Skate Fishing

[Davy Holt]

Norrie:

 

Hiya,

 

We are going back up in October,hopefully I'll get one this time.

 

P.S. Happy birthday to me.

you dont need to wait till October Norrie, just let me know what weekend is sutable for you and we'll sort something out.. look at it like a prize for starting the longest thread on the Sea forum.

 

oh and happy bithday

[Norrie]

Davy,You little beauty, I am on holiday the first 2 weeks in August, but I have to go to Yorkshire on the 5th for a couple of days. Let me know what you want to do and I will go for that.

 

Thanks for your best wishes.

PS just had Alan on the phone....

 

Norrie..

[Alan Taylor]

Davy Holt:

Nice one Davy.

 

Norrie, watch out for Davy, he makes his guests catch all the bait

 

Alan(nl)

[Guest Geoff Carlin]

Two points to bring up, you intrepid skate fishers.

1. Would it be worthwhile having different qualification levels for male and female fish? Say, the fish is a specimen at 100lbs if male and 140lbs if female. I discussed this with Ronnie Campbell while out on his boat and he thought there some scope and justification for this - we caught two males that day, one 109lbs, the other 85lbs. The 109lb fish gave a good account of itself, going crashdive from near the surface to 400ft down, after some 20 minutes of struggle - My God, I thought, I have to start this all over again (by that stage I knew my coronary arteries were patent and working and that my back was holding under severe pressure!) - another 20 minutes and the fish was safely landed, then measured and released.

2. This Welsh survey thing had me scratching my head, it appeared as a feature in this month's Sea Angler with a form to register catches of skate, with some goodies on offer as a come on; it was not made clear whether the data sought was for fish caught in Welsh waters only or for the whole of the British Isles, and being naturally suspicious, I could see no compelling reason to send them any information, particularly as we have the ongoing Kelvingrove based programme to report to. It would be a disaster if the few remaining pockets of common skate were located and annihilated by unscrupulous trawlermen. I would advise folks to steer clear of this survey until more information is available regarding its purpose and underlying agenda. (signed by Geoff the paranoic cod)

 

Norrie, I have just been e-mailed the EFSA results, I came 29th out of 41 entrants at the 2 day EFSA Pittenweem, England EFSA cuffed the Scottish A and B teams. I really struggled on the second day with an awkward boat draw - the position does not matter too much despite the obsession some have with getting the stern, but the supports of a high steel assembly of rigs and jibs made life awkward, it was like fishing from inside an elevator, every fish that I caught was laughing at me and my stance. Cod were mostly in the 2 to 4lbs range but were not particularly plentiful. Quite a few ling, to about 4lbs were caught, particularly on baited pirks, but these did not count in this cod only, single hook, catch, measure and return event. Tackle losses were heavy, about a dozen lovingly tied rigs and 40 to 50 leads.

Anyways I am definitely going up to the September Orkney event, accompanied by the FPO, so we will need to make loads and loads of lead.

Regards, Geoff.

[Alan Taylor]

Geoff the cod:

Two points to bring up, you intrepid skate fishers.

1. Would it be worthwhile having different qualification levels for male and female fish? .

Geoff,

I thought the same thing myself. From what I have read it seems that males only go to about 140lbs (correct me please if I am wrong), I caught a male of 121lbs and did he fight!!

Bearing in mind that the record is 220lbs and a female (again correct me if I am wrong), the heaviest ever seen was 400lbs, it really makes the mind boggle.

These fish have to be protected and by law.

 

Alan(nl)

[Norrie]

Alan Taylor:

Alan Taylor:

Nice one Davy.

 

Norrie, watch out for Davy, he makes his guests catch all the bait

 

Alan(nl)

As long as that's all he makes them do, its a long walk home.

[Norrie]

Hi Geoff, enjoyed your input, made a lot of sense as well.As usual I agree with what you say, particularly about the S.A. survey. As for the comp. results etc. who could you possibly be refering to re the stern position, I have'nt a clue. But as they say if you're not fast you're last... Also I spent ALL day making weights, and no drink involved.What a boring day.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Geoff the cod:

Two points to bring up, you intrepid skate fishers.

1. Would it be worthwhile having different qualification levels for male and female fish? Say, the fish is a specimen at 100lbs if male and 140lbs if female.

Yup I would agree with that, only I would maje the female weight 150lb

 

2. This Welsh survey thing had me scratching my head, it appeared as a feature in this month's Sea Angler with a form to register catches of skate, with some goodies on offer as a come on; it was not made clear whether the data sought was for fish caught in Welsh waters only or for the whole of the British Isles, and being naturally suspicious, I could see no compelling reason to send them any information, particularly as we have the ongoing Kelvingrove based programme to report to. It would be a disaster if the few remaining pockets of common skate were located and annihilated by unscrupulous trawlermen. I would advise folks to steer clear of this survey until more information is available regarding its purpose and underlying agenda. (signed by Geoff the paranoic cod)

 

Ok you got me on this one, tis the first I've heard of this as I dont buy any of the Mags. I agree with you on the steering clear of sending them the info until we can find out more anbout it and why they want the info. I must admit it seems strange that concidering I'm heavily involved in the Common Skate Biodiversity Action Plan and I dont know anything about this survey.

 

strange

[Alan Taylor]

quote:

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Originally posted by Norrie:

[QB][/QB]

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Norrie, take a look at Eltons topic "another milestone"

 

There is hope for the Sea Angling section after all.

 

Alan(nl)

[Fisho]

Hej

I have a question about leaders for skate-fishing.

 

What sense does it make to have a short leader (hook-link) and a long "wind-on-leader" compared to just one longer leader ??? - how can the leader influense the risk of hooking to deep?

(Yes - I've read the "Code of best practice")

 

/ Fisho

 

ps: ... still planning a trip, I will know later this week if there will be some Skate-fishing for me this year... I CAN HARDLY WAIT LONGER ...