Sagittarius edged from her mooring in the middle of Eyemouth Harbour.

The time was 6.58am and the rain hammered down. Anglers on board the 15-capacity catamaran chatted about the prospects of catching while skipper Ronnie Marshall edged the vessel into the tideway.

The swell was OK and the wind moderate but oh that rain.

We were drenched as we tackled up.

Minutes later ex-trawler skipper Ronnie cut the engine and within seconds we were into fish.

Coley and cod were landed frequently on all sides of the boat through various methods.

All anglers fished on or near the bottom.

Thankfully, the rain eased and the fish kept on coming.

We moved to another mark near Berwick and more fish were landed.

The on-board buckets filled quickly as the plunder continued with feathers doing the business.

Struan Kyte from Haddington was rewarded.

He had spent some time on the previous day digging for lugworm on an East Lothian beach.

His cod captures were impressive and Andrew Dyer from Gorebridge, who is a regular fly fisherman at Lothians reservoirs, was equally engaged as the cod and coley (a member of the cod family) just kept on coming.

The boat run by Derek Anderson of Aquamarine Charters was steered to several other marks in the tideway, including a more sheltered one near the cliffs north of Berwick as the wind picked up.

More fish were landed before Ronnie ordered lines in and we headed back to harbour after the six-hour trip.

The faces on the anglers spoke volumes.

Bryan Boardman from Plymouth was delighted with his day out and so was Glasgow-based Daniel Boardman.

Charters go regularly from Eyemouth and Struan Kyte, a regular fisherman off-shore, said: "This is only the start of the season. Wait until the mackerel start in June."

Useful links

www.aquamarine-charters.co.uk