached the boat and hope that there will be better fishing on the flood tide. Just been told that this mornings mackerel prices were roughly the following :-  50p for smalls, £1.80 for mediums and £5.00 for large mediums.

10th June 2013. With it being so calm yesterday I had to give something a try. As I was about to come off the moorings, Matthew Lander was on his way in on the 'Sea Otter' :-  

 

It's great to see the youngsters learning about boats and fishing. Matt had caught a bucket full of mackerel on the rod, so I decided to get the mackerel gear out rather than the bass lines. First drift I had 22 fish, then I hung around the Island because there were a lot of eels in the water. Didn't pay off as I only caught a couple more fish for at least half an hour. I went back up to 'Scuddy Main' (middle of porthmoeor) where John on the 'Sandpiper' who started about the same time had 20 kilos. I kept at it until just after high tide for a total of 19 kilos. The plan is to do low water. Put some hours in and make a good wage hopefully. I will update you later if I get the time.   

9th June 2013. I had an hour on the beach yesterday and as I got there Boy Stuart was just going mackereling on the ebb tide. As I was leaving he came back in and straight onto his moorings. So I assume the fishing is still as bad as it was on Friday. I went to 'The Rum and Crab Shack' on the harbour front after the beach and the food was realy good, the rum was even better! I highly recommend it. I don't like being ashore too long so I might have to go and give it a try later today. Towing the bass lines might be worth a go, but there is a lot weed in the water lately which tends to clog the hooks. The wind is going to swing around and become southerly for a couple of days, I hope that improves the fishing. Where are all the mackerel? There should be plenty here by now. Have they been caught already? Let us know what you think HERE.    

8th June 2013. I have sorted out the ''Have your say'' page. We have a forum there now so take a look and feel free to use it anytime. I will inform people when a subject arises and hopefully there will be some good debates. 

On the way out yesterday, this vessel was anchored just off 'Rampers' buoy :-    

 

I think that's an Irish flag, but is 'Thalassa Terneuzen' an Irish name? 

 

Plenty of living space aboard her. Normally seeing mackerel all day puts me off eating them, but having only caught 7 yesterday I quite fancied them :-  

 

Just a bit of sea salt is all they need.

 

They were really good, I should eat them more often. 

7th June 2013. Update: I did the pots and tried the mackerel, both were a waste of time. 7 macs for half an hour and just a couple of sized spiders. I think my crab storebag has had pots put over it, maybe it was going under a bit with the weight in it. Hopefully I will be able to find it next time I'm out over low water. It looks like a day of overdue gardening tomorrow, great fun!   

NOTICE :- I have had lots of feedback on how useful and interesting this website is and that is exactly what I want it to be. I don't want to upset anyone, so if you are a fisherman/boat owner or fish merchant that doesn't want any mention on my website, please text or call me on 07875820448. Thanks, Simon.

7th June 2013. Mackereling was really slow yesterday, 4 hours for 10k. 3 large mediums and 7 mediums. It was that boring I stopped half way and hauled the 2 big pots off Clodgy that had been there 4 nights. One was totally empty and the other only had 2 small velvet crabs in it. Hmmm, I have had better days! I am going to haul the pots in the bay this afternoon and maybe try for bass after. 

5th June 2013. Update: The Newlyn boats had mackerel this morning, some up around the 100 kilo mark. I did 5 1/2 hours for 27k mediums, 9k large mediums plus 12 kilos of small that went for bait :- 

 

It was hard work but the trend is going in the right direction. Monday 25k, Tuesday 41k and today 48k. I will let you know the next number in the sequence tomorrow night. 

5th June 2013. Yesterday I mackereled from 10am to 5pm for 41 kilos, thats slow fishing. The self-drive patrol boat and a self drive were angling in my favorite bass spot on my way out :-

 

The early birds didn't have good fishing either, a couple had 60 kilos before I got out there, some had only 10 kilos. The two Chris's on the 'Lady Jacqueline' had about 30 kilos from 5am to 10am, but they still managed a smile for the camera :- 

 

Nice to see this appearing from the west :- 

 

Stavros S Niarchos. She is a fine vessel :- 

 

She is used for training.

 Available to12 -80 year-olds. Suitable for both beginners and experienced sailors. The largest Brig built in Britain for over a century. The rigging comprises nearly nine miles of wire and rope. Carries enough fuel to drive a small car around the world ten times. 50 times more computer power than the Apollo 10 space craft!

More statistics and info - here if you are interested.

Back to the fishing, 'Sea Maiden' from Hayle must be working well west on the pollack as they landed by boat lastnight :-

 

They had a brilliant catch of quality pollack, I got 'Tasty' to pose for the camera :-

 

Nice to see hard work, brains and skill rewarded. Quite a bit of fish in the fridge for this mornings market, but not too much to lower prices. I'm going to fish for macs again when I float at about 1pm. I will update tonight how it went if I have time.

 

I'm going to fish for macs again when I float at about 1pm. I will update tonight how it went if I have time.

3rd June 2013. I got out to Porthmeor as soon as 'Jen' floated, John Boy was catching as I went past :- 

 

Stringing them in :- 

 

Like me he prefers to work the loop by hand, rather than gurdy and stripper set up :-

 

Johny was at sea before he even knew it, He had a cradle swinging around in his parents wheelhouse I was told :- 

 

If you are going to have a long trip in this weather then ice is a must, better still if it is slush ice bins. Johny had his going into them alive :- 

 

I started catching straight away, which was nice. But the first couple of drifts were the best and after that it slowed right down. I had about 18 kilos out Porthmeor for 2 hours and then came in by the Island. There were a few anglers trying to catch them from below the lookout, I saw one of them catch one :-

 

It was slow going on the ebb, I caught another 7 kilos for 2 more hours effort. The best fishing was early in the flood so plan 'A' for tomorrow is to go on the first of the flood at 8.30am. So I have left the boat out on anchor. I took my box full to Newlyn, as I got there 'Ajax' the top hake boat was landing. Nearly all the big boats were at sea, not many left in port :-

 

Some of the pollack men landed 130 kilos. Stuart on 'Little Christina' showed me a huge lobster as he steamed past and he had a nice few rays as well. Gary on 'Bethshan' tried the stones today and had one bass. I have high hopes for tomorrow, bit bigger tide and earlier start should be ok. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Mike (Suzie) was landing his and Johny's fish, they had nice amount :- 

2nd June 2013. I was tempted to try the bass fishing at the back of the Island because Prisky was in Porthmeor catching eels. I was only fishing for 20 minutes and I saw 2 boats deeper off have 2 strings of mackerel each. I didn't have a bite so I packed up the rod and went out to mackerel. I couldn't catch them, had about 15 fish in an hour. I went and got the last string of pots from the stones and put it in the bay near the other string. Then I moved the 2 big pots from Porthminster point to Clodgy. Quite a few dolphins followed me :- 

 

One little calf was bow jumping :- 

 

Now the pots are where I want them, and I got trying the bass out of my system, I am going to concentrate on catching mackerel tomorrow. Quite a few of the boats are pollacking this week with it being calm so prices should stay good for macs.

