Latest Fishing Reports: Dawn Venture
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29/12/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
29 Dec 2019 by dominic wilson
So,2019 is drawing to a close and it seemed like a good time to summarise the year....We landed 6 common skate with the best at 201lb and the rest 171-193lb.We landed over 35 tope with the 2 best at 47lb and 45lb respectively.Spurdogs were numerous and some days they were in plague proportions ! the best however went 24lb with many others at 22/23lb and quite a few over the 20lb mark.It doesn't seem unreasonable to get 1 over 25lb in 2020.Bullhuss were quite plentiful with plenty in the 15-18lb range and the best at 19.5lb(which skipper dom landed!) Smoothounds were scarce with only a couple landed with the best at 5lb.The pollack fishing was dire with poor numbers and the best at 5lb right upto the end of the season and when the water cleared out in late October til mid November we averaged over 50 fish a session with the best at 8lb and 9.5lb and again these were caught in the harbour entrance.We caught quite a few wrasse this year with the best ballan pushing 3lb and quite a few cuckoos (male and female) upto 1lb.returns of cod,haddock and whiting were variable and I put this down to the massive increase in spurdog numbers.We caught 35 species this year plus a new one.....pilchard!
Again this year,we struggled with the windy weather and it tore the bookings book apart! That said,I have invested in a new vessel...."OPTIMIST" which is a 32ft heavy build offshore that is licenced for 10+2 crew and has a 400hp Iveco engine + turbo under the deck combined with a 5 blade propeller giving a cruising speed of 12-14kts and top speed of 18-20kt.It also has 2 bunks onboard,a gas hob with twin burners,a toilet and a live bait well
As always,bookings are being taken for the following year and 2020 is no exception! I have the tidebooks for next year to assist in tide/day/date selection.
With the added speed,I am now looking to venture further afield on the longer trips....it would not be unfeasible to fish the deep water marks off the Mull of Galloway and south of it and also venturing off to the coast of Northern Ireland and perhaps 2/3 days away to the Isle of Mann.
Phone me on 07739231331 for a chat
The attached photo is of Wullie Shaw and his 24lb spurdog -
10/11/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
10 Nov 2019 by dominic wilson
Reporting period 8-10 November....
The wind eased and we managed to get to sea on the Friday and sunday.Having noted on the Wednesday that the water was gin clear and temperature was up at 13.5c,I thought it would be worth trying for the pollack later in the day and it was.Through Friday we drift fished for codling,haddock,gurnards and a couple of mackerel.The bottom fishing failed to produce and so we went lightline pollacking under the headlands and took over 50 fish in 2 hours with the best sport occurring in the last 30mins before dark and again the best fish(es) came from the harbour entrance with the biggest at 9.5lb and the best of the year.Saturday was blown off and sunday produced the same results except that we caught 2 huss (17lb and 9.5lb) and more good pollack from the headlands and harbour entrance,with the best at 8lb
.Choice of lure for the pollack was rhubarb and custard 6" sidewinders.
Species caught over the weekend were: cod,haddock,whiting,rock cod,pouting,poor cod,ling(tiny!),pollack,coalfish,grey gurnard,tub gurnard,mackerel,huss,LSD
The attached photo is the 9.5lb pollack -
11/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
Nov 2019 by dominic wilson
Report covers period from mid sept to Nov 5th.....
As with the last report,the wind has been our nemesis and has caused many cancelled bookings which is a shame because there has been some great fishing out there.The mackerel still linger on as the water is warming enough and there has been several days where we have had between 100-150 spurdogs in a day with the smallest at about 4lb and the biggest at 24lb !!!!(willie shaw well done).there has been tope to 45lb,huss to 18.5lb,common skate to 201lb and the pollack fishing in the weeds is now at the consistency it should have been in the summer.
One sunday in late September,fishing the banks at Port Logan,we managed 16 species: cod,haddock,whiting,pouting,poorcod,coalfish,mackerel,scad,red/grey gurnard,spurdog,lsd,herring,pilchard,wrasse and ling!
pictured is colin with his 201lb skate
the boat is afloat all winter and available for booking...diaries and tidebooks are out now for 2020 so book early for the best tides -
08/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
Aug 2019 by dominic wilson
this report covers the period 16th August -26th august.....
