The fantastic 4, common skate no.4 of 4

Hi all,
As most of you already know I had an epic session out near Malin head, Inishowen.
It began with the alarm going off way before stupid O'clock 4am to be precise.
So up and ready and out the road.
The forecast was not great for the early part of the day 12mph to 15mph later it was to be 6mph to 8mph.
But the swell was small so I was up for it.

Bait gathering.
I had a decent selection of frozen baits, including a 4lb coalie and a 2lb coalie for the skate.
The mackerel where very scarce and I just managed 2 on the way out. I wasn't to bothered though as I was really after skate.
Chum out, heavy rod down with a bait jaws couldn't resist lol.

So down that went soon followed by the light rods for some entertainment while I waited.

As usual the doggies where in flying form and nailed me every drop but then they went quiet, I am sure I was shaking with the excitement waiting for something to happen lol.

But not this time, soon they where back.

But so where the squid, my first of the year. I really get a kick out of squid fishing they are a laugh.

The fishing was good, I start hitting some fine red gurnard, scad and more squid.

As I sat there a big mark of fish drift across my fish finder so I reeled up to it quickly to try for macks or what ever it was. But as soon as began to reel I got a nice rattle on the rod likely a scad or mackerel, but a third of the way up something grabbed it and took off. A good run and as it started to come around it bit trough the line.

Ah not really a problem as I didn't want him hitting my skate line.

But he was no sooner gone and the skate rod got a take, the rod bobbed and the line started to run off the reel. I lifted the rod and began to put pressure on but the hook didn't make contact. I reeled up after a few minutes but the bait looked perfect.

I guessed a skate just swam into the line.

 

Down again.

The morning was cracking on but there was no sign of the breeze easing in fact it was getting stronger if anything. But skate bait was sent down again, I didn't get up that early for nothing.

More squid and scad and the old pain in the back side the doggies.

They where relentless, I even switched to squid and rag baits but they still found them just as quick.

As I fished away again the doggies vanished but as this was the third time it happened I let my guard down and sat there fishing away for small stuff.

 

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.

Ye the moment in jaws when Quint's ears prick up after a couple of clicks of the reel.

Well this was the same but more exciting lol.

Light stuff reeled in quicker than a mackerel could ever catch and the big rod was grabbed as the line was slowly peeling off the reel.

 

Shaking with adrenaline,

As above that first reel down to see if it is still there, is heart stopping stuff.

I reeled the rod tip under the water and heaved like I was trying to pull the plug out of the sea.

The rod doubled over as I reeled, and heaved. FISH ON and I had her moving.

She was coming handy enough for about 30ft of line and I assumed she was a small one.

But that changed about 2 seconds later as she turned and dived like a submarine and as much as I wanted I couldn't stop her.

She hit the bottom and run for a bit then stopped and half circled, Then solid and I mean solid.

I heaved and heaved my 50lb class rod was bent double for what seemed like a solid 20mins and no move at all.

 

Stuck solid,

Was she still there, it was totally solid on the bottom and not a foot of line could I gain.

So I eased up on the pressure to see would she run, No not an inch. So I actually let the line go slack for about 2 mins and pulled the line by hand to get a better idea of what was happening, and yes she was still there, I could feel the line dragging around a boulder.

So pressure back on and I let the anchor go to paddle around in a semi circle to free the line.

 

We're away again.

I let the anchor go and the tide ran me the way I wanted to go so that was handy and before I could start paddling the line came free and she was fighting hard.

One submarine away, f##k she could go.

Very very strong. About 45 mins in now and my fore arm was acking. Full pressure on now for the best part of 45mins is tough going lol.

But she was coming up, but when you have so much pressure on for so long doubts start to creep into your head.

Is it really a fish, where those runs just swell and tide.

But hey what appeared but my leader end, nearly as good to see as a fish lol.

Soon followed by a massive white shape and I mean massive.

Shit pic I know, but when your on your own you just point and click.

 

They think it's all over.

Me hole, lol.

One look at me and she turned in a heart beat and powered down half way, but I piled the pressure on and got her coming up again.

