Goodbye to Alcatraz and Hello to Orkney

Orkney Longliner2 ashore

I’ve recently said goodbye to Alcatraz, my faithful Warrior 165. She is now 10 years old and not getting quite the same use she once was, so I’ve been rethinking what I need from a boat for the next few years. Consequently, and after a lot of soul searching, I’ve just taken delivery of an Orkney Longliner2. The Warrior… Continue reading Goodbye to Alcatraz and Hello to Orkney

Gubbed by the Weather in Galloway

And a small smoothie for me

It’s taken almost a month to getting around to post this little report, which probably says it all! Who’d be an angler in Scotland. Four days of wind and a fair bit of rain 🙁 Still, we caught a few fish, had a few beers, and even the tent survived unscathed. The forecast was pretty… Continue reading Gubbed by the Weather in Galloway

Codling Galore at St. Andrews

Ian with a ballan wrasse

After an hour trundling along at 40mph in a pensioner rally I arrived at St. Andrews to find plenty of water in the harbour. Far too much water in fact, as the harbour gates were closed with Ian’s boat on the wrong side 🙁 Getting them opened again involved a tense race against time to allow the water… Continue reading Codling Galore at St. Andrews

Pollacked on Loch Etive

A small spur, typical of the day

Fish in the east, fish in the west, but not really the weather to exploit either coast! Faced with the need to check out Alcatraz before an upcoming trip to Galloway I chickened out and made my way over to Etive again, with the furball for company. Having had fairly poor results from down the… Continue reading Pollacked on Loch Etive

A Couple of Days Fishing for Skate at Oban

A small male common skate of about 60lbs

To be quite honest, being an ageing office worker with the upper body strength of a 10 year old means I don’t always relish the chance to play tug of war with a skate almost as big as myself. I’m neither particularly keen or successful as a skate fisherman, but a great forecast, small tide and late… Continue reading A Couple of Days Fishing for Skate at Oban

A Few Hours Chasing Thornbacks from my SIB

Keeping a beady eye on me

Just catching up a bit with some rather late reports… A couple of weeks ago I nipped across to Loch Leven to spend the morning chasing thornbacks. I actually drove across the night before to test out some adjustments to my sleeping arrangements in the Yeti, proving you can sleep me, an inflatable and an outboard and… Continue reading A Few Hours Chasing Thornbacks from my SIB

Winter Dogging on Etive (the Spurdog variety)

Ian hits into a fish well up Loch Etive

After a run around on Saturday morning in search of some wheel nuts my trailer was roadworthy again, so I headed over to Etive to check whether Alcatraz still floated. For one reason or another it’s been 5 months since she was last on the water and there’s always the added doubt of whether the engine will actually fire after a longish layup.… Continue reading Winter Dogging on Etive (the Spurdog variety)

Ice and Fog (and a few cod) at St Andrews

Ian plays a small codling

Ice and fog pretty much sums up this morning, from scraping ice off the Raider’s windows (inside and out) to setting out into uncomfortably thick fog and a light but freezing NW wind. We were both chilling down rapidly by the end of our first drift, as the conditions cut to the bone despite our layers of… Continue reading Ice and Fog (and a few cod) at St Andrews

Redeeming Myself at St Andrews with some Autumn Codling

Decent pan sized codling

After my dismal showing at Aberdeen a fortnight ago, I was keen to catch a few fish for the table and I happily took up Ian’s offer of a hunt for a some autumn codling from St Andrews. An easy run up from Edinburgh saw me at the harbour a few minutes early on a fine,… Continue reading Redeeming Myself at St Andrews with some Autumn Codling

Westward Ho! – Revisiting Lochs Leven and Sunart

Sunart conger

I hadn’t really planned on a trip to the sea lochs, but the forecast was mixed to poor and Trevor was still recovering from the damage inflicted the last time he came fishing with me, so we took the Mr. Sensible route and headed westward – besides which, I haven’t fished Sunart for a couple… Continue reading Westward Ho! – Revisiting Lochs Leven and Sunart