The wind has wreaked havoc with our ability to get to sea and its a shame as there are plenty of fish out there both in species and size.We have continued to land a good number of tope averaging 25-30lb,spurdogs have dwindled in numbers and the huss are putting in a show again averaging 15lb.we have also hooked into more common skate but landed only 1 at 179lb.All the usual suspects are still at sea with grey gurnard in plague proportions and mini-mackerel everywhere.The pollack fishing in the weeds has improved vastly with mackerel belly outfishing the artificial lures.
bookings are still being taken for this year with first available weekend being 19/20 October and with the boat staying afloat this winter,I am looking at doing uptiding for cod .
diaries for 2020 have now been released and bookings are now being taken so please ring for best tides and dates
picture is of Piers and his 179lb skate -
16/08/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
16 Aug 2019 by dominic wilson
This report covers period 19th july - 16th August
When the wind allows,we have been getting out and the fishing has been good with some days being great.I have lost track of how many spurdogs over the 20lb mark we have landed with the best at a whopping 23lb....these sharks are getting bigger each year and more prolific and I don't doubt that some will top 25lb next year!....the best tally for spurdogs in the reporting period is 38 landed with all being 12-17lb with a few bigger ones mixed in. we have had mixed results with the huss with the best going 18.5lb in the past month.The tope are more numerous this year and we have had 5 in a day twice last month which is well up on last year and we have lost a good few through biteoffs!...more common skate continue to show with the last 2 at 185lb and 188lb.The pollack fishing in the weeds has improved vastly with floatfished mackerel belly being very productive...there was also a good run of codling and haddock during the big spring tides where we were fishing closer in out of the tide run.
The mini mackerel have now arrived in plague proportions and strings and strings of them are possible....at less than 6" long they make great bait!
Species landed this month : cod ,haddock, whiting, pouting, pollack, coalfish, poorcod , ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, common skate, tope, spurdog, huss, smoothound, LSD, mackerel, herring, launce, red/grey/tub gurnard, dab( 22 species)
bookings still being taken for this year but first available weekend date is sunday 13th October
the boat is staying afloat this winter so uptiding for cod is on the agenda
bookings now being taken for 2020 (mobile 07739231331)
photo is 188lb common skate -
07/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
Jul 2019 by dominic wilson
This report covers the period 4/7/19- 21/7/19.....
As per last year,we are now starting to rack up the cancelled bookings due to strong winds and the consequent rough seas...
We are landing plenty of species when we find the clear water...the size and numbers of cod and haddock are increasing,whiting are plentiful(for flappers),mackerel, herring, launce, dab, grey & red &tub gurnard, spurs, huss, tope, pollack, pouting, coalfish, thornback ray and (finally!) common skate.
The larger of the skate had 4 hooks in it....the guy who landed it,richard had 2 hooks in it(from the same day) and an unknown hook ...it shows that they aren't put off feeding by being hooked and when feeding,they don't travel far away!
4th july….huss to 14lb / spurs to 16.5lb
5th july…..9 huss(16lb)
6th july….3 huss (15lb)
7th july …****JACKPOT DAY****….49 Spurs(all doubles) (best at 19.5lb/20/20.25/20.5/21/21lb) with 5 others lost and a 2x17lb spur hookup + 3 huss to 9lb
9th july….7 spurs to 16.5lb
14th july….2 common skate(171lb & 193lb) (8 hook-ups)
15th july...1 huss at 19.5lb(best yet!)
19th july...spurs to 16.5lb.small huss, thornback (4.5lb) 2 x 33lb tope -
01/07/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
1 Jul 2019 by dominic wilson
This report covers mid April to end of june…..
It was a slow start to the year with the first mackerel showing up in early April and then not seeing any more for another fortnight! They were very much feast or famine with us catching hundreds or none but there was plenty of herring mixed in with some coalies and launce and as of June 8th,there has been mackerel everywhere in big numbers providing younfish in the clear water.
The pollack have been plentiful on the wrecks upto 10lb with most around the 4-6lb range.They are however,for whatever reason,scarce under the cliffs with the best fish at 5lb and only a few fish showing up over long drifts under the cliffs.....room for improvement here(but it will!)
We have now started to catch really good numbers of spurdogs and huss...early on,when we would expect to see the huss pushing up from the south,we had a couple with the best at 10lb and then nothing.tHe spurdogs were the same...noticeable by there absence but we did find good numbers of them upto 14.6lb on the deep rough ground north of the village(14th may 50 spurs upto 13.6lb and 15th may 32 spurs upto 14.6lb).
