Author: lmuslibar

I’ve been out more often these last few weeks than I have all year, though the truth is there’s been little worth writing about. As I mentioned in my last post the cod fishing up here has taken a long time to get going this season, with only pockets of fish available on the first stormy tides then seemingly gone again as soon as the seas drop.

I’ve fished the same mark exclusively this year with very little success. The wind and swell turned south easterly on Tuesday and I got a message from Tony asking if I fancied venturing further into dark Northumberland for a change the following evening. Frankly I needed little convincing. It’s been handy having Tony to motivate me to get out cod fishing a bit more as I never used to bother much – and since he’s been good enough to share a few new marks with me it’s made it all the more interesting.

So after an hour and a half drive and a canny trudge from the car I rocked up at the mark at about 6pm – and promptly slipped and fell on my ar*e while making my way over the rocks to where Tony was already fishing. Right….I need to order those bloody wader studs!

Feeling suitably sheepish and clumsy, I eventually got set up and (equally clumsily) chucked out a whole cart wing all of 40 yards….and a bit further to the right than I’d intended. Sod it – it’s staying there.

Just as well really as while we were chatting away 20 minutes later I noticed the rod give a good thump and soon I’m connected with a fish. I’ve struggled for anything over 2.5lb this season but straight away I can tell this one has a bit more about it. Soon, Rig, lead and a nice plump Codling are extracted relatively hassle free through the tangles of kelp and boulders. Not the biggest fish in the world but at 3lb9oz it’s beaten the blank, and since every other fish so far this season has gone back I don’t feel too guilty about this one coming home for tea.

Second chuck I follow this up with another nice codling approaching 3lb – Tony’s magic wings are certainly worth their weight tonight.

Tony also manages a couple of pan size fish before we move onto the main skeer as the tide drops. Given the good start we’re hopeful of a few nice fish tonight, but the gods are only semi-obliging as we’re plagued by shoals of smaller codling. Most fish are legal size and we’re getting them most chucks, but all are returned in the hope of something more substantial.

Sadly though as we approach low water at midnight things go quiet and with work looming in the morning we decide to call it an evening.

So in summary probably the most activity I’ve had in a single session so far this winter, and a couple of nice fish for the fryer. Could have been better, could have been worse!

My winter season hasn’t really got off the ground yet. Between work, farm, uni and family time, opportunities for fishing are few and far between at the minute and I have to take what I can get – often a challenge when the fishing at this time of year is heavily dictated by the conditions (isn’t it always…). A few weeks ago though at the beginning of November I managed to get out on the rocks for a few hours one night. The northerly battering we were supposed to get was a mere whisper compared to what the forecasters predicted which sowed seeds of doubt in my mind on my mark of choice, but the sea was still stirred up and heavily coloured enough that a reasonable level of confidence was instilled.

All manner of baits were lashed pulley rigs and sent out into the tangles of sharp rock and kelp – hoping the sacrificial weak links would provide some mitigation and offer a chance of retrieval, hopefully with a fish in tow. Most of the bait ups involved cart wings, made by Tony, with occasional pairings of black lug, mussel or squid. All registered interest throughout the evening, though the common theme was cart which tends to be the case this time of year.

Admittedly the fishing wasn’t fantastic, with a few well fed codling approaching 2lb the sum of my efforts. Bites were very cagey and on a couple of occasions I reeled in to find a fish hanging off my rig, without having registered a bite. Still though they provided the sport and I avoided a blank and it was nice to get the season off to a good start – albeit not in the most spectacular fashion.

A PB for Tony

A few weeks later Tony fished the same mark in some more favourable conditions – although the beastly northerly wind and rain certainly separated him from the fair weather fisherman. I was meant to be out with him but instead was on parenting duty for the evening.

Tony stuck it out for a short while and admits he was on the verge of heading home when his rod was nearly wrenched from his arms. After some negotiation he was able to free it from its unforgiving environment and was rewarded for putting up with the inclement weather with a lovely new PB Cod of 7lb 7oz. With a slow start to the season and a recent poor run of form, it’s definitely well deserved mate and I’m disappointed not have witnessed it in person.

