Because I was raised in a traditional fishing community and went to fish as a child, I often took for granted what others consider magical. But there was one such phenomenon is what we call locally "Fire in the water", that never lost its appeal. And although it was...
I normally try to keep things light on the page. But after listening to the fanfare about a new Government Action plan for rural Ireland I have to say I was disturbed. The plan is big on numbers; €60 million investment, 135,000 jobs yada yada. While in the same week...
Today sees the inauguration of a new president in America. It promises to be an "interesting" presidency with many fears as to the direction America is taking. One concern is the attitude to emigrants. So today I thought what better way to reflect on the event than my...
I’d imagine that for as long as humans have lived in the harbour of Waterford, men and women have gone to fish. Perhaps one of the most common and dependable species was the Herring. My first experience of the fishery was as a boy washing fish boxes and...
As a child growing up in Cheekpoint, there were a number of curious features off the main quay known as Eel boxes. The Eels which were fished from the village were placed into the boxes to be kept alive, and when the buyers came the eels were removed, weighed...
In the early decades of the 19th century, traditional fishing methods were turned on its head with the introduction of the Scotch Weir to Ireland. The origins are confirmed by the name, and the method of fishing is typified by what remains of the Woodstown weir near...
Last weekend there was a homecoming of sorts to Cheekpoint. Members of the extended Condon family, the offspring of Mary Doherty and Larry Condon who married in the first decade of the last century, had a gathering in the village. I was asked to come to one event...
I recently recalled the selling of Salmon in Cheekpoint. In conclusion of that piece, I mentioned the practice of running fish, a means of earning a bit of extra cash for some of life's pleasures, which invariably meant drink and cigarettes. Because the...
As a salmon fishing village, Cheekpoint, like all the others in the harbour, had to have a means of selling their fish. In our case we either had to travel to sell them. Or, when we were children in the 1970's, the buyers traveled around to collect the...
Let us honour if we can, the vertical man Though we value none, but the horizontal one W.H.Auden These lines from Auden often come to mind when someone dies, particularly when I realise just how much I used to rely on them or value them. I've mentioned this about my...
Some might consider this title a mite provocative. Indeed others might think on the date of publication and ponder a connection. However, although it is intended to be provocative, it is in no way a joke. The monuments I refer to are at least a millennium old and are...
There's nothing as fickle as a market I guess. Products that go from boom to bust in a few short years, or less today when we think of technology. In the past Waterford, along with many other ports traded in a commodity that was considered an essential for the food...
I was lucky enough to have been raised at a time when regattas were a big event in Cheekpoint. Families came from upriver and down, and it was a day of races, fun and camaraderie in the village. Helping out with the organising, I would often hear tales of the older...
As a child there was many sights that I took for granted in a traditional fishing community such as Cheekpoint. Sights like men repairing nets, beam trawls laid out on the village green, weir poles at high water mark and timber boats of all shapes and descriptions....
The traditional start of the Salmon drift net season in Ireland was, for generations, February 1st. Once opened it stretched to August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption, and a very important church holiday in the village in the past. By the time I started to fish...
We were based in Dunmore in the winter of 1983 for the Herring fishing but we returned home in the Reaper for Christmas, and along with all the other half-decker’s, manoeuvred inside Cheekpoint quay, where they could be moored without any concern for their safety....
I've covered the Herring Drift Net Fishery in several parts these last few weeks, and today in the run up to Christmas, I wanted to recount an incident that made Christmas a little more poignant for me in the mid 1980's. We were selling directly at the time to Polish...
Over the last few weeks I've looked back on the Herring Driftnet Fishery of Waterford Harbour and this week I wanted to bring the practical side of it to a close with a look at the selling of fish. That first year of fishing herring, we had a market in Dunmore...
Over the last few weeks I've occasionally covered my exploits fishing herring in Waterford harbor. The first week looked at getting prepared, and the second installment looked at the finding of the shoal and the catch. This week I look at the really hard...
As the Reaper and the other Cheekpoint boats proceeded downriver, we were joined by the Passage and Ballyhack men, forming a convoy of decked and half decked motor boats of varying size and power and a multitude of colours. Depending on the tides, the Passage...
It was about this time of year in 1983 that I got my first taste of fishing in the deeper waters of the harbour around Dunmore East and the Hook. It was a strange and confusing place that was more dangerous and unpredictable than the fishing I had known...
A few years back a group of scientists were gathered and asked what was the 20th Century's greatest invention. Out of an eventual list of 100, refrigeration topped the bill. You might think the kitchen fridge is a relatively modern development, and I guess you'd be...
Paddy Moran was an old school fisherman. He was a brother to my Grandmother, Maura Moran, and I knew from her, just how hard she, Paddy and her other brothers worked the river from their earliest years. With the arrival of better nets, outboard motors and relatively...
I've often mentioned that the Cheekpoint of my childhood was a very different place to what it is today. One of those major differences was an active Herring fishery which was not just water based, but also provided land based employment. Back then the herring...
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