Fishing help needed.

[Alice]

Now we've caught our fish, here's an eating tip (I co owned a fish retail/wholesale business in the early 90's). Pelagic (oily) fish mackeral, pilchards, sardines etc are best eaten as fresh as poss, white fish, round or flat need to be kept chilled for a few days to reach their best. Gut them immediately and get the in a cool place asap. Don't let the fish warm up in the sun. Fresh fish on the fishmongers slab could have been caught 10 days prior, but would be superb eating. Most trawlers now work 3-10 day trips so fish just landed could be up to 10 days old. The fish would have been iced down for that period and be in perfect condition. Prime flat fish, Turbot,Sole, Brill etc are so much tastier when not too fresh.

[donutsina911]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Not suprising really considering the way our fisheries protection people have hounded our fishermen out of exsistence whilst allowing the Spanish factory ships a freehand!!!

our fishery protection people do nothing of the sort. The government and EU regulations dictate who can fish where and for what. If you'd ever spent time with an RN fish patrol or the scottish fps, you'd appreciate the way in which they go about their business with regard to UK and foreign fishermen and probably wouldnt spout such garbage.

[Alice]

OK then go to Newlyn in Cornwall and speak with the guys on the other side of the arguement and you'll realise how bloody ridiculous the EU fishing policy is and even then the measures to police it are woeful. The Fisheries protection guys are close to powerless to stop it. The situation is a disgrace and that's political, so let's drop it.

[donutsina911]

Exactly the point I just made. The fishing policy is politically driven as is the ability of the RN to enforce it. As it happens, as an OOW and boarding officer on a fish boat, I spent hours and hours talking to skippers and crews around the UK and dont need to visit Newlyn to "realise" what's going on/wrong.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by donutsina911

Exactly the point I just made. The fishing policy is politically driven as is the ability of the RN to enforce it. As it happens, as an OOW and boarding officer on a fish boat, I spent hours and hours talking to skippers and crews around the UK and dont need to visit Newlyn to "realise" what's going on/wrong.

I fully realise that Britian is just "enforcing" EU law etc - but WHY do our officials have to be so bloody official and do their jobs so thoroughly??? Exactly the same EU laws apply all over the EU - the difference is they all know they are stupid so just ignore them!!!

I remember Tony Blur saying that it was unfair that Britain was the only country to bother enforcing certain EU laws so if the other countries didn't compy then Britain would also turn a blind eye. A few weeks later he announced a new satellite was being launched to spy on BRITISH farmers!!!

[donutsina911]

A good question, but dont blame the boys and girls out there doing the enforcing, especially when (unofficially) most patrols are far more lenient with UK fishermen than they should be...Its the EU and national government that call the shots, the FPS just do their dirty work with as much tact and understanding as they can.

[roycruse]

You could use that same logic to justify a traffic warden - but to this day ive never met one that doesn't deserve a punch in the gob

[ian parkes]

Roy see if you can get a Paravane in the tackle shop .
Best thing ever for trolling
It looks like a little plastic model Concorde and the line atatches to the top of the nose with the feathers at the back , no wieght to sink .

As its towed it dives to the set depth and just glides along at that depth .

I got a little book at Trago shows lots of simple info on rigs and great info on types of fish and how and where to catch them . I will bring it down for you when we meet up .

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

Roy see if you can get a Paravane in the tackle shop .
Best thing ever for trolling
It looks like a little plastic model Concorde and the line atatches to the top of the nose with the feathers at the back , no wieght to sink .

As its towed it dives to the set depth and just glides along at that depth .

I got a little book at Trago shows lots of simple info on rigs and great info on types of fish and how and where to catch them . I will bring it down for you when we meet up .

IF you can still find them, there used to be a weighted paravane available which would dive to a set depth then when a fish bites it'd shoot up to the surface. IF you see one for sale then grab it-these are the laziest way of fishing I've ever used. Unfortunately the line broke on the one I had as a kid and it's on the bottom of Poole bay somewhere

[donutsina911]

Originally Posted by roycruse

You could use that same logic to justify a traffic warden - but to this day ive never met one that doesn't deserve a punch in the gob

not really - traffic wardens make a choice to do their job and know what they will be doing on a daily basis...sailors get no choice as to how their ship gets tasked and very few volunteer for ships that are known to be on fish duties.

[roycruse]

They still have a choice

[donutsina911]

not really Roy.

[roycruse]

They chose to do a job where they may be asked to do things that were against their own personal principles.

Every one has a choice in everything they do.

People are products of their own choices.

[donutsina911]

Roy, I cant be arsed to have another pedantic discussion with you.

Whatever job you do, normally in the bowels of your employment contract is a statement that will say something along the lines of

"the employee will carry out all other tasks as requested by the company that may be reasonably expected of them"

Whatever job you do, there will be times that you are called to do things that you wouldnt ordinarily choose to do - its got nothing to do with personal principles. The forces are no exception - I joined up to shag girls, play with expensive toys and win medals. However, from time to time you get asked to do things that arent really your cup of tea (fishery patrols for example). This wasnt against my personal principles, just a distraction from doing proper stuff.

There is a world of difference between a traffic warden who knows from day one exactly what he/she'll be doing every day of their working lives and a sailor who just wants to scrap jonny foreigner and then finds himself on a three month fish tour.

The point I have made is that the law is dictated by the EU, enforced by the FPS (predominately the RN) who, by and large are incredibly sympathetic to the British fishing fleet.

[roycruse]

Originally Posted by donutsina911

Roy, I cant be arsed to have another pedantic discussion with you.

But your just going to keep on typing anyway... ... ...

[donutsina911]

yep

[Alice]

How about all FP vessels be crewed by Traffic Wardens? They could pull up along side some moustachiod Spanish skipper who's waving a shotgun about and slap a ticket on his wheelhouse window! That'll get rid of a few of 'em.

[donutsina911]

good plan! - it was always tempting to let loose a few rounds accross the bows of the spaniards so maybe tickets might be a more diplomatic approach..

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by donutsina911

....it was always tempting to let loose a few rounds accross the bows of the spaniards ........

Why bother sending them across the bows through would work better Des

[Alice]

The "waving a shotgun around" thing actually happens. A mate of mine worked on one of Stevo's beamers out of Newlyn a few years ago. ( W. Stevenson & Son own the biggest trawler fleet in England) They'd have run ins with Spanish boats, and very often the 'Village People' lookalike skipper would be out waving the shotgun about. The Belgiques were not very friendly either. All of this would be in UK waters.