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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
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