Latest Fishing Reports: Scotland
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18/09/2021
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
18 Sep 2021 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Well it’s been a hectic time with cod few & hard to find a few pollock starting to show & some nice winter cod seem to be on the ground best baits mackerel or stinky squid, worm been hopeless
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09/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Sep 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
Now our 10 day charters are over we have been fishing from our home port of Pwllheli on stranded day charters.
The inshore fishing for Bass, Bream and Tope has been very patchy and no two days have been the same.
The offshore wrecking has been outstanding every trip we are catching lots of Pollack to 11lb 8oz and odd Cod to 5lb, as soon as the lads have filled there cool boxes with fillets we have stopped fishing and headed in early.
While we have been off shore we have been spooled by a Tuna on 20lb class tackle as it took the wrecking lure on the way up, we chased it for 1/2 a mile before we got spooled, the reel was so hot you could of cooked an egg on it.
The next day we hand two Porgies at the boat while wrecking one was 60lb and another was 150lb we hand fed the 150lb porgie but it shook the hook off after about 5 mins, in comparison to the Tuna it fought like a dog fish.
Then the following day we where fishing inshore and we seen out first North Wales Thresher Shark jump six times, it was about 250lb and we had no bait to hand, so we caught some mackerel and headed over to where it was jumping but never got a touch for over two hours.
In the coming months if you have charters booked with us for Tope, Bass or Wrecking but would like to change to have ago for a Shark or two we will be more than happy to get the big guns out ����
Here is a full list of available dates from Pwllheli onboard Size Matters.
OCTOBER
Thursday 7th Tope fishing £85 pp 1 place available 7am.
Wednesday 8th Tope fishing £85 pp 4 places available 7am sailing.
NOVEMBER
Wednesday 3rd Bass fishing £100 pp 6 places available 7am sailing.
Thursday 4th Bass fishing £100 pp 8 places available 7am sailing.
Sunday 7th Bass fishing £100 pp 4 places available 7am sailing.
Monday 8th Bass fishing £100 pp 8 places available 7am sailing.
Tuesday 9th Bass fishing £100 pp 6 places available 7am sailing.
Tuesday 16th Wrecking £105 pp 3 places available 7am sailing.
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Gerrysofmorcambe
#Grundens
#mckiesfishingcharters
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09/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Sep 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
Our fourth and final 10 day live aboard charter has come to an end, after our previous 10 day live aboard charter was cut short for a combination of poor weather forecast, algae bloom and myself getting a nip from a shark, we needed to pull it out the bag on this trip!
The team we had for this trip was Team Cockney consisting of Sam, Lee, Gary and Mr ? who can not be named or be seen on social media due to his high profile job of being Prince Andrews body guard.
The day before we started the trip me and Sam went out for fresh bait, we got very lucky indeed and landed 250 to 300 mackerel and about a dozen Grater Weavers the best eating fish in the sea.
The next morning at 4am the rest of the lads turned up, we had an amazing forecast for the first six day’s, I explained to the lads we can go anywhere they want.
I was personally hoping to go the shelf off the west coast of Ireland but the lads had Six Gill Sharks at the top of there list so we decided to steam straight to Jurassic Park from Pwllheli, that’s a very long way indeed.
When we arrived at Jurassic Park there was dolphins everywhere, after the first hour Lee caught the first fish a Blue Skate of 22lb from then on it was steady fishing for the next 17 hours before the lads where beaten up and decided to call it a day.
The lads managed 12 Six Gill Sharks the biggest one measured 548lb a new unofficial British record beating our previous biggest Six Gill Shark by 36lb, Lee was the lucky angler and he also caught two Blue Skate to 28lb that he could claim as another unofficial British record!!
Sam caught Six Gill Sharks to 445lb,
Gary caught Six Gill Sharks to 294lb,
Mr ? caught Six Gill Sharks to 178lb,
The lads also caught Ling, Haddock, Whiting, Scad, Poor Cod and Dogfish.
It was now time to steam through the night to Newlyn to refuel, get an update on the weather forecast and get a well earned hot shower.
The next morning the forecast for the rest of the trip was looking good to head to Ireland or Milford Haven, the lads decided to try the Celtic Deeps before heading into Milford Haven.
