Another highland Skate trip

If life was different, I’d live in the highlands.

The draw back to rugged, Scottish territory is always sitting at background levels of insatiable, so much so that I haven’t really focused my travelling efforts anywhere else in the last few years. If the opportunity has come up for a few days away, it’s always been Scotland.

Fishing the various sea loch’s, Sounds and Firth’s of the north west highlands of “god’s country” is the pinnacle of the sport for me. There’s just nothing like it. Even if you’re blanking – who cares! The scenery alone is a good enough reason to go.

Obviously that’s not strictly the case, I go fishing to catch fish and when I don’t I get annoyed! But there are far worse places to blank than this:

The fishing up here is as diverse as the scenery – but in recent years the quarry that keeps bringing me back is the Common/Flapper Skate. They’re about the biggest thing you can hope to catch from the shore in the UK and I’ve spent many hours targeting them – with at least some success!

A late start

This time we were hoping to try out a couple of new marks we’ve had our eye on, as well as visit some of the usual haunts. So, with Steve’s van loaded with all the gear, we set off at tea time on Sunday night, arriving to one of our usual marks for the start of the flood around 1am in the morning. Spirits were high and it was an absolutely beautiful night as well – we’re more accustomed to fishing in high winds and driving rain in Scotland but we were certainly lucky tonight. We managed a few hours before tiredness got the better of us – static rod tips doing nothing to break the monotony, so we decided to get our heads down and rest up for a decent session tomorrow.

More of the same

The following day we fished another one of our usual marks – one which has produced for us in the past albeit a little inconsistently. Such was the case this evening on the Skate front, but during the hours of afternoon sunlight we did have some decent sport with the local populations of species in the shape of Ballan and Goldsinny Wrasse, Pollock, Poor Cod and Leopard-Spotted and Rock Gobies.

We were also treated to an appearance from up to three Sea Eagles which were riding the thermals surprisingly low, just about within camera range!

Darkness is generally the deciding factor on most of the Skate marks we fish as they’re pretty shallow, and while the tides and conditions were absolutely spot on tonight – frustratingly those rod tips still never moved all night! The fire did keep our spirits up though during the protracted periods of inactivity.

Slightly deflated we retreated to the van in the stupidly early hours of the morning to again try and rest up for the next day. The forecast for tomorrow was favourable for one of the new marks we wanted to try on this trip so we were hoping for an improvement in the sport.

A new mark

Day three and the conditions came good to get on our intended mark. This one was a bit of a trek – scrambling up and down cliffs and goat tracks for half an hour until we found a decent enough platform to fish from. There was a bit of a swell caused by the onshore wind, but this was dying all the time and we felt pretty safe. Fishing into over 100ft of water, we were hopeful of a few species during daylight but we were mostly just pestered by doggies. As usual we weren’t expecting the Skate to be present until darkness, so I didn’t actually bother setting the stalls out for them until the sun began to set and dusk settled in. I’d baited one rod with half of an unlucky dogfish and sent it out to the depths. Skate aren’t the fussiest of predators – they need a lot of food to sustain their huge size, and will happily chomp down on a dogfish. The benefit of using one as bait is that not much else will entertain it – so it’s a good option when other baits are being pounced on by dogfish, crabs or other nuisance species. In fact you can cast one out and pretty much leave it all night if you want to.

Anyway Steve was feeling the cold a bit with the loss of the sun and reluctantly decided to make the arduous trek back to the car for his jacket and some snacks.

The law of the sods

Naturally in his absence, Steve’s rod screamed off ten minutes later and it was left to me to deal with the fish. I was gutted as you can tell…

She was clearly not happy with being hooked and took plenty of line in her initial bid for freedom. It’s not a fight you’d forget in a hurry – the power of these fish is just phenomenal, demanding the utmost respect and testing your gear to its absolute limits. When they decide they want to run or dive, just let it happen – there’s nothing any rod or reel on the planet is going to do anything about it. That being said, you can give them some stick back, and in fact it’s best to do so in order to get them off the seabed quickly and facilitate a quick release.

