12.   This past Saturday marked the start of the week long Fall Recreational Ground fish Fishery here in Newfoundland. Unfortunately this day also brought high winds and rain to Conception Bay so many boaters never got out. Fortunately the weather on Sunday fared much better.

11.   Although Seas were still a little choppy, French and I hopped aboard his boat, we were joined by Maffer & Sooley aboard Sooley's boat and headed out of the St. Phillip's Marina for a day on the bay.

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9.   We headed up the Shore towards Portugal Cove and spent the day fishing between there and Bauline. There were quite a lot of boats on the water that day, especially since Saturday was a write off due to the weather.

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6.   By 3pm we had our quota of five fish each so we returned to the marina to fillet our catch. Once Filleted we headed up to French's house where we bagged some fresh Fillet for that evening's supper and put the rest of our catch in salt to be cured later.

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3.   With the forecast calling for unfavourable fishing conditions for most of the week, French and I decided to take Monday morning off work and catch a few more fish to put in salt. We left St. Phillip's and headed towards Portugal Cove to some of the same spots we visited yesterday and managed to get most of our quota.

2.   At one point we were sure that French hooked bottom with his hand line. After trying every trick in the book to free the lure we tied the 500lb test to the tie off on the boat and powered forward. Whatever he was hooked in moved with us as marks Single hook was tied directly to the 500lb test line. Out of curiosity and for want of not loosing the line & lure Mark and I spent the next 45 minutes slowly pulling the object to the surface. After an epic battle we finally found our treasure: an rusty old fishing grapnel and about 75' of old rotted rope in which his line was snagged. After a few pictures we cut off all the old rope and let the steel grapnel sink to the bottom. At least without the rope others won't become snagged like we were!

1.   With work, personal commitments, and poor weather, I never got out again for this fall fishery. French made a trip to the head of Conception Bay at Cape St. Francis for attempt at big fish. He managed to land a couple but wind and large swells worked against them landing more. All in all it was a decent fall fishery.

Cheers, MIKE