1st June 2013. It looks like a calm start to the month with mostly light easterly breezes next week. East wind normally kills the fishing, hopefully with it being light it wont have any effect. The tides start getting bigger from Tuesday onwards so it could be ok. 50 kilos a day would do at yesterdays prices :-    

 31st May 2013. Not much fish lastnight, I managed nearly a box. No mackerel with the early birds this morning and I had nothing for half an hours try before doing my pots. Nothing in my pots so I have brought one string back into the bay to catch a few spiders. Medium mackerel were around £3.30 per kilo this morning.

 

When I was hauling the pots yesterday I had a pot hitched under a rock. With the rope bar tight a wave lifted me a bit more and there was a nasty ''crack''. This has left the upright post that the hauler is fastened to wobbling like a jelly. So today's job is to fasten and strengthen it all up somehow. Plus I seem to have a petrol leak on the hauler engine somewhere, the joys of being a fisherman. I shall try the mackerel on the flood tide tomorrow morning at about 9.30am.

30th May 2013. I went mackereling at 7.30 lastnight for 2hrs. I'm glad I did because I caught 55 kilos, which was twice as much as there was in the market fridge at 1am this morning :- 

 A good run of mackerel have shown up around the Falmouth area, I have heard of some catches of 200k per man. While I was landing there was a skipper from Coverack (not far from Falmouth) weighing up a good 100k :- 

 

Only 2 other boats out from St Ives lastnight, 'Bethshan' that went down west to the carricks for 50 to 60 kilos and Hodgey on 'Mary Mo' who stayed around porthmeor for not very much. I can't remember seeing the fridge as empty as this at the end of May before :- 

 

This kind of fishing suits me, I love it when the fish are hard to catch. I prefer to catch 40k at £4 per kilo, rather than 160k at £1 per kilo. Hopefully I will be out there picking away a landing again tomorrow, depends on the wind, it has been dropping with the sun, another late one in the pool of Merryn maybe, will update you later.

I was once shipwrecked on Merryn rock, onboard the oldest working wooden boat in St Ives at the time, she was called 'Snowdrop'. There is a bit of old superstition concerning Merryn rock that I have just found. Click here if you are interested  Second paragraph, might explain why my mate Dave Simon had some blank days fishing hahaha.

 

As I was about to go out yesterday to fish the low water, Darren was landing 6 boxes (2 handed). The early birds had anything from 1 1/2 to 3 boxes per man.  

 

Boy Stuart went west, think he might of been doing his pots, other than that it was just Mike on the 'Suzie' and myself mackereling around the Island :-

 

It was very slow fishing, mostly catching ones and twos with the very rare 1/2 a string full. Mike ended up with 2 full boxes and I had a bit less. Apparently it was only 'Gemma' and 'Bethshan' out this morning, with Gemma only having 25k of smalls, Karl said it was hard to stand up out there. Prices varied dependng on who's sold first yesterday, but they were still good. 

27th May 2013. Most of the boats were on their moorings at 7am this morning. The best fishing seems to be in the evenings, but it was hard going lastnight when it took me 4 hours to catch one box. Richard who gave me a lift in yesterday enjoyed his days angling and had 6 pollack, a few mackerel and 2 haddock. My pots up the stones had been rolled around a bit in the bad weather we had last week and were pretty much empty. A couple needed a bit of mending. Baited and shut back, hopefully I will have a better haul next time. New boat 'Mollie Dawn' SS6 was launched yesterday and was looking perfect :- 

 

She is 19ft, Nick and Debbie took her up to 20mph on the first sea trials and look very happy with it. Very nice guys, enjoy! 

No fishing for me today. I'm out to watch a show tonight. All work and no play isn't good for you I've been told. Next trip might be over low water tomorrow.

26th May 2013. Quick update as I am very busy in this perfect weather! There is no mackerel on the morning tides at the moment, totally barren. Only two boats came around from Newlyn yesterday, Nigel on the 'Norah T' :- 

 

And Chris on the 'Peter Pan' :- 

 

They caught half a box of mackerel on the way around. There was a bit of fish lastnight, I managed a couple of boxes. I have put the boat out on anchor ready to do the pots at low water. Richard kindly gave me a lift back in :- 

 

He is going to make the most of the mill pond conditions to go out deep pleasure fishing for pollack, cod and mackerel.  

25th May 2013. This is more like it, calmed off nicely, lots of sun and tomorrow is looking like the calmest day of the year so far. I am going to mackerel on the afternoon flood and plan to stick it out until 9pm. I will update how it went later tonight. I will be doing the low water tomorrow, pots, bass and mackerel being plan 'A'. 

24th May 2013. Looking poor outside the harbour this morning :- 

 

I had to move away from fish as the tide ebbed stronger and the sea got larger. Circling on a line full of mackerel, I had a slap from a breaker that half filled the boat. All this years profit is going towards a bigger boat. I landed 93 kilos, there wasn't much in the market fridge.

 

Even worse out Porthmeor :- 

20th May 2013. Update. The prices were good again with mediums fetching from £3 up to £4 per kilo. John on the 'Sandpiper' did well yesterday catching neary 70k of mackerel over the high water off porthmeor. A few boats went later and averaged about 100k per man. Quite a lot of small fish though. The pollack men had about 100k yesterday, Karl's (Athena Fay) sold this morning at £3 per kilo and Gary on 'Bethshan' landed his tonight with the few mackerel he had today.

 I fished 4hrs today and ended up with 29 kilos.10 kilos were small and were landed at the bait factory, the rest might make around £70 on the market hopefully. Old man Stuart had a nice few ray today according to the tally sheet. I moved my couple of pots from Clodgy point to Porthminster point due to the forecast I saw lastnight :-

 

Plenty of sunshine and light winds forecasted for tomorrow and Sunday. Looking forward to getting back out there.

23rd May 2013. Todays mackerel prices were the same as yesterday, Smalls 50p, mediums £3.00 and large mediums £4.50. Far too rough to get out there today. I have been told that there will be a few Newlyn boats coming around on the weekend. Normally May month is good over Newlyn side but they aren't catching this year. Will soon be fighting for parking spaces on the quay again.

22nd May 2013. Update: Karl and Boco did first light for 2 boxes, then tried the first of the flood for next to nothing. Boco's 'Gemma' was put back on the moorings asap and the fish punted ashore :- 

 

Gary on 'Bethshan' fished lastnight until dark, then this morning on the ebb and then on the flood. He had a nice catch of 8 boxes, half small and half good stuff. I fished for 2 hours on the last of the flood for about a box of mostly smalls. Then on the ebb close to the Island the fish played up. I ended up with 4 boxes :-  

22nd May 2013. The mackerel prices are dropping slowly this morning, even though it was the smallest amount on the market for the week. Smalls 50p, mediums £3.00 and large mediums £4.50. Still good money if you can catch a couple of boxes. It is going to be quite poor out there again today with an 18mph northerly forecasted. Last chance to get out there until Saturday due to strengthening winds. I will let you know how it went later.

