The Annual Skate Hunt, 2008.

The Luck of the Irish

Never has that saying been more true, but more of that later...

I was pleased to have been joined by my son Matty who having done his skipper exams and training through the winter took his first ever charter out on a day when the ferries were tied up because it was too rough. Talk about throwing someone in at the deep end. It’s not the easiest place to fine tune boat and anchoring skills at the best of times but in force 6-8 winds it was a nightmare for him; but as the footballers say, “The boy done well”

He led me astray in the evenings though, insisting I go out and drink many pints of Guinness, even though I would have preferred a night in by the fire.

The strong Northerley gales continued for the first three weeks of the trip with just the odd day when the wind was below a force 6. Unfortunately the marks we fish in Northerlies just didn’t produce the numbers of expected fish so figures were well down on previous trips with a fair few blank days. We managed to get down the Firth of Lorne just once in the first week and Jan and Kees both had PB’s with fish of 177 and 193 with Matty.

The Coatbridge boys had mixed fishing with two days down the Firth of Lorne which produced great fish for 15 year old Steven Murphy with a fish of 190 and a cracking 198 for his pal ???? Not a bad fish to pop your cherry on. It took an hour and ten minutes to get off the bottom and nearly two hours in total to the boat. Gordon Stewart equalled his PB for the third time with another fish of 188

As usual Trevor Armitage had problems for this trip and missed the first two days due to a serious operation on his hand after falling during jogging. ( Sorry Trevor - Running ) Sad thing is, he missed son John, pulling in the biggest fish of the trip with a 219. Trevor, who allegedly was just along for the ride, helped himself to a skate a few days later winding with just thumb and two fingers. Not sure whether it was bravery or foolery but well done anyway!

Cedric’s party from Hexham and Grizz’s party from Cumbria brought some horrible weather with them and saw just the one fish of 198 for Malcolm Tweddle. You may remember Malcolm has caught our biggest ever tope and Pollack.
(I am beginning to suspect he has those shiny orbs...!)

Matty went home on Monday the 7th April and the weather changed dramatically. I got to the Firth of Lorne five days in a row which produced more fish in the five days than I had had in the previous 16 days fishing and showed how important the need for decent weather was this year. Lone angler Dave Wright who to be fair had never seen the best of the fishing and had struggled in the past two years with just the odd fish blanked on the Monday. We made
the magic mark on the Tuesday and Dave was rewarded with three fish literally one after another. I had just got Dave’s sex aids sorted out on the first fish, when another rod went off. Dave asked, “what was that” and I replied, “just the boat swinging”. Forty minutes later we retuned a 179 and I passed the second rod to Dave…… “Better
do something with that” I told him as I passed him the second fish. As he got this estimated 180 half way up the third rod went off so the procedure was repeated and the third fish another estimated 180 duly came to the boat. Dave had been strapped in for a solid two hours and thought he was knackered but the worst was yet to come.

The following day we again ventured down to the Firth of Lorne and Dave had a 185, quickly followed by a PB of 202 and then had the dubious pleasure of fighting a 191 that totalled bollaxed him. The fish ended up 100 yards behind the boat but rather than skating over the surface it proceeded to use the strong surface tide to swirl round and
round like a kite with out a tail string. I have never seen so much effort put into bringing in a fish and I congratulate Dave on his “bottle” Unfortunately, he was that knackered he never made the pub that night.

And then came the Irish skate virgins.

I must admit the banter during my last three days was only beaten by the standard of the fishing. Luke Turkington, Dad and friend John returned twelve fish to 203 and dropped quite a few more. I will get killed for writing this, but the Irish have invented a new sport. You will have heard of the “naked chef” and the “naked civil servant” but how about the “naked angler”. It seems they have a naked species list but wimped out on the skate. I suspect they thought the freezing Northerly wind would have made things shrivel up and wouldn’t look very impressive on a photo.
Better luck on the tope boys????????

All in all, it was an enjoyable trip with some great nights at the local club and as usual a few good nights in the digs listening to Keith and Bim jamming on the guitars. It was great to have my son Matty up with me and I look forward to working with him over the coming years. I guess you could call it a “proud dad thing”. After the difficult
weather conditions, he is now an old seasoned pro and is keen to get back to Loch Aline next year.

To conclude it was great to see many of our regulars and if you didn’t get the luck with the weather and fish this year then better luck next year.