Latest Fishing Reports: Scotland
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04/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Apr 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
It’s good to finally be back on the tools and behind the helm of Size Matters.
We had our first day on the Tope we managed five Tope to 45lb and dropped four, the bites where very finicky and the water temperature was only 7 degrees.
Rob Lynn had the biggest Tope that was a new personal best for him followed by Bernie Forshaw with a 42lb Tope that was also his personal best.
We also had Huss to 10lb, Whiting, Dabs, Doggies and Poor Cod, I believe if we had fresh Mackerel for bait we would of landed a lot more Tope.
From now till the end of June is normally the best time to catch a giant Tope that Cardigan Bay is famous for, I have personally witnessed fish in-excess of 80lb in years gone by.
If you are booked on a Tope trip with us over the next few months try your best to get fresh mackerel for bait if not frozen will do.
Here is a full list of available dates from Pwllheli this summer onboard Size Matters.
APRIL
Monday 19th Whole boat available
4am sailing.
Tuesday 20th Whole boat available
4am sailing.
Wednesday 21st Whole boat available
5am sailing.
Thursday 22nd Whole boat available
6am sailing.
Monday 26th Tope/Mixed £85 pp
3 places available 8am sailing.
MAY
Saturday 1st 23 hour Tope/Mixed £170 pp
1 place available 11.30am sailing.
Tuesday 4th Whole boat available
4am sailing.
Wednesday 5th Whole boat available
5.30am sailing.
Thursday 6th Whole boat available
6am sailing.
Monday 10th Tope/Mixed £85 pp
3 places available 8am sailing.
Tuesday 11th Tope/Mixed £85 pp
3 places available 9am sailing.
Wednesday 19th 23 hour Wrecking trip
£210 pp 4 places available 2am sailing.
Friday 21st Bardsey Island/Bass £100 pp
3 places available 5am sailing.
Monday 24th Tope/Mixed £85 pp
1 place available 7am sailing.
JUNE
Tuesday 8th Tope/Mixed £85 pp
1 place available 8am sailing.
Please remember all charters are 10 to 12 hours unless stated otherwise, all top of the range Shimano rods and reels are free to hire, you just have to pay for any tackle losses or damages.
Thanks
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Mckiesfishingcharters
#Gerrysofmorcambe
#Grundens
#SDHtravel
#Northwales
#Pwllheli
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03/2021
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Mar 2021 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
In life even the best laid plans can change especially if that thing called Covid-19 is involved.
At the very start of the year, we where looking forward to fishing the Mersey with January fully booked before the lock gates where going off line to get resealed, at the end of the month.
After just a few days the country went into lockdown and we had to cancel all our charters on the Mersey and get the boat straight to Scotland because we where fully booked for Skate fishing from February to mid May.
I managed to get my mate Mick to be my designated able seaman to accompany me on the 16 hour steam, the weather was amazing for January flat calm seas all the way.
As we approached one of my favourite Skate marks the deal was I paid Mick in Skate because he had never caught one before.
We only set two rods up because there was only the two of us onboard and in previous years I have had three and four Skate on at once and only two people onboard and it’s not fun.
The baits went down and after an hour Mick was into his first ever Skate about 75lb then every drop Mick had a Skate he landed 5 Skate in a row to 197lb including a male skate of 132lb, he then said right Kev that will do ha ha.
As we moved in to February the lockdown was being extended and we had to cancel all our charters in Scotland, even more bad news was Liverpool Marina lock gates where in a terrible state and where put back to the end of May before the outer gates will be fixed.
We asked the question about the inner gates being fixed because they where the gates with the issues in December, the marina said they are not fixing them till next winter!!
In March Size Matters was due her five year MCA survey, coding and MLC coding, so I got my mate Rob on the Skate payroll to accompany me and give me a hand.
We give the boat a run after sitting idol for two months the longest it’s ever stayed still for, everything was running sweet as a nut.
We had to test out the fishing tackle to make sure it was still working ok, I told Rob we will only have an hour, I put a proper bait on and caught my biggest skate a female of 196lb it was probably the third time I have actually ever personally fished for Skate, I am normally far to busy helping my anglers catch them.
Rob caught a male Skate about 110lb and lost a much bigger fish before we headed back to get the boat out the water ready for the survey.
Size Matters passed and is now fully coded for 12+2 up to 24 hour charters and 4+2 for charters over 24 hours, this is very important for our multiple day live aboard charters looking for sea monsters in the future!!
Our only problem now was finding a new home for the summer, we tried to get back in at Plymouth, Falmouth and South Wales but none of the marinas had room for a 45ft boat.
We where starting to feel like Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem 2021 years ago, then we got lucky and managed to get a berth in Pwllheli Marina, now this is where I had my first pleasure boat back in 1997, could this be an omen? Is it meant to be? Only time will tell.
