Skate Trip - Firth of Lorne: Day 2

After keeping calm on the beers the night before, day 2 dawned early and had us all on the slip waiting for the boat at about 8 a.m. The crew was the same as the previous days apart from Jamie being replaced by Neil. Colin the skipper must've been up early as he appeared early and we we off and sailing by about 8:15 a.m. again the short trip to the same area where we had picked up the previous days fish. Another glorious day with less wind but a tad colder though by the pics we look like we could have been in the Med or Caribbean.


Big baits in 500ft was the rule of the day and again the anchor rope was not Jason's friend, two snags with it and a third with Brian had me dubbing him the 'Anchor Magnet' Still it wasn't really a laughing matter as Jay had to drop and reel in his gear against snags three times in under an hour and was pretty knackered by it after landing his skate late the previous day.

Sundays trip fell into a fairly similar pattern to the day previous. Good spirits and banter on the boat un-matched by fishing action during the morning. Baits were coming up untouched even by the smaller species this time and though nice and warm to begin with as the wind increased and the cloud cover came over it became decidedly chilly. Everyone on the boat was getting a bit flat to say the least but as slack tide approached, when two of yesterdays catches were taken, everyone re-charged their baits and waited intently watching their rods hoping that the whole of yesterdays pattern was repeated.

We were not to be disappointed, firstly Brian's rod went and he graciously gave skate virgin Neil the rod. Neil quickly set to bullying the skate up off the sea bed and was making good progress when first Mark's rod gave a couple of nods and line was taken off the reel and secondly my reel gave one then two screaming runs. Three hook ups at once on the boat and all three to skate virgin's. It was a tad hectic on the boat with all the other gear getting taken up and the skipper deciding what order they should come up etc. What was happening on the boat and with the two other guys with skate on I'm not at all sure blow by blow but Neil managed to get his skate, of 166lbs, up fairly rapidly in just over 30 mins.

At this point Mark was being taken backwards and forwards up the boat by his fish and I was starting to worry I had exactly the same situation as the day previously as I was being taken on exactly the same runs on the opposite side of the boat. If that had happen two days in a row I might have given up fishing never mind skate fishing, but thankfully no we were both getting taken towards the stern and with a wee duck under and through the lines started to move in different directions. I was so relived there were two separate fish on :) I had a good fighting fish that went on a few big dives. I'm not sure about Mark's (I was otherwise engaged) but after about 40mins he landed a belter of a fish that went to 210lbs beating his brother Frankies PB, by 2lbs, set a year previously. Much to Frankies great delight, not.

Two cherries popped one to go, my own! Five minutes later a flash of white and my skate was visible coming up from the depths. Up and over the stern and I had done it and with a decent looking fish, once my eyes focussed again :) It was Cheshire Cat time all round the boat with three skate landed in 30mins totalling 572lbs once my own of 196lbs was added to the tally.

After the initial excitement died down all the baits went back down and we fished on for another 1.5 - 2 hrs or so but bar one dropped run on Frankies rod there was no more action and we were soon heading home to reflect on an excellent weekend all round. Six fish landed totalling 1130lbs to six different anglers five of which were first timers, one of whom was me.

I'll be back to try to break 200 next time.

Skate Trip - Firth of Lorne: Day 1

This weekend was one I had been looking forward to for a while. I came away without a skate last year but witnessed a couple of belters being landed. So determined to land my own I signed up for the weekend trip. Like last year Jason (Sultzer) had organised the trip onboard the M.V. Creagallan leaving Oban at 9 a.m. As ever before a big trip a restless nights sleep resulted in me leaving about an hour earlier than needed. Nice easy drive early in the morning and though a touch of rain and snow on the way over there was little wind and the sun was out in blue skies by the time I arrived to find Jason and Brian already in the carpark, where we were shortly joined by Jamie and then Frankie and his brother and friend. Everyone was in high spirits when we saw the skipper Colin heading over to the slip where we were waiting and quickly we were all loaded and steaming for the skate ground on the Firth of Lorne at the South Eastern end of Mull.

