fishybuisness
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2021
- Messages
- 107
- Reaction score
- 800
- Points
- 93
- Location
- Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Part one was the norway trip and part 2 started when i arrived home.
I was planning a trip up the north of the uk to carry on with big fish December! A friend an i had an awesome session and were very lucky to achieve targets multiple times over 2 days fishing.
The target was skate, and we had some monsters.
I set off from devon so i could meet my friend shane near bristol and pop in to reel fun fishing to puck up a few supplies then carry on up north infact 680 miles north!
The weather was not going to be nice so we thought we would just get up there and set up camp in a clear bit of weather before the big storm hit. The drive is something else and probably the main thing holding people off looking to target these prehistoric monsters. We drove through the night making the drive a little easier with no traffic and multiple stops for coffee and supplies and I couldn’t wait to tuck into some mac and cheese scotch pies. 5:30 am we arrived and just crashed out in the van for an hr or two. Then decided the weather was good enough to setup basecamp. Luckily we could set up right next to the rods and battened down the hatches for the incoming 60mph winds and hard rain. We were using a carp bivy with carp beds and it was very homely, dry and organised. Once we got sorted we just crashed out and forgot about the hurricane going off outside. The next morning was bliss flat calm and the sun just coming up and not a sound to be heard apart from shane cooking up a top breaky
This was our first day fishing and we setup our kit and started to target the spurs and thornies. I was using the century bb’s with spinfisher 7500 with jbraid 79lb with 130lb long long leader. Shane was using the sonik black rods with 5000 reels. Just after mid day we were having a steady stream of fish from dogs coalies and thornbacks and spurdogs up to 11lb mark. The baits used were the freshest macks some very nice octopus and herring, anchovies from teign baits. After a little sport we thought about setting up the fire to cook a whole leg of lamb some duck fillets and some burgers. It was New Years Eve! We got as far as starting the fire and putting a log or two to burn down to coals and shanes rod started to do the slow bounce bite using octopus and herring. So he held his rod and set his drag and waited - the fish took off and a long and drawn out run and initially we were concerned of how mych drag this setup would cope with. Well the rod and reel was a bit light but the power pro 100lb was just bomb proof so gradually increased drag until the sonik was absolutely buckled over. So the fight began after about 40mins of the fish just stuck to the bottom. Each time the fish was raised slightly off the floor it would casually just swim off taking more line. This is where shane really had to open the can of whoop ass and try and make ground and get some of the line back on the reel. 
The 3hr mark past and just like most starting to fish for skate think they are snagged up and want to just go for a break. I convinced him that the fish was on there but just hugging the floor. I managed to bully it off the floor by giving it slack and letting the fish move a little then hitting it hard. Its also good to note theres lots of 100lb snags in the area we fished and the only good way to get out of them is let the fish do the work so - i was letting the fish run and you could feel it snapping multiple snags then i started getting it up off the floor, once off the floor i passed the rod back to big Shane. Its a game of ladders and you have to play the up and down game a few times before they give up. We landed his fish after 3 1/2 hrs and being a first he was very emotional as anyone would be. I have to say this has to be one of the better fights I’ve witnessed due to the size of the gear used and it proves my point that most go overkill with there gear especially fishing the south coast shingle beaches and so on. 
Whilst we were landing shanes fish my rod started showing signs of the right lump on the end. This girl was a little bit bigger but I absolutely drilled into it as hard as i could as the fish was under a moored boat! And my line was rubbing the stern the whole way up! Kudos to jbraid! I managed to land it in 24mins to be exact and it was on the bank at 10pm leaving us 2hrs to cook our food and get some beers down us for nye. Last new years eve i spent it on chesil and managed a double fig cod 20mins into the new year so to get this was just icing on the cake for another good year to come
The next day we weren’t hung over at all and just to start the year off nicely the van interior light had been left on and we had a flat battery lovely, because of this issue i nearly deficated myself trying to get to a toilet in time and whilst doing so popped my drivers side tyre wall on a bit of metal whilst exiting in a rush. This wasnt a pin prick but a 2 1/2 inch gash all the way through the wall. Great start to 2023!
So now we felt brand new and the tyre issue was enough to stop the fishing for the time being. It was a pause and appraisal moment. Yes lets just put the spare on and deal with it after! I get the locking wheel nut socket out and try my best to undo it, there was no chance and i would strip the socket before the nut would crack loose - so spare tyre idea out of the equation!