21st May 2013. Mackerel prices this morning were smalls around 80p, mediums £3-30 and large mediums £4-50. It is looking quite rough out there at the moment, I'm going to take a closer look and decide what to do.

Update : I went mackereling from 2pm for a couple of hours. I caught 26 kilos but half of them were small. Karl and Boco had about the same down the carricks (Seal Island). Conditions were quite bad, hard work trying to stand up. Less wind tomorrow and a bigger tide, should hopefully be a better day.

 

The forecast isn't looking so bad now, but still a couple of days of fresh to strong northerlies on the way before it calms down nicely from Saturday onwards. The pots only had a few undersized brown crabs and a couple of velvets in them for the two nights that they had been there. I will try the mackerel again tomorrow if it is workable, 18 to 23 mph northerlies might be a bit of a challenge.

 20th May 2013. I did my pots up the stones after lunch yesterday, bit more crab moving at last. As I was going out at about 2pm, Roger Trevorrow was on his way in and greeted me with ''plenty of fish out there, I've come in cus I have caught enough'' seems that when I mackerel they aren't there and when I don't there is plenty. Going to spend the rest of the week sticking at the mackerel when the northerly wind isn't too strong. I have a friend who buys from the market, apparently the fridge is full and there is 5 more trawlers comming in to land for the morning market. I will be very interested to find ot what mackerel are fetching in the morning. My guess is ...mmmm.....£2.40 per kilo for mediums. Lets see how close I am.

18th May 2013. Update, I shut the pots at Clodgy and carried on down to the western carricks (Seal Island). I mackereled there for a good 2 hours for just 3 fish. Saw my 1st basking shark for the season, filmed him but only got a quick glimps of his fins. I came back up to porthmeor and had a try there for nothing so I beached 'Jen' on the harbour :- 

 

I didn't fancy another 3 hours of that, I'll go down later and put her back on the moorings. Not sure what to do tomorrow now. 

18th May 2013. I saw Smallie going out yesterday for the late low water again, don't know what he had yet but I plan to join him today. The Queen had sunshine for her visit and looked like she was enjoying it :- 

 

She's looking good for 87. When she left, the lifeboat was called out to assist John boy on the 'Janet Anne'. He was coming around from Newlyn and had some problems, haven't heard what was wrong yet :-

 

I am going to go mackerel hunting over the low water, I will update how it went later if I have the time, I wont be back on the moorings until 9pm. I'm taking these two with me to put at Clodgy Point :-

 

17th May 2013. Sods law. I decided to make the moorings yesterday due to the lack of mackerel in the morning. Smallie and Darren did the low water and came in on the flood with 3 boxes each :- 

 

That's £100 per box, £50 per hour that I missed. Note to self, must try harder! I was in the balance, shall I? shan't I? Can't tomorrow, Road blocks and dentists. Saturday late low water is plan 'A' at the moment.

16th May 2013. I got down the quay about 9am, Traz was loading more new big pots aboard 'Dignity' and a camera crew were filming something. Most probably to do with the Queen's visit tomorrow :-

 

The mackerel men that went early on the first of the flood had next to nothing. The top boat that I heard about only had 5 mackerel and 5 herring! P.J. on the 'Silvery Sea' was being towed in by the Lifeboat as I was heading up to the Stones :- 

 

It looks like it might of been a steering problem with the spanners laying about in the rudder area :-

 

I found out who the blue seaking belongs to, Kevin Care. He was mackereling today but hadn't caught a fish when I passed him :- 

 

My pots survived the rough weather but there was nothing worth having in them, one small lobster and a couple of crabs. I tried the bass lines for an hour for nothing as well. I was going to mackerel at low water but changed my mind after what the others had earlier.

15th May 2013. Fine weather tomorrow, at last. I plan to check the pots, try the bass and then the mackerel. Small mackerel were up to £1.80 per kilo this morning, with mediums £4.20 and Large mediums up to £5.70. I could do with a couple of boxes at those prices! I was down bailing the punt out, more of them appearing making it a bit of a squeeze :- 

 

A couple of the Newlyn boats got caught out yesterday when the wind went from a force 2 to 3 up to a force 9 to 10 within seconds. They had to get into Mousehole quick as the short trip back to Newlyn was too challenging. I have got that T-Shirt! It's not nice. 

14th May 2013. I didn't go this morning, but I have been told there were no mackerel again. Where is our summer weather? or at least a bit of spring like conditions. I have heard a wisper that a few of the Newlyn boats have started catching mackerel today, if they have they will be on a good earner as the prices this morning were :-  Smalls 30p, mediums around £4 to £4-50, large/meds £4-50 to £5-70. Apparently some of them have had 100k per boat. Hope the fish hurry up and get around this side again soon. I might get out tomorrow with a couple of big pots and put them somewhere near home where I know there is a good chance of a lobster or three.

13th May 2013. I have been away for two days and a night so haven't been out fishing. Found out that I didn't miss much. Top boat this morning had only 16 kilos. I saw Gary coming ashore tonight :- 

 

He had done 3 drifts for no fish at all. I might have a go in the morning but it's not looking good at the moment. 

11th May 2013. I fished for 2 hours tonight and only had 2 mackerel, the sea is very churned up by the wind and we need some calm ''normal'' May weather please!

10th May 2013. Update. I should have fished the flood, Stuart on 'Little Christina' got away first and had 2 boxes of mackerel before Daryl and Charles got out there. Stuart ended up with 4 boxes, half good and half small. The other two had a couple of boxes. I fished the ebb for 3 boxes. It rained until it was time to come in, a new oilskin top went up in the 'to get' list. Rainbow weather at dusk, pollack on the eastern carricks? :- 

 

I'll explain, pollack look like gold bars coming up through the water. Looks like the mackerel season has started at last. I will be out there again tomorrow.  

10th May 2013. Not sure if Charles went lastnight but apparently he fished this morning for nothing. I had to go over to Hayle and it's hard not to have a Philps pasty in the carpark. Saw Padstow Pete (owns the green one) having a yarn onboard Jock's fast worker 'Sea Maiden'. Jock is one of  the top men on the handlined pollack track, always seems to do well :-

 

I plan to fish in the shelter of the Island an hour before high tide (about 5pm). I will update how I get on later.

9th May 2013. I was tempted to mackerel again tonight but I would have struggled to fish properly in the wind. I think Charles might be going again, good luck to him. Yesterday's fish fetched £4.60 per kilo for mediums and £5.90 for the large mediums. I will be out there again tomorrow when the wind eases off.

8th May 2013. I went mackereling from 4.30pm until 7pm. It was rough past the head (the Island) so I stayed close to Porth Gwidden beach which was sheltered and pleasant in the sun. I managed to catch 29 kilos and there were no small at all. Only other person out was Charles on Boy Stuart's boat who searched outside in the rougher seas. He ended up with 10 kilos which he iced up to add to tomorrows I guess. At 9pm tonight the only mackerel on the market were mine, the other landings on the tally were pollack mostly.

They could be silly money tomorrow. £6 per kilo?.....go on buyers, you know you want them! Make it worth my while and I will go and get you some more in the gales tomorrow. 