As soon as we got to the Celtic Deeps the lads where catching small Blues to 60lb and just the one small Porgie, the lads pull the hook on a big porgie as it wrapped the trace up and to add salt to there wounds pull the hook on a Tuna at first light.
As we drifted into algae patches the fishing went quite but as we drifted out of them that’s where the sharks where waiting.
The next morning we where greeted by a Basking Shark swimming along side the boat buy the time we got the camera ready and steamed up to it we just managed to get a short video before it slipped away back into the depths.
We decided to check out a few wrecks for extra bait if we ever needed it while Sharking, the wrecks where full of Pollack to 10lb and the odd small Ling.
Surprisingly we came a cross a few wrecks being netted over 50 miles from Milford Haven, It’s been a few years since we have come across wrecks being netted and that was in Plymouth.
It was now time to head to Milford Haven for a well earned rest on land for a day to recharge the batteries and wet our whistles.
On our day off we done what any anglers would do and fished in the harbour for Mullet catching about a dozen to 3lb.
The next morning we headed back out Sharking in the deeps for the last leg of our trip, the plan was to try all different methods of sharking to see if we could try our best to stay away from all the small Blue Sharks that can become a pain when trying to target the bigger Sharks.
As in most cases things didn’t quite go to plan the lads caught over 50 Blues to 108lb and just one small Porgie, at one point we just used one rod because the bait was only in the water for a few minutes before it was taken.
Around 2am the weather picked up and it was 2 to 3 meter waves, the fishing went dead for about an hour then all hell broke lose, Sam hooked a Tuna after an hour he had it to the boat we roughly measured it at around 93 inch (530lb) before reviving it and watching it swim away.
We decided to go back to where we was previously fishing and get the chum going again to try a get a big Shark, as soon as we put a bait in the water it was taken by another Tuna this time Gary was on the rod, he got it boat side in 75 minutes in very tough conditions during darkness, this fish was around 96 inches (620lb) and we released it straight away.
By this time we where all feeling knackered Lee decided to have one last go for a shark before heading home, you guessed it as soon as his bait went in the water the reel started emptying and he was into a Tuna.
He got it to the boat five times I had hold of the wire but just could not turn its head it was a very big fish, sadly on the fifth attempt on the wire I had to just pull to try and turn its head but the hook pulled.
Now we had all had enough it was daylight and it was home time, as I walked into the wheel house the sonar was lite up with Tuna all over it, I said to the lads check this out, we had about 15lb of bait left so we decided to see if we could get them up to the surface to feed.
After just a few minutes we had them boiling under the boat all you could see was the out line of the Tuna and there yellow fin lets as they took the bait 20ft under the boat then a big boil of water followed on the surface, the Tuna where 200lb to well over 700lb it was amazing to see and something that will live with us forever, we did try to get them on camera but you couldn’t see the fish on the photos.
Please note shark welfare is our top priority, all sharks that are brought on board are lifted out of the water with a specialist lifting sling, measured, tagged and released in the shortest possible time while keeping well watered at all times.
Sharks that are brought onboard are measured, girth x girth x length divided by 800 to give us the formula for the weight.
We have now decided to stay in Pwllheli until Christmas before heading to Scotland to fish for Giant Skate, the reason for this is the Scottish government have recently made lockdown restrictions law and can implement them as and when they deem fit with minimal notice.
When we are in Scotland our anglers travel for all over the UK, Ireland and Europe to fish with us, they rely on accommodation to be fully open with no restrictions.
Jimmy Cranky and her associates (Scottish government) are already talking about circuit breaker lockdowns and it’s not even flu season yet, you don’t have to be the great grandson of Einstein to work out what’s coming next!
This now means we have dates available in October, November and December from Pwllheli North Wales.
OCTOBER
Thursday 7th Tope fishing £85 pp 1 place available 7am.
Wednesday 8th Tope fishing £85 pp 4 places available 7am sailing.
