Wednesday morning's market.

Only at this time of year do you get morning light like this when two complementary colours blends seamlessly, the deep blue of the night sky with the orange glow rising from the horizon...

and, as J.M.W. Turner observed in this watercolour sketch, as the two colours meet, being complementary they cancel each other out and the light between them appears almost white...

just as it is in the newly modernised fish market in Newlyn where the new lighting system continues to dazzle...

as Colin checks out possible boxes to bid on from the inshore boat Imogen III...

like this brace of red mullet and red bream...

which were both keenly contested as young Ryan kept the bidding going until the fish made well over £12 a kilo...

yet more mackerel hit the market tis morning...

along with the odd bass...

while all the inshore trawlers like the New Venture enjoyed a late harvest of John Dory

along with the Shiralee...

who also picked up a few stone of squid...

and the nearly re-named Imogen...

Dovers were thin on the ground this morning with no beam trawlers landed...

though there were a couple of blues...

and some Lennons, sorry lemons...

it won't be long before the second phase of the market is completed...

which will no doubt please Mr Cripps...

half an hour after the auction started light in the morning sky is even more intense...

as the sale ends the buyers make their way to the office...

as the dawn lightens the sky...

a loud protest...

sends this gull on its way...

the Harvest Moon is just beginning to wane now...

as a handful of punts and toshers fish for mackerel just off the Gear Pole...

there more red and orange in the harbour...

as Jeremy takes the Nazarene away to sea...

maybe one day the Pilot's Office will be brought back into use - it was needed years ago when Penlee Quarry supplied Blue Elvin granite down the South pier...

boats continue to draw photographers in the early hours...

especially when the light is so good...

as it bathes a select few properties along the seafront in penzance...

along with the newly installed solar panels being fitted to the fish market roof...

two more boats head out for a day's work...

as the moon is about to fade in the face of the rising sun...

hopefully the local gull population won't find the solar panels provide the perfect ledge on which to nest, time will tel...

the Harbour Office now flies the re-designed flag...

as Tom surveys the scene out in the bay...

enough funding has been raised - partly through generous public donations...

supported by local businesses like the PZ Gallery...

for the geothermic energy contractors to move in and make a start on providing a heated pool...

seems the water is the right temperature for the mackerel as the fleet, though hardly reminiscent of the mackerel heydays in the 70s and 80s when a fleet of over 100 small boats fished the winter mackerel fishery here...

glasses are always handy to have by the sea...

the sun is warm enough to cause a slight sea mst to rise...

as it towers over the Mount and the Scillonian III as she prepares to sail...

rush hour in PZ...

though there is no work in the dry dock at the moment...

it's all at the Co-op now, well it will be when the Gry Maritha after she has loaded makes her way to the Scillys...

yesterday morning was equally as calm and light as the beam trawler Cornishman headed into port.

George Payne - a truly nice guy, from one who sailed with him.

Here's a short anecdote about George Payne, King of the Smocks related by Colin from the Mousehole Fish company who used to fish with George back in the early 80s.

Boy Gary and other 'toshers' fishing for mackerel inside the Longships lighthouse

Back in those days in the depths of winter, well over 100 'toshers' as they were known fished from Newlyn. Some from as far afield as Milford Haven in Wales or Weymouth in Dorset, they would muster on the quay around 6 AM for the winter mackerel season and, on a good day, be back in port with 100st (600kg) a man of big mackerel on board.

When winter mackerel fishing gurdys (in the foreground) were used to wind the line back and forth fitted with a set of 24 'feathers' (hooks covered with coloured plastic) and a seven pound lead weight.

At that time, Colin and George crewed aboard the Silver Spray skippered by Mack Thomas - a tosher that, like many from Falmouth, Looe and Fowey that came down to Newlyn, took anglers and trippers out during the summer months and then fished, mainly for mackerel, during the short, dark and often windy winter days. Colin, barely turned 18, a newbie and just getting his first taste of the harsh environment (having decided not to go to university) that was about to go from a short-term means of earning a wage into a 20 year career at sea, fishing. In those days, getting a berth on a fishing boat involved a short walk down the quay and catching the ear of a skipper at an opportune moment - the recruitment process was thorough and lasted as about long as it took to say, "Got a berth skipper?" with a response in the affirmative.