7th May 2013. I went down the quay to go fishing on the flood but the southeast wind was a lot fresher than forecasted so I didn't go. Stuart was landing 5 bongos of spiders :-

 

And he had a box of lobsters, the largest one was a 7 pounder. What a beauty :-

 

The claw on him was the size of a prime lobby :-  

 

The early birds had 2 boxes of macs this morning. The wind eased off at high tide this afternoon, so I went for an hour and a half but only had 20 fish. Will have another try tomorrow.

6th May 2013. I did nearly 6hrs for 32 kilos of mackerel. Fished mostly at scuddy (middle of porthmeor beach). 12k large mediums and 20k mediums. 'Suzie' and 'Paul Arran' were out early and down west for about 100 kilos each. There hasn't been much caught over Newlyn side all weekend. For a bank holiday weekend the fridge isn't that full :-

 

Stuart had 63k of large ray from his nets. Mackereling again for me tomorrow. The forecast has changed and they are predicting a large ground swell and strong winds on Thursday. 

5th May 2013. The first couple of Newlyn boats arrived today :- 

 

They were looking tidy, especially the 'Susie' on the outside. Mike (aka Smallie) has been busy with the paint brush :-

 

I expect Smallie and Darren on the 'Paul Arran' will be starting their summer mackerel season tomorrow. I decided to give the bass another try and passed Stuart on the way out :-

 

He had done an early low water on the nets and it looked like he had a good trip. Showing off a large lobster and three big smiles! I bassed up the stones for 2hrs and blanked again. Did the pots for a few more crabs and came back in. John on the 'Sandpiper' has got his boat in and has had a few mackerel but not much yet, he normally does quite well. Not sure what make of hull it is, nice boat though :-

 

Noticed one more new arrival, a registered Seaking. Not sure who it belongs to but I will find out soon :-

 

I am going to concentrate on the mackerel for the next few days. Starting on the flood tide tomorrow lunch time. 

4th May 2013. I saw David Basset come in from mackereling, he didn't have a single fish. I might be having a try tomorrow, but it's not looking good. The forecast is south to southwest 10mph, so going up the stones to try the bass on the flood and doing the pots is also an option. Quite a lot of people in town and the self-drive boats were all hired out. I'm sure it was a good day for the tripping boats with a plenty of sunshine. Only other fisherman I saw was P.J. being paddled to 'Silvery Sea' by his crew :-

 

3rd May 2013. Wish I could say that I have been busy catching fish but instead I have been busy trying to catch fish! I had one of those days yesterday when nothing went right, apart from the flat calm sunny weather that is :- 

 

Other commitments meant I couldn't go until yesterday afternoon so I decided to do as much as I could from 2pm until dark. Took frozen dogfish and salted mackerel to do the pots and put all my bassing gear in my rucksack. Food, drink and filled up a basket of ice in expectation of a good session :- 

 

I went up the 'Stones' and started trolling two bass lines, one with a blue/white redgill and the other with a blue/white sidewinder. Working one at 2 fathoms and the other at 3 fathoms at half tide ebbing. I covered all the main spots for a good 1 1/2hrs for absolutely nothing. So I packed up and tried mackereling east side of the stones in Bassets Bay. After an hour I had caught 2 mackerel so started packing up the mackerel line only to see a small bunch of bass following the hooks in. There was about 20 of them, they played around on the surface for a minute 10 yards away from the boat. I got the bass lines out again for 1/2 an hour but had nothing again. By this time it was slack water and potting time. Not a single lobster in 18 pots. One spider crab and a few browns, so I put the pots back in a different spot. Even with the rubbish fishing it was a pleasure to be out there :-

 

Full sail needed to make headway deep off the Stones buoy. I had to decide to bass or mackerel on the flood. The way things were going I had the feeling that whatever I chose would be the wrong decicision. I decided to leave the bassing until I have got live eels for bait and go mackereling back at the Island because Daryl had 1 1/2 boxes there the night before. Two more hours mackereling for 5 fish!  So that was 7 mackerel and a few crab for 6hrs at sea. Things can only get better. It's going to be a weekend working on the pot making and back out to sea Sunday afternoon. All next week is looking good wind and tide wise, should earn a wage.

2nd May 2013. I have been too busy to get on here, will update late tonight or tomorrow.

 

30th April 2013. Update: Went down to the boat while the tide was out to do a couple of jobs and saw that Karl had sneaked against the quay as well, he must have just scraped off his moorings before going aground :-

 

As it turned out, our eagerness to get out early was in vain, not only was it rough but there was very little fish. I managed about  8 kilos in 2 1/2 hrs :-

 

Apparently the Newlyn boats were on about 2 boxes per man tonight. Karl had about 10 kilos, Gary had the same. Only other one out this side was Charles, don't know what he had but I expect it was the same. A new day and a new story tomorrow!

30th April 2013. This mornings prices were not as good as I hoped that they would be. Large/mediums were £3.80, Mediums were £2.80 and small were 60p. Ended up with £147 for last nights fish. Going to need to catch a bit more so I have put 'Jen' against the quay to get out a bit earlier on the flood:-

 

Karl on 'Athena Fay' had nearly 40 kilos this morning. The water is nice and clear but it will be a rocky trip later if it doesn't calm down on the flood :- 

 

I will update later if I don't finish too late. 

29th April 2013. Update: Bad times? What bad times? 50 kilos in 2 1/2hrs tonight :-

 

There was only Daryl and myself out there tonight, he had a box and a half but didn't get out there as early as I did, his mooring is higher up the beach :-

 

Only 4 kilos of small and they were nearly mediums :-

 

I have been reliably informed that mediums were around £4.50 to £5.00 per kilo this morning and bigger stuff fetching £6.00 ish. Very little mackerel on the market tonight so the price should stay good. Best catch from the Newlyn boats in the fridge was 50 kilos by Nigel on 'Norah T' :-

 

I'll have a bit more of this tomorrow please! All week would be even better! 

29th April 2013. The wind is forecasted to ease off a bit this evening so I am going to try the mackerel again when 'Jen' floats about 5.30pm. I have had some time to work on pot making and the first double sized one is ready for the water :- 

 

It has a top enterance and two side enterances :- 

 

At 56 inches long there is plenty of room to encourage multiple lobsters. I will update on tonights mackereling when I get home. 

28th April 2013. It did calm down enough to do the pots this morning. Daryl on 'Shikari' was out at first light and had 10 kilos of mackerel, a sign of some life at last. Nothing doing in the pots and I tried the mackerel on the way back from the stones for nothing as well. I have left the boat out on anchor and will be trying the mackerel again on the first of the flood (2pm). I'm starting to forget what it is like to have fish on the line. Hopefully I will be reminded this afternoon, will update you later.

Update - Well I tried mackereling from 2pm until 3.30pm without catching a fish. I was about to give up and I caught 3 fish, so I stuck at it until 5pm by which time it was grey, drizzly and rocky :-

 

Ended up with a disappointing 17 fish :-  

 

You have to be a bit crazy to do this for a living. But these bad times are soon forgotten when when it all comes good.