Up she came white side then the brown side, she looked like a living room carpet coming up lol.

After a few mental attempts to get a good pic of her. I let the cameras run and I lined her up to get as close a measurement as I could.

One side was at my rod holder  and the other side was at my forward hatch. So Skate released and I got the tape measure out and measured where she was and she measured in at 5ft 7' and according to Mike that's a minimum weight of 187lb. I'd well believe it lol.

The go pro pics make her look half the size but sure that's cameras for ye. I was more than happy, one of those fish that takes a day or 2 to take it all in. 

Heres a couple of screen grabs.

She looks like nothing in this pic.

 

The video will be up very soon.

So that was no.4 of the big 4. Tope, blue shark, porbeagle and Common skate.

 

For me its the fantastic 4. And will look forward to trying it again.

 

So that's me happy for a life time, but will always try for more.

Thanks a lot for reading, and no doubt I will see some of you in the near future.

 

Good luck and be safe out there.



A bash in the shelter.

Hi all,
With this brutal weather of late sure where else could you go but hide in the shelter somewhere for a few hours, and with a bit of luck snag a few decent fish.

Forecast 15mph gusting to 25mph.
Ye that was the forecast and not weather to be heading out. But the wind was coming off the land I would be very close in, also no more than 1/3 of a mile from Culdaff pier.
So no swell running up the slip it was a stations go.

Great to be out.
I headed out and it was great to be out, I seem to have done very little this year with the poor weather.
I have only been out 3 times out deep this year, normally I would be on at least my 15th trip.
Well on out I went and I noticed a mark of fish near the bottom.
So I dropped a set of silver euro champs on and thankfully I got 2 cracking sandeels.
Which was handy as I had my new live bait contraption with me, another project from the shed.

Unlike most other areas around the coast drifting doesn't really work here, for a couple of reasons.
1. the patch of ground is very small so your off the ground in no time.
2. It catches the wind and the tide sweep you over the ground even with a drogue.

So anchors away.
It was a day for experimenting, The livey tube was sitting along side keeping the eels alive and I had some new 12g lead heads with 1/0 hooks baited to try out on the sand as using them on the light bass rod there great craic.
This is how I bait them. Stick the hook in and out the length of the hook down the bait.

 Then simply elastic thread it to the base of the lead head. Making a great bait with lots of fast action.

So the baited lead head was lobbed out across the tide and allowed to do its stuff in the tide as the chop jigs it as it pulls around in the tide.
The 2 main rods where put down, one with a standard 3 down rig bait with razor, mackerel and big juicy rag [can't fail lol]
The other a 2 down rig with 2 lumps of mackerel under the camera  hoping for ray.
Now with 3 top notch flattie baits down you'd expect it to be devoured first. But oh no in true dab form a whopper dab nailed my ray bait and on camera. I was amazed he took a big lump of mackerel before fresh rag and razorfish.

A whopper of  a dab, I was delighted.
It was a day of odd happenings as a short while after the light rod with the jig head got a rattle and again a cracking dab.

So those good dabs where great to see but there was no sign of any plaice or ray. But thankfully 1 of them turned up. Also on camera, I think the rays are one of the best fish to watch taking a bait. they just pounce on it when they find it, shuffle around until there mouth finds it and then scoff it.
This is one of 2 I had.

So by now I was having a ball and apart from the ravenous doggies making life hard to find more flats, even with all worm and razorfish baits they where still on them in a flash. The light rod with the jig head got a good rattle and a nice scrap resulted in a tub gurnard.

There was more to come a double shot came to the surface with a doggie on top and a nice brown diamond shape directly behind him,
Oh yes a turbot another I had hoped to see but they are scarce around here. Unless your beach casting.

By now the tide was getting up and the doggies kept coming and a mass of brown crab had descended on my gear. I was catching so many I kept a bunch on the kayak to see if they where the same one. But no there where heaps of them. They where so bad at a tme one even came up holding on to my lead.

So between doggies and brown crab it was time for home.
Home I went quiet happy with my inshore sheltered session.
Lets hope the weather settles soon and we all get out to where we want to fish.

So tight lines and thanks for reading.

