This Fishing Season...

... was rather chaotic for me this year.
Didn't had the chance to go as often out with the boat as I hoped for due to the bad summer we had here in Ireland.

I recently went to the peer here in Clon again but I only caught small Pollock, no mackerel at all.

Well I can only hope its better next year, I keep you posted, in mean time I will put my gear in the storage.

Cought a cod

That specimen of cod was a pretty nice catch, the weekend before last.

Making fish and chips out of that can take some time, its weight was 7 kg....

If you want to learn more about the Cod, here a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_cod

Funny Friday: Actually more interessting than funny

I look forward to my next fishing trip,
and now i know why always a bottle of Whiskey should be on board.

Its a serious video,
but I think the end is quiet funny :-)

The secret skipper

A great skipper is hard to find, and once you have found one, you should keep it secret.
Kind of that way I felt when i have met Tom in Union Hall on the last company fishing trip I organized.
I wouldn't tell anyone who my great skipper is when I was showing pictures about my fishing trip, because i was afraid he will be completely booked out on the weekends so I wont be able to hire him.



He is pretty booked anyway, and the summer is nearly over, so here is my secret, my favorite skipper is Tom. End of September I will organize the last trip for the season, if you want to join in let me know.

Here the Link to Toms website
http://www.jorreejadecharters.ie

How did the worm get into the fish ?

Last week I went to a fishing trip with my neighbors. We didn't had a huge catch, but still had fun, and I learned something new.

My neighbor Denis advised me, not to tell my wife before or directly after dinner, so I decided to do it through this blog.

So anybody, who is easily irritated shouldn't read any further, all others, please see this fact I learned about fish.



Denis told me, in every fish is a worm, and I thought he is joking, since earth worms are often used as bait for fishing. No, he said, your fish is still alive inside.
So I asked him to show me. He took the cod we catched earlier this afternoon, we just gutted it, and I was up to cut fillets. At this picture on the right, he is pointing with a fork to the point, where a worm is hidden in the cods belly.

Its a parasite, a round worm which is confines itself to one kind of animal or group of animals, known as the host.


Its not dangerous and would not poison you, normal cooking or freezing for 60 hours under -20 C would kill it. On this picture on the left it was still moving and alive after we removed him from the fish.

Read on this page of the FAO details of the worm if you like, and its also described how it ends up in the cod in the first place.

Enjoy your next fish, with our without extra protein :-)

Pollok Time again

T(w)o fish, or not T(w)o fish ?

Difficult and Crazy question. On the picture below of course you see two fish, two Pollock
This kind of fish is not that famous in Ireland, its kind of called the poor mans fish, and cod or mackerel are much more preferred.
To be honest, i like pollock, and i have to learn how to use it propper, not just baked in the oven, but also for fish fingers or fish balls.


So if i catch any more of them soon, i will ask my friend lidia to show me how to make her famous fish balls.
Secretly I still hope to catch more mackerel from off shore fishing, since I want to make some sushi out of it. I will let you know how I get on.

So that means, I definitely have to go to fish.

Smoking fish part 2

I like his approach to, especially step 1

How to smoke a Mackerel ?

Here we go, the important part about smoking fish is to catch it first, or in my case, I was lucky and my neighbor did that part for me last weekend.

First you need to clean your fish, than you need to built a smoker. There are different methods how to build one, i describe the recycling method i used. I had 2 old BBQ grills, both broken, but together they make a good team now, as you can see here on the picture:

I just hanged the fish with some old hooks on top of the construction. I recommend to use a iron chain ore something, not just normal fishing line, since the line could melt and your fish ends up in the fire.

Speaking of fire, thats the last thing you want, you need a bit of heat, but what you want is smoke. Best results you get from wood of the beech tree.


20 minutes with low heat, under the wet towel in the smoke,
and you will see how good the Mackerel will taste.
Just yummy !

I will blog soon how to make a nice Salad out of a smoked Mackerel, my friend got a great recipe there. Smoked fish can be stored at least a week in the fridge, if it is vacuumed even longer.

Fishing Trip

At my last fishing trip somebody caught a little shark,
wanted to share that picture... (we released him of course)