Get your Skate’s on again!

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!