Crystal Sea Trawling Blog

After a job well done we headed back down the slip this morning and headed back to Newlyn, this time we got the tide right and made good time back down the coast, we also are burning less fuel after our bottom scrubbed and paint up, as we now have less resistance due to the smooth hull.

We spoke to the Defiant on the way back down he said that as the prices had dropped back so much he

We got up early today, Alec and I got the jet sprayer out and cleaned off the hull, it was quite weedy especially around the waterline. The welders and chipys came aboard and started the maintence work that was needing doing, we finished jet spraying in the afternoon and we helped get the clump off the boat using the crane so it could be welded up. 

We steamed out of Newlyn early sunday morning to head up to Tom's boatyard at Polruan, as we headed out of the bay we had a strong northerly breeze behind us and there was a huge sw swell running. But as is so often the case as soon as we rounded the lizzard the swell had eased and there was alot less wind, it was like different day. We passed many small fishing boats who would'

Alec finished his trip off to the south west yesterday and had a good trip of mainly haddocks and nice few boxes of prime fish,  he steamed home in a southerly 9 and entered the gaps at 1930. What a great suprise he and the crew had, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew, the harbour staff and espescially the harbour commisioners for putting on a wonderful fireworks

Alec is due in tonight to land, he had moved west a bit this week, as the tide came on the cuttles started to slack off, so he has been targeting haddocks and a bit of prime the last couple of days. As of yet we are not sure if we shall be sailing again tomorrow it all depends on the weather, they are giving sw7-9 tonight if we can get 24hrs more we will, but we are due up the slip at Tom's boatyard

Just recently we have been seeing plenty of joey mackeral meshed up in our nets and swimming in the water, the echo sounder has been recording plenty of heavy marks between 0-10fathoms as well. This is good news as it is a sure sign of a good year class coming through and couple this with what is turning into a cold winter we could see mass recruitment and in time an increase in the spawning

Alec has the boat away this week, he is to the south west of the lizzard point by about 15miles. They have only been away 24hrs and alraedy have a good trip onboard, so far they have caught 2tonnes of cuttle plus 22 boxes of mixed fish. Quite often after a good blow the fishing can be quite good, we think it can stir up the nutrients in the sea which make the fish feed harder thus easier to

We have been working to the south of the lizzard point over the last week, the fishing has been good particularly the cuttle's, they have moved there way down the English channel and are now congergrated off the lizzard. We find the fishing for them better in the daylight as we use long bridles to catch them, the bridle is attached to the back of the trawl doors up to the net and measures

There's a buzz in the air across the South-West, they say there's gold out there in the emerald seas and believe you me there are plenty of prospectors! We had a few anchovies in the net last week, and so did the Vallhalla (had had 3 baskets) and we were chatting about it on the VHF, when we started getting calls from the Scotchman asking where we were to and what we had seen. When

The Monk Fish or to use its proper name the Angler Fish, is usually associated with being caught by Beam Trawlers but the Crystal Sea catches her fair share too. The fishery is normally best October through to February as they swim closer to the shore at this time of the year. The twin rig gear that we use is a quite effective way of catching them due to more net being in contact with the sea bed