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Gerrysofmorcambe
#Grundens
#mckiesfishingcharters
#SDHtravel
#Holymackerel
#Pwllheli
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30/08/2021
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
30 Aug 2021 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Well it’s been sea winds for weeks now but both catamarans handle the long swell great, Monday saw Police Scotland & there teams on 3 catamarans fishing 6 hours best anger was from Inverness with 28 fish best fish on Oceanic was this 7:4 pollock
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View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 04/05/2024 4 Spaces 6 Hours £50.00pp Need 10 more for trip go-ahead. 7:45 at boatView details Sun 05/05/2024 10 Spaces 6 Hours £50.00pp Need 10 more for trip go-ahead. 7:45 at boatView details -
08/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Aug 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
Our third 10 day live aboard charter didn’t quite go to plan, at first the weather forecast looked good to fish the Celtic Deeps then head to The Scilly Isles for a day before heading to Jurassic Park.
We had Dean, Sam, Mike and Robin onboard, the lads where all rearing to go and had been waiting over a year for this trip.
On the first day we steamed from Pwllheli to the Celtic Deeps, as we arrived where we had been fishing the week before we could see the algae was very thick this time and it was hard finding a clear spot to set a drift up.
We managed to find a small clearing in the algae to start the drift, straight away we had a small Blue about 35lb, after about two hours Dean hooked a Porgie about 110lb it just come straight to the boat with not much fight at all.
After a quick photo we where putting it back out the stern door, I made the massive mistake of not wearing gloves and as I put my hand on it’s nose it flicked its head up and just caught my finger with its teeth.
The lads got the Porgie out of the door and back in to the sea while I got a towel on my hand and tapped it up, I said to the lads just carry on fishing then we will head to Newlyn when you have had enough.
After a few hours we hadn’t had a bite and the algae was getting worse so the lads said let’s get going and get my hand seen to.
When we arrived in Newlyn we refuelled the boat and I went to the hospital, thankfully it hadn’t cut any tendons or chipped any bone in my finger, they just give me stitches and because it was a bite from a shark they give me three sets of antibiotics to have.
When I got to the boat I said to the lads we have two options now, we can just go home and call it a day because I won’t be able to work on the boat like I normally do or we can carry on and fish but you lads will have to do everything because I can not get my finger wet incase of an infection.
The lads decided to just fish on, we went back out that evening but the fishing in the bay was very slow and the algae was bad if you went anymore than 2 miles out.
The next morning we checked the weather forecast for the coming week and the weather forecast had totally changed, there was no chance of getting to Jurassic Park or even attempting to get to the shelf, I made a few phone calls to lads in Falmouth and they said the algae was bad up there and the inshore fishing was poor.
The lads said we don’t mind a few days inshore fishing but not a whole week, so we decided to cut our losses and take the small weather window to get back to Pwllheli.
At the end of the day you can not fight nature you just have to let it run it’s course, now we just have to pray for good weather at the end of the month for our fourth and final 10 day live aboard charter of the year.
As for getting bit by the Shark it was long over due after handling thousands of sharks over the last 30 years from all over the world it was enviable it was going to happen one day and it was totally my own fault for not putting my gloves on after taking the photo.
Sadly we are fully booked in Pwllheli for the rest of the season, we do have dates available for Skate fishing in Scotland.
NOVEMBER
Monday 1st £110 pp 2 places available
7am sailing.
Tuesday 2nd £110 pp 3 places available
7am sailing.
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Gerrysofmorcambe
#Grundens
#mckiesfishingcharters
#SDHtravel
#Holymackerel
#Pwllheli
#Northwales View Boats Page
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08/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Aug 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
We have just finished our second 10 day live aboard charter of the year from Pwllheli.
The trip didn’t start off too good as bad weather delayed our original start date but when we did finally set sail the weather was looking good for the next five days.
Team Pot Noodle (Josh, Ash and Eddie) plus Tony was the lads we had onboard for this trip, the lads where hell bent on going to the shelf off the west coast of Ireland and the weather window looked good to do it.
After a 200 mile steam from Pwllheli we finally arrived in Baltimore to top up the fuel tanks and head out to the shelf, sadly the weather window had changed a lot, now we only had two days on the shelf before the first of three low pressure systems hit south west Ireland.
We decided not to gamble, play it safe and stay one step ahead of the weather, so we didn’t bother going the shelf and headed south to some deep water reefs.
The fishing was incredible for Pollack and Coalfish, every drop was 3 to 4 fish per person and the amount of fish on the sonar was like something you would see in Norway.
At one point the Coalfish where spitting out live Boar fish We have never seen them before in the flesh they are a very strange looking fish only found in deep water.
