THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Unfortunately, everything seemed to max out at around five pounds, with just the odd better fish, and
nothing crossing the line into double figures. Not that it bothered the locals. They had crates of beer,
bottles of spirits, and a big portable barbecue out on the deck, plus a determination to eat and drink as
much as they could squeeze in before heading back.
At one point they skinned a load of cod and haddock, barbecued the skins, then presented them to me
as a special treat as guest of honour. Apparently these are regarded as the best part of the fish. That or
they were taking the pee. Either way I ate them, though that was as nothing compared to what was to
come.
Back at the harbour we tied up alongside a commercial gill netter who was just tidying up his nets. He'd
been working very close in to the shore netting lumpsuckers which move in from deep water in the late
spring to spawn. It's the ripe females they are after, the eggs from which are a local delicacy eaten in
the same way as caviare.
The actual Cod War warp cutting gear
To demonstrate this, he clamped a
lumpsucker belly up between his knees,
made an incision, then started scooping
the eggs out of its body cavity with his
dirty fingers and eating them before
passing the thing to me. Well, you
know what they say.......when in
Rome??.
The other interesting claim to fame
Akranes has, is that it was a blacksmith
from the town who designed and
knocked up the cutting gear used by the
Icelandic gun boats Thor and Odin in
the cod Wars of the 1970's.
Because it has few natural resources
other than fish, the Icelandic government started pushing its territorial waters out seaward from twelve
miles, to fifty miles, and eventually two hundred miles. This forced trawlers from Fleetwood, Grimsby,
and Hull progressively away from their traditional distant water grounds, which in the end they refused
to comply with. Hence British and Icelandic warships having regular skirmishes, which led to the
cutting of trawl warps by the gunboats.
This cutter itself was quite a small device, rather like a traditional fisherman's anchor both in appearance
and size, but with the arms bent in closer to the stem, and sharp cutting blades fitted to both inside
edges.
The taut steel warp would be hooked as the device was towed over it and would slip further and further
down the narrowing gap of the blades until it finally parted. Simple, but very effective.
I actually got to visit the workshop where they had been made, and even got to handle and photograph
one of the devices that had seen action. The scourge of many a distant water trawler back then, and part
of the reason why ports like Fleetwood and Grimsby have subsequently slipped into decline.
Ironically, it was pressure from the Americans that brought Britain to ultimately concede defeat, as the
Icelanders threatened to close down strategic NATO facilities if we didn't relent.
Talking to some of the older Fleetwood trawler-men in recorded interviews, though they were bitter at
the time, on reflection, most understood the Icelanders situation. Their only regret was that we hadn't
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