Peter Ross from Boat Angling Ireland suffers as he is one of angling causalities. Here’s what happened:
With a decent forecast and suitable tide I took Scrab out to try and get him his first skate. First stop Skernaghan for bait. Got a decent number but they were hard work. While at the macs, schoolboy error , I got a very sharp hook embedded in my hand in an awkward place too as it was hard to make a fist or grip . No amount of pulling or pushing would get it out and it was agony , so it would have to wait until I got home; by feck it was sore though and was getting caught on everything.
It got quite rough as we anchored in the hole and it was very unpleasant at first but it soon calmed downto flat calm The tide was unexpectantly strong needing 4lbs to hold bottom ,which ruled out a 2nd lighter rod Not much action for a few hours until I noticed my line had gone slack . I reeled in a bit and realised I was into a good skate After about 20 mins the braid suddenly broke . I think the skate had lifted the bait run uptide and maybe got tangled round the rubbing trace, leaving the braid vulnerable to its tail .
My hand was trobbing and I wondered if I could be bothered rebaiting,but I did and 15 mins later I was into another fish .I asked Scrab if he wanted it but he said no way after watching the last one he didn’t think his back was up to it
The fish gave a good fight, but I was badly hampered by my sore hand.
After about an hour it was finally landed, tagged and measured. It came out at 124 lbs which is a good size for a male.
Thankfully I got the fish at slack tide, otherwise I don’t think I could have managed.When I got home my wife took great pleasure in trying to remove the hook but she wasn’t able to, so it’s off to A&E tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully be able to tape it up so it doesn’t interfer with the golf in the morning.
Yet another eventfull day at the Maidens.
Peter Ross
Boat Angling Ireland
