All about finding saithe

HB Grandi’s trawler Helga María docked in Reykjavík earlier this after a trip to fishing grounds off the Westfjords. According to Ævar Pálsson, who sailed as skipper for this trip, they finished with a reasonable catch of mainly saithe, redfish and cod, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to HB Grandi.

‘We were mostly looking for saithe this time. There was a patch of good fishing right after Seamen’s Day but that went quiet as the cold and warm currents merged and the boundaries between them disappeared. We didn’t find much saithe for the rest of the trip apart from some shots of saithe with the redfish on the Banks north of Patreksfjördur and into the Víkuráll Gully,’ he said.

When we spoke to him, Helga María was already well on the way home through the sunshine below the Snæfellsnes Glacier. He said that the conditions off the Westfjords are good, but the key factor is being able to find where the temperature boundaries lie and to be on the spot at the right time.

‘The feed congregates where the cold and warm currents meet, so that’s where the fish are to be found. There’s no problem to find cod off the Westfjords as things are today. We knew where to find cod where the currents meet on the banks to the west. Haddock isn’t a problem as it tends to stay in shallower water, but we can expect to see it on the Látragrunn Shallows sooner or later. But for us it’s all about finding saithe in amounts that are worth catching, and without getting too many other species with it as by-catch,’ Ævar Pálsson said.