Fishing with Davy and Spasor

[Norrie]

Hiya, Just got in from work, well done Davy and crew, another fine day,eh. Nearly a new record for the boat. I see someone has been using the wrong hooks for the Skate, Chrome plated eh!!!! :mad: .Spasor, I think we would do really well on our "secret" mark. Davy are you keeping the boat in for a while yet right enough ???? Theres a heck of a lot of yellow plastic pipe congesting up my back garden....

[Alan Taylor]

Grant:

You will have to excuse my ignorance on this, but is the main issue with this rig that the hook appears intact i.e. not rusted away?

Hi Grant, don't worry about thinking you are ignorant, a lot of people that fish for Common Skate just wind em in, the skipper usually sets the baits and selects the rig etc.

I had hoped that Davy would have answered this one though.

 

From what I can see (from my very limited experience), the hook is stainless, the barb has not been flattened down and I think there is a problem with the way that the weight carrier is rigged, it should not be in the picture, nor should all that line, just the hook and short trace.

 

The last time I fished with Davy I had one Skate over the weekend and I had a brilliant time and brilliant company, I also hope that we contributed to the tagging programe as after all thats why we go to Loch Alain

 

I must say that I was dead chuffed with the fishing reports from Davy, so many PB's, species, firsts, one heck of a month.

 

Next year I get my weekend, looking forward to it so much.

 

Tight lines

 

Alan(nl)

[Vagabond]

Alan Taylor:

I think there is a problem with the way that the weight carrier is rigged, it should not be in the picture, nor should all that line, just the hook and short trace.

Agreed, the weight carrier should NOT be there. A properly designed boom allows all the trace swivels to pass through it in the event of a break. Just one outsized bead keeps the boom from sliding onto the short hook-link. I make my booms from telephone conduit, and in the event of a break, weight and boom slide free.

 

Using the above rig Norma had a break-off earlier this year, but hooked the fish again half an hour later and got the hook and trace back. We were pleased to see the boom and weight had disappeared - so that system works.

 

Just one thing Alan - in the event of a break in the wrong place on the main line, "all that line" is going to be there, like it or not. What should NOT be there is the weight and boom, a barbed hook, or worse still a stainless barbed hook.

 

Anyone unfamiliar with skate fishing should take a look at Davy's "skate friendly" rigs - a picture of one was shown some months back.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Sorry for the late reply, I've been a bit busy

 

Grant, the problem with the trace is

 

A, it's a chrome plated barbed hook, showing very little corrosion.

B, the trace is poorly constructed, with the rubbing leader being far to short for Safe Skate fishing.

 

To be honest the trace looked like it had been built for Tope fishing and if it wasn’t for the fact that the main line was about 60lb bs you could probably have argued that the person using the trace hadn’t been targeting skate and had hooked the skate by accident.

 

The weight boom although still there had worked correctly.. the weight was gone, but then as we discovered when Paul snagged a weight when a skate took.. they are more than capable of snapping Mustad 4/0 easy links, let alone a bit of plastic. I’m pretty certain there had been more line attached to the fish as we had problems getting it more than 40 yrds off the bottom for a while then it seemed to come ok. It was as if the line had been snagged on something and it was only during the fight that the skate had managed to snap it.

 

[ 28. October 2003, 11:46 PM: Message edited by: Davy Holt ]

[KennyC]

Davy

 

Out of interest - do you manage to get the majority of barbless hooks out of the Skate or is there still a percentage that have to be cut with the hook left in to minimise the damage??

[Davy Holt]

Hiya Kenny

 

If you fish for them correctly with the recommended trace, 18” long trace with a 8’ up trace or a wind on leader, then every skate will be hooked correctly in the mouth, either in the corner of the mouth or round the jaw.

 

Since I changed to this method, around 7 years ago, I have never had a skate hooked in a position that I couldn’t lift the hook out with my hand. The main reason for making sure the fish are hooked in the mouth is that they suffer very badly when gut hooked and a high percentage of deep hooked skate will and do die after release from the internal injuries they have suffered. So as you can see it’s in the skates best interest to make sure you lip hook them, something which is very easy done.

 

[ 29. October 2003, 07:31 AM: Message edited by: Davy Holt ]

[Davy Holt]

Alan Taylor:

Only 8 you seem to be getting the hang of this fishing lark

 

Yup seem to be doing OK now... another 1 and that will be 50 skate this year

 

Shame about the lost one, it must have been rather big

 

It was me that had it on.. or I should say it was it that had me on it was a rather special fish... I've not contacted anything like that for quite a few years.

 

 

I hope the terminal tackle picture is passed around with a few choice words of advice :mad:

 

yup it will be

Any SEALS

 

nah.. the Great Whites have eaten them all now

---

[Norrie]

Hiya, Was driving over the Tay Bridge today, tide was out and a lot of sand bars showing, with lots of Seals resting on them, but, as usual, no camera.