I’m falling way behind now, as this trip was weeks ago, so forgive me if details blur a little. Launching again at Dornie, we planned a repeat of our previous Sleat spurdog trip. This time myself, Trev and Ian and a load of camping gear were all crammed aboard.
Our first stop was brief, drifting opposite the “shortbread” castle to collar mackerel for bait. Job done, we chugged 10 miles or so down through Kylerhea and into Glenelg Bay.
Today we set up camp before fishing. Partly to claim territory in case of any passing kayakers but mainly to clear some space on the boat by offloading kit. Either way, we ended up in the same spot as Trev and I had used a month or so before – just trying to squeeze two tents in rather than one.
Time for Some Fishing
Job done, we finally headed back out a mile or so for some fishing. Trev was first in, whilst I was acting as cabin boy and trying to sort out some coffee.
We’d agreed to stick to one rod each, to reduce the risk of bite-offs and entanglements from spurdog. Rigs were a bit beefier than usual, to handle skate and possible tope as well as good size spurries.
A steady stream soon started to follow Trev’s first spurdog. Perhaps a shade smaller than we encountered last time, but still plenty of low double figure fish.
I really took very few photos this trip, partly because my boat is crowded with three aboard (plus fish!). Also, there are only so many ways to photograph a spurdog…
A Hungry Skate
Eventually my rod keeled over into something that wasn’t a spurdog as a skate chased off marauding spurries and grabbed my mackerel bait. With feelings of excitement at a decent fish and trepidation at the prospect of levering it slowly off the seabed, I set to work. With only a 20/30 rod and a Torium 16 this took a while but I eventually got her on the move.
We were only in 180 feet of water, so the haul to the surface was less agonising than usual and it wasn’t too long before the skate hove into view. We didn’t bother taking her aboard and just unhooked and released alongside the boat. Consensus estimates were around 140lb, although in hindsight I suspect she was probably a little less than this.
Mission accomplished, and with the light starting to fade, we headed back ashore. With the boat secured for the night we got a cooking fire going on the shingle and dug out the rations.
Smoke from our campfire discouraged the midges (a bit), whilst I shovelled anything edible I could find into our cooking pot. In the end it filled bellies and no-one complained, which is about as much as you can expect from my efforts.
Day 2 on the Sleat Spurdog
We’d a reasonably comfortable night, apart from each tent complaining about the other’s excessive snoring. Arguments over decibel count were soon put aside however, as we grabbed some breakfast and loaded gear aboard the boat.
Out on the water again we fished the same area as before, but found fewer hungry fish to play with. Admittedly our results would probably be classed as a good day out by most standards, but it was far quieter than yesterday. Even coffee and bacon rolls didn’t encourage the spurdog much 🙁
We did have a lot of crab activity today, with plucking bites and baits being regularly removed. The identity of the culprits was proven when we hauled up a couple of large edible crabs. I’ve not encountered these in numbers before, but the seabed activity suggested there were plenty about. Fortunately for them they weren’t required for camp cooking, and were dropped over the side to pester someone else.
As I said, our fishing was definitely slower today, but there were some better quality spurdog around too. Trev and I shared one around 15lb 8oz and Ian picked up one over 16lbs.
We chucked in the fishing as the tide turned in early afternoon, partly avoiding a slow run back against the current but also because it’s something like a 6 hour trip home anyway. I’m getting too old to pack away gear in the early hours and still turn up to work next morning!
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Roger the Cabin boy,
A great trip by any standards, even if you say slower than last time. Well done all of you.
Hi Ash – I’d be more worried about the overnight noises from the pleb tent! I described it as snoring but maybe I’m just too innocent 🙂 Only day 2 was a bit slower, if anything our first day saw more fish than our previous visit.
Real beauties those spurs! I wonder if they are there all year round – and I wonder if they could be caught from the shore there – maybe doesn’t shelve off quite fast enough… Nice to read that report when the weather has turned rather dismal.
Hi Martyn, I’m pretty sure you could pick them up from the shore at least from a couple of points reaching deeper water. We were pretty close in on a couple of marks for our first trip, and in around 100 feet of water. You don’t really need terribly deep water for either spurdog or skate and reaching 60-80 feet should be enough.
Hi there, great wee read. Going shore fishing at Ratagan this month. How did you catch the mackerel for bait? What are chances of a total novice getting a spurdog?
Hi, the mackerel were mainly caught in the tide run opposite Eilean Donan castle, just on the usual feathered lures. That was back in September and your chances of catching them in February are very low indeed – take frozen bait! Ratagan is on Loch Duich, which I’ve never done very well on, although it does hold thornbacks, conger and the odd spurdog. Personally I’d try further up the loch towards Letterfearn or the very deep marks on the north bank before you reach Eilean Donan. You can get smallish pollack and codling from these also. If the weather allows then fishing around the Skye bridge should put you into better pollack territory using leadheads and the like. There are plenty of spurdogs around Skye but finding where they are can be more of a challenge, especially from the shore – but the same rigs will pick up LSD and thornies too.