Trying new out old new ground.

Hi all,
As with every trip this summer, well meant to be summer. A break appeared in the weather so I had a plan waiting for the wright day.
Today was ideal as I would be launching mid ebb tide so it was no good for flats or ray or Pollock.
So I decided to try a mark close to Culdaff in case the weather is poor for the final leg of the Irish kayak angling competition.
I wanted to try this spot as many years ago while boat angling we use to hit good tope 3 miles off shore, but the ground seems the same the whole way in on the charts,
So an inshore session had to be tried.

Ready for any thing.
Well no change there really lol,
But I had it all with me, a light rod for some messing about, a tope rod, and 2 for all things on the bottom.
So 2 rods on the bottom just to see what was there.
I was not in a panic to try for a tope as I wanted to see what was about.
In no time I hooked and lost 2 reasonable fish, they felt like cod heavy enough and fought well but the small hooks didn't hold them.
The fish started coming in well from then on, I was getting whiting, doggie, mackerel, lots of good dabs and red gurnard, my first of the year.

 



I was enjoying the craic with the species and trying for the tope had faded it wasn't slack tide yet.
So if you remember I said I had the light rod sitting out while I fished the 2 bait rods.
Well the light rod had a white soft lure that John H gave me last summer to try, so since it was white and had a great action I put it on a 1oz jig head and sent it to the bottom to let the tide and chop work the lure while I fished.

BOB, BOB and away.
Fishing away here catching all sorts of small stuff when the light rod with the jig head got a nice rattle followed by a fierce bit of battering on the rod tip. So a whiting or a small codling was swinging on it.
Great to see it work while un-attended.
But I was reeling in another fish so I let it sit while I reeled the other in.
As I reeled, what happened but the light rod took 2 long lunges.
Bo##ox, I knew what that was straight away but in the half a second it took to register in my head the rod shot off the centre hatch and over the side.
FOOOOOOK IT,
But it was on a length of cord so I grabbed the cord and pulled the rod up to see the line flying off the reel, I had a great almost unstoppable run and the black rock bass rod held him well.
But I was running out of line and my 150yards of 20lb braid was coming to an end.
Pressure on big time now and he sort of stopped gave a head shake and bit trough my mono tippet.
Dam it he was gone, but that was fun and that meant there definitely were tope on that spot.

Rod change.
So a rod change was in order, tope gear down and I fished with a small bait rod while I waited.
Now I have been seeing small dragonets on my camera for a good while and I even seen one fall of my hook while after wrasse the other week so I had to put a tiny hook down for them.
So with a bit of luck and nothing managed to eat it on the way up I had my first dragonet on a kayak.

I was delighted to see the little tiddler and another species for the hunt this year. But this spot had another surprise for me in the form of an octopus. I have lots on the boat but this is my first from the kayak.

He wasn't impressed and turned from pissed of red to fook off white as I tried to unhook him lol.

 

Ah it was a great evening and that 15mph to 18hph never showed and you couldn't be in a better place.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ye you forgot about the tope rod didn't ye lol.

Well I didn't and after numerous barsteward fish [doggies] the tope rod was away.

Oh yes, the old whirl of the reel gets me every time.

So hook set and a great scrap was even better as the tope used the tide to his advantage as it had picked up a good bit now.

So tope to the side of the kayak and it was a respectable 30lber and scrappy as ever as I hauled it in for a few pics.

 

 A cracking evenings craic, tope in a few new species and a classic sun set to paddle home with can't be bad,

 

So until the next meet or the competition tight lines lads and be safe out there.

 

 



Porbeagle shark from my kayak, well worth the wait.

Hi all,
I am back again with more shark mayhem.
It was a day of huge disappointment and delight all rolled into one.

Start from scratch.
Well after last year being a terrible year for porbeagle and even the boat men working very hard to get a few sharks, I was hoping this year would be different.
So this year I intended to hit the mark where I saw a porbeagle or mako jumping mad after mackerel a couple of years ago.
So my son Craig and I hit the mackerel the day before to make a big batch of chum.
I cut the mackerel from the back of the head to the base of the gut and use that for chum and keep the rest for bait or eating so no mackerel where wasted.