However,with the increase in Mackerel the amount of ground sharks and their size has rocketed!(with a good early run of tope):
20th June 30 huss(16lb)
21st june 10 huss (14lb) + 1 spur (14lb) + 1 tope (35.5lb)(2 others lost)
24th june 20 huss (13.8lb) + 10 spurs (17.6lb/16.8lb) + 1 tope (33.8lb)
25th june 16 huss(17.5lb) + 4 spurs(15lb)
26th june 31 huss (17.5lb) + 7 spurs(15lb) and in the evening 8 huss (12lb) + 3 spurs(12lb)
27th june 30 huss (10.5lb) + 11 spurs(16.5lb/15.8lb)
***JACKPOT DAY*** 29TH JUNE …...20 huss (18.5lb) + 17 spurs (21lb/21lb/20.5lb(unofficial Scottish records!) + 6 tope(33.5lb/26lb/24lb/22lb/8lb/8lb)
Species landed this year so far: cod,haddock,whiting,pouting,ling,pollack,coalfish,lsd,huss,spur,smoothound,tope,grey/red/tub gurnard,mackerel,herring,launce,cuckoo wrasse,spotted ray -
07/02/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
7 Feb 2019 by dominic wilson
So the boat is now well and truly "chocked on the blocks" courtesy of Nobles boatyard at Girvan.The boat has had a really good industrial jetwash and when the weather improves,out will come the paintbrush! Nobles are undertaking the mechanical / electrical aspect of this winters refit and all being well, the boat will emerge at the end of march...bookings are being taken from April onwards.
It is of note that the North channel has produced nearly 40 species of fish to the boat with still more to find....
wrecking trips,at anchor fishing,shallow water pollacking,common skate targetted,drift fishing for plaice and turbot,deepwater shark fishing.......the options are many and varied -
28/01/2019
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
28 Jan 2019 by dominic wilson
So Winter has set in and its bitterly cold afloat with very few weather windows and those that do open are at very short notice and close just as quick.......with that in mind,and needing a few minor jobs doing,I took the boat to Nobles boatyard at Girvan and there she will sit until the end of March.
Bookings are being taken for 2019,starting first week of April and hopefully the weather and more importantly the wind,will be kind to us this year.
Last year saw us land a lot of good spurdogs with the majority being over 15lb,Huss were prolific with the majority being over 13lb,we saw no smoothhounds some ray and some nice Pollack.The common skate were scarce and the biggest last year was only 139lb.We saw more tope last year than the year previous but didn't get anything over 40lb,the best being 35lb.
I will be running a competition this year from April 1st til Oct 30th and it will be £2 entry fee on top of the day rate. The £2 per rod will initially cover the outlay for the prize(£94 - until paid off),which is a Penn Regiment all roller 50-80lb class rod with a corduba travel tube and the rest will go to the RNLI.
The Rules are really simple....pay your £2 at the start of the trip and leave an email address. The winner is the person who, by Oct 30th has caught the heaviest COMMON SKATE. This competition is for common skate ONLY and all weights will be determined by using the "Orkney Skate Trust" graphs for males/females.
Some anglers fish 2 rods onboard and each rod will command a £2 entry fee for those entering. Entry into the skate competition is purely voluntary.
I look forward to fishing with old hands and new faces in 2019
Tight Lines..............Dominic -
28/12/2018
Fishing Report by dominic wilson
28 Dec 2018 by dominic wilson
Period 28/12 - 4/1/19.......
Finally the winds eased and we have managed 3 days fishing and some nice fish were landed.We had a common skate (30lb) several huss(12lb) loads of mini spurdogs (12" long!) which I have never seen,loads of tiny dogfish,plenty of whiting,some small haddock and one solitary spurdog of 7lb.
Below are the largest fish of the year,captors name in brackets:
common skate 139lb (sandy)
tope 35lb (dominic / dave)
huss 18lb (dominic)
spurdog 22lb (willie) (unofficial scottish record)
pollack 8.8lb (john from blackpool)
ballan wrasse 2.5lb (scott)
blonde ray 12lb (chris)
thornback ray 12lb (lawther jr)
and the rarest of the year was a 3oz poor cod
**** From April 1st til October 30th 2019 I will be running a competition for the largest COMMON SKATE of the year.Entry will be £2 and once the cost of the rod has been covered( £100) ,then all other proceeds will go to the lifeboat(RNLI). The rod is a 50lb class all roller Pen Regiment rod with a corduba rod tube which will be held on board.All you need to do is make your intention to enter clear before we sail, pay £2 and leave your address/email with me and once the terminal date is reached,if youve won,Ill contact you.*****
