Newboy Posted November 23, 2005 Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 A quick shower and a bite after work on Saturday saw my friends (C K, Henry) and me leaving at 11.30 pm from Andover for our delayed long journey north, which was called off last week. We arrived at Glasgow to pick up my father in law, a short tea break and made it to Dunstaffnage 4 miles outside Oban at 7:30am. A quick change into our gear, we took the liberty of loading up the boat with our bags while waiting for John Keggie to arrive. Dunataffnage is a small marina, it has a small hotel with bar and restaurant, shower facility for berthing visitors. It’s well protected from the elements and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. It was the first trip out for Oberon since John got back north of the border. We went to pick up some fuel from the marina but the guy never showed up so we had to pop into Oban instead. John apologised for the delay since he should have fuelled her up before hand but he was very busy with the move and never had the chance. First port of call a small island, if you can call it that, since it was no bigger than the small marina we are staying at. We drifted for pollocks and coalfish. I caught my first coalfish, even tho it was a tiny one, plus a few small pollocks, and it was time to go to our deepwater hole for the big stuff. The boat was anchored just before lunch, in 400 feet of water about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newboy Posted November 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 After all the excitement, a short break and a cup of tea was well received,….’click, click, click,…’ now the ratchet on my reel went, I rush over to pick it up, waited until it went off again, lifted into the fish and it just stopped. How hard can it be, after all C K just did it 20 minutes ago. After Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newboy Posted November 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 John said a male is stronger and fights a lot harder than a female, which was why my fish went up and down so many times. 2 more fish came aboard within the next hour before the weather had deteriorated so much the boat was swinging from side to side, and the bait was bouncing on the bottom. We called it a day at around 4:00 as it was getting dark and there were millions of pots out in the area. It was a good day, 6 fish boated (best john ever had was 9 skate in a day doing both tides), C K had 3, Henry 2 and me the solitary fish. The fish of the day went to CK with a fish of about 140 lb, but it was on a 30lb mono set up and it took just short of an hour to get it at the stern of the boat. The fish had 4 wings instead of 2. John guessed it was probably gaffed too low when it was caught before and split the wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 lovely fish kam what a biggun sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Wow....Nice write up Kam about an excellent trip.... Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMBOB Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Way to go kam,I was under the impression that just catching one skate was a good day but six!!! what a day,.................. one Day Ill have to give it a go ......................... Is It time to cancel Alderney? James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Nice write up Kam,can't you submit this type of report to the fishing Mags.? It left me feeling knackered,what with the travel and the fishing,and I was unly reading about it..well done ..jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 wow! makes my usual 300 mile round trip to go fishing pale into insignificance! Wouldn't want to do that just to watch the rod tip nodding all day in the tide would you. Great write up and an excellent session Kam - presume you will now be targetting large blondes, the club conger record and porbeagles in 2006? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 kam What a great trip and an excellent write up nice one PS dont tell the wife you are after a big Blonde Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newboy Posted November 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 As it was mentioned already, 9 skate was the record in any one day, but that was fished over 2 tides. This made our 6 fish in 1 tide significant. . Then again if you read our 2nd day record, we couldn't make contact even tho it was the same spot, same tide and condition were similar, less windy. My advice is if anyone is keen, book for 2 days, since it's a long way up and it would be a shame not to see a big skate. John is doing a write up on this trip, when he's finish he will send it to BFM. Also, Glasgow angling centre has asked him to video skate fighting footages, he took some footages of us and it will be burnt onto a dvd to be sold in the tackle shop. I bet it will be funny, I was swearing and my face went from brown to red to white...... Porbeagle and other sharks will have to wait till 2007, I'm off to Norway next May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Hi Kam Bill Smith and I have been up Common Skate fishing with a friend on his boat for a couple of years. As you say it can be hard work lifting fish from those depths! What is harder is getting the anchor in even when it has been lifted by a buoy! Well done on some great fish, did John the skipper keep any records of the tag numbers or tag any fish that did not have any? Well done anyway, we tend to fly up to Glasgow as it is easier than driving. Regards Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newboy Posted November 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 John Keggie isn't involve with the tagging programme. Out of those 6 fish, only 1 was tagged. I guess there are lots of untagged fish out there. We know very little about this fish, all we know is that they are there all year round, largest one ever caught was estimated to be somewhere near 280-300lb (not by a rod I may add, imagine hauling up a 300lb fish ). No one knows where the young goes, fish below 50lb are rare and fish below 25lb are unheard of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 John Keggie isn't involve with the tagging programme. Out of those 6 fish, only 1 was tagged. I guess there are lots of untagged fish out there. We know very little about this fish, all we know is that they are there all year round, largest one ever caught was estimated to be somewhere near 280-300lb (not by a rod I may add, imagine hauling up a 300lb fish ). No one knows where the young goes, fish below 50lb are rare and fish below 25lb are unheard of. Hi Kam Well if small ones are rare one of my mates caught a 16lb and a 30lb We of course took the "micky" out of hime If you want to know more about Skate talk to Davy Holt or check out his web site Scottish Angling Homepage What Davy does not know about Common Skate is not worth knowing, he is also a great bloke and fisherman. These Common Skate used to be common around the South coast here but got wipped out by fishing! Davy thinks that they may still be the odd one or two but would need so long to find out if they still exsist. Regards Coddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Kam,in view of comments on the other posts,I don't suppose ,that when you go again,you could bring home those you catch,in a bait well,or aeriated trailer,then re-introduce them in Poole Bay.Preferably with a tag stating "for capture by members of PBSBAC only !!".. jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 how about one that says just for jack and then he has to catch it. sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamouse Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 These Common Skate used to be common around the South coast here but got wipped out by fishing! Davy thinks that they may still be the odd one or two but would need so long to find out if they still exsist. Hi Dave, They'd need very deep, very tidal waters, rarely fished or trawled with plenty of food fish. I can think of somewhere not five miles from the IoW that fits that description Steve was that plain enough or should I mention eagle rays?? By the way, good luck on Sunday. Was hoping to be out on Moby (Lookfar's still crook) but domestic needs and weather prospects were both against me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted November 26, 2005 Report Share Posted November 26, 2005 [how about one that says just for jack and then he has to catch it. sam .. Sam.."I should live so long. !! .".... ..jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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