Today Sandra and I headed out over the highway to Bay Roberts to partake in the 2022 Recreational Groundfish Fishery. Rules for this year's fishery remain unchanged from the last few years with the fishery opening Canada Day weekend only on Saturday-Sunday-Mondays all weekends through Labour Day weekend.

Weather conditions were absolutely perfect. Warm, almost zero wind and overcast as not to bake in the heat. Dad was at the wheel of his boat, this is the same one I went through and rebuilt the interior in the Spring of 2019.

Sandra got right to work and opted to try out my Penn Fathom 60LW rod and reel instead of the traditional hand line she normally prefers.

Fishing today was fantastic, our lines wouldn't even hit bottom as the lure was snatched over and over again. Sandra first noticed this shark swim under the boat just as she reeled in one of her fish.

Seconds later it came up after Dad's fish mouth agape breeching the water just as Dad got his fish in the boat!

The bugger circled our boat like something out of JAWS before finally swimming off to torment someone else!

With the Shark gone Sandra reeled in the last fish to fill our quota while dad and I gutted our catch. Total time fishing today was just 20 minutes!

When we got back to Dad & Iris's I got the boat & gear all washed up.

Dad and I filleted then skinned our catch in short order out on back of the garage.

There's nothing like a feed of freshly caught codfish, for supper we fired up the outdoor deep fryer for a truly spectacular meal!

When I got home, I portioned out the remainder of our catch, spread the pieces on wax paper & baking sheets to par freeze in our upright freezer.

Once frozen I vacuum sealed the fish in meal size portions which will keep them perfectly preserved for a long time. This was the only trip we got out for this season and it was truly remarkable. Perfect weather, no wind, lots of nice size fish and great company!

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith