Weather is crap this morning - south west gale pissing down with rain and the fish were loving it, so was I after a pack of pain killers got me through the day. Hope this isn't signs of me getting older cos it sucks! Ended up with 286 fish today - right on! They are small fish, not like the whoppers we had earlier in the trip, we will be landing 810 fish, another good trip but not an easy one. Got a weekend off for some 'R&R'. We will be in around 5pm Friday.
Weather started being a shorts of t-shirt day, but ended up being a full kit job with plenty of rain and wind. We've had a bit of a whacky race trip this time, all over the place. ended up with 119, a few smaller ones. going home tomorrow me thinks. I know my back is looking forward to a trip to Nevilles and then a steam room and sauna - bloody rich! Got to go catch some fish now.
Today has been one of those days - a total lash up and if I could swear more I'd put that as well! Weather is fresh, no fish and eating plenty of mars bars and coffee. Not a lot happening with us or the rest of the fleet. The fish do no want to play, we've been towing all over the place tried giving my back a reat but not working, not looking good i need a new one! Got about 45 fish for the day, has been a slog. Dicky will cheer us up with his cullenry delights though. It has been a bad day at the office today and i think we've got gales tomorrow. Quentin.
We have left the Basque fleet to join Walshy, fishing has gone mixey with small fish. We got 88 of the little beauties, small and meds, not the whoopers we were having. Weather turning fresh for the rest of the trip, the fishing in general has gone slack. We've had a bit of a blue planet day today, with a whale trying to get it on with the Nova Spero, we were all like Japanese tourists with our cameras on deck and have got a beauty picture of it jumping out of the water.
First the sun is shining, then the rain comes! Captaino is in Spanish mode at the moment, he cooked a delightful sort of tapas for lunch and very tasty it was too! Spray boats all over the place, fish were down deep, Mr Del Monte we finished up with 57 fish 7 small and the rest jumbos 12-13 kilo fish average! Going to have a bit of steak now bloody rich, it might be a fresh day tomorrow, saw our mate Gervasio today but only briefly been a lond day today, time to hit back on the memory mattress. Neville if you read this, my bloody back is giving me grief and I will give you a ring when we get in.
We're the closest to Spain we ever been yet! I can smell it in the sir, shorts and t-shirts today! Mr Del Monte will be pleased with today's catch 71 bruisers, about 14 kilo plus. They are beauties, they are that big that Junior is being pulled down the deck he's got quite a battle going on with them. Captaino has put on a new pair of jeans, I've never thought I'd see the day they must have been in the bargin bucket. Well there goes another birthday for me at sea, ain't life great, gotta go get my gammon and chips!
Fishing wasn't good today, for us or Gervasio! We had 57 fish, they were a good run though. On the weather front, not very good - drizzley crap all day! No wind so can't ask for more, might be shorts and t-shirt weather today. On a different note Dicky has turned down the management position at Barrons, Junior is looking at it, but feels the responsibilty of the position is too much for him at the moment and feels the hours wouldn't fit into his lifestyle, I've declined the positon full-stop. We had roast pork for tea last night, bloody rich!
Got down the Bay of Biscay in good time, and we got the lures in the water at midday. Ended up with 97 fish, of all sorts of sizes, not a lot of fish with Gervasio. Walshy is on his way. Dicky is baking me a cake for my birthday tomorrow, 38 where does the time go!
We left the harbour at 8:00 this morning, John is leaving this evening. Weather is fine at the moment, but Friday could be a bit 'shake, rattle & roll'. It's south east wind, at the moment, and the sun is out. I spoke to Gervasio and fishing is not great at the moment, so will start fishing when we come accross a good sign (that's a sign on our fish sounder not a sign from God, unless he wants to who knows!). Junior is teasy as I got more sleep then him last trip, so he turned in as soon as we left the harbour, we could have a record in our hands, unless his bladder tells him otherwise! Just Captaino and myself up at the minute, talking life and tactics. My memory mattress is calling out to me, so I won't be long either. On my time off I did a talk to Newlyn School, got gear ready for sea, had acupunture on my back - not sure on that one yet, spoke to Jo Cole at ITV Westcountry, dropped a tuna off to the Gurnards Head for Carol Trewin for Western Morning News, met the man from Del Monte - he's happy, did a few other things, and then had a beer at the cabin, then back to sea!
The fishing industry is a comedy show and if you look at it like that you'll always look on the brightside of life. The way I look at it is, the fishermen are on plant earth and the merchants are in a galaxy far, far, far, far away! As far as I know this is a team effort by both boats and all parties involved. You were given the change, last year, for six landings, to do something with are product, instead you laughed, joked and flipped 50p pieces on a market that is supposed to be there for the fishermen. You will not and I repeat be able to buy individual or boxes of fish from us direct. You like everyone else will have to buy it direct from M&J Seafoods. On another side we are all looking forward to another trip and the man from Del Monte is happy as usual with the fish that he got and I gather from now on, the whole tuna will be sent out with our tags on them. Hope you all had a nice day on beach, for those who went, unlucky for those office workers. Another young lady has been recruited in the seafood resource centre and a rather a good choice if I say so myself, I understand she's fluent in Spanish as well, not bad!
On our way home! Our total for the trip is 1114 fish, our best trip yet not bad, but we could do better. Junior was bit gutted 'cos I ended up having 14 hours sleep in my bunk and he only had about 12 hours - lash up Junior! Dickie cooked a lovely lamb roast, which I've gotta say, it was the high light of our day having a hot cooked meal, and how he fits it in as well as all the work on deck, I don't know! The man from Del Monte ended up buying our blue marlin, after a bit of haggling on the price and the deal was £75 to Newlyn Mission and £75 to Captain Edwards Charity, NAS. M & J Seafoods, from what I gather, are selling most of the fish whole. So they are now using our tags, to label our fish, so you the consumer will know who caught them. Once again, please remember if you buy these fish whole, there might be some small holes in them, where we've had to gaff them to get them aboard the boat. This brings individuality to each fish caught, 'cos i can assure you we have some fun trying to gaff them. There is a lot more I could write, but I'm sorry I just haven't got the time at the minute. I've gotta go up to Newlyn School, to hopefully show the future generation of fishermen, that there is a future in fishing after all! We are probably going back to sea Wednesday morning, I've got two days of running around with my head up my arse, as usual but like everything I get there in the end. I think we've generated a bit of press interested now in what we are doing, which is for the good of us, but I don't want people thinking this is a instant success story, I myself have put at least 7 years, behind the scenes before we got to this stage and as you see I am still putting in a lot of hours when I home from sea, throughout the year, which people tend to not see.