There were seven of us aboard, four skate virgins three of whom were on their first trips and there were a few double takes at the size of the baits being prepared and the realisation that these were not normal sized flatties we were fishing for. My personal bait was bluey and a broad squid which all told weighed more than a lot of the fish I've caught :)

 The first drop was fairly quiet with only a few light nods due to the tidal run not letting the baits settle for long and also probably indicating that smaller fish were bait robbing. The wind had got up a bit and was against the tide so the swell rose a bit and that had us bobbing about a bit more than expected, though it was still pretty calm overall. After about an hour it was apparent that Jason had caught the anchor rope bringing his bait up to change. 500 feet is a fair reel in with 2lbs of lead never mind if you are getting extra resistance from being wrapped round the anchor rope. About three quarters of the way up his line went rock hard and wouldn't budge. It was obvious that his hook had now snagged the anchor rope so it was lines up all round so the anchor could be pulled up to release the hook. I had been planning on leaving my bait for longer, but glad on being made to retrieve it as it had been utterly destroyed, probably by doggies or spurries. Once the anchor was back down and the boat settled we all quickly re-baited and sent our baits back into the depths.

It was a quiet morning fish wise but the craic on the boat was great tales of past battles with skate and other fishy tales, not to mention nights out and specifically Brian's escapades in high heels last year. But  with the afternoon came slack water around 2ish and only about 10 mins after a rebait Frankies pal (sorry I spent a weekend with you and have forgotten your name) his rod was indicating a proper skate bite and the forst of the weekend. Everyone was suddenly energised and whilst he was putting on his butt pad for the rod and really nice reel scream sounded fish on. He was getting some good advice and started to really feel the fish suck onto the sea bed.

After about 15-20 mins he managed to get it off the bottom and get it moving. It was hard going but he got some good advice from the skipper and the more experienced members on the boat. About this time my own rod started to bounce and then the ratchet rattled a few turns off my reel. Him a second skate hooked up? Right this was my first tussle with a skate, butt pad and harness on, drag set and feel the weight. I could feel its power immediately getting a bit of line then having it stripped back. There was a lot of activity on the boat with all the other lines being brought up to avoid tangles and two hook ups. not sure how long I was fighting that fish (30-40mins I think) I was getting near the top when someone peering into the sea shouts snag. WTF! turns out that all the time I was fighting the other guys line had gone fairly slack and I had been reeling in his fish as my hook had snagged on his line. Nightmare, I was exhausted and gutted beyond belief. Still I had felt the power of a skate, which when landed as a good 176lbs in weight and hopefully this would stand me in good stead when (if) my time came for real. Never got a photo unfortunately as I was sitting starting into space lol.

Very quickly after the baits went back down, Jamie (Fish OCD on WSF) had another good run and was into a really hard battle with a seriously feisty fish. It came off the bottom fairly easily but once, twice, thrice and four times Jamie lost most of the line he had gained has it dived and stripped line from the reel. He was getting a lot of good natured ribbing as he had turned brighter red than anyone I have ever seen and was pouring sweat, but everyone was on his side and excited at the fight he was having. It was a longer fight than the first and at around the hour mark he landed a cracking fish, which went to 177lb on the size charts but everyone thought was a good 15-20lbs heavier as it was a really thick muscled fish.

One last drop of the day saw Jason into the third fish of the day. He was having a really tussle with it. Different to Jamies, as this fish just did not want to move and took 45 mins just to get of the bottom. Jay was knackered and as he was fighting the fish and to keep his breeks up, Brian pounced for to get his own back for the high heel ribbing he had been getting earlier and a reeking mackie quickly found a new home but looked as though he was trying to escape just as quickly.

Shortly after Jay got it off the bottom it came apparent that his fish had moved round and collected every other line on the boat so he had an extra 14lbs of lead and the drag of 6 lines to add to. No wonder he was knackered and his legs jelly. Still after a full hour and a half and a lot of jiggery pokery untangling the lines a cracker of a skate was landed measured and released. All that effort was for the good as he had broken the 200lb mark with a fish of 205lbs (+ the14lb lead he has trying to add to the tally:))

After a slow start it was a great day, three skate landed with two skate virgins having their cherries popped and a lot of tired smiley folk off back to harbour and already looking forward to the following day..........

Kingsbarns Rocks - 09-04-2012

Kingsbarns is a beach I used to live near as a lad and as I'm off on a skate trip later in the week my thoughts were to have a go at low tide for some coalies as skate bait. I got out to the end of the rocks and set up for about half an hour before low. I'd scouted around a bit before I set up and had decided on a spot that had patches of sand between kelp beds, and aim to get my baits to the edges of the kelp/sand without snagging up.

The sea was flat calm and clear and I was wishing I'd packed my spinning gear as there was nothing doing. Tried various baits, rigs and hook sizes and moved about a few time to no end and after about four hours I was pushed off the rocks. I had planned to move along the beach at this point and see if I could pick up some flatties, but the beach by this point was heaving with families and dogs and I went home a blanker. Still only the second blank of the year and a nice morning oot the hoose.

Roll on the skate at the weekend (hoping to pop my skate cherry).