After yesterday's drama, which meant I now sported a fetching blue latex glove on my left hand to protect the dressing, Oli and I went out again. The morning was again beautiful, with blue skies and hot sunshine all day. Definitely a shorts and t-shirt kind of day. However, unlike yesterday, the winds would be easterly, and would pick up later in the afternoon. We went south, but in hindsight should probably have gone north as the winds didn't really get going until after 5 pm.
In practice, the day was much harder to fish than when the winds were westerly. The fish were still around, but were less co-operative. We each caught around 40 fish, but we often went through periods of up to half-an-hour without anything at all. Also interestingly, codling didn't dominate the catch, but instead wrasse and pollack were the main catch, along with pouting, and even a poor cod! My largest cod was weighed at 6.5 pounds. Some of the pollack were of a good size too.
The drama from yesterday continued into today. Firstly, we had a visit from the IFCA boat, but it was pleasant enough. Later though, we were stopped by a boat from the Marine Management Organisation which was a bit more intimidating - 7 or 8 people on board, who wanted to know if we had any fish on board, and who wanted to know my name, address and date of birth. Polite, but firm. As we practice catch and release it wasn't an issue, but was nevertheless uncomfortable.
The drama didn't stop there. On the way back in, again wanting to stop off Coquet Island for some mackerel, we found the main channel almost completely blocked by 3 inconsiderately placed pot markers. With the tide out, there was little wriggle room, and although we missed these three, we still managed to pick up a floating rope, part of some ghost gear that had been left. It wrapped itself around the prop. We were in around 5 feet of water by now, with kelp beds all around. I have a ropecutter on the shaft, and by some furious bursts of astern and forward I managed to cut the rope and free us, though part of the rope remained attached. We limped back into Amble, with the prospect of a costly lift on Monday to cut off the remainder.
In practice, the day was much harder to fish than when the winds were westerly. The fish were still around, but were less co-operative. We each caught around 40 fish, but we often went through periods of up to half-an-hour without anything at all. Also interestingly, codling didn't dominate the catch, but instead wrasse and pollack were the main catch, along with pouting, and even a poor cod! My largest cod was weighed at 6.5 pounds. Some of the pollack were of a good size too.
The drama from yesterday continued into today. Firstly, we had a visit from the IFCA boat, but it was pleasant enough. Later though, we were stopped by a boat from the Marine Management Organisation which was a bit more intimidating - 7 or 8 people on board, who wanted to know if we had any fish on board, and who wanted to know my name, address and date of birth. Polite, but firm. As we practice catch and release it wasn't an issue, but was nevertheless uncomfortable.
The drama didn't stop there. On the way back in, again wanting to stop off Coquet Island for some mackerel, we found the main channel almost completely blocked by 3 inconsiderately placed pot markers. With the tide out, there was little wriggle room, and although we missed these three, we still managed to pick up a floating rope, part of some ghost gear that had been left. It wrapped itself around the prop. We were in around 5 feet of water by now, with kelp beds all around. I have a ropecutter on the shaft, and by some furious bursts of astern and forward I managed to cut the rope and free us, though part of the rope remained attached. We limped back into Amble, with the prospect of a costly lift on Monday to cut off the remainder.
