Never has a truer word been written about boat ownership, at least that’s how I feel about it at this given moment in time. Work has been tedious and slow on First Priority over the last week or so, with niggling and infuriating little jobs being ticked off one by one, and with the persistent rain and wind making it a bit of a night mare to do anything comfortably or with any sense of enjoyment.

The good news is that upon taking the stern drive off it was found to be in excellent condition, in spite of the high usage and abuse that it received last year. The engine has also been successfully removed, albeit with a little more difficulty than might have been hoped for. I have had the boat for near enough 2 years, and I think it had been 5 plus years since the engine was removed and rebuilt by the previous owner, and while there was no immediate concern that made me want to take it out, I believe it was the best course of action to look at several things that could not be checked without this step. Now it is out, it has revealed a couple of issues that could well have developed into something more serious, and the decision has been justified by that alone.

One does question the amount of money that gets spent in the course of these long winters, especially when you are unable to take any enjoyment from it. The expense is much easier to take when you are out on the water enjoying yourself, whether it be with customers or just on a jolly with friends and family, but it is absolutely necessary to take all precautions and spend the money in the off season. Doing this gives you confidence that when the weather does finally turn for the better and the fishing improves, you can get out there and not be plagued with issues that could have otherwise been prevented.

This is what I tell myself anyway, and it makes the medicine that much easier to swallow. From my scouring of the various social media platforms I have seen that catches have been very hit and miss along the south coast, with some boats further to the west out of Brighton and eastbourne having some lovely pollack on given days. Commercial pollack fishing has to all intents and purposes been banned (75KG bycatch allowance per month) even for rod and line fishing, so it is not really financially viable to go out there just for that, and now the bass ban is in so that is also out of the question. There is no news from Rye, as there are no charter boats other than myself based there, so I can convince myself easily that really I am not missing out too much.

And now its time to head back to work, back to the wind farms of the thames estuary for 2 weeks. This brings on a completely different set of hopes for the weather and I wouldn’t mind one bit if it blows its tits off and I can’t go to sea once! Sadly that doesn’t look likely and I will actually have to work for a living…the horror!