Our plan now is to start charters on April 12th from Pwllheli until the end of September then head back to Scotland to fish for Skate from October to April.
So if you want to book any charters from Pwllheli this summer or Scotland this winter then let us know and we will try our best to accommodate you.
Sadly with the lock gates at Liverpool Marina being as temperamental as an ex girlfriend on magic mushrooms we won’t be returning until both the inner gates and outer gates have been fixed, as we could never afford to get stuck in the marina for months on end.
Thanks
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Pwllheli)
07999628511
#Shimano
#Mckiesfishingcharters
#NorthWales
#Pwllheli View Boats Page
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28/02/2021
Fishing Report by steve stringer
on Lucky Dip II (Portpatrick, Dumfries & Galloway)
28 Feb 2021 by steve stringer
Report on-board Lucky Dip II
So what with this weather giving us some really settled seas me n the misses decided on a couple of hours fishing. The plan was to head out and fish one of our deeper (40m) marks at anchor. With the anchor set after just 15mins motoring we put two half mackerel baits down to see what was about while setting up our lighter rods. Before my second rod was ready my rod showed an interest with some gentle nods before line started to be taken. Setting the drag and lifting into the fish i just knew we had hooked my first target, a Common(flapper) skate. while i was coming to terms with a stubborn fish my misses landed a fine 10lb dark grey Spur followed shortly by a LSD. After an hour we finally had the skate aboard, unhooked from the barbless 10/0, photographed, and released this fine male went 107lb when measured. Another bait sent down saw me land one final spur of about 5lb before the tide started to rip through again. pulling the anchor we set of to scout a newly rediscovered wreck that seemed to hold a lot of fish and in just 56m water is prime for another session soon.
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12/2020
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Dec 2020 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
2020 has definitely got to be the year most memorable for all the wrong reasons.
As the year draws to a close we thought it’s the right time to have a recap at how the year unfolded and how we have managed to survive as a small business to hopefully see many more years to come.
January to mid February fishing in the Mersey was in full swing, catch up to 56 cod per trip to 9lb but most where 2.5lb to 3lb, Rays to 10lb, Whiting, Flounder and Dabs.
We only done a few wrecking trips during this time due to the very bad weather, when we did get out we where catching 60+ Pollack to 12lb 8oz and a few Cod.
This was the first time we have ever caught Pollack in Liverpool Bay with roe in during the winter months, this bolds well for a future winter Pollack fishery like on the south coast.
End of February to March seen us move to Scotland for the Giant Skate, because we had commitments to do a hosted fishing holiday abroad later in March we could only do two weeks in Scotland.
So we took the opportunity to hire Buoy Alba a 30ft Evo owed by a good friend Davie, the boat is excellent and more than capable for what we needed.
Sadly we only managed to get less than half the charters on due to the constant SW gales, the trips we did manage to get in where excellent, John Frayne managed the biggest Skate of 225lb a cracking fish.
The Norwegian lads done the best they managed 41 Skate for a total weight of 7211lb over the few days they fished with us, there biggest Skate was 208lb and all four of them landed Skate over 200lb!!
We treated the Norwegian lads to big night out playing bingo at the local pub, we actually had a great time and they will be our friends forever.
Mid March seen us head to Rodrigues island for a hosted fishing holiday just as COVID-19 started to take its grip on the world.
The fishing was good plenty of fish to 50lb and the lads where happy until we got the call to leave the island before they went into full lockdown.
At the time of the call on the skippers satellite phone where where over 100 miles from shore on a live aboard charter.
So we had to head back and cut the holiday very short, when we arrived back at Rodrigues island we had to pack and go straight to the airport, we managed to get on the last flight out of Rodrigues to Mauritius.
As we got off the plane in Mauritius it was like something from a film, there was police and army everywhere, Mauritius was in full lockdown you could not leave the airport.
There was people in the airport who had been sleeping there for days and there was only a few flights available to Europe before the airport closed in a few days time.
After lots of phone calls and panicking because our bank cards would not work in Mauritius for some reason, our good friend Davie in Glasgow managed to get two of us on the last flight to Glasgow and the other three lads on the last flight to Newcastle.
What a fiasco and something that would definitely put you off going abroad every again.
As we got home we where all glad to see our family and friends, but then things went from bad to worst case scenario, the UK went into full lockdown.
For us as a small business this was extremely bad because we where fully booked in Plymouth from April to October and the boat was still in Liverpool.
As the Lockdown went on things where looking very bad especially with no help at the time from the government because we did not pay business council tax rates.
As we got to the end of April we decided to cancel all charters in Plymouth for 2020 and move who we could to 2021, this was a very bitter pill to swallow and we where thinking how the hell are we going to get through this.
As we moved into May there was some good news on the horizon, Plymouth City Council helped out the charter boats and the government started the furlough scheme and back dated it.