The following evening

With very little persuasion needed, Tony and I ventured back out to fish a different mark once the sea had dropped off a bit. Eager to get baits in the water following Tony’s success last night, we were happy to find that the mark wasn’t full of weed as can often be the case here after a big sea. There were a few other lads fishing but the skeer is massive with plenty of room.

First chuck isn’t in for too long before the first telltale signs of life are registered, typical coalie/rockling bites at first but then I miss the first decent, cod’ish looking bite of the evening. Renewed confidence, we make our way along the skeer as the tide recedes and I chuck out a whole cart wing in its purest form as we stand in the surf with rods in hand, waiting for something to happen. A short while later I get a more positive bite, which this time I connect with. I can tell it’s not big but it’s the first fish of the evening and without much argument a nice codling is quickly extracted from the mess of rock and weed. Not much more than two and a half pound and only lip hooked by the 4/0 circle on the pennel so I offer him back to the fish gods in hopes of an exchange for something more substantial.

You guessed it though, the gods weren’t in an obliging mood, and that’s the last codling of the evening for me. I do manage a Coalfish later on which is knocked on the head for Skate bait for when we go back up in April, while Tony manages an undersized codling.

Unfortunately there’s not much more to say about the session. We’re pestered most of the evening by rattly bites from smaller fish just picking at the baits. Decidedly underwhelming but nice to be out in good company all the same. It seems to have been a slow start for many this season which is a bit frustrating when I only manage to get out a couple of times a month if I’m lucky. It’s been unusually warm this November too which may be having an impact, but we can only speculate.

Seasonal changes

It’s not lost on most anglers that something is amiss. The status quo in terms of sea angling is becoming less and less predictable as the years go on and talking to other anglers reveals there is general consensus that the fishing seasons are changing and so too are the results.

This year we had possibly one of the poorest summers that I’ve seen on the north east coast for mackerel – they just never really materialised in the big shoals we’re used to despite there being plenty of baitfish around – which the increasing stocks of herring were certainly taking advantage of in the mackerels absence. Other seasonal fish such as plaice and wrasse are also becoming more of a bonus catch where only five or so years ago you could target them directly and rack up a fair tally.

Over the last few year the dynamics of winter cod fishing have seemingly changed in the North East as well. Ten years ago the cod season lasted all the way through February, with Jan and Feb being the favoured months for the bigger, spawn ready fish. I have it from more senior anglers than me that a few more years back would even see good catches beyond Easter. Nowadays – it’s becoming increasingly pointless getting the gear out of the garage after Christmas.

To be clear – I’m not a well seasoned Cod angler – far from it. I have a handful of sessions every winter when I can. But Anglers who are miles ahead of me in terms of their Cod game are experiencing the same inconsistency in catch rates as the season moves into what should be the pinnacle time of year. They’re still getting more fish than I am, but not in the numbers they’re used to.

Ecosystem changes as a result of climate change and overfishing are at the heart of the debate in terms of root causes – with the reality probably sitting somewhere in the middle. Temperatures even now at the end of November are still regularly in double figures, which has to have some kind of impact on things like seasonal migration patterns and marine food webs and environments both early and late season.

Anyway…..I’ll stop grumbling! This kind of thing fascinates me, even though the output as far as shore angling success is concerned is generally negative. I’d love to think this is just a blip, but I’m admittedly pessimistic. Hopefully things improve soon!

I’ve had a trip planned to get back to the North-West of Scotland to yet again target Common Skate. The primary objective of this trip was to get Steve a fish, as like me he’s been trying for a 100lb+ shore Skate for a number of years (6 to be precise).

Earlier in the year on our last trip I landed one of 178lb – the plan this time was to fish 2 rods each and whichever went would ultimately be in Steve’s hands to land.

Steve was driving this time and turned up on my doorstep around tea time on Sunday and, after some debate on set off times, we decided to head off into the night at 9pm and begin the 5-6 hour drive North of the border. Incidentally – if you are attempting an overnight drive up into highland territory, do so cautiously. Deer are a regular hazard up here on the winding roads and they outnumber the sheep by a significant margin. We’ve managed to avoid any major fallouts with them in the past, but unfortunately on this occasion I had to humanely dispatch a young fawn that collided with the front of Steve’s van when it jumped out of the hedges with a couple of its mates. No major damage to the van thankfully but having to put the poor thing out of its misery afterwards certainly blew away the 3am fatigue that was setting in.

