Lobster Fishing at Gometra

“So, in those days, when you caught the lobsters, you packed them into wooden boxes, and floated them. You’d pack them into your own wooden box, a specially made wooden box for lobsters, and you put exactly 70lb weight in each box. You’d stack them very neatly, very neatly, and you could get 70lb in. And then you would put them over a yellow line in the sea with anchors at each end and you'd tie them on to this line. And of course, at Gometra Harbour, everyone would be watching to see how many boxes each boat put out after the day's catch.

"This one particular fisherman, a well-known fisherman, who is a very good fisherman, was coming in and these boxes would be going out by the dozen. The rest of the fishermen were wondering how on earth he could catch so many lobsters. So, when darkness fell, one of them rode over, opened the lid of one of these boxes (they’re actually tied on with string) opened the lids of these boxes, and here, he’d filled them with stones! So, it was a bit of a, you know, a good story to tell. But that was the, I guess, the kind of craic that kept these guys going.”

Adapted from an interview with Nick Turnbull from Penmore, Dervaig (October 2018) From episode 03 of the podcast What We Do in the Winter produced by Alasdair Satchel.

More information on visiting the area can be found here.