Easter 2007

[Oblickta]

They really are graceful and majestic creatures and once boated you feel an empathy with them and a sense of duty to return them to their home. Once returned to the water they usually pause for a few seconds before flapping their wings and tails and diving, it's an awesome sight.

One of Dave's kited up in the water well downtide of the boat and had to be reeled in accross the surface. I've heard of this happening but never seen it before.

Highlight of the trip for me was wondering if we'd chosen the right time and place then having a three fish hook up after 15 mins of baits hitting the bottem.

[davem2005]

Mark ,
If you fancy having a trip in June or July I would be happy to help out with info etc and would probably come along...in fact we could have a road trip.

There is a good article on the correct tackle set up on Davy Holts website www.catchalot.co.uk

Graham may helpout by showing you his gear so you end up with the right stuff.

Its clear from those pics I will have to do something about those seat mounting boxes. They are always in the way and spoil a good photo as its standing room only when a biggy comes aboard. I think a change to pedestal mounted seats is in order to increase the deck area.Only slight snag is I am totally allergic to fibreglass dust so its a job I will have to sub out.

Willy,
I am totally commited to catch and release where appropriate. I have no objection to people taking fish to eat and do it myself on the odd occasions I target edible species. When you consider that if I killed a skate I would be denying other people the chance to catch that fish or a similar one for at least 40 years ( the time it takes for a new one to grow) You only need to consider the situation in Looe in the seventies where dead blues hung on the dock side were a common sight in the angling press...now the fishing is just a shadow of its former self.

There are two things that everyone who has just landed their first skate have in common. A smile from ear to ear and an ache from head to foot. Its a great pleasure to see an angler catch his first skate and hopefully they will gradually spread to the extent they were in the past.

Oh BTW...anyone got a spare 10kg bruce for sale ...anything under the Ł110 it cost this weekend would be considered

It brought a smile to my face to see the pic of Rupert posing with a skate which seconds later took a bite out of his jeans!

Cheers
Dave.

[=>Tony<=]

ah some good reading there, and some nice fish too. Bet ya do get a great buzz when they swim away

[willywetegg]

There are two things that everyone who has just landed their first skate have in common. A smile from ear to ear and an ache from head to foot. Its a great pleasure to see an angler catch his first skate and hopefully they will gradually spread to the extent they were in the past.

I think the only difference between reading this and being there is, we don't ache from head to foot. I would imagine we would all have the smile from ear to ear Dave.

Once again thank's for the chance to read a report like this and cheer's for the pictures Graham. Hopefully I might catch up with you for another trip this summer mate.

Jim.

[mark]

when I landed mine what I remeber most was the PBTM (potential brown trouser moment!) was caught by 'accident' on baited hokkias in loch sunart ina 12 foot dinghy!

was only a little un (90lb ish according to the charts) but towed us quarter of a mile down the loch, and when it got first sight of the boat decided it much preffered the view from the bottom so decided to go back down there... nearly took me over the side with it!


no gaff, no net.... got it to the side, stuffed my hand in its gob (wrapped in several layers of towel), it obviously realised is was being nice, so decided to help out by holding on to my hand somewhat firmly at this point, and cut the hook with a pair of pliers, and pulled the bend through and out. by now the wee fishy had obviously taken a shine to me, as although it was no longer hooked, it seemed to like my hand and took a little encouraging and some strong words before it let go slipped back to the depths

did wonders for my hangover at the time as I remember

[alan]

Excellent report and photo's Dave,nice one

[Falcone]

Excellent report guys,I enjoyed my day out with graham and dave last year,Dave pm me ye number again mate,it vanished when ive had my house decorated.

[davem2005]

Mark,
The thought of putting your hand in their mouths beggars belief...but as you say needs must when ...and all that. You summed it up when you say that it was only a small one (90 lb). I have just been talking to a friend in the pub who has sea fished for many years. He has had fish of 10+ but never a twenty. A good friend on another forum was saying he would not get out of bed for fish of the size we were catching but then he is a regular in the area and runs a charter business where he makes money by giving his customers personal bests not tiddlers.

I dont think anyone who regularly fishes this coast would be disapointed with the following stats for the weekend.

Arrived friday 8am ...fished 8.30 till 6pm...two rods for six skate and one thornback. This included losing two anchors and having to go back to shore for refits ( which wastes valuable fishing time) Within an hour a skate fishing virgin had fish of 35lb and an exceptional male of 105lb and Graham had a fish of 159lb ( a new personal best) ..not a bad start. These were followed ( after two trips to the chandlers) by fish of 46lb, 35lb and 38lb. Also somewhere in there graham had a Thornback of about 6lb and I lost a skate on 20 class gear...end of day one and in the pub by 6.15pm.

Saturday we chose a mark at random about 1/2 mile south of our original mark, partly to avoid the lengths of anchor rope that are flowing around in the tide ( rope lengths can be over 600ft so when it breaks you have a potential for a 600 ft long snag flowing in the tide) The reason for a mark change was the intention was always to try different marks to investigate the areas potential rather than sit on one proven mark and hammer it.

After a slow startwith a few doggies and Grahams thornie things started to pick up as the tide became right. Reading from the tagging logs.
11.30 Dave Fem 46lb
12.35 Rupert Fem 31lb
14.50 Graham Fem 18lbs (tiddler bashing again)
15.05 Dave Fem 35lb
15.10 Rupert Fem 21lb
15.42 Graham Fem 66lb (recapture)
15.50 Dave Fem 24lb (recapture)
16.30 Rupert Fem 164 lb
17.05 Graham fem 66lb

About now we would normally be thinking about back to harbour and the pub ...but..

17.40 Dave Male 106lb
17.55 Rupert Fem 29lb.

And after that we went back and had a few welcome refreshers and a dam good curry.

The intial count was 18 but reading back it ONLY totals seventeen ..but its easy to loose count. You may be wondering why the names rotate ...its because we fished two rods and took it in turns to land fish . This evens out the catch and allows you a rest when you have caught a fish. We started with three rods out but after a treble hook up we fished only two so there was always a person spare to aid landing fish.

Sunday the wind picked up and the anchor would not hold so we headed for harbour , landed the boat and had a early run home. ( Oh and I caught a 4 oz dab )

Skate fishing is unlike anything we have on this coast but once you have the gear right and a few basic principles the rest is a combination of luck and strength.

But the main thing for me is watching the gracefull glide back to the depths and ultimately catching that same fish again.

Cheers
Dave

[mickthefish]

fantastic stuff !
sorry for laughing at the anchor/short rope/hand slip .
yous must have been gutted at the time!

[Charlie_Thompson]

Alan C did a bit of a write up in The Journal about the trip. I'm sure he made a boo boo with the skipper thing - Dave Mason (bless him the lovely man) was not skipper of the boat was he Dave?


If I'm correct then could someone start griefing The Charlton asap - usual stuff accepted .......effing journalists etc.

[davem2005]

I was definately the skipper..Dave Morton ...the man with the perfect face for radio.

Sorry Falcon missed your post. I assume you are the guy who went out sharking off Seaham with me. ( Rotten memory for names) .

All that remains now is to plan the next one.If anyone with aboat fancies tagging along they would be more than welcome.

Early June would be ideal as I have a few toping trips to get in at Luce bay when they arrive and am too busy to get out for the next few weeks.

Costs run out at about 60 quid a day all in except beer and grub. (plus anchors )

Cheers Dave

[Falcone]

Yep that were me Dave,good crack and a bad sunburn for me hehe.