Small boats like toshers still used paper echo sounders in the 70s & early 80s.

On this particular morning nobody seemed to be catching mackerel so skipper Mac was steaming around off Lamorna looking for 'marks' - those tell-tale black marks on the paper echo sounder that told him there were fish about and at what depth. Suddenly, Mack raced out of the wheelhouse shouting to Colin and George to get their lines in the water quick as possible but down hard on the bottom - he'd passed over some pinnacles of hard ground with fish marks all over them - a sure sign of big pollack at this time of year. Colin was the first to get his seven pound lead and twenty feather trace down and  shout excitedly as he felt his line go tight that he had a 'stringful'. 

Unfortunately, rather than a stringful of big pollack pulling hard on his hooks Colin had hitched the rough bottom and within seconds promptly lost the lot - lead weight, feathers and all!  An already grumpy Mack (and anyone who has spent any time at sea knows only too well what a grumpy skipper is like first thing) goes off on one, first effin and blinding at Colin for being so effin useless and then kicking at everything on his way across the deck back to the wheelhouse to find another set of hooks and weight. 

Colin is mortified - feeling really uncomfortable at getting his first taste of life at sea in a world of harsh conditions and an even harsher skipper. Fearful for his welfare, he stares abjectly at his gurdy sans feathers and weight, wondering what the skipper might do next if something goes amiss.

While he's contemplating worst case scenarios he becomes aware that George, who hasn't said a word, quietly has made his way for'ard to Mack's gurdy.  Colin notices George draw heavily on the ever-present roll-up between his lips which he removes quickly as he picks up Mac's set of feathers and passes the glowing roll-up tip over the nylon backing line before heading back to his own gurdy; and not a word is said.

A few minutes later, lines dropped back in the water the guys are furiously fishing again.  Then, with the usual deck banter flowing, after all hands had touched on a few good hauls of big pollack there is a sudden hush from Mac's side of the boat as within seconds of hitting his latest pollack haul his line has parted. And not a word is said.

Three generations of fishermen, one boat.

While buyers gather under the new market canopy at 5:45am to start their day...

the sardine boat, Little Pearl gets washed down after a night's fishing...

and Jeremy puts frozen boxes of crab pot bait aboard the Nazarene...

and young Jamie Roberts, who recently joined the board of harbour commissioners as the fishermen's representative... 

 as another Monday morning market is about to get underway...

with a big landing of hake from the netter, Ajax...

the odd turbot...

and despite the weather of the last few days the handline boats have been filling their boots with plenty of mackerel...

while a handful of dedicated bass specialists, like Cap'n Cod have been trolling for bass...

and the odd pollack which fall for the same lure...

the buyers enjoyed a good mix of fish this morning and apart from plenty of mackerel...

there was a cracking stone bass...

to go with plenty of monk tails...

lemon sole...

and megrims form Stevenson's beam trawler, Cornishman...

along with a good few haddock...

the netter Karen also landed a few John Dory...

a solitary big blue shark...

and a selection of crab claws...
 

while these ray wings came courtesy of the inshore boats...

inside the market the camera focussed on the buyers and the auction...

while outside the sun was just beginning to put on yet another glorious dawn light show...

spreading across the bay from the Mount...

making life just that little bit easier for the crew...


 

of the inshore trawler, Elisabeth Veronique...

to take off her heavy ground twin rig...

and replace it with much lighter...

triple rig clean ground trawls...

and in the one photo, Kevin, Adam and Mark, three generations in line of fishermen from the Curtis family...

 complete the job before sun-up...

over the harbour as another boat fires up her main engine sending a small cloud of engoine smoke skywards.