Operation Udderman: A Beach too Far! (part 3)

Day 3 - Portsoy and Sandend

The plan was to be up and out early again but tiredness (even Malky was missing his afternoon sofa naps!) and a bed was double bubble. So a couple hours later than planned, and after another top feed (fry up) courtesy of sharpie we were off to the first stop of the day Portsoy.

The rocks behind the old outdoor swimming pool was the venue and when we got there a couple of guys were already bringing in the mackies.

Fresh Bait incoming.

Malky went right out to the point with his bait rods to see if there were any takers in the sand to the left and front of the rocks there and had a wee bit of a spin for some fresh bait.

Meanwhile sharpie and I set up closer to the shore but were having a bit of an issue with the weed there. Not snagging or losing gear but covering and masking the hooks. Still the sight there of huge shoals of sand eels boiling in the water as the mackies arced into them was pretty entertaining.

After about half an hour we moved up to the spots vacated by the guys who were there first when the left. And so we went about filling sharpies cool box to be frozen down later. Feathers and spinners were the way to go with mackies on almost every cast.

With the cool box full and Malky having no luck with the bait rods after a couple of hours we were off. Stopping off on the way to the next spot for ice cream as the weather at this point was lovely again.


Sandend beach was to be the final stop on the tour of the East and North East. When we got to the carpark the weather was still lovely and sunny but the onshore wind was starting to pick up a bit, but nothing too dramatic.

Still up with the rods it was, a bit along the beach due to the surfers in the waves at the western end. It's certainly a popular and busy beach with plenty of folk staring as though they've never seen a fishing rod before. As the afternoon progressed the waves, the wind and the weed all increased and nae fish to show.

So after about three hours when the surfers came back out to play and the weather turned to look like it was about to rain. The great trip all ended for all of us with a blank, so unfortunately Sandend was a beach too far!

This trip over Friday 10th - Sunday12th June was cracking fun. Big thanks to Malky (my chauffeur) who is a true gent and a real aficionado of  innuendo (in your end-o!). Lots of laughs along the way with Malky, Sharpie (great hospitality mate), Daveraver (nice to meet you) and Rauri.

Canny wait for the next trip wherever it is and I'll remember to take a hell of a lot more photo's next time.

Operation Udderman: A Beach too Far! (part 2)

Day 2 - Peterhead to Port Knockie

04:30 came all to quickly but the guru Udderman was still working on milk time and wanted to get on the road for our next session. Ablutions and coffee quickly out of the way we were northward bound to meet Sharpie around 8 a.m. at Peterhead. As there were nae other cars on the road (virtually) we were about an hour and a half early (seemed quicker to me as I K.O.'d on the way up). So we went along the south breakwater to see if there were any mackies to be had.

As it was a bit colder and there were a dozen or so folk already out with the feathers we decided to stay in the motor and watch to see if anything was being caught. Malky's keen eye honed in on one of the guy's next to us who had a rather odd casting style. He was holding the rod by crossing his arm's in front of him. Left hand up holding the line and right hand on the butt then rapidly uncrossed his arms with very little body movement to cast. That sent what seemed to be a 2oz weight on a bass rod about 50-60 yards.

We waited at the breakwater for about an hour and saw only 2 fish landed along at the end during that time. So it was off for breakfast with sharpie to plan the day.

A stab at bass was the plan for the morning then Scotston beach in the afternoon to fish the flood. The bass mark is a bit of a secret so I'll not go into details but we all got bass. A good 2.5 - 3 lb'er for Malky a first bass ever for sharpie (closely followed by another five, including 3 in 3 casts) and just as I was looking at a blank I caught my own first ever bass. A wee 0.75 lb or so but I was very happy to land it never the less.

Just as we had got back to the cars the heavens opened so the next hour or so was spend drinking coffee in the back of sharpie's van wedged in beside all his tackle.

Scotston beach was next for flatties and especially a turbot.

Rauri  joined us to try to bag a turbot and met us on the road in. Sharpie seemed to want to go off roading leaving the track and leading Malky and me on a winding route up hill and over dale to where we parked up Rauri sensibly stayed to the farm track although its surface wasn't much better to be honest.

I have to say at this point I was feeling a bit drained from the lack of sleep and wasn't exactly Mr Talkative especially when the wind got up, the rain started and weed fish were coming in thick and fast. There were a few flounders to be had for everyone to stop the blanks fairly quickly.

I was getting a bit fed up with the weed so started to fish one rod. Everyone was also getting dragged well down the beach. But covering the extra distance proved to be to the benefit of Malky. On one particularly long walk to retrieve his weed fish from half way to Peterhead Malky landed the first of two turbots for the day.

Hunger finally chased us off the beach and with the promise of a chicken jal-shapie off we went.

Of it was to sharpies for the aforementioned curry, very nice it was too. And tired though we all were it was only a pitstop and soon we were off to Port Knockie harbour.

We were only there about 3 hours but tried for various species. Conger rods out in the harbour after dark. Spinning out on the far breakwater through the tunnel and float fishing over the harbour wall and onto the rocks beyond. Nothing to be had unfortunately despite the effort blanks all round.

Off it was back to sharpies around midnight for kip before the third day of fishing.

