Wild sea trout is now being offered to Marrfish on a daily basis, from Northumberland in particular. The run of sea trout is well under way.
We are receiving the sea trout in its freshest form from Drift Netters who land on the East Coast of Northumberland. There is a season for netters who are licensed to fish and have a limited number of tags available for the season. Wild Sea Trout caught by a legal net or trap in England and Wales must have an Environment Agency carcass tag attached through their mouth and gills. These must remain attached until the fish are processed. The netters set their nets early morning off shore and would return to the nets in the evening to see what has been caught, tags are attached to the fish, put on ice and sent to us via our partners in the trade.
The season for Wild Sea Trout is from April –August, we generally get chefs asking for them as early as April but we must be patient for mother nature to decide when we get them so it is always best to take direction from us before it is considered viable for a menu. The first Sea Trout caught fetch heavy premiums and are sort after as you can imagine and over the weeks price slide to an affordable rate but you still pay a premium for the unique texture, flavour, taste and colour of this precious harvest. Wild sea trout are migrating back up into the rivers to spawn just as Wild Salmon do.
Marrfish sustainability rating – Some argue that we are intercepting a wild specie coming back to spawn/reproduce but this is the case with many wild fisheries as we follow them around their habitat at sea – to intercept and catch migratory stock – so a responsible approach we feel is to take advantage of the licensed fish when they are available and to utilise them as a weekly blackboard special and to class them as a treat for the menu and your customers and rely on the sea reared trout for printed menu slots.