Seasonal fayre.

 A good handful of late summer toms from the greenhouse, finely sliced runner beans (like spaghetti) fried in a few onions and very finely julienned courgette.....

 compliment goujons of haddock dipped in egg and breadcrumbed in the very crispy Panko breadcrumbs (from Chan's Oriental shop if you are lucky enough to live near Penzance).....

 late season racing in the Bay.....

 only one chance for one of these......

 when trawlermen talk of liners they don't usually mean trans-Atlantic passenger ships but these steel sleeves that house the main engine pistons......

 one of the stars in the coming Trawler Wars series, Filadelfia.....

 and the currently laid-up Lisa Jacqueline where, at the time of filming the series, 'Uncle' Roger Nowell was the Lisa's skipper.....

a long day's work ahead of the twin rigger.

Trial cod and haddock smoke!

Straight out of the smoker - a mix of small cod and haddock fillets.....

with the fillets at the very top of the smoker a much darker colour - and all of the fillets left the skin stuck to the rack which meant that.....

there's a whole lot of cleaning to do!

Trawler Wars - coming to a screen near you - soon!

Two of the Trawler Wars stars in the making - in their youth and languishing at the bar in the Swordfish in Newlyn, from the left, Don Liddicoat, skipper of the Filadelfia, Billy Bunn - skipper of the standby vessel Putford Provider, Roger Coutsoubos currently mate on the Twilight III and skipper/owner Mervyn Mountjoy - ex Ocean Harvester.

Countdown the days - eleven days to go before Trawler Wars hits the TV screens at 9pm on Sunday 26th September. While the rest of the Discovery Channel viewing world may find some of the more unusual language (terminology that is) a little hard to follow, those who are more than familiar with the characters in the series will no doubt find much to smile about at the interaction 'twixt skippers, crews, boats and ports.

The Yourdiscovery website has posted plenty of background information, photos and even guides to the fish being caught and the fishing gear used.

If that wasn't enough, there are a dozen short clips with highlights from each episode - all of them make fishing with a couple of dozen huge crab pots a la Dangerous Catch look somewhat samey - from heart attack to heartache its all in a weeks fishing for the Sou'West beamer fleet.

There is a Facebook page where you can get closeer to the community and the guys who make it all happen.

Take the bait.

As the sun breaks through the cloud, there are still a few boats left in port.....

at 7 am the market remains deserted apart from a solitary box of fish awaiting collection.....

fewer and fewer yachts pass through the port as the weather becomes more unpredictable, this one bound for Guernsey.....

meanwhile, fresh bait gets put aboard the Dom Bosco......

before she heads for the gaps.



Shells in soak.

Plenty of colour supplied by the Design Centre, Newlyn in a conch shell......

 both members of the Nowell fleet are back in port.....

 you'll need this to keep fit Tracey....

 the scheme continues to fill the bags left for the boats.....

a good market for quality fish this morning despite the recent weather....

last of the boxes are pulled off the market.

Keeping it in the family.

The Guardian dispatched a reporter down to Newlyn recently and sought out a couple of fishing families in the port. As it happens, the Discovery Channel will be screening Trawler Wars later this month so an obvious choice were a couple of father and son teams aboard the beam trawlers to be featured in the documentary.

As such, all those who know Newlyn well will be well acquainted with the unmistakable not- so dulcit tones of Don Liddicoat, currently skippering the Filadelfia for his sins. The Guardian's article touches on some of the more human aspects of making a living from catching fish.

1928 Newlyn harbour photo.

The caption on the back of this photo from Margaret Mackintosh reads, 

‘Newlyn Harbour taken from verandah outside Harbour Master’s Office,
Tuesday 28th August 1928, Fishing fleet in Harbour.’