northeast1
Well-known member
Well the day came at last, my first trip to put myself up against the big skate. Set off on Friday and had a hazard free drive up with experianced skate angler Dave, bit crack with the local lads about the fishing from the previous days catch of only 1 skate and a couple of pints later and it was bed for a good rest.
We had booked into a local b&b with a nice view of the sea.
Set off with Dave at 8.30am to meet the skipper and get ready for the first day out, a fantastic bit of the UK this....
DAY ONE
Harbour view
After only a 10min steam out, we arrived at our first mark and it was not far short of 500ft, Dave set about sorting the rigs out as i chopped the bait up and the skipper set the anchor.
Four rods out between me and Dave and fingers crossed the skate liked the smell of our mackerel and coalie baits.
We got a call on the radio "fish on" from a boat fishing about 1 mile away and no sooner had we heard that one of the reels started to go click,click,click...fish on. The duty fell to me for the first fish and i got strapped in and battled away.
I just could not move it off the bottom, both Dave and the skipper had seen this all before but for me i am used to hitting a fish and be in control not the other way around.....inexperiance showed and after a 15min battle that was all one sided i gave it that little bit to much stick and the hook pulled and the fish was away.
Gutted more so about this than any other fish i have had hooked up with but we never had to wait long for a second chance, the other rod started to go and Dave struck making contact before the fish dropped the bait and away.
By this time i thought i would cheer myself up and put a light rod over with size 5/0 hooks and see what else was down there, i never had to wait long and landed my first ever black mouth dogfish, rare i am told.
Time started ticking on but when the tide dropped off we started getting abit of interest, Dave striking into fish for the bait to come back with great big bite marks out them and bare in mind we are using two whole mackerel.
But it was the lighter rod that had the next hook up again, i wound down and struck into something with abit pull, tope?, small skate? conger?, thorny? few guesses chucked its way but then it hit the surface, a new PB conger of 25lb 2oz...chuffed and thought well that will do me for the day if i dont catch anything else.
A couple of hours more passed and winding up 500ft to change the bait was becoming hard work and i was hurting all over but it is amazing how quick you forget the pain when Dave shouts "fish taken line on outside left" i had my gear on already so got strapped in and held on for dear life....the bloody thing had only gone at jumped on the 20-30lb class outfit and it was not happy.
This battle went on for 1hr 15mins and everytime i thought i had it beat it dived down and stripped the line away, twice we seen colour and twice it had other ideas.Then panic stations...for me anyway the fish had picked up the two other rods and line was in a right mess but Dave and the skipper had it in hand and after what seemed like hours of pumping and winding it hit the surface as tired as i was.
My first skate and what a skate 191lb......
Fish was a tagged fish so the info was taken, measured and returned to fight again.....so a new PB
191lb....yes 191lb (female) beats my PB by only 151lb
We had a couple more takes and we landed strap conger upto 6lb and some dogfish but that was it for the first day.
Day 2
After a few drinks, a late night and a curry that never settled well, the last thing we wanted to see was a bad forecast and ice on the ground but it is November so you get on with it.
The Plan was a day of two halfs, try the same spot as again am then up lines and try a hole closer in.The sun was just popping up and the frost was melting quick, we looked out at the mist/steam as we headed out.
5 rods down this time and after about 3 hours and many bait changes no interest from anything big so up anchor and off to the hole. Not there long and Dave strikes into a run, "Skate on" after a battle a nice tagged skate hit the surface and was returned followed by a couple of dogfish.
Then it was my turn again, little knock knock but the skipper spotted this and got the rod rod ready while i got the butt pad on, "skate on"
I had a bit more trust in the gear now so bullied it abit more and after 35mins a nice male skate of 110lb hit the surface, over the moon again.
It was also tagged and put abck quick to fight again.
Dave decided to drop the 8lb class rod down with some squid i had taken but never used, it was not long before he was pumping the rod up..."skate on" what skate on? a 8lb rod and beach size reel..this was going to be fun..well it was for Dave and he got it off the bottom, not a monster but a nice seat box lid size skate.
This was to be out last fish of the day and with the rain on its way and a long drive home we set off.