Every drift we had sharks attacking the Pollack and Coalfish, at first we thought it was porgies so we set up our shark tackle but after several hours fishing and lots of small blue sharks to 60lb we realised it was just small blues attacking the fish.
We did get one hell of a surprise in our chum slick it was the biggest Leather Back Turtle I have ever seen, Sam did get a video of it that we will post in the future, you don’t see them every day in our waters that’s for sure.
Also during the night the lads witnessed large pods of dolphins smashing into Garfish, Souries and Squid around the boat while it was lit up with the deck lights shining into the water.
The next morning we now decided to anchor the reef for Conger, Ling and Six Gill Sharks but the reef was extremely snaggy we couldn’t get any tackle back at all, on the sonar it looked flat in places but after Tony put his water wolf camera down we seen the seabed was made up of massive boulders fused together with cracks in between them.
So it was time to head out to one of our favourite places to fish the one and only Jurassic Park, when we arrived the sea was very sloppy and confused there was no set direction of the swell making our bait presentation very difficult indeed, on top of this the small Congers where having a field day smashing our baits up, after a long 2 hours and 40 minutes we landed our first Six Gill Shark, the lads managed 6 Six Gill Sharks to 274lb in total during the 12 hour session it was very tough going due to the conditions.
Tony had shark tags from NOAA and we tagged his first Six Gill Shark of 214lb, this is the first Six Gill Shark every tagged in UK waters.
The lads also witnessed five Sunfish all together swimming passed the boat as they where migrating north for the summer.
Now it was time for the extremely long steam to the Celtic Deeps where the weather forecast was ok for the next few days.
When we arrived in the Celtic Deeps the algae bloom was terrible and it was a job to find an area that was clear enough to start sharking.
The lads fished through the night and only managed three small Blue Shark, this was due to massive algae blooms passing through, when we hit a clear spot that’s where we got the odd Shark.
In the morning we decided to head to Milford Haven to refuel the boat and stock up on food, drink and bait.
The next day was the last good day to go sharking due to the bad weather forecast for the rest of the trip, after speaking to our friends in Ireland they told us where the water was clear of algae in the deeps.
The lads managed 9 Blues to 101lb and 2 Porgies to 280lb (estimated), after a 20 minute fight the biggest one got tail wrapped as we got it to the surface i grabbed the trace it unraveled its self and shot off like a rocket only for the hook to pull.
Thankfully the shark was not left with a trace wrapped around it and was back where it belonged, we also lost a much bigger shark that we had on for about 15 minutes, we think the bait had gone up the trace and another shark bit through the leader because it was a very clean cut.
We also seen a big Blue shark basking on the surface and a big Porgie but they where not interested in the baits at all.
That night we had to steam to Arklow on the east coast of Ireland to take shelter from the strong westerly winds forecast.
The wreck fishing was very good for Pollack to 8lb, we did try sharking for Threshers and Porgies but only managed three Tope to 30lb.
Please note all sharks where released unharmed, we are currently in talks with a university who want us to satellite tag sharks next year for research purposes.
While we spent time on the east coast of Ireland we where shocked to see all cafes, restaurants, pubs and cinemas not letting people in unless they had proof they had been double jabbed with the experimental jab.
To witness this first hand all of us where in shock even the lads who had been double jabbed thought it was terrible.
This is what’s coming to the UK next if we let this happen, what sort of place are we leaving for our kids if you can not go into any indoor establishment without having proof of having had an experimental jab?
I for one as a business owner and father will not be supporting any business that is in favour of the experimental double jab passport.
Thankfully in Ireland we found some very clever business owners who refused to segregate people regardless of weather or not they had been experimentally double jabbed, these establishments where very busy indeed and doing far better than the businesses in favour of the experimental double jab passport.
Sadly we are fully booked in Pwllheli for the rest of the year, we do have dates available for Skate fishing in Scotland.
NOVEMBER
Monday 1st £110 pp 2 places available
7am sailing.
Tuesday 2nd £110 pp 3 places available
7am sailing.
Tuesday 16th £110 pp 4 places available
7am sailing.
Wednesday 17th £110 pp 3 places available
7am sailing.
Thursday 18th £110 pp 1 place available
7am sailing.
Friday 19th £110 pp 1 place available
7am sailing.
