A "tangle" of a day

[sailrepair]

I took the Frib over to the west coast, a good days fishing but all a bit of a tangle.

I had frozen mackerel but thought I would try for some fresh mackerel and the fish finder gave a few beeps off the end or a point. Down went the sabiki rig only to be clobbered by 5 big mackerel which proceeded to tie themselves and the rig into one hell of a mess. So I carried on out and dropped anchor in 92m of water.

A pod of porpoise went right past the boat so I had a good feeling. I set up with 2 heavy skate rods off the back and a lighter dogfish rod to give me something to do while waiting for a skate. There was a small knock on a skate rod but then the 20lb class doggie rod bent over and the reel started screaming. Yep a skate had picked up a sliver of mackerel in preference to a whole mackerel flapper. I bent the rod into a semi circle but the fish didn't even know it was hooked. After 5 minutes the leader broke. with a short 3ft trace the mail nine would have been touching the rough wind tips.

Half and hour later a good knock on a skate rod and I was hooked up to a reasonable feeling fish. 20 minutes later and I had a good amount of line back on the reel just to watch it all disappear against a tight drag. Eventually I got the big girl up, I'e estimate about 150lbs and slipped the hook out to watch her go back.

A few dogfish later and the same skate rod goes again resulting in a 120lb skate. then the lighter skate rod goes with a small male skate of just about 25lb.

A bit of a break with just a few more dogfish then I'm into another skate. There isn't a lot of tide so the fish towed the boat through 360' and then back again. The fish as again around the 120lb mark. As I released it I could see it was near the lines from my other two rods and it managed to get its tail wrapped round the other lines. down it went, I grabbed the light rod but couldn't stop the fish and I could feel the braid rubbing on the fish and I didn't want the line to cut the fish so I put that reel in freespool and picked up the 50lb class rod which was also tangled upon the fish. But this time the fish is back on the bottom 95m bellow so it took another half hour to pump the fish up backwards and then carefully with gloved hands untangle its tail and release it. The tail on the fish was about 2 1/2 ft long, as thick as my wrist and covered in hard thorns.

The weather was hot sunny and calm so all in all a great if somewhat chaotic day.

[pabs]

Sounds like a good day out mate.
Very envious. I'm going to try for a days bream fishing down near Poole if I get the chance over the next few weeks. Hopefully a few photos to follow.
Pabs

[Stray]

Well done, I've always fancied a bash at a Skate, how long does the season last, as I'll be over the west coast at some point this year.

[sailrepair]

The Skate are there all year, its just that the weather windows get smaller and the days shorter.

A lot of marks are exposed to the South and SW but there are other places such as Loch Sunnart which are fairly protected.

Because of the depth you are anchored in if the wind pushes the boat around much just think how wide a arc you swing through with 150 or 200 meters of anchor line out so the baits end up being dragged about a lot which normally leads to a poor days fishing. You can still get lucky.

A lot of places the bottom is silt and if its windy it is hard to stop any anchor dragging.

[Martin]

I'm still getting my head around boating lol, I enjoy reading the fishing threads but most of its double Dutch to me

Didn't someone say a while ago they were going to a thread on "fishing for beginners"
I could certainly do with some pointers

[Paul]

Thanks for posting this sailrepair ......I can't imagine for a moment what it's like to haul something of that size and weight on the end of a rod and line

[sailrepair]

It is one of the few times in the UK that all your tackle gets properly tested. You definitely need a but pad and it makes a big difference using a short "stand up" style boat rod as you can apply a lot more pressure than with a standard boat rod. While a most reels can catch a skate a lot will start to fall apart after a few fish. 2 speed reels again help put the pressure on the fish. With the right tackle you can get a fish up in about 40 minutes as opposed to 1hr+.

john

[Paul]

Sounds bloody awesome John .......I'd love to have a go at catching and hauling one in .....an addition to my bucket list for sure