27th April 2013. Nice evening in the harbour :- 

 

Not so calm over the other side of the quay though :- 

 

The water is looking a bit murkey for mackerling. I am still hoping that it will be calm enough in the morning to go up the Stones to do the pots.

26th April 2013. A fresh northerly wind has kept all the boats in today and it will be the same again tomorrow. More harbour visitors moorings going down today next to the new style self-drives :- 

 

The 'Cornish Crest' is looking nicely painted :- 

 

At the moment Sunday morning is forecasted to be calm, if it stays that way I will try the mackerel and do the pots. 

25th April 2013. Gary and Karl were boxing up their pollack this morning that they caught a couple of days ago :-  

 

The fish keep perfectly in the slush ice bins :- 

 

Top quality line caught fish but the price has been low on the market due to large amounts of netted pollack being landed. With the tides now being unsuitably big for the netters, they are hoping that the price will be up a bit tomorrow. :-  

 

A few more boats appearing in the harbour :-

 

Lewis Stevens has done a good job on the 'Cynthia' :-

 

Looking very tidy and now comes with a shelter. David Basset has put his Sea King in with a change of colour from orange to blue :-

 

Steve and Ian (harbour master and side kick :) were putting the harbour mooring down ready for the visiting yachts with the help of a digger :- 

 

The only fishing boats out over low water were 'Ammo' (on anchor), Boy Stuart (potting down west) and 'Dignaty' in the bay gettng more pots ready: 

 

Daryl on 'Shikira' was out for a long time over low water yesterday and only had 20 mackerel I was told by Karl. As for macs on the other coast, Barry on 'Boy Brax' made a landing of just 8 kilos.  

24th April 2013. As there is no mackerel at the moment I decided to try live eels for bass up the Stones yesterday. Before 'Jen' floated, Stuart on 'Little Christina' came in aganst the quay :-

 

Plenty of spider crabs on the march :-

 

And there seemed to be quite a few rays hid away under that net bin as well. Traz was onboard 'Dignity' gettng some of his supersized lobter/crab pots ready :- 

 

Prisky (Osprey) and Ian (Ammo) were both baiting behind the quay, Prisky had a good first shut and gave me enough to go angling :- 

 

They were mostly mediums but still good enough to catch if there was any bass there. Half way to the Stones I passed P.J. on the 'Silvery Sea' being towed back to harbour by Hayle boat 'Swift'. I found out later that his gear box had packed up :- 

 

As soon as I got to the Stones, thick fog/mist strolled in and made it very difficult to fish the exact 'hot spots'. I gave it my best try for 2hrs but never had a bite. I packed up and did the pots. Had a bit of crab and the first lobster for the season :-

 

22nd April 2013. I am going to try the mackerel on the flood, 'Jen' should float about 12.30pm. Hopefully it's not still barren out there. The tides have jumped up to 14.4ft from a low of 11.2ft and the wind is southwesterly so there is a chance that some might have turned up. Will let you know the news later. 

Update - I did 3 drifts on the mackerel for absolutely nothing! As I was coming in Charles and Daryl were on their way out to give it a try. By the time I had moored up and done some checks on the hauler (still leaking hydrolic fluid ) Charles had given up without a fish as well :- 

 

Can't remember having so many totally blank trips, the wait goes on. Might be hauling the pots up the stones tomorrow to see if there is anything moving up there.

20th April 2013. It's been a busy two days. Prisky launched down yesterday, will be having some bait from him very soon :- 

 

Simon Freeman Put 'Kira' back in as well :-

 

He has put trims on the bow to deflect the sea and make her drier :- 

 

Together with the newshield she should be much better :- 

 

He was looking happy yesterday and I expect he is even happier today as Karl (who had about 7 boxes) reckoned that Simon had more pollack than him deep off over low water :-

 

Hodgey brought his punt down, I expect his boat 'Mary Mo' will soon follow:-

 

I tried two drifts on the mackerel this morning and didn't have a single fish. So it was time to move the pots. As I was going to haul Traz was bringing 'Dignity' back home from Newlyn :- 

 

And the rib 'Rebel V' was on her way out with a couple of of passengers :-

 

I'm jealous of its speed but not its fuel bill :- 

 

Brett from Hayle was doing his spider pots just outside the harbour :-

 

I managed to fit both strings of pots onboard, didn't have room to move but only had to do one trip to the 'Stones' and back :- 

 

18 pots only had 6 sized spiders and a couple of browns, time to try somewhere else. I have baited with salted mackerel in hope of an early lobster or two. Plan 'A' is to try bassing on Tuesday or Wednesday and do the pots on the slack water. Ian and 'Adder' were out baiting on 'Ammo' behind the quay after not having much in Porthmeor along with Prisky on the 'Osprey' :- 

 

18th April 2013. We have got the sunshine, now all we need is the lighter wind and warming waters. Still looking good for next week starting Saturday. I went to Newlyn today and got all I need to sort my hauler out, even a lot of the big boys are waiting for the weather :-  

 

The punt 'Guiding Star' was alongside the market loading up with pots :- 

 

The trend is to move from the 'normal' sized pots to double sized ones. They fish a lot better than twice the catch because lobsters can be put off going into a crammed pot. I'm going to start joining two together and see how I get on with them. I will post the results on here as the season progresses.  

16th April 2013. Karl on the 'Athena Fay' (pic below) mackereled for 3hrs this morning and went down as far as the western carricks (Seal Island) for just 4 fish :-

 

Only one Seal Island and fishing trip boat in the harbour at the moment, that is John Marsh's 'Seahorse'. She is looking very tidy for the start of the season :-

 

Other ways for the emmits (holiday makers) to get to sea at the moment are either on the very fast rib ride :- 

 

Or on the not so fast (thank god) self-drive boats. New inflatable versions this year seen here in the distance with matching jeep and trailer :- 

 

I tried to fix my leaky hydrolic fluid tank by tightening the gauge screws but it wasn't the problem, might need a new gauge. Only other fisherman in the harbour while I was there was Gary Leach :-

 

'Bethshan' is a monster of a boat compared to a lot of them in the harbour :-  

 

Gary was doing a few odd jobs while waiting for better weather to go out deep targeting handlined pollack. He had a nice few boxes last trip :- 

 

The weather is going to calm down from Friday onwards, high hopes for next week with the tides jumping (spring tides) and better sea conditions. 

15th April 2013. I didn't bother getting up early yesterday morning after blanking the day before. I tried again at 5pm on the flood for an hour and totally blanked again. Daryl on 'Shikari' had engine trouble so I kept an eye on him as he slowly headed back to harbour :- 

 

His engine was starting to overheat a bit due to less water going through it than there should be. Might be a blocked seacock or worn impeller. I took my fish into Newlyn lastnight and there was a good landing in the fridge from the Pascoe's :-

 

I could see cod, pollack and haddock, not sure what else was there. Apart from that landing there was hardly anything else there for the buyers. Mackerel wise there was only Daryl's 20 kilos and my 16 kilos :- 

 

A friend who is a buyer told me that mine fetched £5 per kilo. Great price but not enough fish for 4 trips out! Now is the time to find a shoal and make a killing. Karl went at first light this morning and fished for 3 hours which resulted in just one mackerel. Now I have my hauler enging starting first pull and running perfectly I have discovered that all my hydrolic oil has leaked out of the tank. It's leaking from the gauge on the side of the tank so I am hoping that it is one of the nuts come loose due to vibration. Need to dig some tools out to get the top of the tank off and get some gasket sealer for putting it back on again. Pain in the A**E !