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Gerrysofmorcambe
#Grundens
#mckiesfishingcharters
#SDHtravel
#Holymackerel
#Pwllheli
#Northwales View Boats Page
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06/08/2021
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
6 Aug 2021 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Well it’s been a shit weekend with sea winds Sagittarius was out Tuesday with poor cod results lots of mackerel about let’s hope it picks up with the bigger tides
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UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Oceanic & Sagittarius
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 04/05/2024 4 Spaces 6 Hours £50.00pp Need 10 more for trip go-ahead. 7:45 at boatView details Sun 05/05/2024 10 Spaces 6 Hours £50.00pp Need 10 more for trip go-ahead. 7:45 at boatView details -
24/07/2021
Fishing Report by Paul Timoney
on Seadog charters (Oban, Argyll & Bute)
24 Jul 2021 by Paul Timoney
Report on-board Seadog charters
We have had a few more great days out recently on the skate with days of 8-21 fish coming aboard. Female fish up to the 180s and a whopper of male today at 133lbs, the big males always make for an exciting scrap!
With regular anglers we ventured down to the Isle of Gigha for 3 days. We were very lucky with sunshine and calm seas except for one day with fog, it was pretty good to get out the sun for abit haha!
Here we tried a variety of general fishing, which included finding some proper shoals of mackerel, the first we have seen this year. We found pollock fishing with light spinning gear to be the most successful with lots of hard fighting pollock trying to make for cover. Great fun.
Over the 3 days we had mackerel, coalies, pollock, cod, dogfish, pout, whiting, Balian wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, spurdog (allegedly, John��) general fishing could have been better but it’s early yet, there will be a huge change in a month. It’s a shame some of our regular anglers couldn’t make it, and missed a great trip, for the guys that came out they defiantly caught there share ������. I’m sure there highlight was 21 skate between 3 guys and one is 73!!
There are still dates available during the week in august and weekends in September. We plan to be doing tope tips in 2 days blocks by the and of august also.
Cheers Paul and Graeme View Boats Page
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25/07/2021
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
25 Jul 2021 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Well it was hard going at the weekend but it’s fishing for you here’s Dean Thompson & his 12lb 2 oz cod best of the season we normally get 2 or 3 10lb in the season this is the best cod in 12 years well done Dean
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UPCOMING INDIVIDUAL SPACES ONBOARD Oceanic & Sagittarius
View Full Charter AvailabilitySat 04/05/2024 4 Spaces 6 Hours £50.00pp Need 10 more for trip go-ahead. 7:45 at boatView details Sun 05/05/2024 10 Spaces 6 Hours £50.00pp Need 10 more for trip go-ahead. 7:45 at boatView details -
07/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Jul 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
Over the last few weeks the fishing from Pwllheli has been like fishing near the equator, extremely hot, bright sunshine and no wind making conditions very difficult for catching bait fish.
The wreck fishing has been excellent for numbers of fish but the average size has dropped, our best day seen 160+ Pollack, Cod, Coalfish and Ling with only a few into double figures most where 3lb to 5lb.
We did manage to go shark fishing the conditions where very poor, bright sunshine, no wind, lots of algae, very little drift and the surface water temperature was 23.3 degrees this is the hottest I have ever seen the sea temperature in the UK before.
The lads worked hard and managed to catch 13 Blues to 80lb+ and just the one Porgie for there efforts.
The Bream fishing has been good but the weed has been a massive problem at different stages of the tide on the reef making fishing very difficult.
As for the Tope fishing it’s been hit and miss this is due to the fresh mackerel situation, some days we get 20 to 50 mackerel other days only a hand full.
Sadly we are fully booked in Pwllheli for the rest of the year, we do have dates available for Skate fishing in Scotland.
NOVEMBER
Monday 1st £110 pp 2 places available
7am sailing.
Tuesday 2nd £110 pp 3 places available
7am sailing.
Tuesday 16th £110 pp 5 places available
7am sailing.
Wednesday 17th £110 pp 5 places available
7am sailing.
Thursday 18th £110 pp 5 places available
7am sailing.
Friday 19th £110 pp 5 places available
7am sailing.
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Gerrysofmorcambe
#Grundens
#mckiesfishingcharters
#SDHtravel
#Holymackerel
#Pwllheli
#Northwales View Boats Page