Operation Udderman: A Beach too Far! (part 1)

Bait - Anything and everything
Rigs - As above
Tide - All
Place - Various beach, rock and pier marks in East and North East Scotland


After a lot of PM's, where to go, what species to target, it was D-Day for all the strategic planning to come into action.


Day 1 - Arbroath to St Cyrus


Malky 'Udderman' picked me up and after a short pit stop for a coffee he was quickly ready to crack on with our three day tour. First stop was to be Arbroath cliffs to see if there were any wrasse to be had. Parking up at Vicky Park it was obvious that it was going to be a cracking day weather wise and hopefully the fish going to come out to play.

After a quick walk along the cliff we chose our spot to start the weekend. A nice flatish rocky platform into fairly deep water, about 15-25 ft at high tide. Both of us using sliding float rigs and worms to try and entice out the fish. Working around the rocky ledges and occasionally into deeper open water we moved along the mark and back for a couple of hundred feet trying different spots to no avail. Nae wrasse to show. 


Time to change tactics and see if there were any other fish to be had, pollock was the objective or possible some mackies for fresh bait for the weekend. So out with the the spinners it was and quite quickly Malky was into a fish and landed a coalie. I followed shortly after with one of my own.


Fair bit of fun with light gear. We landed about 16 or so over 40 mins the largest about 2.5lbs. Skate bait anyone?


It was a couple of hours before low tide now so we packed up and after a coffee and a natter it was off to Eliott Beach for flatties.

We got the rods out about an hour before low tide and started to scout about to see if there was any lug to be had. Very few casts around and small worms didn't make Malky's effort worth while. We did fine a couple of sand eels washed up onshore. Probably due to the sea bird activity a few hundred yards offshore. 


Despite varying bait and hook sizes Malky caught the solitary flounder of out 3 hrs on Eliott. First time I have blanked there in numerous visits, nae happy!


 So after a not so swift visit to the chippy it was off to venue three of the day St Cyrus beach to meet up with Malky's pal Daveraver. I'd never met Dave before but he is a nice guy, good to chat to and a pleasure to fish with.

When we had walked down to the beach we found that there was a horde of teenagers having a party on the beach and trying to start a fire, lots of smoke and not many flames, so we set up little off to their right. One of the girls went over to Dave to ask what we were doing. Hmm fishing rods, line, hooks etc a bit of a no brainer there. Dave moved to the other side away from them to avoid any more daft questions. To be fair to them they didn't bother us the rest of the night even if they did have a shit taste in music, though I didn't see a lot of rubbish bags being filled.


Fish wise it was slow to begin with but once the sun lowered in the sky and the wind dropped the fish turned up. A few single flounders for us all and one double shot to Malky. Malky also catching the only dab. I think Dave had four or five flounders when he packed up and Malky and I had five each plus the one dab for Malky when we packed up shortly after.


Day one over it was back to the car for four hours kip (I was to be on milk time!) with a good few fish each. 


Not spectacular fishing but a good day none the less and two more to come.

Wormit again 04-06-2011

Bait - prawn

Rigs - flappers - 2, 1 &; 1/0 hooks
Tide - Low to High
Place - Wormit Bay


Driving over the Tay Bridge to the Kingdom of Fife once again this morning for a bit of fishing at Wormit. I was going just before low tide, knowing that I wouldn't be able to fish for a couple of hours as the tide was too far out. But had a wee walk along the waters edge in mind to scout the lay of the land a bit further afield.

 I particularly wanted to walk along to a derelict pier and build I have often looked at from round the bay but have never before gone to look at.

I was glad I did as I found a few promising fishing spots along the way and when I finally got the the pier and building  I was intrigued as to the structures and what purpose they might once  have served as there did not seem to be any road or track leading to them from the farmland to their rear.

 I stopped walking and turned back to the car when I got the a headland where the shingle strip I was walking on next to the estuary mud started running out and I didn't fancy stepping anywhere near the thick gloopy mud!

Did take one last photo from the walk though.

So back to the car it was for a quick coffee and then it was fishing time.

 Short walk along the bay to a sport where the water was close in and two baited rods out quick smart. One close and one further out.  Just after I had my rods set up Grumpa arrived with Jonty followed shortly by Sultzer. 

I have to say I was pretty guilty of neglecting my rods in favour of a chinwag so it was a bit of a surprise when I reeled in to change the bait to find a reasonable 25cm flounder. Blank off first cast again for the second time this week.

Nice lively fish that seemed to have a bite mark on its back. From another fish??? Back it went to the river to plumb up and be caught another day.

Everyone else quickly followed suit with similar sized fish. Grumpa and Sultzer also landed another couple of flounders. 

Time to change bait again and I ended up with a similar result of a fish on that I hadn't seem bite. I could tell that this was a better fish as it was not happy about coming in. I landed my best flounder to date of 32cm and around the lb mark. The greedy beggar had taken both 1/0 hooks on my rig with a king prawn on each!

Quite soon I had to go and left Grumpa And Sultzer fishing. Both had been getting a few good bites just before I left but had only added a couple of postage stamp sized flounders to the catch list. Hopefully things picked up again after I left.