general scottish sea angling

[maximo]

nice post stan,i enjoyed it anyways,us anglers need a kick up the a**e sometimes.

[Casey]

Stan, I was gonna give you the bifters but your second post gave you a reprieve

[jim doyle]

Interesting posts stan, we, as anglers do at times tend to take easy options, the fact that some folk have lesser ambitions is up to them. To offer a tirade as you did is usually counterproductive, as people get offended by the messenger and miss the message. I too have explored areas of Scotland for fishing, not in the main sea fishing but most other forms of fishing. You are right about the variety of fish around the country, I hadnt heard of the sword fish but have been privy to information on blue fins, several other big game fish that would raise some eyebrows, these types of fishing require a certain attitude which might mean not catching anything at all for trip after trip, this is not in most peoples nature, they like to catch something. If you were prepared toup a "hunt" for something different then I,m sure there would be many willing participants from on here.

[jim doyle]

sorry that should read "set up a hunt" jim

[SandTiger]

I had some great mackral tonight, hoping for a Lesser Spotted Catshark tomorrow

[Ian Burrett]

Hi Stan

 

I must admit if i had caught swordfish i would keep it quiet, so can we have a picture of you with the abundant Halibut or the annoying at times, Rays Bream

[sam-cox]

Stan,

When you ran a charter boat in the 80s was the name of the boat RED HERRING?

[stan4massey]

Ian,

 

I didn`t say abundant halibut, I said a few chicken butts (4 over 2 years) out of Scrabster and not photographed. The bream were taken around 1977 off St. Kilda by Jack Reece so I`ll see if he has some photos. May seem a long time ago but only yesterday as far as fish movements go in relatively un-fished waters.

 

Now then, I opened with a tirade, got sniped at,(correctly) I`ve apologised and dont intend to keep doing so. Lets throw a slightly different light on matters. A back and hip injury as well as having to look after her indoors who has had a couple of major ops recently means my fishing in the forseeable future is severely curtailed. Serious frustration. I have years and years of research and information on species and marks around Scotland , mainly west but a few East. Not all relates to heavyweights but a lot does.

 

I cannot see me taking advantage of any of this in the forseeable future so what do I do, bin it or pass it on? Many of the posters on this forum seem to have invested heavily in boats and equipment so if they can take advantage of the info I`m more than happy to pass it on. Jim Doyle posted above about a hunt, I`m not up to standing on a rolling boat or clambering over rocks but the info is available if anyone else wants to try. (really getting frustrated). There is still a great variety of excellent fishing around Scotland and I would dearly love to see it developed but can`t do much personally. The Solway, anyone fishing boats from there? You have skipjack tuna and bonito in August / Sept. Scilly Isles (not Scotland I know) anyone fishing there?

You have big eye, swords and the chance of yellowfin not too far offshore. There are at least three areas on the Mull of G. that could throw a porbeagle up from the shore if anyone was willing to spend a few days trying it. There`s also a small area (dont know why) about ten minutes out of Portpatrick where thresher show frequently in Sept. (10mins is daft as that depends on speed, lets say less than a mile).

 

I have no sinister or hidden agenda, the fishing should be developed and surely somebody is prepared to try it. I`ll pass on what I can, some of it may prove duff but some will pay off no matter how daft is seems at the time. Around 1990 (from memory) I pinpointed a tiny hump on the E. coast for porbeagle. A couple of mates and two pals from London came up and we chartered a local pot boat. The skipper and some locals reckoned us mad as no trace had ever been seen in the area. We fished the hump for two days, chummed it with god knows how much mackeral, bran etc and blanked. Left with an `I told you so' look from the skipper on the Sunday only to be phoned by him on the Monday to say a 400+lb porbeagle had been netted on that hump that morning. Right place based on the research just a day to early. Have to say while drifting that mark we had a rake of good pollack to about 12 - 14lb or should I say they had, I blanked on the pollack. Its that simple. The info is there if anyone feels like giving it a go as I no longer can (restricted to rainbow bashing and frustrated tirades)

Stan

[SandTiger]

I think what you say is right if that is what floats your boat but it is also worth remembering that a great many people use fishing as a recreational activity - A way of unwinding, so your current frustration is entirely understandable. But not everybody has the time or wish to nail the biggies or the more less found verities. However we certainly do not wish to berate them and drive them away from our sport because their horizons may differ.

 

Personally, last year a team of us spent thousands of pounds and many hours planning plus a weeks fishing in an attempt to nail a Common from the shore and yes we all had plenty of daft and unusual ideas to play with as we were aware that we would be exploring fairly much unknown territory - Over the entire period, we only hooked in to the one and it dropped the bait, but the wealth of information that we came away with has put us in a better position and understanding for our next attempt.

 

Then maybe we will start putting in the hours for a shore caught Porgie and we also have our marks in mind for that one

 

Now as a rod builder, maybe you may have some ideas on suitable shore rod designs for whacking out a whole mackerel bait and bringing up a Common?

 

All the best

[stan4massey]

sand tiger,

 

again, point taken. As for the shore rod for skate you might like to think along the lines of a quick release system on a balloon (or a kite, but no nothing about kiting fishing) rather than whacking a big bait out using the rod. Obviously depends a lot on tide / wind. If its like Locahaline or Achiltibuie where the deep water is close in should'nt need much whacking. Rod wise you could do worse than a Conoflex 10ft 50lb up-tider or similar with some up-rated guides.