Peter Ross of Boat Angling Ireland has a great days fishing at the Maidens on the Harry ‘O’and tells us:
Scrab and me had a good day out on Sunday with plenty of nice edible fish and Colin had a similar day yesterday so I arranged to take them out and try for a skate or two at the Maidens. It didn’t look too promising first thing this morning with thick fog and the forecast had gone downhill since yesterday . We set off from Ballylumford at 9.30 and tried the usual marks for bait. Mackerel were very scarce , surprising as the place has been alive with them this past week Hunter was no better so it was out to behind the Maidens but it was no better. With about a dozen macs and 7-8 pollack we had to make do and anchored up in the hole. We all fished skate rigs and it wasn’t long before the first fish appeared, a 12lb conger for Colin.
My turn next and a slightly bigger conger about 20lb..
Scrab who had snaffled the only big mac soon had a skate on. He struggled with it for about 25 mins before it threw the hook , leaving him to announce his retirement from skate fishing for good as his back was knackered.
Colin then got another conger about 15lb then I got a decent bullhuss at 15lb.
The tide was beginning to slacken when Colin hooked a nice fish. It was skate on and it looked a good one.
The fish was giving a very good account of itself and after an hour Colin was complaining about cramp in his hands so he had to have a wee seat for a breather.
Only then did I suggest using the harness so after another 20 mins a lovely male skate surfaced at the side of the boat It was gaffed and brought aboard were it was tagged and measured. 80 inches long X 60 inches wide it turned out at 133lbs a cracking male and a pb for Colin.
The charts I use only go up to 80 inches for length That was about it as the wind started to pick up from the east as forecast so we upped anchor and headed back in where we had a few beers at the golf club to unwind Yet another good day.
Report courtesy of www.boat-angling-ireland.com
