‘We’ve been fishing for redfish and saithe on the Mountains and now we’re off to the Hali grounds to finish the trip with some cod. We don’t expect any problems with getting our ration of cod, as everyone agrees that there’s plenty of cod everywhere. There’s generally something that goes with the cod and there’s a chance of hitting some good fishing on haddock as well,’ said Bjarni Einarsson, skipper of Ásbjörn RE when we spoke to him during their present trip.
Ásbjörn sailed from Reykjavík last Tuesday evening to fish for redfish and saithe on the traditional grounds that HB Grandi’s fresher trawlers fish south and west of the Reykjanes peninsula.
According to Bjarni Einarsson, fishing on the Mountains was slow this time, with constant bad weather that they have been fishing through since the beginning of the year.
‘These catch rates don’t have anything to say about the state of the stocks. Fishing was excellent up to the end of last year and stocks of both golden redfish and saithe appear to be in excellent condition.’
When we spoke to Bjarni Einarsson, Ásbjörn was steaming northwards to fishing grounds off the Westfjords, where it has been fishing over the weekend in fresh westerly weather, but better than the conditions of a few days before. He said that it varies how much the company’s fresher trawlers can take in a trip, but this is normally between 40 and 60 tonnes.
