Sleat Spurries

I’ve been trying my luck in area between Skye and the mainland a few times in recent years. There’s decent fishing and the Sleat area is is beautiful and relatively sheltered compared to the rest of Skye. The downside is the long haul to get there…

Ian was boat buddy on this trip and we launched at Dornie after a near 5 hour haul from Edinburgh. Our first task was to headed for the tide run opposite Eilean Donan castle and try for mackerel. It took a few drops to find them so I was getting a little nervous by the time we hit them. I’d a few frozen fillets in reserve but no mackerel = no bait = no fish! Those we caught were small fish too, some the size of large minnows. Anyhow we finally picked up enough and headed off down through Kylerhea and towards Sleat.

I decided to have a first try near Glenelg, just a few hundred metres offshore. Trev and I encountered good fish here last year, including a skate, so it seemed worth a shot.

Anchor down, followed closely by our baits – on rigs beefed up enough to fish larger than spurdogs. We didn’t have to wait long until fish showed up 🙂

All nice spurdog, a mix of high single figures and low/mid double figure fish.

And there in quantity! I barely had enough time to get a kettle on as fish after fish hit our baits.

I think Ian probably had the best of them, although we only weighed a handful of the bigger specimens. His largest went 15|8|0 and there were others over 14lbs. Conditions were perfect for a day out on the water – overcast but calm.

However spurdog were all we got, with nothing else getting a look in. It’s the sort of fishing I enjoy once in a while – but which would drive you mad if were you condemned to repeat it every trip!

We still had to set up camp for the night and the sun was heading for the horizon as we hauled anchor. I hoped to find somewhere to spend the night quite nearby at the Sandaig Isles.

After scouting a couple of alternatives, we found the perfect location for our tents and a secure anchorage for my boat.

With our campfire crackling and a couple of beers in hand, we settled in for the night. Perhaps a little soggy to describe this remote spot as paradise, but I relished the peace and tranquility.

Day 2

We awoke to a cool, calm and clear morning and I popped the drone up for a look around.

With Ian awake we wasted no time in breaking camp and heading out on the water.

Our first order of business was fresh bait, so we drifted a few of the rocky outcrops at the edge of the Sandaigs. More mackerel came aboard, but again mainly very small. Ian did catch a fine tub gurnard, the first I’ve seen around here.

We anchored at a different mark, a little further up Sleat, and dropped baits down. Ian picked up some notably better mackerel which sorted out any remaining bait issues.

We now had bait but the fish were playing hard to get today and we had very little interest. I even had time to burn some bacon and eggs for breakfast!

The tide was noticeably stronger here so we decided to shift back to our mark of yesterday. Here, we once again encountered more spirited spurdogs, though not in the same numbers as before.

The real highlight of my day came right at the end when I felt a powerful fish on my line. Either a massive spurdog – or an altogether more interesting species. Indeed, as the fish came into view, we realized it was a decent tope. With Ian’s skilled maneuvering, we managed to get the tope into the net.

However, it proved to be too much for my old net, which gave way as we heaved a fine 35-pound tope over the gunwales. Not that I cared! Both a nice fish and positive proof that tope are down there alongside spurs and skate 🙂

Perhaps fortunately, the tope wrapped up our fishing and we packed up shortly afterwards for the run home. Running back past Eilean Donan castle we edged ashore just as the bottom of the slip was covered by the rising tide. All in all, a fine trip!

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