Easter 2007

[Oblickta]

Just had 2 fantastic days fishing up the west highlands with davem including 12 common skate boated in one day and fish to 164lb. I'm sure Dave will post a report soon with all the details

[Charlton]

graham
send me deatils and photos pleaseeeeee

[alan]

Well done Graham,look forward to reading the report off Dave

[davem2005]

easter weekend

Well I have to say I wasn't going to write a report on this trip but it seems people would like to read.

This is partly because this was the most unorganised and disaster filled trip I have ever put together and would also like to forget some of the planning aspects of the trip. The other factor is that this has also been the most productive trip I have ever been involved with. Since skate are a species which are very vunerable to commercial exploitation I am sure the anglers reading this will understand why I will only describe the venue as "near Oban".

The trip was planned to arrive for the tide on the slipway at 7am so we decided to leave on the thurs afternoon and take a leisurely run up to scotland...a few beers... a good nights kip and catch the 7.30 tide on what can only be described as a c*ap slipway. The slight hitch to this plan is was I had a business meeting in the pub at 1pm and we were meeting at 4.30pm ...well I had a few too many so my afternoons getting things ready never happened and Graham and Rupert arrived before I left the pub. A few minor things were sorted with the boat and several major things left behind.

Bank holiday thursdays are not a good time to be travelling up the m74 and we arrived at the B&B at approaching midnight ...a few cans and to bed to dream of whats going to be (we hope). The reason we chose the venue was the previous year myself Graham and Stephen went for a two day trip which gave us about 10 hours fishing and we had 8 skate. Was this a one off? or the norm for the area?...only a return visit would confirm this and we all agreed that it was worth another go to find out. Rupert is the guy who caught the shark and video'd it from whitby so him and I had things in common ..but he had never caught a skate...so once again the pressure was on.

After a good nights kip in an excellent B&b and a hearty breakfast we launched the boat and set of for the mark we had perviously been to. The weather was perfect and the sea as flat as a mirror but this is where things started going downhill. Arrived at the mark ...told graham to drop anchor and after about 200 ft of rope went out the end slid through Grahams hands . i had forgotten I had cut the rope to allow me to bouy off the anchor on my shark trips at the end of last summer. So there goes a 10kg bruce. So its back to harbour...I had a spare anchor but needed chain and a shackle...and those chandlers sure know how to charge. New anchor rigged up and back to the same mark...or just far enough away to make sure we dont hook up to the 250ft of rope swinging around in the tide.

Back to the mark by ten thirty ...anchor dropped and we swung to the tide in about 440ft of water. I have bought two new reels and a rod over the winter and they needed christening so down they went with 12/0 hooks to 250lb leaders and baited with 2 whole makerel on each . Graham wanted to fish his own rod so that went down as well. Within 15 minutes all three rods had fish on! ...now this is a big problem as when you are skate fishing you need one person to help you land one and we all had fish on!. My rod went back in the holder with a light drag pressure while graham and rupert played there fish in . Despite Graham hooking up first Rupert landed his first ...not a big fish but his first going about 35lb,,,quick tag and release and he was handed my rod that fortunately still had the fish on. This he also managed to land while Graham was playing his fish. This turned out to be a male skate of over 100lb.

Graham eventually landed his fish and so we knew we were up for a good weekend. A unanimous decision said two rods only from now on ...and this proved to be a good move .We finished the first day with 6 fish and another lost anchor after a joint in the line broke when recovering with an aldeney ring. That meant a £120 bill at the chandlers in one day just to anchor up.

Day two brought seas like a mirror as the channels up that way are narrow and it takes very little time for the sea to calm down. Since the idea was to explore the potential of the area we had a few hours after pollock but a few fishless hours soon convinced us to go back for skate. The chosen mark was about 1/4 mile from the previous days mark as skate fishing is more about finding a ground feature that the fish patrol along rather than a precise feature such as a wreck and we wanted to find as many marks as we could. Fish came steadily all day apart from 3 half hour periods when even a 2.5lb lead would not hold bottom ( there are some weird currents in the area) and we finished with another twelve fish boated.