Once she’d finished messing about I bullied her a bit to try and get her up quick – which worked and she was on the surface after just fifteen minutes, a nice female around the 150lb mark. Often times you can be attached to these fish for well over an hour, so I was pleased to get her up quickly.

Unfortunately we’d forgotten to bring the gaff down with us. The mark is not the flattest – you’re basically fishing the base of a cliff. I managed to get a hold of the leader but couldn’t negotiate the Skate onto the ledge I was standing on. Steve eventually arrived back from the van and took the leader, trying to coax the Skate up onto the ledge but the swell was making it impossible, drawing her back every time we got her up and rubbing the snood against the rocks until eventually the snood parted right at the hook and she sailed back off to the depths below.

Never mind. Im still counting it as a capture as we touched the leader – but I’m a bit miffed I didn’t get a picture! Anyway the hook was both barbless and bronzed and she was hooked right in the scissors, so I’ve no doubt she’ll get rid of it quickly. We both agreed she was around the 150lb mark so a bit off a PB but it was great to get one after such a long while.

I decided at that point to make the thirty minute scramble back to the van to get the gaff in case we hooked up again. Clambering over rocks, boulders and sheer ledges – I got a call half way back saying my rod that was baited with the half a dogfish had just had a run from another Skate! Sod’s law again! Sadly this fish dropped the bait and never came back. Anyway I returned nearly an hour later with the gaff, reset both rods and we sat in anticipation, hoping to get Steve a fish as we tend to take it in turns once the first fish has been landed.

The rest of the ebb passed with less activity – the Skate had obviously moved off as the dogfish were back to making a nuisance of themselves, less likely to find themselves impaled by our 10/0 hooks but still making every effort to destroy our perfectly presented baits!

That was until I got a more tentative bite that initially had me thinking Skate, until I hooked into it. It gave some really dogged headshakes and took a bit of line and was clearly a decent fish. This rod had been baited with mackerel and I’d actually misplaced the cast – the backdrop on this mark is quite difficult in terms of casting, even more so over high water, and I remembered I’d ballsed this one up a bit and only made it about 30 yards into some pretty sticky ground. Given the type of fight and the weight of the fish, we both thought it must be a decent Conger. Unfortunately we would never find out – as it managed to shake the hook before I got it to the surface.

Skate On!

As we got back towards low water things went quiet. This can be telltale of a Skate moving into the area – they’re a massive predator at the end of the day and will munch their way through pretty much anything they can get in their mouths. We were just contemplating whether it was going to happen when sure enough – Steve’s rod hooped over for the second time this evening as a fish made off hard and fast with his Mackerel bait. Just as he tightened up to lean into it though the fish dropped the bait again!

If a Skate does this it’s worth putting your rod back in the stand and leaving it as very often they will return to the bait. You’ll also find that where there’s one Skate, there’s often more. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later it was back and taking line a bit more tentatively this time but still with the unmistakable run of a decent Skate. Steve set his drag, hit the fish and this time it was on.

The Skate hugged the bottom really hard this time. Every time Steve dislodged it it would move no more than a couple of inches before sticking to the sea bed again. A couple of times it managed to find an obstacle and fears of being stuck solid would set in – but Steve managed the situation expertly by switching positions to get a good angle on the fish and get it to turn away from the snags. We were convinced by the nature of the fight it was a big female, as the males tend to be harder fighting and more erratic.

Eventually, after 40 minutes of solid pressure being applied (much to the protests of Steve’s back) it was directly below the rod tip – still down on the bottom in about 80ft of water. It eventually lost its purchase on the seabed below and Steve was able to negotiate it half way up the ledge. The Skate clearly wasn’t done though and took off back down again and all Steve could do was hang on. The next time he got it nearly all the way to the surface, before it shot off down again, taking double the amount of braid back! Cue all sorts of profanities from Steve!

Finally on the third attempt it surfaced and we were both surprised to see it was a big male fish. This time we were prepared with the gaff and with the fish secured well in the wing, he was landed without much hassle, enabling us to measure, unhook and get some pics.