As the government relaxed the lockdown in mid May, we where allowed to operate with only one other person on the boat, now not everyone can afford a whole boat charter so this ment it was time to get our scouse thinking cap on and we came up with the Size Matters commemorative swivel free prize draw.
This was an instant hit with our anglers and after a few weeks we managed to finally get our prop turning so we started earning thank god.
Throughout June and July when we could get out due to the constant NW, W, SW winds we managed to show case just what the fishing can be like from Liverpool during the summer.
Our best day on a 12 hour wrecking trip was the lads from Layland and District S.A.C who managed to catch 155 Pollack, Cod, Coalfish and Ling between 8 of them.
On out best day on a 23 hour wrecking trip the lads known as Team Poland managed to catch 230 Pollack, Cod, Coalfish and Ling between 8 of them.
The Tope fishing was excellent especially on the first and only Isle of Man trip we managed to get on this year due to the weather, the four boat pikey’s we had onboard managed to catch 64 Tope to 30lb in the first five hours of fishing!!
Our best day from Liverpool for Tope was 14 boated to 42lb and 8 losted, on other days there was Huss to 14lb and rays to 12lb they where so think on the ground your bait was not lasting 5 minutes, on one trip I remember counting over 70 Huss being caught on the one trip!
Sadly our biggest Tope of the year was only 47lb, In years gone by Tope to well over 60lb are caught each year in Liverpool Bay.
August seen us getting some refunds for family holidays and fishing holidays that never happened due to Covid-19, so this give us the opportunity to do something that has always been on our list of things to do with Size Matters.
It was time to hit the continental shelf off the west coast of Ireland some 400 miles from Liverpool, to do a trip like this you need to be one of two things, have an unhealthy interest in fishing or you are mentally insane, but we are way past both of them.
Myself and the crew had a trip of a lifetime not just for fishing but for the adventure as well, fishing in over 3500ft of water in the Atlantic ocean flat calm with the sun beating down on us drinking a beer and eating fresh Albacore tuna, believe me this is what life it’s self is all about.
We learnt so much on this trip, we caught our first Albacore Tuna, first Stone Bass but it was tickled into the boat not on rod and line, we had our first encounter with a Mako shark in UK waters, we thought know one would believe us after it rolled in the line but only a few weeks later a very big Mako was caught by a boat from Wales only a few miles from where we where fishing.
We had our first Blue Fin Tuna over 500lb according to the measurement charts 92inch to 94inch estimated in the water, it was caught on a wire trace while sharking with a 4lb Cod as bait.
We also caught lots of Blue Sharks now know as Blue Dogfish because they where a pest, we had a few Porgies over 100lb, just the one small Six Gill Shark about 80lb, Cod, Pollack, Ling, Coalfish, Squid and Blue Whiting.
The real star of the trip was a shark called a Leafscaled Gulper Shark, we all caught them from 20lb to 30lb, at the time we just thought they where a deep water Spurdog species that smelt of urine and thought nothing of it.
After we returned and done some research we found out they have never been caught on rod and line before in Ireland or the UK and the ones we caught could of potentially been not only Irish records but world records because there is so little known about the species.
From the end of August to end of September the Bass fish took off and we managed to fine tune our approach when targeting them, on our best day the lads caught and released bang on 100 Bass, all on very light spinning gear, on an average day we where catching 40 to 60 Bass with the biggest going 7lb 12oz thats pretty good going for Liverpool.
We also had an Isle of Man trip cancelled so I offered the lads the chance to head south where the weather forecast was ment to be much better, they all jumped at the chance.
We caught Blue Fine Tuna to 470lb 88inch estimated in the water while shark fishing, Porgies to 140lb and lost one over 200lb after it bit through the wire trace and Blue Dogfish to 104lb.
Then the weather turned for the worst and it was time to head home on a very long steam back to scouse land.
October November and December the UK went into the dreaded tire system and regional lockdowns, there was no way we where tying up the boat if we could legally operate, after lots of calls to different authorities emails and legal advice giving us all the same answers we decided to carry on as normal using the lockdown legislation as our guide to make sure we stayed on the right side of the law.
Thankfully we did with no issues what so ever, this just goes to show there are Associations and Trusts out there giving advice to stay in port when some charter businesses are fully legally entitled to operate depending how there business is set up.
The fishing during these months was and still is very good the wrecks are producing 60 to 80 Pollack per trip to 10lb and again we are seeing roe in them.
The Mersey has been full of Rays to 10lb that can be a pain at times, upto 19 Cod per trip to 11lb with the average being 6lb to 7lb, (we have never seen Cod in the Mersey average this size in the lads 25 years), odd Conger to 14lb, Whiting, Dabs and Flounder.
The plan for 2021 is to stay in Liverpool until the end of January then head to Scotland to fish for Giant Skate until mid May, we are in contact with the Scottish transport minister’s office and the local authorities in the area.
