THE couta boat is one of the most important contributors to Portland’s fishing history, and one of its finest examples has been getting a much-needed refurbishment recently.

Owner Stewart Fechner, helped by his mates Roy Jennings and Neil Butler, has been doing a fair bit of work on 87-year-old Rosebud, not just a relic of times when the couta boat reigned supreme in the local fishing world, but which went on to create a few more modern stories itself.