In the end we pulled over at 4am to grab a couple hours kip before the early ferry and once we arrived at the mark the next morning we set about getting the van in a liveable state for the next few days, got some late breakfast in and had the rods in the water by lunchtime.

Slow going

As it tends to be when targeting these fish, things took a while to get going. Bycatch in the shape of Doggies and Thornies is limited by the size of the 10/0 hooks we’re using but it doesn’t stop them trying their best to choke themselves on the three quarter size mackerel baits we’re using. A few of them somehow manage to hang themselves on these donkey chokers and save the blank but as they’re seemingly around in numbers we need to change baits a bit more regular than we’re used to.

While we’re waiting on darkness we get a fire going and, as is tradition, cook up some steak on a hot slate (cheating a bit this time as Steve brought a slate tile from home rather than us hunting around the beaches for a suitable natural piece like we normally do. In hindsight we probably should have just stuck to what we know given that huge crack that appeared in the middle halfway through cooking!)

As the evening sets in the weather turns snotty with some nasty squalls coming across the Loch and into our faces along some heavy periods of rain. The forecast promises better prospects in the hours to come so we duck down under the shelter to wait it out, however this is Scotland, and regular follow up checking of the forecast sees it changing every hour until suddenly it transpires that we’re probably gonna be dealing with this all night!

Feeling a little deflated, we decide to grab a few hours kip in the van to see if it settles.

By midnight it’s still minging and we’re really not happy at the prospect of having to cut the first session short – especially given we’re fishing shallower water and ideally need to maximise fishing at night to be in with the best chance. We walk back round to the mark, expecting to have to call it quits – but the gods must have been smiling on us as the wind literally goes from howling to a whisper in a matter of seconds. Amazed at our luck, we set about fishing again, hoping that the conditions hold.

It actually stays really settled for the rest of the evening and it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the area can be on the rare occasion that it’s quiet – the occasional roar of a red stag in the distant hills. Unfortunately despite the perfect weather, only a few more overly keen Rays and Doggies break the monotony and as daylight beckons at around 7am we decide to call it. I’m shattered and rather than carrying everything back to the van I decide to bivvy out in the early morning haze as it’s a beautiful morning.

Day 2

It’s a slow start as we’re both absolutely wiped out having had a grand total of about 5 hours sleep since arriving on Sunday and it’s now Tuesday afternoon!

To make matters worse the stove’s packed up so Steve has to make an emergency dodge to the nearest town to get a replacement so that we can get a late breakfast on. A couple of bacon and homemade black pudding wraps later though we’re fishing again by mid afternoon. Whilst waiting for light to fall Steve has a bit of a play with his spinning rod and manages a couple of small Coalfish. I decide to set up an LRF rod and have a bit play down the side of the rocks to see if there’s anything about. What a decision that was – in about 15 minutes I manage 4 species of Wrasse (Ballan, Rock-Cook, Cuckoo and loads of Goldsinney’s), Codling, Pollock, Coalfish and Poor Cod.

Steve has a go and manages more of the same – an enjoyable hour or so before the light goes and we switch our attention to the Skate baits.

Once again the big baits are getting munched by Doggies and Thornies – I even resort to putting one of the former on as bait to try and dissuade them. Skate will happily munch a Dogfish and if you’re on a mark where distance isn’t the be all and end all it can be worth trying.

First signs….

The night rolls on and it’s not until bang on 3am that Steve finally has a tentative run on half a mackerel and bends into a hefty weight, signalling the presence of our quarry at last!

The fish makes a few short runs, testing Steve’s drag before sulking on the sea bed for a bit. Steve begins to gain some yards on the fish and it seems to be co-operating unusually well, swimming towards us rather than bolting away.

Then disaster – as he puts on some extra pressure to start trying to get it up from the bottom the hook pulls! We’re gutted. The barbless hooks Steve is using are more than capable as long as they get a good hold – so we assume on this occasion the fish must only have been lightly hooked.

