Mull of Galloway - two record pollack

[Snatcher]

Snatcher reporting in from Mariners Cafe,Drummore. Decided to have a session off the Mull yesterday afternoon. For bait I had lugworm I had dug on Drummore beach that morning and also some limpets I had knocked off the rocks in front of the Clash. I drove along towards the end of the Mull and climbed down to my chosen mark and got there an hour before hw.

 

I had wrasse as my target fish for the day so rigged up a sliding float with a lugworm/limpet cocktail on. It was deep water right in front of me so I dropped the float in close and settled back for the wait. The heavens decided to open at that point but I was not too bothered as I had all the right gear on.

 

 

For that first hour fishing up to hw I had a few tentative dips on the float but never managed to connect with anything. At this point I rigged up my second spinning rod with a silver lure and chanced my arm,hoping to pick up a mackerel or two. After spinning for about an hour,going through all the lures in my bag I eventually had a thumping take. It gave quite a momentous struggle and eventually I managed to bring in this beauty. It certainly was a new personal record for me. A quick photo and back it went to fight another day

 

 

After about another 10 minutes of spinning my lure was savagely snapped up by another pollack. It fought just as hard as the first one but eventually I managed to get it to the shore. It was the same size as the first one,two personal records on the same day cannot be bad.

 

 

Just before I packed in I managed to catch another pollack. This was not the same stamp as my first two record breakers as it was about an inch longer. Oh well I suppose a hat-trick of beauties was too much to hope for.

 

 

The day nearly finished on a wet note as I slipped when retrieving a snapped off float. God those black rocks really are treacherous when wet. As I was packing the gear into the car Ian Burretts charter boat came in so I had a bit craic with the anglers. They said that the mackerel had been patchy but they had taken pollack to about 7lb - nice one.

 

Well it had been a most enjoyable session,cannot wait for the next one. As I was leaving the Mull the farmer had stopped all traffic just before the West Tarbet cattle grid as he was transferring a flock of sheep onto the end of the Mull. Whilst waiting for the sheep to clear I had a bit craic with the farmer and was asking him about the voltage that went through his electric cattle fences. He thought that it was 5600 volts,now that does seem a bit excessive but having had a few belts off them over the years whilst clambering to fishing marks so it may well be possible. Can any farm workers out there add anything to this?

 

As a bit of an aside was anyone else in the Luce Bay area yesterday morning ? Between about 09.30 and 10.00 our caravan shuddered to the sound of three large "booms" My guess was sonic booms caused by aircraft or could it have been live bombing practice around the MOD West Freugh facility? Anyone know for certain what it was.

 

John

[Deepseacodmaster]

Hi John

 

Thanks for the report and photos

 

Looks like you had a good time

[Snatcher]

Hope you have recovered from your Wembley blues mate

 

John