Had a great time and a big thank you to Dave and the skipper for keeping me right when playing the fish and putting us on the fish.
Something i wont forget.
We had booked into a local b&b with a nice view of the sea.
Set off with Dave at 8.30am to meet the skipper and get ready for the first day out, a fantastic bit of the UK this....
DAY ONE
Harbour view
After only a 10min steam out, we arrived at our first mark and it was not far short of 500ft, Dave set about sorting the rigs out as i chopped the bait up and the skipper set the anchor.
Four rods out between me and Dave and fingers crossed the skate liked the smell of our mackerel and coalie baits.
We got a call on the radio "fish on" from a boat fishing about 1 mile away and no sooner had we heard that one of the reels started to go click,click,click...fish on. The duty fell to me for the first fish and i got strapped in and battled away.
I just could not move it off the bottom, both Dave and the skipper had seen this all before but for me i am used to hitting a fish and be in control not the other way around.....inexperiance showed and after a 15min battle that was all one sided i gave it that little bit to much stick and the hook pulled and the fish was away.
Gutted more so about this than any other fish i have had hooked up with but we never had to wait long for a second chance, the other rod started to go and Dave struck making contact before the fish dropped the bait and away.
By this time i thought i would cheer myself up and put a light rod over with size 5/0 hooks and see what else was down there, i never had to wait long and landed my first ever black mouth dogfish, rare i am told.
Time started ticking on but when the tide dropped off we started getting abit of interest, Dave striking into fish for the bait to come back with great big bite marks out them and bare in mind we are using two whole mackerel.
But it was the lighter rod that had the next hook up again, i wound down and struck into something with abit pull, tope?, small skate? conger?, thorny? few guesses chucked its way but then it hit the surface, a new PB conger of 25lb 2oz...chuffed and thought well that will do me for the day if i dont catch anything else.
A couple of hours more passed and winding up 500ft to change the bait was becoming hard work and i was hurting all over but it is amazing how quick you forget the pain when Dave shouts "fish taken line on outside left" i had my gear on already so got strapped in and held on for dear life....the bloody thing had only gone at jumped on the 20-30lb class outfit and it was not happy.
This battle went on for 1hr 15mins and everytime i thought i had it beat it dived down and stripped the line away, twice we seen colour and twice it had other ideas.Then panic stations...for me anyway the fish had picked up the two other rods and line was in a right mess but Dave and the skipper had it in hand and after what seemed like hours of pumping and winding it hit the surface as tired as i was.
My first skate and what a skate 191lb......
Fish was a tagged fish so the info was taken, measured and returned to fight again.....so a new PB
191lb....yes 191lb (female) beats my PB by only 151lb We had a couple more takes and we landed strap conger upto 6lb and some dogfish but that was it for the first day.
Day 2
After a few drinks, a late night and a curry that never settled well, the last thing we wanted to see was a bad forecast and ice on the ground but it is November so you get on with it.
The Plan was a day of two halfs, try the same spot as again am then up lines and try a hole closer in.The sun was just popping up and the frost was melting quick, we looked out at the mist/steam as we headed out.
5 rods down this time and after about 3 hours and many bait changes no interest from anything big so up anchor and off to the hole. Not there long and Dave strikes into a run, "Skate on" after a battle a nice tagged skate hit the surface and was returned followed by a couple of dogfish.
Then it was my turn again, little knock knock but the skipper spotted this and got the rod rod ready while i got the butt pad on, "skate on"
I had a bit more trust in the gear now so bullied it abit more and after 35mins a nice male skate of 110lb hit the surface, over the moon again.
It was also tagged and put abck quick to fight again.
Dave decided to drop the 8lb class rod down with some squid i had taken but never used, it was not long before he was pumping the rod up..."skate on" what skate on? a 8lb rod and beach size reel..this was going to be fun..well it was for Dave and he got it off the bottom, not a monster but a nice seat box lid size skate.
This was to be out last fish of the day and with the rain on its way and a long drive home we set off.
Had a great time and a big thank you to Dave and the skipper for keeping me right when playing the fish and putting us on the fish.
Something i wont forget.
Last edited:
never mind your arms I bet your face is aching 