Sunday saw a strong westerly wind which meant we dragged anchor at every drop and we opted to fish behind an island in 80' but no fish came and we packed up a day early but very satisfied with the catch.

The final tally was 18 skate from 18lb to 164lb. Five were previously tagged fish (one by me last year) Each angler caught a 100+ fish and only me failed to get a new personally best. Total fish weight caught was 1007lb. All fish were tagged and released.

I will leave it to graham to add some pics but will say this was a trip you can only dream of...and if I ever get organised things could be even better on this venue!

Cheers
Dave

[jamiebrennan]

Excellent report! Good to read a report of fish that are tagged and released and not pictures of fish boxes overflowing with "just mature" fish. Not havin a pop at anyone, but when you think back to those pics off years ago you just wonder "what if they had been put back to breed?". Bad luck on the anchors tho!

[daren]

great report mate would love to know where you fished but understand , well done lads

[Charlie_Thompson]

Superb report thanks very much.

After a good nights kip in an excellent B&b

I misread that as "a good nights kiss" though and was waiting for the tears and tantrums at the end!

[davem2005]

easter weekend

If it really makes a difference I will tell u where in pm...I have pm'd the actual gps marks to a friend who I know is also a tag and release angler. i really want anglers to share the kind of fishing we enjoyed last weekend ...but I would rather the commercials didnt have the same info.

Its because I want others to share that I tag and release... (plus alledgedly skate tastes like sh*te) For me personally the highlight of the weekend was the fact we had a good number of recaptures including one I personally caught last year. That fish when I caught it meant a lot to me and its nice to know that someone this year enjoyed catching it again ..plus it showed no signs of its previous capture. Added to that is the the return i make to the skate taging proramme will provide information on the growth rates etc on a very elusive species. they are called the "common skate"...but why is that not the case?

I hope to catch one off this coast this year...I may be being too hopefull but we'll see. I had the same hopes for sharks last year for this coast and all I would say is that if you achieve an aim you move on to other targets. I am told they are there and have been seen ...all it takes is for someone with the tackle/bottle and aptience to give it a go .

Cheers
Dave

[mark]

would of been the biggest buzz for me a well, catching a fish that you know for certain that you've got before, and has thrived since it was released

been toying with the idea of actually targeting skate up there this summer rather than my 2 previous 'accidental' catches.

all being well, will tow the boat up there for a week in june and leave it there, and have a week or 2 in july as well as the usaully 2 or 3 in august

[willywetegg]

would of been the biggest buzz for me a well, catching a fish that you know for certain that you've got before, and has thrived since it was released

Got to agree with that Mark.

Dave I have to say that is a great report mate and thank's for posting it. You are a credit to anglers whether it is from shore or boat, well done to you all and thank's for a great read.

Jim.

[KeithB]

Fantastic report Dave Cheers!!

Looking forward to seeing the pics Graham!

[Oblickta]

I'll just get my photobucket head on and post some pics now

Great report Dave

[Oblickta]

There were also one or two more minor disasters like the roller tip ring on my rod breaking. Rupert made an expert job of whipping a hook through the holes in the end which held while I boated a PB 159lber. There was also a moment I had unhooking a 5lb ish (also a PB) thornback ray which bit a chunk out my right index finger and a skate biting a hole through Rupert's jeans while he posed for a photo session. Dave also hooked into a skate on a 20lb outfit which straitened the hook after a while.

Ruperts 164lber and the best fish of the trip (and the one that bit through his jeans)



My PB 159lber



Dave with the skate on 20lb outfit



A skate with tag in and ready to go back lifted in a net placed under the fish



.....and over she goes, back to the depths

[Norman]

Nice one Graham, and excellent pics , well done ....... your certainly hooked on this type of fishing, good luck mate.

And Dave, great report mate, you need to get graham to stop hogging the camera mate well done , nice one

[KeithB]

Great pics Graham mate, Thanks!