So far it looks good but due to different laws and legislation in Scotland this could change at any time so we are keeping a very close eye on it.
Sadly we will not be going to Plymouth in 2021 due to the tire system in place 95% of our anglers need accommodation in Plymouth because they travel from all over the UK and Ireland to fish with us for 1 to 5 days at a time.
If Plymouth was to go into tire 3 and all accommodation was closed we would lose all charters and that’s not a risk we want to take, hopefully in the future we will be back in Plymouth for the summer months.
This now means we will be in Liverpool from May 2021 for the forcible future, good news is we are fully booked till October 2021.
There is four groups of anglers booked on for some amazing trips from Liverpool in 2021 please keep these trips close to your chest and all being well we push the boundaries of UK charter fishing even further than ever before!!
We would like to thank our sponsors Shimano UK for there support and amazing quality fishing tackle that’s helped us land all our fish mentioned over the last three years and long may it continue.
The biggest thank you of all is to everyone who has fish with us this year from Liverpool in these testing times to say the least with out your continued support we would not be able to do the job we love.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters (Liverpool)
#Shimano
#Mckiesfishingcharters
#Liverpool View Boats Page
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30/11/2020
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
30 Nov 2020 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Paul & his 7lb cod last week not been out this week
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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 -
12/2020
Fishing Report by Kevin McKie
on Size Matters (Craobh Haven, Argyll & Bute)
Dec 2020 by Kevin McKie
Report on-board Size Matters
It’s been a few months since our last report from Liverpool but thankfully our regular customers have managed to keep our prop turning so we keep earning.
The Bass fishing come to an end around mid October after two weeks of storms from the West and North West, the water was like chocolate and full of Whiting, Dabs and Dogfish.
Wrecking has been steady 60 to 80 Pollack per trip seems to be pretty standard, most are 4lb to 6lb with a few fish into double figures.
We have started to fish the rough ground off shore where we are catching good numbers of big Pollack to 11lb 6oz, Ling to 6lb, Coalfish to 4lb, Cod to 4lb and Ballan Wrasse to 3lb.
The Mersey has been producing some cracking Cod, our biggest so far has been 11lb, with a few just over 10lb and good numbers over 9lb, we have caught Cod on every trip so far on the Mersey.
This is the first time in 30 years I have seen Cod in the Mersey averaging 6lb to 7lb, we are not getting big numbers up to 13 per trip but much better fish, we have only had a dozen or so Cod under 5lb.
Our biggest problem while targeting the Cod has been the amount of Rays to 10lb over 50 in a trip is normal at times add to this Conger to 14lb, Dogfish and Whiting it’s no wonder we are not getting more Cod.
We have only had two very tough days on the Mersey so far this winter where nothing was going right, forecast was wrong, anchor was dragging, weed all over the line and lots of fresh water in the river, luckily we managed to solder on and find a few fish in the end.
As we move into the colder months of winter the Rays and Dogfish normally move off shore, this should pave way for more Cod and my be a few bigger ones.
We will be fishing from from Liverpool until January 22nd then we plan on heading to Scotland, we are currently in contact with all relevant government authorities in Scotland to make sure we can legally operate under the tire system for Covid-19.
From December 2nd to January 22nd we will be fishing the mighty Mersey for Cod, Rays, Whiting and Dabs.
If you book a Wrecking trip during this time and the weather is bad then we will be fishing in the Mersey as a back up weather permitting.
We have teamed up with Liverpools top accommodation provider "Serviced Living Liverpool" who offer 5 star apartments at internet beating rates.
Located in Liverpools Baltic Triangle area (one of the coolest places in UK) and only a few hundred metres from Liverpool Marina, give them a call on 0151 374 2401 and quote Size Matters book an apartment at the best rate.
Thanks
Kevin Mckie
Size Matters Liverpool
07999628511
#Mckiesfishingcharters
#Shimano
#Liverpool
#Servicedliving View Boats Page
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14/11/2020
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
14 Nov 2020 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Well it was a testing day yesterday on both boats with a nice 7-8lb ling best on Oceanic on the day::: Sagittarius had a better day mostly cod further south Photo of Paul Christie & his ling
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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 -
08/11/2020
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
8 Nov 2020 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Some nice winter cod about at moment with this 11 lb ling best fish of the weekend
View Boats Page
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 -
25/10/2020
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
25 Oct 2020 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Been a hard 8 hour trip cod to 5lb & this cracker of a ling 11/12 lb
View Boats Page
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 -
18/10/2020
Fishing Report by DEREK ANDERSON
on Oceanic & Sagittarius (Eyemouth, Scottish Borders)
18 Oct 2020 by DEREK ANDERSON
Report on-board Oceanic & Sagittarius
Some nice fish about yesterday & even large mackerel
View Boats Page
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