The Skate charts are different depending on Male and Female, with the females growing bigger. This particular fish however was off the chart for a male – or in other words the male charts didn’t go big enough! It’s wingspan was over 80 inches, whereas the charts for male fish only go to 77 inches. Going by the trends in weight increments though we estimated somewhere in the region of a 140-150lb fish, comfortably beating Steve’s previous PB by a decent margin.

Given we’d now both had a fish we decided to call it a night. I was kicking myself for not getting a photo of my fish – but we decided if conditions allowed, we would fish here again tomorrow night so I could try and get another.

Change of plan

Sadly when we surfaced the following morning the wind had picked up. It was still a nice sunny day, but the onshore wind was strong and we knew the mark would be dangerous with the large swells. Unfortunately, while our other marks would have been fishable, the wind would be straight in our face, and we were humming and harring whether we could really be bothered to put up with it given the slow sport of the first two evenings.

So after a bit of a think and a couple of calls , we reluctantly decided to forgo the Skate fishing for the last night and set our sights on Conger instead up towards Fort William. It was a bit of a gamble, as the mark we had in mind was new to both of us – we had no idea if it would produce.

It was really quite comfortable though – a small jetty stretching out from a harbour into Loch Linnhe. And the views of the sunset were amazing.

Conger are a bit of a nemesis for me. I’ve targeted them quite a bit when on trips to North Wales and while I have had a few, they’ve been mostly small straps – with my PB only being around the 5lb mark. Last time I targeted them properly I hooked a huge one on Holyhead breakwater that was well into double figures, but the rig snapped as I was lifting it up the wall and I’ve been sore about it ever since. Other than that my attempts to catch them have either been fruitless, or limited to smaller captures. As much as I like targeting them, they don’t half bloody frustrate me!

Hoping to redeem myself somewhat, I sent one rod out at distance to see what else was about and then set my Conger rod up with a simple running ledger rig down the side of the wall baited with mackerel head and squid. To our surprise I had a take 10 minutes later and was quickly hooked into a small strap – which we got a glimpse of before it promptly spat the hook just before it reached the surface. On inspection of the rig, the hook was twisted up, suggesting the eel had taken the bait backwards and probably wasn’t hooked properly. It was nevertheless a good confidence boost though!

The distance rod then registered some interest, with the culprit turning out to be a small Thornback.

I decided to focus just on Conger and so rather than this rod going back out, i switched to another running ledger rig and dropped it at a different point down the wall.

Steve had a couple of Conger baits in as well but was also fishing at distance with one rod – and getting plagued by dogfish and other small species for his troubles!

The rods down the side of the wall remained untroubled for a few hours, save for some hungry crabs. Finally though, half way through the ebb at around midnight, we heard the tentative click of the drag on my Battle 7000 as an eel had picked up the bait. It’s surprising how gentle the bites are from these fish and Steve, being a little more experienced with catching these fish, encouraged me to let it develop – minimising the resistance as much as possible in the hope that it wouldn’t drop the bait. Eventually I felt it reversing back into its hole and hit into it. A brief moment of solid resistance before the fish dislodged from its refuge and was quickly visible in the shallow water at the base of the jetty. The depth could only have been 6ft at the most, but clearly enough to hold fish throughout the tide.

The Eel was landed swiftly and weighed in at just shy of 7lb – no where near a monster but a new PB! A few pictures taken before it was sent back to its home.

We fished on for another couple of hours, with me getting another take from a Conger which must have felt too much resistance as it dropped the bait and didn’t come back. Steve continued to wage war on the local Dogfish population until low water when we decided to call it a night as he wanted to get on the road for a couple hours in order to save some time tomorrow for the journey home.

And so ends another jaunt to the highlands and as I write I already want to go back. We’ve decided to take a bit of a hiatus on the Skate front for the time being though and both fancy targeting Conger a bit more often. It’s in the planning stages currently but hopefully there’ll be more eels featuring on here in the near future 😉