A Mariner on Leven

I’ve just bought a new toy, a little 3.5hp Mariner outboard. It’s a longshaft, intended to be an auxiliary for the Orkney, but is equally happy to sit on the back of my old Avon SIB. It needed running in and I haven’t really used the Avon for almost two years, so I decided take them both to Loch Leven for a wee daytrip.

The Avon performs better with a short shaft engine but a 3.5hp means displacement speed anyway, so it makes little difference. SIB duly inflated I managed to start the new outboard with little difficulty and we set out onto the loch. The run-in period is mercifully short (3 hours on this engine), but the first hour is the worst, spent trundling along at less than half throttle.

To be fair, it didn’t take long to reach the fish farm and get set up. Having had loads of thornbacks here earlier in the year I was quite hopeful of a decent bag again.

Sadly, two hours of my life later, I came to the conclusion that the thornies had either cleared off or been cleared out 🙁

Sum total for my efforts were three whelks… Not even a poor cod in sight.

Somewhat downhearted, I returned to the main mission – to put a few hours on my shiny new outboard.

I decided to try another mark for an hour and then head up the loch for a few miles. This would complete the run-in process and allow me to try a couple of different spots as we went.

I squeezed a solitary (and small) thornback out of my next mark, quickly followed by a spindly crab. Too bemused by its journey to the surface to bother nipping me, I quickly returned it before it woke up.

Whilst the fishing was pants, the view up towards Glencoe certainly wasn’t, so I pointed the SIB in that direction. Chugging rather than scooting along, making perhaps 5 mph at best!

It was now low tide, so I grabbed a few mussels off the rock edges for dinner later in the week.

I pulled ashore for a coffee and to stretch my legs, as small SIBs don’t really have much space. By now the outboard was largely run in, although top speed never exceeded 6mph at full throttle. In fairness, I expected nothing more from a little engine. A better test will come when I try it out on the Longliner!

Nestled under the rock ledges on southern side of the loch, I proceeded to bag up – on tiddly poorcod. There were a few codling in here too, and a pollack also managed to slip the hook. Perhaps all of two pounds…

Honestly, after catching next to nothing down the loch, I was happy enough with a few tiddlers. Even better when a couple of little grey gurnard joined the party!

I repeated the drift and tiddler snatching a couple of times before heading back to the car. Main mission accomplished, with a healthy little outboard ready for use, but a distinct shortage of decent fishies.

Incidentally, don’t assume you can easily cram your SIB, outboard and fishing gear easily into your car. With the rear seats folded, my smallish inflatable and outboard still occupies most of the available space!

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