It’s that time of year again, when the permafrost becomes a little less permanent and Freezerburgh hits 5 degrees at noon. Haddock sneak in past the trawlers and Ian and I don thermals and head north to catch our suppers. OK, Trevor hasn’t lost any fingers to frostbite yet, but NE Scotland does have a reputation to live up to!
In fact it was even threatening sunshine when Trev killed the outboard and we started a slow drift. The seabed here is generally sandy and pretty snag free but we were very soon into fish in mid-water.
Not quite whoops of delight as a mix of mackerel and haddock broke the surface, but these were the first mackerel of the year for us on the east coast. It meant we had fresh bait to work with too!
The haddock were there in quantity but were generally small and a bit thin. Even the nice fish that Trev is holding was distinctly skinny and needing more sandeel for breakfast.
We did pick up a dab or two, one small ling, undersized codling and a few whiting – but haddock were definitely king today.
Unusually for me, I managed the best fish of the day, with a nice beastie of 2lbs 12oz.
Ian’s ability to catch a doggie anywhere and everywhere is legendary, and he didn’t disappoint today. He could probably catch one in his bath!
Meantime Trev dug out a 40 year old stick of rhubarb from a long extinct high street store and went LRF on us.
Steady Fishing
We piled on the fish most of the day, with Ian and I ending up with over 100 each. Trev wasn’t trying anything like as hard, having had several previous sessions filling his freezer, but still had a respectable total. We kept only a few of the larger fish for filleting, with the vast majority going back.
Ditto for the mackerel, although we encountered them more sporadically during the day.
Excellent !