Ian and I managed a long weekend in Galloway in mid-June, chasing tope and other toothy critters. Weeks of windy weather had made forecast checking a depressing business but it looked like we had a brief window to exploit 🙂
First up was a short evening session in a chunky chop, sussing out the mackerel position and seeing whether anything bigger was about.
Mackerel proved elusive and it took a while before we connected with anything other than whiting. Sabikis fooled a few in the end and we spent another 90 minutes at anchor before returning to Port William as the tide ebbed. Only a single huss graced the deck, but at least it was a nice sandy coloured specimen – as good looking as a huss ever gets!
Good weather, long day
Saturday was really the only day with a good forecast so we launched early and planned to make the most of it.
Sea conditions were much better today and we sat easily at anchor – but fish were hard to come by. For the most part we fished whole mackerel baits, aiming to connect with tope.
Results were limited 🙁 We managed a ray apiece but they didn’t seem to be around in any numbers.
Huss were much keener and we caught them regularly through the tide, ending up with something like 10 or 11 each.
Again, mackerel were hard to find although we caught enough during the day to keep us fishing happily. There were a few herring mixed in with them and Ian added a launce for good measure.
We’d a scattering of other species – grey and tub gurnard, poor cod, dab and dozens of whiting – but things were definitely quiet. At least it was pleasant in the sunshine!
As for the main event, tope were proving very skittish. We both had fish on which threw the hook and others that simply dropped the bait, but they were few and far between. In the end Ian managed to get one to the boat but it was our only tope of the day.
Better off down the pub…
The forecast for Sunday was frankly pretty horrible, reverting to a force 4 NW accompanied by heavy rain showers. Port William wasn’t a safe or comfortable bet in these conditions so we headed round to the slip at Ardwell, on the “sheltered” side of Luce Bay.
Heading out into a brisk NW wind and leaden skies, we anchored close to one of the range buoys. Mackerel played ball – but then we struggled to find anything hungry enough to munch them.
We tried a couple of alternative spots but the fishing remained pretty dire. Conditions also deteriorated later in the day as the wind started to howl even more. Frankly, I’d rather have been down the pub than lurching around a damp, chilly dinghy! However, Ian is a much more fanatical angler than myself however and kept on going strong. His reward was a huss and a couple more rays, but still no sign of tope.
Final Fling
Monday was another breezy day but less vigorous and a bit warmer in the sunshine. Tides meant this was again a short session before it was time to head home. And the fishing was again pretty consistent – as in poor!
We both managed tope runs but mine threw the hook not far from the boat (I’m not 100% convinced it was actually hooked in the first place). Ian managed to boat his fish, a nice beast in the low thirties.
I think overall this was a disappointing weekend, and certainly my worst in Galloway for quite a while. Partly down to the unrelenting winds this year, which meant fishing in rather difficult conditions. Our target species simply didn’t seem to be around in numbers, possibly because mackerel weren’t inshore in numbers either.
Probably my expectations were a little too high given some very good fishing in earlier years! I’ll definitely still be back once morale has recovered a little 🙂
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