Unfortunately that is the only fish that turns up for the rest of the night. What’s worse is the forecast has changed again and we can see that this mark is going to be unfishable tomorrow as the wind gets up to almost double what it was on Monday. We’re starting to feel like it’s not gonna happen!

Last day – last chance!

It takes some serious mental wrestling to motivate ourselves not to cut the trip short the next morning when we poke our heads out of the van and nearly get blown away. After reviewing the options, we decide to go and look at another mark that we haven’t fished before but have been considering for a while. The wind is forecast to be horrendous but directly side on as opposed to in our face.

On investigation it actually transpires that the mark is pretty well sheltered from the worst of it so, confidences renewed, we bring the gear down and get set up.

Once again the Rays and Doggies make a bit of a nuisance of themselves to start with but they tail off into the evening.

They say if the fish stop biting it’s because there’s a Skate about and sure enough a couple of hours into darkness Steve gets another run and bends into another fish. This one is clearly bigger than the last and has no intention of coming in as quietly, at one point catching Steve completely off guard and almost pulling him in!

Once again the fish gets the better of him unfortunately as the 80lb braid suddenly pings after 5 minutes and the fish is gone. It’s a good thing we’re a distance from the nearest civilisation as there was some choice language getting shouted into the heavens by Steve, who has to be coerced out of launching his rod in the water in protest at having lost his 2nd fish!

Redemption

About 20 mins later though my rod gets a run and I shout Steve to take it. He hits into the fish and this time it seems well hooked as it peels line off the spool with consecutive runs.

The first 20 minutes are a bit hairy and we’re thinking it’s going to be another loss as the fish manages to find a snag and we physically can’t move it. It occasionally flaps it’s wings to let us know it’s still there, but it’s clear there’s a solid obstacle stopping it from coming in any further. Moving along the rocks, Steve manages to put a bit of side strain on it and eventually negotiate it out and the fights back on. The fish is hanging deep and refusing to come off the bottom for ages. I keep encouraging Steve and checking he’s coping – these fish really test you to your physical limit and it can be demoralising gaining a few turns on the reel only for the fish to take exception and take double, triple or quadrupole back with apparent ease.

After what seems like forever Steve finally gets it’s nose off the deck and begins inching it up through the water. The important thing here is to keep their heads pointing upwards as you bring them up – if they get the slightest opportunity to turn and go back down they will, which makes bringing the fish up probably the hardest part of the fight. Steve does a grand job playing the fish and thankfully the depth here is only about 40ft or so making the ascent a little quicker than last time. The top of the rig appears at the waters surface and we catch the faintest of glimpses of the fish. It doesn’t like the sight of the headlamp though and bolts for the bottom again, leaving Steve almost in tears as he begins the task of inching it back up again. It repeats these antics a couple of times before finally it’s beaten and a nice male Skate emerges from the depths and is negotiated round to a low lying rock to be unhooked and measured. Wing tip to wing tip and nose to tail measurements put him at 115lb – Steve is buzzing, having finally broken the 100lb barrier, and on a new mark as well!

Once photographed, the fish slowly kites back off to the depths and we get back to the rods. Steve is too shattered to attempt it again but I wanna stick it out to see if I can get another one.

Sure enough half an hour later I get a really positive run on my other rod and hook into solid resistance for a fraction of a second – before the fish takes exception and takes off like a stabbed rat. The rod is nearly ripped from my hands and I don’t manage to set the drag properly before the 90lb braid pings as if it’s nothing and the fish is gone – having been hooked for about 4 seconds! Feeling like a bit of an idiot for buggering up the drag, I bait the rods back up and stick it out for another couple of hours before conceding defeat at around 4am and heading back to the van for some much needed rest before the journey home tomorrow.

So not quite the 4 days we were hoping for – most of it was pretty much a write off on the Skate front but we’re buzzing with our new mark and the fact that it produced 3 runs in the space of a couple of hours. Really pleased to have helped Steve finally get his fish after 6 years of trying – well done mate!

Not even 24 hours later we’re already talking about the next trip!

