6 October 2007
Fishing in the Irish Sea
Last Saturday, I went fishing with my brothers and a few other people on a chartered boat trip out a little way into the Irish Sea (or the Atlantic, at that point, really) from Kilmore Quay in Wexford. Bear in mind, now, that I hadn’t been near fishing tackle since I was about sixteen, and even then it was only a nodding acquaintance.
We were onto the boat at half nine in the morning, and well out to sea by ten. The boat owner - referred to by everyone as The Skipper - guided us to a likely spot, and those who had rods set up cast their lines. I wasn’t among that number, still sorting through a rig that had apparently seen me coming and decided to be a challenge. The trouble with un-tangling a fishing rig is that there are hooks on it, and they can get caught in each other, the line, and your skin. But I eventually got it sorted out, and dropped weight, rig, and line overboard.
The idea with this style of sea fishing is that you let the line reel out until the weight hits the bottom, and the line goes slack. You then wave the rod up and down so that the weight bounces on the sea bed, and the lures attached to the rig move. I can’t imagine that they really look like food, but fish seem to respond to anything that moves, such that within an hour of starting, I was pulling up mackerel at a rate of one every ten minutes or so, sometimes with more than one on the same line. Success depends, as far as I can see, on what lure you have, and whether there are any fish down there. Different species definitely go for different lures - I had nothing but mackerel on the first rig, and then pollock and whiting on the second, while a Russian guy at the back of the boat was pulling up all possible colours of wrasse, and a few odd looking things we were told were poutings.
My youngest brother and I were fishing into the same bucket, and he decided at the end of the day that apart from one fine cod he caught, and a few others, he didn’t want many. I came home with about ten mackerel - two large ones, and the rest smaller - a smaller cod, a blue-and-pink wrasse, half a dozen pollock, one quite large, and about four good whiting. They’re all now in the freezer, waiting for me to decide what to do with them, except for the two large mackerel, which we had today.
I simply grilled them under a low heat, having covered them in a herb mix from Finland called kalamauste - literally, “fish herbs”. The mix is mostly dill, with some others - chives, lemon balm, and hyssop, I think, thrown in. They came out unbelievably well, with the skin blackening and blistered, and the fish cooked through, but still succulent. We had them with leftover breakfast pancakes, and a green vegetable mix from Marks & Spencer - broccoli, leeks, and savoy cabbage, and a little herb mayonnaise. I ended up putting more of the mayonnaise on the greens than the fish, though; they didn’t need anything more.
Plans for the others are as yet unformed - I think I’ll probably grill the cod. The wrasse is going to be interesting; I’d like to do something that leaves the colours of its skin intact, but most recommendations I’ve heard or found involve more complex processes, starting with removing the skin and bones. Pollock is one of the candidates for the “new cod”, but I think flouring and frying is in its future, as I gather it doesn’t have the same clear taste as cod.
I’m utterly charmed by being able to guarantee the origin of the fish by hauling it out of the sea myself, though, and it was a lot of fun. I’ll definitely be going out again. Although, admittedly, it’ll take a long time for us to finish the fish we have.