Rosco and Davy Craig from www.boat-angling-ireland.com had a great day out last week in glorious conditions, sunny, no wind but misty. Using frozen mackerel and standard rigs they had some great results at the Maidens…
Ballylumford was like a millpond although it was cold and misty. The duo couldn’t see the Maidens but the GPS did it’s job and they were soon anchored up. They had plenty of doggies to start with, then as the tide started to flood Rosco sent down 2 skate rods, one with frozen mackerel the other with fresh doggie. This got them a few small spurdogs, the biggest 9lbs
Rosco was eating lunch thinking what a cracking day it was and considering shedding a few layers when got a touch. H lifted the rod and it felt heavy. Just then it took off, stripping line. He thought it maybe a tope but after a few minutes realised it was a decent skate.
The fight was an endurance battle for both fish and fisherman but after 40 mins it surfaced near the boat. It was clearly foul hooked and it took nearly 10 more minutes to manoeuvre the fish so it could be boat safely for unhooking and tagging. At this point it could be seen that a small dogfish had taken the bait. The skate must have swooped on the doggie just as Rosco lifted the rod and got itself hooked. This fine female sakte was measured and turned out at 182lbs, just a couple of pounds below a PB for Rosco. She was tagged and then swam away strongly when returned.
Rosco took the rest of the day off and watched Dave plodding away at the doggies for an hour or so. Just before the end he got a nice 11.5lb spurdog, and lost a couple more too.
Report courtesy of www.boat-angling-ireland.com