My wrist finally seems to be getting to the point where I can actually do stuff now so some proper fishing was on the cards after a couple of months off climbing the walls. I was contemplating a solitary weekend away fishing in Wales originally however changed tack at the last minute and opted for fishing with some company on the Scottish side of the Solway Firth. Mike and me have had our eye on a few marks over there that we haven’t fished before and so decided to use the trip to try somewhere new to see if it still produces the goods. On Friday night I got a text from Tony who I fished with quite a bit last winter – he asked whether I was heading out so i offered him the chance to jump in. He hasn’t fished over this way before but has always wanted to.

So off we went at a reasonable hour on Saturday morning and after the obligatory butty van and costa stop off to keep Mike pacified, we arrived at the car park early afternoon and began making our way along the cliffs. We found our chosen mark without too much hassle and after a quick scramble down to the waters edge the rods were soon being assembled in earnest. I was a bit unsure footed on the rocks at first, trying not to put too much pressure on my injured hand, but I managed to settle myself and get set up. It was a bit tight to get the stand set up in my spot so I ended up just resting the rods against a rock crevice.

Baits for the day we’re a variety of fish baits; mackerel, bluey, herring, squid lashed in various combinations to up and over rigs. I was happy to find that casting and reeling in wasn’t much of a complaint with my wrist and quickly got both rods out and sat back to see what the day had to offer, taking in the scenery and being generally pleased to be back out again after so long. We didn’t have to wait long before Mike was into the first fish and much to our delight it was a small thornback, so that was our hypothesis on the mark ticked off nice and early! It’s always a satisfying feeling when a new mark produces the goods! Shortly after I followed up with a ray of my own. Both fish were on the small side, not much bigger than 3lb, but a welcome sight regardless.

Over the next hour a few of the obligatory Dogfish put in an appearance for both me and Tony until the turn of the tide. All of a sudden what seemed like the entire Solway Firth was moving past us left to right as the current turned something fierce, rendering our new mark pretty much unfishable! At the sight of rod butts suspended in mid air due to the strength of the tide, we were resigned and decided on a move further down the coast to the more popular Balcary area. I must admit we normally tend to avoid these marks on a weekend as they get busy and none of us relish the prospect of fishing shoulder to shoulder, but unusually there was only a couple of local lads fishing this afternoon and there was still plenty of space for the three of us and we were soon setting back up. I hadn’t even cast my second rod before the first one started bouncing in the rest and I negotiated another ray of around the same size as the last through the strong tide, just managing to avoid wiping out the lads fishing to my right! This was followed by another slightly bigger ray in the space of 45 minutes while consecutive casts were pounced upon by the ever reliable dogs.

Tony and Mike were fishing a little ways to my right and I was popping over every now and then to avoid being anti social – and to crack open the traditional ‘SAR lads’ IPA that it was Mike’s turn to bring along today. Tony had a steady stream of dogfish tallying up and had added a couple more rays to his count and had even unfortunately lost a juvenile Tope right at the waters edge when it bit through his hook snood.

Mike on the other hand was not faring as well as he had not had anything since his first fish on the previous mark, despite fishing between me and Tony.

As the sun crept away things went quiet for the last few hours of the ebb and the crabs took advantage of the lack of predators to come out and make a nuisance of themselves on our baits. Once darkness had completely fell and the tide began to turn however the rays came back on in numbers, with each of us adding multiple fish to our tally’s in the space of a two hours. Whilst there were no monsters in amongst them it was good sport, with Mike redeeming his afternoon hiatus with the biggest fish of the session – a nice Thornback over the 7lb mark, along with multiple other smaller fish.

The sport continued through to midnight by which point the fish were still feeding, but having been fishing nearly 12 hours we were all longing for our beds (although as designated driver I was less enthusiastic about the 3 hour drive home!)

I managed a palm sized ray on my last cast to take my total for the day to eight thornies which is definitely one of the better sessions I’ve had over here in a few years. Mike and Tony managed at least a dozen between them that I saw as well so all in all a productive session, albeit nothing massive. And of course the uncounted tally of dogfish added a bit of monotonous variety.

Happily, my wrist held up well all day I’m glad to say so I’m still planning on heading back to the northern highlands for Common Skate fishing again in October, although hopefully I’ll get a session or two in before then.