13th April 2013. I went mackereling yesterday afternoon on the flood and caught 1/2 a box. Daryl on 'Shikari' was the only other one out and he had about 20 kilos. With there being a show of fish I got up at 4.45 this morning and fished first light off Clodgey, wet, windy and no fish at all. So trying to make a decent landing I went again at 4.30pm. The weather was worse than the morning and I got swamped for just 12 fish! I wasn't impressed.

11th April 2013. I gave the mackerel a quick try (20 minutes) for nothing and then hauled and baited the pots. No crab moving either, 18 pots done for 4 sized spider crab. Daryl on the 'Shikari' tried mackereling as well and I found out that he had 6 fish in about the 1st hour and then had 1/2 a string full as Karl on 'Athena Fay' was on his way back in from giving the engine a run (and finding out if 'Shikari' had caught anything). So there is a sign of life starting to show.

10th April 2013. I have been busy ashore today so don't know if anyone has been out. Plan 'A' is to go on the flood tomorrow afternoon and try the mackerel again (can't be any worse than yesterday!) and then haul the pots. Not a sign of any more easterly wind for at least the next 9 days so hopefully things will warm up and some fish will arrive. 

9th April 2013. There was no wind and a fairly calm sea, so I decided to try the mackerel on the flood. I was the only one waiting for the boat to float, what did everyone else know that I didn't? :-

 

I soon found out when I had 2 drifts on the mackerel for absolutely nothing, I didn't give it long but it was obvious that all I was doing was wasting fuel. On the way back into harbour 'Silvery Sea' was landing again with the fast cat tied outside of her :-  

 

She is a fine boat, I just had a look at her website www.atlanticdiver.co.uk and see that it's based in Newquay, been here about a week, not sure what she is working on :- 

 

Stuart had put 'Little Christina' against the middle steps waiting to have a new gantry fitted :- 

 

A new gantry will give him somewhere to fix his net fleeting machine. He didn't have much in his nets to the west yesterday, 4 ray, 20 kilos of spiders and one large cod. The wait for the fish to turn up goes on! 

8th April 2013. I put the new oil alert unit onto the hauler engine and it started 1st pull, just need to top up the hydrolic fluid now and it's ready for action :- 

 

Boy Stuart was doing a bit of maintenance on his punt :- 

 

Kempy (deputy harbour master) was coating Rampers walkway with lime to remove the seaweed. We don't want our visitors slipping over :- 

 

Old man Stuart hauled his ray nets from down west but I missed him coming in so I don't know what he had yet. 'Silvery Sea' came in with a bin full of mixed dogs :-  

 

They had a box or two of good stuff as well, I could see pollack and dover soles :-

 

7th April 2013. Not much to report today. Karl and Boco hauled their nets this afternoon for just one mackerel. Plenty of wind on the way for all of next week. Might get out on Tuesday to haul the pots and have a try on the mackerel. It's more weather like yesterday that we need to get some fish to turn up, come on warmth, more days at the office like this one below please :-  

 

6th April 2013. Got down the quay about 9am and piled my 9 pots and back rope under the crane and lowered them to the sand :- 

 

Carried it over and stacked it next to 'Jen', Karl (skipper/owner of Athena Fay) lent a hand :-

 

Two frozen dogfish for bait in each pot and stacked aboard ready to go :-

 

Karl was doing a bit of maintenance while waiting for the tide to come in and put the nets out with Boco again :- 

 

He kindly gave my engines and hauler a spray of his water repellent, I'm not very good when it comes to getting around to maintenance jobs :- 

 

I wanted to go west with my pots but there is a strong ground swell on its way so I shut them in the bay where they will be safe. I tried 2 drifts on the mackerel and had one herring! To be honest it wasn't looking good before I started, no birds of any kind feeding. So after an hour for nothing I hauled the 9 pots that had been out there for about 2 months. I was amazed to see a crawfish come up in the second pot :-

 

Obviously it was well undersize:-

 

I let him glide back down to the sea bed and would like to see him again when he is about 2 kilos :- 

 

Nice to see the sailing club back out, they started last Saturday. Good bunch of people, miss seeing my boy out with them :-

 

Old man Stuart has shut ray nets down Zennor way for a 2 night lay. He wasn't that keen but I talked him into it, so I want a 10% share if he fills up. I will be getting more pots ready tomorrow. 

5th April 2013. No one went out today. I'm looking forward to a busy day tomorrow. Going to put a string of 9 pots out, give the mackerel a good try and then haul and bait the other 9 pots I have out. They haven't been hauled for ages so I expect any crab that was in them have made an escape hole by now. I will mend, bait and shut them back.

4th April 2013. It's rougher than yesterday out there, all the boats are staying on their moorings. Still looking good for Saturday but Sunday is now forecasted to be strong southeasterly. 

3rd April 2013. Gary on the 'Bethshan' tried the mackerel this morning but had nothing. I think it was calmer first thing but the wind soon got up creating white caps :-

 

Stuart is about half way through sorting out his pot ropes that got washed into the harbour a while ago :- 

 

Huddy (trawler man) on the left is off work after being hit in the shoulder by a swinging cod end! I sorted out my pot ropes, cut out some old flatty nets and started fixing the leaky punt that's in my garden. At the moment it is looking good to get to sea on Saturday.

2nd April 2013. I changed the spark plug on the hauler engine and it still wouldn't start. No spark even on the new plug. That just left the little rusty cube that the ignition wires go in and out of :-  

 

Wasn't sure what it was but I tried bypassing it and got a spark! Put the plug back in and it started, Yesssss! Having looked through the manual I now know that it is the 'oil alert unit'. So as long as I make sure there is plenty of oil in the engine it should be ok to run it before I get a replacement unit. Will be hauling the pots soon! 

1st April 2013. Not much happening, still looking bleak out there:-

 

I don't think Karl and Boco had much this morning as the nets were kept aboard the boat :-  

 

I am keeping busy tieing up mackerel sets and cutting out old bass nets. The new ignition switch hasn't solve my hauler engine problem, was sure it was that. Off to get a new spark plug tomorrow, if that isn't it I am going to have to find someone who knows what they are doing.

