*Main image courtesy of Mitchell Smith Photography
Our trip starts on Saturday 2nd February at 09:00. Meeting onboard Our Miranda the crew are all looking forward to a good trip out at sea, whilst most other Brixhamites look forward to a weekend with their friends and family. Before we leave we take a Sainsbury’s delivery, ships’ provisions for the trip – with five hungry mouths to feed, it’s not cheap at a cost of £450,
Delivery
The first 4 days of the trip are relatively good fishing days but the forecast has taken a turn for the worse. We see many boats turn and head for Brixham to take shelter but it was a horrible night for us as Storm Erik was worse than forecast. Indeed severe gale force 9 winds meant bad fishing conditions and a reduction in catch value to the extent that it was no longer worth being out, so we bite the bullet and turn to head home.
We now have 2 unexpected days in port. These aren’t wasted as the crew repair trawls. If trawls are repaired on a regular basis then we can get 12 months of use out of them thus saving the considerable expense of replacing them in full earlier than we really need to. We also land our 4-day catch before we head back to sea.
The weather conditions over the following 2 days are pretty miserable. Fishing is better than we experienced on the last trip and does improve even more. We are now hauling at night and I point out to the crew that we are surrounded by dolphins. In all my career at sea I have never seen so many and there is not a single day goes by without a sighting. Luckily we have never had one in our nets – they are far too fast for us!! There is nothing better than watching the dolphins playing in our wash and in the waves alongside Our Miranda.
There are plenty of costs of a fishing trip. The costs of repairs to the boat and the gear, cost of quota, fuel, insurance, equipment hire, dues, levies and commission, and many other things all have to be considered. To ensure the crew get a decent share I need to ensure the boat grosses a minimum of £4,000 a day on average.
During this trip, we have experienced a lot of bad weather and average fishing conditions so we are delighted to learn that the prices being achieved on Brixham fish market are excellent. Looking forward to the next trip now.
Matt Evans