Until next time!

I’ve spent the last 2 weekends going back to basics and enjoying some river sport with the local flatfish. Light rods, small hooked rigs and some basic freezer baits is all it takes to get a line wet and have some fun.

I find it a bit of a novelty that at this time of year I will struggle to interest the Flounder on my doorstep in the river Wear in any bait other than crab, yet next door in the river Tyne the fish seem quite happy to take other baits – even straight up Mackerel as bait will account for its share of fish.

Week 1 – Theo’s first session

Last weekend I took my younger brother Theo on his first proper fishing trip. We hit the British Airways car park which is situated in a business park well up the river Tyne into prime Flounder and Eel territory. The area also regularly produces other species such as Codling and Whiting, along with some other novelties such as Sea Trout, Smelt and even the occasional Haddock.

Using frozen blacks tipped off with mackerel on a 1 up 1 down rig with size 1 long-shank hooks accounted for around a dozen fish in the 3 hours we were there before Theo inevitably got sick of sitting around. The biggest of these was 32cm. It tailed off over high water which is standard for this venue, although I’ve often enjoyed a flurry of activity as the tide begins to ebb again in the past, but on this occasion we decided to call it after a few hours – the distant promise of a BBQ back at home proving too tempting for us. He’s since asked to go fishing again so I suppose that’s still a success!

Week 2 – SAR Piscan Pot fundraiser

For the 2nd weekend in a row I fished the BA car park, this time a fundraiser match for seaanglingreports.co.uk – an online fishing forum. SAR has a small but relatively tight membership base and holds this competition every year in order to raise funds to keep the website going. On a personal level it was nice to finally be able to fish this event; I’ve had to miss it every year so far as I always seem to be busy. So today was a good opportunity to meet the lads, some of whom I’ve talked to for years on the forum but haven’t actually met face to face!

Again I was using blacks and mackerel as bait. I did toy with going down to the beach to try and collect some peeler crab – this is a longest fish match and eels count so there was a good chance it would be won by an eel. In the end I couldn’t be bothered though and set my stalls out for biggest flounder instead!

As it happens I did catch the biggest flounder of the day at 33cm – in the first 5 minutes!

That was the winning fish for all of about 5 minutes until James landed the first eel of the day at 46cm. Damn!

Over the course of the afternoon there were a few more eels landed, whereas I kept adding to my flounder count but with none bigger than my first.

I also managed a couple of palm sized whiting over high water before things slowed down for the last couple of hours of the match. Mike, Terry and Andy all added to their species count with a Smelt – the pungent smell of cucumber blown all the way down the walkway turning a few heads

In the end my flounder placed me in 5th within a total of 15 anglers so I was happy enough with that – I even got a handful of Reg’s leads as a souvenir! Was really great to meet up with everyone and see some of the lads I haven’t seen since before the pandemic.

Till next time!

Ok maybe a bit of an exaggeration…..or maybe not.

Suffice it to say that my latest trip over to the south west of Scotland didn’t exactly go to plan. Me and Mike were hoping to get amongst some decent Thornback Rays and maybe the odd Smoothound which have featured in recent reports, but alas – we were completely dogged out by the end of the day.

I lost count to be honest – with baits spending little more than 5 minutes in the water before the dogs found them. I chuckled to Mike that it was like reeling in a bunch of bananas, with 2 Dogfish at a time on a single pennel rig on multiple casts. On more than one occasion one or both of the fish weren’t even hooked, just wrapped up in the rig following wrestling match to see who could swallow the bait fastest.

I’ll not bother embellishing the details as there’s only so much interesting to write about when it comes to Dogfish. I did manage a solitary Dab which obviously had some identity issues.

Hopefully the next session is more productive!

This blog is still in its infancy and like many my fishing ventures have been scuppered by covid this past year, so I’ve not written about Skate fishing on here before. However it has been something of an obsession for me over the last five years, having spent much of my waking life perusing Google earth and shipping charts trying to locate likely looking fishing marks for these elusive ‘barn doors.’ You need to consider not only the depth you’re fishing, but access to the waters edge to physically land a fish that could potentially weigh over 200lb which means understanding any underwater obstructions/ledges that will make the task of landing impossible.

