One for the Pot?

[Julz]

Anyone ever dangle a line out in the Estuaries along the Norfolk coast to try and catch something nice for tea?

Apart from the pesky mackerell, and the occasional Dogfish, what else do you often catch?

This week whilst up at Bempton we have been talking to a lot of the small fishing boat skippers, learning whats being caught and whats not, theres a real shortage of whitefish(cod, haddock, pollock, whiting ect) around this area at the moment, to a point that some boats have moved further down the coast to fish off the Thames mouth area, before landing their catches back at Grimsby where prices are also more in the fishermans favour at auction.

Locally though they are catching some good big flatfish, Skate and Plaice are plentiful, although the Crabs are somewhat in poor condition when caught at this time of the year, with quite empty shells meat wise when dressed. Its taking two whole crabs to make one dressed shell full ready for sales on the stalls, and the spare claws that are often available by the pound are non existant as these are needed to make up the dressed supply orders for restaurants and the seafood stalls along the promanade

So what do you all catch for tea?

Julz

[Antares_9]

Some good Cod, Saithe and Thornback Rays being caught a few miles out of Shotley right now. I had a lovely baked Cod fillet for my dinner on Monday.

I wish people wouldn't call them Skate, they are not Skate, that fish is classified as critically endangered (CR) on the IUCN red list and talk of landing them for consumption does no favours with the meusli knitters.

[mbird]

Sea fishing is something my eldest boy is really keen to try now we've got out bottom salty, but really don't know where to start ..... any help gratefully received!

[Loops]

Dad caught a couple of skate (is caught the right word) on tuesday whilst out sea fishing but that was all

Cleaned them up on the boat and they had them for tea that night yum yum

Lou xx

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

I`ve never caught crabs

[pks1702]

Spot the difference

Me I'm off to get my Rock Eel & Chips

[jimbo]

Spot the difference

Me I'm off to get my Rock Eel & Chips

Oh well the big one is clearly a Skate and the little one is a Thorn Back Ray

[pks1702]

Glad you picked up the irony Jim

[jimbo]

They are both clearly listed in my 'Beccles boaters guide to fish' Perrance

[Antares_9]

Dad caught a couple of skate (is caught the right word) on tuesday whilst out sea fishing but that was all

Cleaned them up on the boat and they had them for tea that night yum yum

Lou xx

Caught is the right word, Skate is not the right word or indeed the right fish.

[Loops]

Not a thornback skate then ????

Lou xx

[Julz]

Its amazing how the local fishmongers and restaurants get away with selling the fish wings clearly marked as 'Skate' if that is the case, without some sort of repremand from the local trading standards, especially as this is a commercial fishing area where they should know better

We have lived on a diet of freshly caught thick fleshed juicy Plaice this week, cooked in a variety of ways with various sauces, or simply grilled, they have been some of the best i have seen and tasted since i used to come up to this part of the coast in the 1960s as a child, back in the days when they were sold to the public straight off the dock, without any kind of EU regulations to have to abide by

Locally smoked kippers and mackerell for breakfast too, so much nicer than those pre packed boil-in-the-bag samples sold in supermarkets, and without all that artifical colour added, just super fresh and naturally delicous

Julz

[Antares_9]

It’s what it’s always been called at market and in mongers and resteraunts Julz, general small ray wings, blondes, starry, thornbacks et al. The Common or wide mouth Skate (Raja Batis) is more a deep water fish and feeds on pelagic species as well as well as bottom dwelling fish and crustaceans where the smaller rays are mainly bottom feeders.

Many fish are sold under differing names, for instance Monkfish is actually angler fish (the monkfish is another member of the shark family like rays)

I feel like I’m back working on the O.E.C.D. Multilingual Dictionary of Fish and Fish Products again so I will bore you no longer.

[w44nty]

Spot the difference

Me I'm off to get my Rock Eel & Chips

Another multi named species the humble Lesser Spotted & Greater Spotted Dogfish, in chippies it is called, Rock,Rock Eel,Huss,White fish,Rock Salmon,I suppose it sounds better than "Dogfish"& Chips.

[Julz]

Far from being bored David, the ocean and its wildlife within have always facinated me since being a small child, probably started by a visit to the exibition hut that used to be on the promanade, close by what is now the yacht harbour and new pontoons at Scarborough

The habour was a thriving industry back then, always busseling with the many trawlers landing their catch, and anything unusal that was caught was whisked around to the exibition hut, where the public paid sixpence to go and look at the display, and talk to the very knowledgeable old seadog who used to run the place during his retirement, to gain a bit of beer money for himself

They often had the angler fish on display, a right ugly thing it was too, and not something that was used as a food fish as much back then as it is today, after its popularity soared thanks to the TV celebrity Chefs creating dishes with this fish renamed as Monk fish on their shows. They often had bizarre looking rock sucker fish, as well as a type of puffer fish that looked very spikey and always seemed to be one of the stars of the display

A couple of years ago i was lucky enough to take a ride on a submarine, and was facinated by the underwater scenery and wildlife, although a little disapointed that the fish seemed to be rather panicked by the noise of its engines, and quickly swam into the ship wreck down there for cover, a brilliant experiance anyway, and something i wouldnt hesitate doing again given the chance

Julz

[Antares_9]

Another multi named species the humble Lesser Spotted & Greater Spotted Dogfish, in chippies it is called, Rock,Rock Eel,Huss,White fish,Rock Salmon,I suppose it sounds better than "Dogfish"& Chips.

No, that would be mostly Spurdog.

[w44nty]

Same family Antares,all members of the shark family

[Antares_9]

Ohh, are they really?

[w44nty]

Unfortunately ,we can't all ,know it all,unless someone else do

[Antares_9]

Unfortunately ,we can't all ,know it all,unless someone else do

No problem, you only have to ask, like I said, I wrote the book on it (Literally)

[w44nty]

I must have it somewhere then in my library

[Antares_9]

My issue was ISBN 0 85238 086 0 Published by Fishing News Books Ltd, I think the current issue is about £75, but it's not an anglers book, it's an international traders, government dept and trawling reference resource.

[Julz]

That would be a book that i would love to add to my shelf, both Bill and I are very keen wildlife enthusiasts, both land and sea based, and we once owned a living reef tank which was built into the wall of our previous home, separating the lounge from the dining room, and we learned so much from owning that about marine life, and the requirements of living in our oceans

I will keep that number safe David, and add it to my Christmas pressie wish list, i already own a couple of books on the subject, but more based on fishkeeping and angling than a comprehensive encyclopaedia of the oceans wildlife

We did manage to spot flying fish and pipe fish in the wild, when we last went out saling on on a Catamaran around the tropical islands around Antigua, and a few different species of Whales and dolphins around Madeira and in the bay of Biscay on our return, but more locally, we have seen Basking sharks and Sunfish just off the coast around Padstow whist we were out doing a Rick Stien trip, but one fish i would love to see for real is a pike, which sadly the only one we ever spotted was a small dead one floating in a local canal, which was quite decomposed

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

My issue was ISBN 0 85238 086 0 Published by Fishing News Books Ltd, I think the current issue is about £75, but it's not an anglers book, it's an international traders, government dept and trawling reference resource.

Yeah but ..........Some of the International traders and Government members might be Anglers? .

[w44nty]

Amazon has 2 used copies for sale described as new for $7.45.