No "If's or but's" Butts is best at bass!

Brighter than it has been as a result of the clocks going back yesterday, first light...

sees Nimrod (named after grandfather) the latest addition to the Rowse crabbing fleet nestling between the Harriet Eve and the Chris Tacha...

though as yet the sign-writer has not yet had a chance to weave his magic over the old name numbers and name on the bow...

shades of the past when there were no market fridges to hold fish in and with only half the market space available two netters are waiting in landing berths for the market to be cleared of fish before putting their fish ashore...

despite a flurry of forklift action ferrying fish away...

meanwhile, in the market Cefas are busy collecting fish data from the Resurgan's landing...

with the single fridge full of mackerel landed by the handline fleet over the weekend...

and fish from two beam trawlers, five inshore trawlers and a handful of punts...

saw some solid landings of haddock...

plaice...

and more plaice...

but all of these landings were totally overshadowed by the fish from this boat - there are fishermen, good fishermen and the best fishermen and then there are the best fishermen that fish for bass - and the best of the bass fishermen in Newlyn has just returned to fishing...

and let us remind ourselves that Steven 'Cod' Astley now goes to sea with two titanium legs after a suffering from sepsis...

so with over 70kg of bass on the market this morning - 20kg more than the next nearest boat its heartening to see he is still the master when it comes to chasing what Keith Floyd always referred to as, the "King of fish"......

while Dennis Pascoe aboard the punt Sprigs of Heather, probably the oldest working full time fisherman in Newlyn, hauled in a few big squid to go with his bass haul...

during the refurb, access is now kept clear at the western end of the market...

despite the hundreds of boxes being stacked across the market floor...

from the big netters like the Joy of Ladram...

and the Ajax...

long-dead fisherman Freddie Howis would often joke that conditions for working on the market were worse now then they were 100 years ago when, "they had donkeys and carts to move fish about"...

a sentiment no doubt shared by that happy market chappy, Roger as he drags another stack of boxes to the exit...

while this big pollack has been doused in tallies it seems...

Plugger on the Shiralee must have been well pleased with this trip of rays - big by any standards not just for a 10m inshore trawler...

as more light begins to crack the sky...

two of the hake netter Charisma's crew exchange pleasantries...

as they wait for the market to be cleared of fish so they can land and sort their fish for Tuesday's market...

since work began on the refurb half the market space has been lost which means that on days when big trips from beam trawlers, netters and the fleet of 30+ handliners coincide...