Over the last five years myself and Steve, who’s been equally as obsessed with catching one of these fish, have put thousands of hours into researching possible skate marks and tactics and put as many miles on the clock travelling to these places with only limited success, with my last trip yielding a 30lb Common Skate, my first and only to date.

There are of course places you can go which are well known that have been well canvassed on YouTube and social media – and this is another factor. These marks will and do yield results, but you have to be prepared to potentially share a small space with multiple other anglers. Such is the growing popularity of targeting these fish from the shore that people come from all over the U.K. to Scotland in order to try and catch them.

Personally though I prefer the quieter spots, and what better way to truly embrace isolation than in this part of the country, combining wild-camping and fishing; I don’t think there’s a better soul medicine.

Tackling up for shore Skate

I’m by no means a seasoned Skate angler – as I’ve said, I’ve only had limited success with them. Consider though that you’re fishing for something that could potentially be as big as you, so it stands to reason that tackle needs to be beefed up to handle the job at hand. A heavy beach rod with plenty of guts is a must – I use a MK1 carbon metal crest, one of the early carbon metal rods – stiff and plenty of power! These fish will glue themselves the seabed when they realise they’re hooked and refuse to budge, so you need a rod that will provide enough backbone to keep the pressure on for a long time to encourage it to dislodge itself. Reel choice is down to personal preference, but make sure you consider the depth of the venue and the amount of line the reel holds and again, it needs to have the guts to handle the abuse of hauling a Skate up from the depths. I go for the penn battle 7000 fixed spool, preferring fixed spool over multiplier as i find it easier to control when casting large baits. I load this with 90lb braid – braid being better again for keeping the pressure up due to the lack of stretch, and the improved bite detection when fishing deep water.

The point here being that if a hooked skate decides to take off in the opposite direction, there’s nothing you or any rod and reel on the planet is gonna do about it, so make sure you’re gear is up to the task.

Rigs

Again there’s no single answer and everyone has their preference. Given the size of the quarry though rigs need to be of at least 150lb – matched with hooks 10/0 or bigger (avoid stainless steel as they do not rust if you need to cut the line on a deep hooked fish).

I use a pulley rig anywhere between 5 and 8 foot long depending on depths – and always with a weak link to the lead regardless of where I am fishing.

Day 1

This time I was joined once again by Steve and also his mate Jamie (his first time sea fishing) on a four day trip to various marks in the north west highlands of Scotland. The trip had been planned for months in advance and it seemed like fate that the Scottish government were lifting the border restrictions on the 26th of April – the exact date we were pencilled to go!

After just over a five hour drive I arrived at the first mark at around 7pm, Steve and Jamie having arrived a few minutes before. Spirits were high in anticipation; we’ve never fished this mark but it’s one we’ve had an inkling about for over a year but haven’t had the chance to fish yet due to covid!

To cut a long story short though there’s not a lot to talk about with regards to the first night other than how uncharacteristically beautiful the weather is – the night sky is lit up by an intense full moon and the water is flat calm, the occasional twitter of a tawny owl somewhere in the hills breaking the silence.

An occasional dogfish breaks the monotony on the fishing front, some managing to hang themselves on the 10/0 Cox and Rawle meat hooks. No Skate though and In the end we decide to call it at 2am as we’re all a bit shattered from the drive up, with the intention of hitting it hard tomorrow.

Day 2

A mixed bag of weather today, with a stubborn cross wind and periods of intermittent rain making things a bit uncomfortable. In actual fact, other than a solitary pollock in the early morning mist, the mark is seemingly devoid of life throughout the daytime. Only when the sun drops do the ever reliable dogfish start to put in an appearance as we busy ourselves making a small campfire.

Bait wise we’re using a mix of things – mostly mackerel which are cut in half. It is possible to use larger baits, and there may be advantages in terms of scent appeal, however this comes at the expense of lost distance when casting. It’s certainly not necessary to use massive baits and many Skate have been hooked and lost having taken smaller baits intended for smaller species and half a mackerel is still compact enough that it can be flung out a good distance. Aside from mackerel we also try bluey, pollock and even dogfish for bait – all of which will be readily taken by Skate, which aren’t the fussiest of fish and will eat most things!

