Busy market this morning for inshore and beam trawl fish...
as skipper Paul Corin checks out his landing on the market prior to auction at 6am...
as one of Santa's little helpers checks out how much he has bought so far...
fish like these Dover...
and lemon soles making very good money in the run up to Christmas...
all of which would have been more than enough to keep Ian busy on a normal market morning, so it was good to see him checking out how the place is coping without him for the moment...
two to a box, prime tub gurnard...
and a box of big paice...
physically not so different in shape but price-wise a huge difference between the king of fish as Keith Floyd would call them and a coley or blackjack as they are sometimes referred to locally - back in the day the MacFisheries chain of wet fish shops had coley marked as cat fish on their counters - as in fish for cats!...
the beady eye of the John Dory...
vs the beady eye of a big cod...
these cod, grey mullet...
and, having just been landed, the bass were still all live when...
auctioneer Ryan was selling them...
Sapphire II scallops would make an excellent Christmas snack, 60 seconds in butter job done!...
some plaice are just plain spotless...
while the John Dory has but one spot, the thumbprint of St Peter - hence the French name for them, St Pierre...
Nigel on the inshore trawler Innisfallen was mixing it with as good selection of ray...
to add some variety...
to his landing...
along with the Harvest Reaper both boats making the most of a fine weekend's weather...
and hoping for good prices to make the last few days at sea this year before the last market on December the 21st...
scribe Pollock on the bottom of this piece and it would be worth a fortune, instead it's just another piece of temporary artwork on the market floor in sepia ink...
for the biggest beam trawlers their year is over..
so it is fuel time for the Sapphire II
and a few hours work to put the trawls in order all set for the first trip of 2017...
tonight many people will be heading over to see Mousehole Harbour Christmas lights go out for an hour to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the loss of the Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne and all hands along with the crew and passengers aboard the coaster, Union Star...
then it will be a big green light to signal Christmas is well on its way.