Tag Archives: Sea-Fishing

Smoking

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You remember the mackeral I caught with my friend on the little yellow boat yesterday when we went sea-fishing, well, I took most of them home because I blithely said “no worries, I can smoke them” forgetting what immense hard work it always is.

Anyway, I spent that evening gutting and filleting (exceptionally badly) each mackeral and putting them in a brine for a few hours to form a “pellicle” – A pellicle is a thin, tacky skin of denatured surface proteins that forms on meat, poultry, or fish when air-dried after curing or brining.

The fillets were then dried on a rack overnight in the fridge as well.

This morning found me moving my cold-smoker to one of my many old sheds.  It sat on a rickety chair I found (now I look at this photo, I think I must make it a bit more level for optimum smoking and possibly safety!)

This shed is not an easy shed to get to – I had to “Prince-Charming-like” in Cinderella hack my way to my destination through our wild garden.

All day, I have been regularly checking my smoker as a) this is a new location for it and b) I didn’t want it to stop smoking until it had used up all the sawdust.  Last checked, I have another few hours to go.

But I think I might try a couple of fillets tonight and then give my friend, whose boat it was, his fair share too.  The rest will be probably be made into smoked mackeral pâté.

Next time I offer, I must remind myself just how much effort it is.  I hope it’s worth it.

Sea Fishing

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If you know one thing about me, it is that I hate boats.  I am terrified of them and there are many reasons:-

  • They make me feel sick (all of them).
  • I hate getting in and out (I fell in once).
  • People always shout at me (mostly men using technical boat-speak at me while not explaining properly and expecting me to instantly understand and obey).
  • They always give me migraines.

But, I love fishing.  So when a friend asked if I wanted to go sea-fishing with him, I immediately said yes, and then spent the rest of the time over-thinking the whole scenario to a point of semi-panic.

Determined to go, though, I took two Stugeron before we left.

This was the boat.

The other boats at the marina looked bigger.

The outboard started and off we chugged.

 

Luckily the sea-rods were both ready.

The sea was nice and calm (big phew!) and it really was a lovely evening.

I was shown what to do (I am used to spinning rods so it was all new) and I instantly caught two fish!

We stayed in one spot, just between Vaila and the mainland fairly close to the rocks, while we fished on either side of the boat.

When we had about a dozen or so mackeral, we called it a night.  I also caught a gurnard, which we threw back.

The sun was beginning to set as we turned for home and motored our way slowly back.

I liked seeing the sea-caves.  I didn’t know they existed here.

And then we were back at the marina, all safe and sound.  Catching the fish was the best bit, and the boat ride there and back was fine.  I didn’t feel sick because I was occupied either taking photos, not standing up and untangling my line from the mess the gurnard had made.

And I didn’t fall out of the boat when I got out, either!  Win, win.  I still had to take a migraine pill though.  I knew I would.