At 1:30am, one of my rods gives a typical nod nod of yet another dogfish. Resigned to having to probably change the bait again, I leave it a bit to see if it will lose interest. After a while though i notice the rod seems to be pulling down slowly a couple of inches at a time. Excitement sets in as we realise this is definitely something different – and after sitting on my hands and letting it develop a little more I decide to hit it. The resulting bend in the rod is unmistakable – I’ve hooked the first skate of the trip!

For the first 10 seconds it’s coming in relatively easily and it appears to just be a smaller fish, not dissimilar to the 30lb fish I’ve had previously. Then for whatever reason, it realises it’s hooked, turns in the opposite direction and (excuse the term) f***s off for the horizon – and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. The drag of my penn battle is almost fully locked up, and yet the fish has my carbon metal crest buckled, peeling line off the spool at an impressive rate of knots – it’s immediately obvious at this point that she’s a big girl! She then employs the typical “sit and sulk” tactic, gluing herself to the seabed and there’s nothing to do but jam the rod butt into a rock and sit on it, keeping the pressure constant, waiting for her to give up. She dislodges a handful of times and lets me gain a few yards, only to give me the proverbial finger and take double, triple, quadruple the amount of line back before suctioning herself to the seabed again. The lads are providing words of encouragement (and the odd bit of micky taking). At one point she is sat, completely unmoved, for a good 40 minutes. A bit of extra pressure and I feel the lead part company – reiterating the importance of a weak link. No matter how clean you think the ground is, a Skate will spend 95% of the fight on the deck, and you can pretty much guarantee if there’s a snag to be found, it’ll find it!

Sure enough she’s moving again and finally starts to come up through 90ft of water. This is probably the most nail biting (and exhausting) part of the fight, as every time I lower the rod to pump it back, the momentary slight lapse in pressure is taken as an opportunity as the skate turns and shoots back down again – and all I can do is hang on and let her. A few times she isn’t far from the surface before turning and heading back down the full way and I have to start over again!

Finally, 1 hour and 20 minutes after first hooking her, she suddenly emerges on the surface a couple of yards in front of us and we’re all in complete shock. You see plenty of pictures and videos online but until you see one in the flesh it’s hard to appreciate their size.

A couple of nervous moments as she makes a couple of last ditch attempts to turn and get back down again – even now testing the gear to complete limits. She eventually gives up though and we negotiate her onto a low lying rock, still partially in the water, so that she can be unhooked, measured and photographed.

It’s impossible to physically weigh a fish of this size so weight is determined by pre approved charts using a measurement from nose to tail and wing tip to wing tip and we calculate that by the chart she weighs 178lb. I’m absolutely ecstatic. After 5 years and hours and hours of research and travel time, I’ve finally landed a Skate over the 100lb mark.

Following a few photos she’s released, taking her time to disappear off into the depths and leaving us watching, completely speechless. In fact I’m speechless for pretty much the rest of the night, not knowing what to do with myself. I don’t even really bother continuing to fish – just sitting content having finally achieved what I set out to do years ago. It’s nearing 4am and we have a few beers to celebrate next to the campfire on a blissfully calm night before turning in.

Day’s 3/4

Despite the success of the previous night we decide to up sticks and head further north, given that the current mark doesn’t appear to fish well during the day and the forecast is for the wind to swing round into our faces. In hindsight we probably would have been better off staying where we were as our efforts were only rewarded with a handful of dogfish, and we can’t help but feel the day was wasted a bit. We decide that tomorrow for the final full day we’ll go back to the area where I caught my 30lb fish 2 years ago.

This Loch has a reputation for smaller Skate and I suspect it acts as a nursery.

We busy ourselves making camp and once again spark up a fire, cooking steak, sausages and pork chops on a flat piece of slate – proper bushcraft style!

The fishing is a little slow but we do manage a handful of Thornback Ray’s each throughout the evening and into darkness, including a first ray for Jamie, although sadly no more skate.

And so ends another trip. I’m still in awe from the experience, and my arms still hurt 4 days later! But I can’t wait to get up there again.