Gone fishin'

- April 16, 2020

The village dock

We'd heard from our neighbour that the mackerel are in, and so, to extend our time between shops where we can be exposed to the novel Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, we decided to try fishing. As we headed out in a SE breeze, the wind backed to the NE and brought an icy cold chill to the air. This after shorts and T-shirt weather yesterday. Very strange.

It was half tide and we tried the cut between our point and Furlong, but no one was biting. So we decided to go out to the known fishing spot by Inishgowla. After two passes and wind whipping up a chop making it uncomfortable to continue, we returned home skunked. Next time we'll have to go out catching instead of just fishing.

What's worse is that we were supposed to put down a couple of lobster pots. As the lobster fishery has collapsed, we thought we might have luck on that front. Except we forgot to bring the lobster pots with us. Duh! The price of lobsters has dropped through the floor as the markets have collapsed due to the Covid-19 restrictions on cross-border transport. We expect the same has happened to every shellfish species, which may mean a chance for recovery and an opportunity for the little guys like us to catch a meal or two.

Anyway, we went from winter coats two days ago, to shorts and T-shirts yesterday and back to winter coats today. Fortunately, it's been sunny. Unfortunately, we've had no rain and have had to water the gardens every other day. Rain is on the way for tomorrow, so not to worry. At least the vineyard has dried up a bit after the extremely wet winter.