 

31st March 2013. I hope you have had a good Easter! Easterly at easter and staying that way until Thursday when it starts to swing to the north a bit. The sea isn't big, just cold and bleak with a few white caps :- 

 

Stuart (Little Christina) hauled mackerel nets yesterday for just 4 mackerel. Karl and Boco who blanked yesterday have shut this morning, all 3 tiers by the look of the empty bins onboard :- 

 

I hope they have a bit tomorrow. I will join them if there is a sign of life. Hand hauling in the wind when there is no fish about is something I try to avoid now. It costs me the odd hit of fish though! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, next Sunday is forecasted to be light winds from the west, only a week away :) 

30th March 2013. Karl and Boco had a few boxes of mackerel yesterday and shut the nets back. They hauled again this morning for just one herring, one pilchard and one spider crab. The only thing that had changed was a large ground swell had arrived which seems to have made the fish take off somewhere. It was a nice sunny day, I put 'Jen' against the end of the quay to get away earlier on the flood :-

 

While I was there the inshore lifeboat raced across the beach and into the water :-

 

And out through the surf :- 

 

Quickly followed by the main lifeboat smoking a bit when firing up her engines :- 

 

Amazing how deep that tractor can push her into the sea :- 

 

After a perfect launch she followed the insore in a 'Hell's Mouth' direction. I don't know the reason for the launch but hope all is well with whatever they went for.

I floated about 3pm and tried the mackerel from the corner of the head. From there I worked half way across the bay edging deeper as I went along. Not a single fish, barron! The new switch for my hauler engine has come so I am going to put that on tomorrow.    

29th March 2013. The wind is going to ease tomorrow afternoon so I might have a couple of hours with the mackerel line, apart from that the forecast is a minimum of 20mph easterly for at least the next seven days. Coldest March since before I was born! 

28th March 2013 Karl and Boco did well yesterday with a nice few mackerel in their nets:-  

 

Ian Kemp (deputy harbour master) and Gary Leach (Bethshan owner/skipper) look on as they pick out:- 

 

Charles hauled mackerel nets yesterday and did ok as well:- 

 

They shut back but there was a lot less fish this morning. Typical because I had a go with my bass nets and only managed half a box of macs. If the forecast is correct I wont be going to sea for at least a week, more strong easterlies.

26th March 2013. A couple of boxes of herring for the 'Gemma' this morning but no mackerel. 'Shikira' went mackereling on the flood in the afternoon, don't know if he had any yet. I still haven't managed to get my hauler engine running, ordered a new ignition switch for it today, hopefully it will be up and running soon. I haven't hauled the pots for ages! 

25th March 2013. Found out today that Karl and Boco on the 'Gemma' have been having a few herring and some mackerel in their herring nets. I took my flatty nets off today and put them away until October. Stuart on the 'Little Christina' hauled his flatty nets today and had quite a lot of spider crabs. My gear is too new to destroy on the spikey spiders. I tried the mackerel on the flood for an hour but only had one fish. Might give it another try tomorrow. 

24th March 2013. I have discovered that my settee cushions are stuffed with white feathers. I know that they fish well so instead of using my normal red plastic tube :-

 

The best catch I ever had was on white feathers (184st) many years ago. I have been using 22 hooks with 60lb strops on 60lb back line with the red plastic. Now I am going to use 25 hooks with 60lb strops on 80lb back line :-

 

I expect the catches to be low but the prices to be high this week with the easterly winds. Will give it a try tomorrow on the flood if the wind isn't too strong. 

23rd March 2013. Looking like Wednesday afternoon will be my next trip out.Going to chase the mackerel as the prices are fantastic. Wednesday's prices:- £4.60 large mediums, £3.90 mediums and 30p for small. Thursday's prices:- £5.80 large mediums, £3.90 mediums and 10p for small. Plaice were only 80p so I think the nets will be coming off. Still need to fix the hauler engine. 

20th March 2013. The mackerel were hard to find today. I did about 5 hours in the bay for 10 kilos. Gary on 'Bethshan' searched as far west as the Carricks (Seal Island) right up to Basset's Bay past Godgrevy Lighthouse for 5 kilos. After a few calm days and small neap tides there were lots of fish being landed by the larger Newlyn boats:-

 

Wet and windy tomorrow. Next week isn't looking too good either with the wind going back into the Easterly quarter. 

19th March 2013. P.J. has brought the 'Silvery Sea' back around from Newlyn:-

 

He had quite a few boxes of smoothhounds onboard yesterday:-

 

For two days running now there has been no prime fish in my nets, so I am going to concentrate on the mackerel. Medium macs were £5.50 per kilo on Mondays market and £4.00 this morning. I managed to get 36 kilos landed tonight:-

 

Very little fish on the market for tomorrow at 5pm tonight so hopefully the prices will stay high:- 

18th March 2013. Long day today and early start tomorrow. Plenty of plaice about and a few mackerel. More details tomorrow. 

17th March 2013. My punt wasn't looking quite right when I got down the harbour yesterday:-  

 

The result of heavy rain and a hole just above the water line! Need to get that fixed soon. I put the nets out over Godrevy. The early birds had about 1/2 a box of mackerel each. I'm 49 years young today!

16th March 2013. Going down to try and get the hauler engine working this afternoon. I will be shutting the nets tomorrow morning and trying the mackerel.

14th March 2013. Three boats tried the mackerel first light and the best had only 20 fish. That and the fact it was still quite rough put me off doing a low water. It was sunny and calm on the flood so I gave it a try then. Over an hours fishing for just 3 mackerel and one herring made me give up and go to do the few pots I have out. I got everything ready and the hauler engine wouldn't start so I had to abandon that idea as well. Hows that saying go ''It never rains but it pours''. No fishing tomorrow, going to pay my last respects to a fellow fisherman William Cocking. R.I.P. Will.

13th March 2013. Calming down at last, a few punts sank yesterday including mine, no damage done though. I plan to try the mackerel tomorrow.

11th March 2013. Fridays haul wasn't much good, 22 kilos of plaice and 8 kilos of ray. I had 18 pots washed into the harbour this morning, sounds bad until compared to Stuart who had over 200 to sort out:- 

 

More pictures on my facebook :-  CLICK HERE. 

10th March 2013. Keep getting error message when trying to upload photos. Temporary blip, will be back to normal soon. Winter is about to return by the way. Not good until Thursday! 

6th March 2013. Very little mackerel about on this neap tide. I have put the nets in the water, Stuart shut yesterday and hauled this morning:-  

 

A nice few plaice and rays in Stuarts 1st net up builds my confidence of a better haul for me on Friday. 'Tasty' who works out of Hayle came out to try the mackerel:-  

 

His boat 'Few Dollars More' might not be big but it has the handy option of speed if needed with the 50hp outboard:- 

 

He has his own fish shop - The 'Tasty' Fish shop in Cambourne which is doing well.

5th March 2013. I mackereled at first light yesterday for half a box. Hardly any fish on the market so hopefully the prices will be high:- 

 

I will have another go at the mackerel in the morning and shut the nets. I will haul the nets on Friday, hopefully a long soak on a better (neap) tide will produce a days wage.  

3rd March 2013. No weed, no fish, no crab, NO MONEY! :- 

 

I should of been mackereling instead. The chaps had 1 to 2 boxes each by 9am. 

2nd March 2013. The nets are in the water. 630 yards of new 6'' flatty gear :- 

 

I will haul at first light, expect a few rays, some dover sole as well would be nice. Karl had 30 kilos of macs this morning but 20 of it was small, Frank had 10 kilos. Gary on 'Bethshan' came back around from Newlyn and had a box of Pollack and 5 kilos of macs on the way.

