Orkney Image Library

Hi!Peter, a good photo this of the halibut and skate and others on the Slip, brings back memories of a fishin trip I had with Tommy Hercus and the "Lotus". We set sail from the basin and started baiting 2 baskets of Great Lines with herring on the way out to the bay at back of Rousay. When we got there, Tommy set about a mile of lines and said we will go and haul creels now so we set off up along the Evie coast hauling creels on the way right up to the "Brough of Birsay". He had a good haul of Lobsters and said we will head back to the bay in Rousay and see what is on the Great Lines. This is what I was really interested in as I had never seen the procedure before. when we got there he started hauling in the line carefully on the creel hauler and said there could be nothing on this, suddenly a whitish apperition appeared near the surface and Tommy was galvanized into action giving me a running commentary, mainly stay out of the road while he hauled in the biggest halibut I had ever seen. He landed it on its back on the deck of the boat saying if you land them on their belly they can see you and thrash about and bruise the white belly making them worthless. This halibut turned out to weigh nearly 14stone, nearly as heavy as me at that time. He went on to catch another two whoppers weighing about 9-12st., respectively. He also landed 8-9 about the 2st. mark. The after deck of the boat was full right from side to side, the biggest fish being about 6ft long and more than 2ft wide. What a days fishing! unforgettable. Added by Phil Brough.