The launch.
I launched from a shore mark near Malin head and made my way out. All the way trolling my float and coalie to see would that get any interest.
As I went I was jigging for some fresh mackerel and I had no problem finding them, along with some nice bait sized coalies and Pollock to 4lb.

Big Surprise coming.
Jigging for bait and trolling as I went, but the coalie trolled behind the float soon twisted up quiet badly. So I reeled in and sent it back out again un-baited to let the twists unwind from the line.
So a slow paddle and jigging for bait and a reasonable take on the feathers. I guessed a coalie of a couple of pound.
Nothing to exciting in that. Reeling away and the short rubbing leader appeared at the side of the kayak and with that a serious lung in the rod seen a huge swirl come to the top of the water and the line literally fly off the reel.
As it tore off I thought it was a dolphin as the big swirls where coming to the top as it went. It was ripping line off the reel and it rose quickly as it went and it was no dolphin it was a porbeagle shark.

Up it came.
It came to the surface with the magical black fin cutting the surface with the tail swaying effortlessly as it went, I couldn't believe it was still on the line. But as it cruised across the surface the shrimp rigs pulled free and away the shark went.

The frantic call.
I was on to a friend of mine Alastair Wilson ( Shark pro) to see what he thought.
I hoped they where like tope and would come back so I had to ask the shark pro what he thought.
He reckoned I had a good chance of him returning so I dropped the anchor and got the chum going. A nice big live mackerel was sent out and the wait was on.
I sat there for 2hrs and the tide was dead where I was and the chum was not going out well at all, so I upped anchor and headed off shore to find some better flow in the tide.

Doggie central.
Shark gear out, chum flowing all over the place so hopes where still high.
I was thinking that may well have been my only chance of the year of hitting a porgie so there was I hoping that wouldn't be the case.
So the shark lines out and a bait rod out for a bit of fun while the wait was on, but the place was heaving with doggies and I mean heaving. Every drop doggie, doggie, doggie.
I gave up on the bottom and just jigged for mackerel.

Chum buckets, one drilled and one not to stop it spilling in the car.

 

The went by in the blink of an eye and my 10L of chum was well washed out.
So I buoyed off the chum bucket and went in search of more stuff to use for chum.

Chum Refill
Enough bait fish caught and I headed back out to the bucket, all the way praying hard to see a big fin circling it. No such luck.
I tied on again, lines out and started the process again.

Double flapper on.

The business end from Alain Storey Specialist rigs. 

 The dribbles from the earlier batch was still in the other bucket. I mixed it all together and refilled the bucket ready to deploy.
Chum in and what a sight a huge cloudy plume filled the water.

Wobble wobble.
No sooner had the plume washed out in front of me and the balloon on the heavy rod start wobbling and heading off to the right. I reeled the light rod up and just had the feathers sitting there until I hooked it.
But the wobble stopped and the live bait rod started going but it also stopped. I reeled it in quickly and started to see if he was still at the ballloned bait. I started reeling but the line wasn't coming from where the balloon was it was heading up behind me and circling behind me.

What the hell.
No real pressure on but there was something there.
I kept reeling and my leader appeared from under my kayak. Up the leader came and I was thinking it was a small spurdog or something.
Then the swivel appeared from under the kayak which was at the end of the 1.5m wire trace.
Dam it I thought and reached into the water and grabbed the swivel.

BANG, SMASH, Wallop
No sooner had I touched the leader the above happened in that order. What was on my line took off whack my kayak with his tail, smashed my prized Hiro rod in half and walloped everything as it went.
Now the bugger was still around my anchor line and now had half my favourite rod attached to it as it poured line off the reel.
There was no mistaking it now it had to be a porgie.
On the video below you can see me heaving away trying to get it to come up and I was as surprised as you probably where when it came up. I was expecting a bigger shark but she was big enough as I was on my own and I had to get the classic trophy pic.

