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!