Fishing remains very poor. Divers recently report that the water is clear for the top 6 meters or so, then very heavy plankton to 30 meters. One diver stated that the zooplankton seemed to be moving up from 20-30 meters to eat the phytoplankton in the upper layers. At any rate the plankton is so thick that although the water beneath 50 meters is crystal clear, there is absolutely no light – complete darkness. Divers also report fish on wrecks as being very lethargic.

The Rosguill fished wrecks yesterday and had some fish – really not great. The deep limeburner grounds fished OK for Whiting, Gurnards etc. Today we fished Tory – very poor – reef Pollack only a couple fish. Sand atrocious.

First time ever I witnessed a 3 pound or so Brill swim past the Rosguill around 10 centimeters under the surface. I can only guess why it was there. I reckon that there is so little oxygen on the seabed that fish have no energy or as in the case of this Brill move to the surface to breath. They certainly have no desire to feed. This is guesswork.

When will it end? The thick phytoplankton will be there until it dies or is eaten. Prognosis for the next few weeks is not good. After that is anyone’s guess.