But I had to get her on first.
I got her along side about 5 times and she was very hard to hold onto.
Eventually I got a grip of her and dragged her on for unhooking and a few photo's.
She definitely was the most difficult shark to handle. There very ridged body meant you have to haul the whole weight of the shark on. Not like a tope or a blue that just slides onto the kayak.

Up she came onto my lap and she lived up to her reputation in biting everything that touched her mouth. She bit my paddle, chum bucket rope and my foot rest guides. Scary and cool all at the same time lol.

So that was that another fantastic and eventful day afloat. I was delighted with my Porbeagle shark she was around 50lb and an ideal size for the kayak.
The after math, anchor line, braid from the bait rod and an unfortunate mackerel.

That was my shark trio in just 2 weeks My son Craig's first kayak tope, then my own Blue shark and porbeagle so extra happy with all that.

Tralee what a place.

Hi all,
Just a quick report from my trip to Tralee,
I fished with James Leehey on one of his local marks looking to see could I bag a couple of ray that I never had before and what ever else was about.

Well the day before and night before there was torrential rain and I had my concerns about how it may effect the fishing. Yes that is my excuse for  catching bugger all lol.
We got out into a bay missing the high water slack but we fished on trough the ebb tide with not a lot to show for it.
But after a while James managed to pull an undulate ray out soon followed by another.
My ray rods lay quiet but I managed a good few species while I waited. Most of them where a first for this year. I had tub gurnard, grey gurnard, sandeel, garfish, and dab.
But thankfully before to long I managed a very nicely marked undulate ray, a species I had never caught before so I was very happy with that.

So no sign of any stingers that day, but it was very enjoyable and good to catch up with James.

It will just be a good excuse to go down there again.

 

 

Blue shark mayhem from our kayaks, with Sea Angling Charters.ie

Hi all,
Yes we done it again. After a small amount of organising on our part we got the word that Tuesday would be our best chance to hit the water for some blue sharks with our kayaks.
I was on holidays in Kerry then so I didn't have far to travel, but Brian and Mike where coming all the way from Belfast,
Thankfully for us Tom Collins, one of Irelands top charter skippers had ruby duby already organised.
So all we had to do was turn up and catch some bait.

Tuesday 3am.
As we where to meet at Reen pier at 6am I had planned to get up at 3am.
So up and out the door in loads of time for the long run down.
I arrived to meet the lads camped out in the village and we where all like a bunch of kids at Christmas raring to get out there.
On we went to Reen pier and we where met by a lively otter having a good feed on the small fish near the pier.
Soon after Tom arrived with his beast of a boat the Loch Iasc. You will see her in the video below, she is a great boat for angling.

Mackerel time.
In no time we had the kayaks loaded and it was easy enough to load, no big deal, then out we went for some fresh mackerel. They where not plenty full but we got enough and where treated to some Minki whales, porpoises, reseise dolphins hammering sandeels as we fished.

So enough bait was got and out we steamed some 18 miles off shore in search of some blue shark.
It's a long way out but by the time we finished chatting and rigging the kayaks we where there.
I was busting to get a float so I was in the drysuit and ready to launch before we stopped so as soon as we stopped I was away.
Mike was a little apprehensive about hopping on a kayak in shark infested waters, but the angler in him got the better of him and he was on the water 5 mins later.

The wait.
The chum was out, our lines where down and the wait was on.
The chum slick filled the water all around us and for a good distance out as we drifted but all was quiet for at least an hour. Then Brian's float started to go like a pike take, up the float came lay flat then bobbled about just before it took off across the water.
Brian struck hard and set the hook and away he went being tow across the water, the sleigh ride was on.

He had a great fight and up she came, but she was not ready yet and as Brian had the trace in his hand he went to grab the shark, it kicked hard and took off wrapping his line around the rings and breaking his line. No trophy photo but a caught shark none the less.

