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Mackerel fishing
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Sunday 23 May 2010 06:42
Yesterday evening Jo and I and a whole load of Natural England types went fishing for Mackerel for a couple of hours. We hired a boat but the skipper tried to convince us not to go, saying that there were no fish today and that the sea was a bit choppy. We went anyway, three miles out to sea in fact and we did indeed catch 11 fish. I caught one and Jo caught two! In the photo, mine is the biggest one. They really are beautiful looking fish. We killed the fish straight away and one chap on board gutted the fish expertly and on the way back we cast the chum overboard and soon attracted lots of gulls and a couple of Kittiwakes including this first summer bird. We then cooked the fish on a portable BBQ. This is a really sustainable way to catch fish and it tasted fantastic. Birds were quiet, we had a Gannet go straight over the boat, a few Fulmars and a distant Auk sp. There were lots of wind born seed out at sea as well as a cranefly about a mile out heading south. On the beach, we also saw a Ringed Plover sitting on eggs, an as yet unidentified blue beetle and a whole mess of Sea Kale. I would definitely do this again, perhaps even a trip just looking for sea birds at the end of April/start of May? Hmmm...
The beetle was Psilothrix cyaneus