 

28th February 2013. Might be putting the new nets out on Saturday.  It's been a bleak February, glad it is over. I love the spring. Bring it on!

26th February 2013. Sorry for lack of updates, had laptop problems, still not much happening. I mackereled Saturday for 2 hours and caught 22k. Tried again on Sunday for another 2 hours and had only 9k. Landed 5k large/mediums, 20k Mediums and 6k small. Karl on the 'Athena Fay' has kept going, not sure if he is catching. I'm keeping busy making new nets in the warm! Nearly 500 yards of flatfish nets ready to go.

21st February 2013. Might get out to try the mackerel tomorrow afternoon if the wind drops enough. Next week looks poor from Monday to Thursday with fresh northeasterlies. 

19th February 2013. Nice and calm first thing this morning:-

 

There were 3 boats from St Ives and 3 from Hayle trying the mackerel. Karl was out for the first time for a while on the 'Athen Fay', The fishing over Newlyn must be slowing down:-

 

After 2 hours for about 30 fish and a freshening southeasterly wind, it was time to give up and head back in:- 

 

Washed with sea spray, most of the fish were small mediums.

17th February 2013. I had a good 100 kilos of mackerel on Friday afternoon's flood tide:- 

 

A good run of fish with 33 kilos of big stuff:-

 

I had a box of ray in the nets yesterday but not much else. Quite a fresh southeast to northeast wind for all the coming week with Tuesday being the calmest day. A dry week with plenty of sunshine to start with.

14th February 2013. Took the bass/mackerel nets off the boat today. They are put away until October. More space for potting and mackereling. Nice to see the sun shining:-

 

I'm going to haul the pots in the morning to see if there is any crab moving, might put 250 yards of flatfish net out as well. 

13th February 2013. The first string of 9 pots went back onboard 'Jen' yesterday morning and into the sea:-

 

Tried the macs on the ebb, not good:-

 

I left the boat at 'Rampers' ready to try the macs again on the first of the flood in the afternoon. I didn't think the tide was going to go out as far as it did, it left 'Jen' sitting on the rocks, woops! She was ok though:- 

 

The flood tide was better, I ended up with 30 kilo's. The dolphins were having their share as well:-  

10th February 2013. Plenty of white caps out there today:- 

 

It is still looking good for putting a couple of strings of pots out on Tuesday. 

8th February 2013. It calmed down yesterday but the water looked too murky for hook fishing. Charles on 'boy Stuart's' other boat went out:-

 

Frank Lander was right behind him:- 

 

I watched them from Porthmeor for a while and they din't seem to be catching anything. No calm weather on the way. I am hoping to get the pots back in the water on Tuesday. 

3rd February 2013. Bad weather until Thursday. Strong north to northwest winds.

31st January 2013. Boy Stuart had a few herring, mackerel and dogfish in his nets this morning. Not much else happening in this bad weather.

28th January 2013. Todays mackerel prices (per kilo):- Large £4.30, Large medium £4.40, Medium £3.60 and Small 10p. My landing grossed £203.80, result! Gone are the days of £1.00 per stone (about 17p per kilo). This lot I am scooping here many moons ago would be worth £4,000 at todays prices:-

 

27th January 2013. Landed yesterday's fish. Only mackerel on the market by the look of it. Dig deep buyers, do I hear a starting bid of £4.00 per kilo for those good sized mediums? 

 

3k Large, 20k Large mediums, 29k Mediums and 2k small.

26th January 2012. I was the only boat out today and caught 2 boxes of mackerel in 2 hours. They should be worth a few pounds on Mondays market. Lots of wind and surf all next week. 

24th January 2013. Lots of dogfish in the nets, not what was wanted. Trevor and Mike had a box full of mackerel each:- 

 

23rd January 2013. The nets are in the water, will be hauling tomorrow afternoon. 

21st January 2013. Tried mackereling before hauling the nets yesterday, it was useless! Trevor on the 'Lady Joan' had 1/2 a box on Saturday, but neither of us managed to cover the bottom of a box yesterday:-

 

Trevor not circling means he's not catching:-

 

The nets were disappointing as well, apart from a few good sized ray:- 

 

So it was a poor landing of a couple of kilos of macs, 18k ray and 9k dabs. Maybe the cold weather is no good for the fish, it certainly was no good for me yesterday, bloody freezing all day! 

18th January 2013. 500 yards of old and 125 yards of new flatty net shut over Godrevy way this morning. I am going to let it fish 2 nights and haul it on Sunday. It was surprisingly calm after last nights wind:-

 

Going to give 'Jen' a long overdue coat of paint this spring. There were 3 dolphins playing outside the harbour, I got a picture of one of them:- 

 

The rest of today and all of tomorrow will be spent making more new nets.

16th January 2013. The forecast has changed, might get the flatty nets in the water on Friday or Saturday. I fleeted them ready yesterday:-  

 

It took nearly 3 hours to fleet due to lots of 'fish louses' (tangles). They take a bit of untwisting:- 

 

I might try the mackerel at first light tomorrow morning. 

14th January 2013. As net making lofts go, mine is quite up market with TV, heating and anything else I might need:- 

 

I might get out on Thursday morning to try the mackerel, apart from that it is not looking good weather wise at all. My new toy has just arrived, a Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It has a beast of a camera on it so the photo below should be the last poor quality shot you see on my website:-

 

11th January 2013. Quite a lot of northerly wind next week so I will have time to make some new nets. 

9th January 2013. I tried the mackerel for an hour and only had 5 fish. Some of the chaps that fished all day managed to catch 3 boxes. My nets were not much better, half a dozen ray and a few flatties. 

8th January 2013. Looking forward to tomorrow, plenty of sunshine and no wind, great. I will try the mackerel for a couple of hours on the flood and then haul the flatty net. I will be able to give the tame sandpipers another feed:-

 

7th January 2013. Been too busy to get on here, I have caught lots of dogfish, 3 freezers full of pot bait! Made a landing Saturday of herring, mackerel, bass, whiting and bream. There was a large crane on anchor in the bay, think it might be to do with the wave hub:-

 

A few quids worth of machinery:-

 

Made another landing today of herring, plaice, dabs, ray and dover soles:- 

 

I shut the flatfish nets back and will be hauling them on Wednesday. Heavy rain all day tomorrow so I am working at home. 

4th January 2013. I left the harbour at 9.30am with 500 yards of flatfish net and 500 yards of smaller mesh targeting mackerel:-  

 

I shut the flatty net over the eastern shore (Godrevy) and the other nets from Hayle Barr bouy back towards St Ives. I am going to mackerel with the hooks at first light and then have the mackerel net up. I will leave the flatty net until Sunday morning. Trevor on the 'Lady Joan' had 1 1/2 boxes of macs today and 2 1/2 yesterday, so there is a few about. 

3rd January 2013. I got the nets ready and onto the boat, will be putting them into the water in the morning. 

2nd January 2013. HAPPY NEW YEAR! New Years Eve's fireworks were brilliant this year, if you missed them take a look below:- 

 

I will hopefully be fishing by the weekend, flatfish netsout is plan 'A' at the moment. Tide times have been updated.