With hopes on and all hands on red alert for the next hit we had another wait of about an hour before the next shark came. This shark took Mikes quiet gently and messed with it, but after it began to take off Mike struck and tried to set the hook. But it pulled free after less than a second.
Not convinced it was off we where encouraging him to reel like mad in case it was running to him.
But no, it was off as Mike could see his bait coming just under the surface and about 10ft in front of his kayak the shark charged at his kayak snapping at his bait.
Mike let it sit and the shark bashed under his kayak trying to get his bait all the while Mike was squealing "HE HAS MY BAIT IN HIS MOUTH".
I was about 20 yards from him and I could hear the shark bashing under his kayak, snatching at the bait.
With that the shark stopped and Mike shouted where was it.
I could still see its tail up the other side of the kayak, and what could I say but, IT'S BEHIND YOU.
It was hilarious. About the longest 2 second ever the shark took off pouring line from Mike's reel.

That shark could fight hard and towed him all over the place. The shark fought hard for a good 25mins until the beast was subdued.
As promised I took the sharp end of the shark and we hauled Mike's fine shark across the 2 kayaks for a classic trophy pic that you don't expect to come from Irish waters. A fine shark of at least 80lb.

Well done that man, a superb catch.

Back she went after a quick picture, and one unbelievable moment in Mike's angling history.

Again we lined up like the starting grid of an F1 track.

Waiting for something to happen.

About 30mins later a splash on the surface and every gull taking off like a shot was the work of a lively blue. It dived quickly and grabbed Brian's bait. A good scrap ensued and Brian snagged this small blue. Small but great to see another in.

Quick pics, and back again the day was getting on and I was wondering if I would get a chance at all.

But with that again a shark splashed on top, not very big but She was heading my way.

I pulled my line quickly to rise my bait up and as I did it launched itself at my float.

I couldn't believe it.

I pulled the line again and brought the bait closer and she nailed the bait then.

Hook set, I was finally into a shark no beast but a great fighter. I was into my own sleigh ride.

All going well and 5 mins in the shark was starting to come up and BUMP, Slack line the shark was gone.

Just as well the lads where close or I may have cried lol.

I was starting to give up hope as another shark appeared. Again I pulled the line and she hit the float, but also found the bait. The hook was set and a brilliant fight seen me being towed away from the boat at a good rate..

And as I went , what happened a bigger shark zoomed in at my shark. I thought it was going to attack my shark but it ended up more interested in my float and my waterwolf camera. She nearly ate it along with a small teaser bait that was tied to it.

I shouted to the lads but they where in a double hook up which turned out to be the same shark. Mikes line broke and Brian landed it.

The lads where hooked up and trying to clear the spare line so I was on my won for this fish.

No biggie as it was around 40lb and not to bad to handle. She is on the video below.

The sharks where hoting up and after my shark was unhooked I headed back for the chum trail, trolling a mackerel to see if the bigger shark would turn up.

But I didn't see her if she was there.

 

Back in the slick

We where all set for the last of our chance of another shark. Mike had a fine fish under his belt and I had 1 small one and Mike had 3 , two small ones and another in the 50lb plus bracket.

So the pressure was on and I was chopping my old baits up and throwing them in when my float started to off across the water.

A light hearted take and the float wobbled across the top.

I struck again and it seemed a small shark a short run and started to come.

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ,

She was no tiddler, she took one glimpse at the kayak and took off like a steam train.

She fought very hard and at times I wondered if I would see the shark at all.

But eventually up she came and stopped about 15ft below me towing me along, Brian held my kayak for some extra drag but it made no difference to her.

So a few nerve racking moments and some serious heaving, up she came.

I was delighted. a nice shark of about 80lb.

As always she fought hard at the side of the kayak and tested us.

Mike came along side to get a nice double trophy pic that.

So from the start of the day Mike was apprehensive about the sharp end and by the end of the day I had him holding the toothy end of the shark.

 So with that we finished the day one bunch of  happy kayak anglers.

 

Gear

A lot of lads ask what we are using, so here is what I had.

Rod was a Sonik SK5 20to30lb class.

Reel was a shimano tld15.

Line 50lb braid to a 400lb mono leader from Alain Storey.

Then 1.5M of 400lb wire to a 10/0 O'shaugassey hook.

Dry suit Typhoon ps220

Kayak Prowler Trident13

 

A big thanks to Tom Collins of Sea Angling Charters who took us out and no doubt we will be back out with him soon.

Video below I hope you's enjoy it.