4.   Today was the first day of Newfoundland's 2009 Recreational Summer Fishery. This morning Captain H, Terry and I got aboard the boat under sunny skies and little wind and headed towards LaManche Placentia Bay. We dropped our lines over the side in one area with no success, and moved further up the shore to try again. Along the way we were visited by the friendly DFO officers who were checking for daily bag limits, having caught no fish so far they wished us well and made their way up the bay.

3.   Their well wishes did us a world of good as we soon struck right into a school of fish. Both Captain H. & Terry using traditional hand-lines fitted with 3 hooks managed to land 3 fish at one time! I was using a treble hook on a 5oz lure with my saltwater spinning reel and also had great success. At this rate we rapidly caught our quota of 5 fish per person, maximum 15 fish per boat.

2.   Since it was still early so we headed to shore, put our fish on ice, our fishing gear in the truck and headed back out for a run around the bay and enjoyed the rest of the morning. When we got back we took to the task of cleaning and filleting our catch, quickly realising that we needed better knives to tackle this sensibly. Luckily a neighbour helped us out by lending us a new filleting knife, and I will remember to pick one up myself before next weekend!

1.   That evening, my wonderful future mother in law fried up many pan fulls of fresh fish for all of us to enjoy. There is nothing quite like eating fish caught that same day!

Cheers, MIKE