Im pretty handy in these situations and always find a solution, something that life builds into you. So i knew i had an extra strong rubber glove in my tackle box that i normally cut strips off and use for a thumb protector on multi’s and its fairly thick at around 2 mm and i knew i had some contact adhesive in my wash bag as i had to buy some in norway for a crown that departed my mouth last week. I set to work- i opened the big vertical slash on the inside tyrewall and held a lighter to it until i had fresh molten rubber bubbling inside and around the area. I then squeezed a load of the adhesive into the slice and held it all together it seamed to hold together pretty well at this stage. So i prepped the outside area and cut the glove up to give me 4 patches each one bigger than the other. Throughout the day i kept on doing one patch after the other until i had run out of glue. Due to it being new years day and the following day being a bank holiday and the fact we were On an island in the hebridies with no hope of any type of recovery whatsoever for a few days i was hoping this would do the trick until we get to somewhere civilised to get the spare wheel on or change the tyre!
Back to the fishing
We made friends with some scotish lads fishing up there and it was a really good to have you boys around so nice one Steve and Lee.
They were after the same target as us and really worked hard at it.
We had a steady stream of spurs coming in with a few nice thornies as well to mix it up a little.
After an eventful first day of 2023 shane made some scram that was a massive burger with everything in it! Top grub for a top session
Everyone was tired and wanting to catch up on sleep but i was looking forward to low tide and the point when the water slacks and changes direction. I had a sneaky feeling everything felt just right so i waited.
To the sound of snoring i had one of them slow bites pull down slow tick tick tick of the reel and stop
this happened for about 20mins until my other rod launched i to an absolute monster of a bite and peeling line off like no tomorrow! SKATE ON I SHOUTED! Nope nobody alive whatsoever! Ok i thought im a big boy!
The ground i was standing on was sheet ice and the more hurt i put on the reel the more i slipped forwards, bleep i thought to myself! I played this fish up and down about 4 times and by now im soaked right through and i need a drink and a bit of a break. Steve had got ip to go to the loo over the other side so i called him over to hold/ sit on the rod a bit whilst i gather my things. Hes not fought one before so it was a good chance for him to experience what no other fish does in the uk including the 800+ tuna and that is to completely frustrate you after making so much ground and seeing leader to just head for the floor and sit there!
I tried to wake shane but he was comatose’d.
Steve was ok but making grunting noises and saying stuff under his breath when i returned profusely wiping sweat off his head i thought id have my rod back and start working this monster up again through the depths. I asked steve to do a bit of filming and shortly after he held the phone out my other rod screams off so now were 2’s up
And shanes snoring his head off. We both start shouting to wake him up and he did about an hr later and i got him to take my rod so i could take a pic of the double up. Well done boys !
We carried on fighting the monsters only for both of them to snag up on the way in, but we did yes we did the long wait and managed to surface them just before sunrise.
What a session what a start to the new year and what an experience for some green anglers.
I seriously can’t wait for this year to take off and have never been more excited about angling!
The pics below are the ones i cant add to the post
Thanks for reading
Dave M
I was planning a trip up the north of the uk to carry on with big fish December! A friend an i had an awesome session and were very lucky to achieve targets multiple times over 2 days fishing.
The target was skate, and we had some monsters.
I set off from devon so i could meet my friend shane near bristol and pop in to reel fun fishing to puck up a few supplies then carry on up north infact 680 miles north!
The weather was not going to be nice so we thought we would just get up there and set up camp in a clear bit of weather before the big storm hit. The drive is something else and probably the main thing holding people off looking to target these prehistoric monsters. We drove through the night making the drive a little easier with no traffic and multiple stops for coffee and supplies and I couldn’t wait to tuck into some mac and cheese scotch pies. 5:30 am we arrived and just crashed out in the van for an hr or two. Then decided the weather was good enough to setup basecamp. Luckily we could set up right next to the rods and battened down the hatches for the incoming 60mph winds and hard rain. We were using a carp bivy with carp beds and it was very homely, dry and organised. Once we got sorted we just crashed out and forgot about the hurricane going off outside. The next morning was bliss flat calm and the sun just coming up and not a sound to be heard apart from shane cooking up a top breaky
This was our first day fishing and we setup our kit and started to target the spurs and thornies. I was using the century bb’s with spinfisher 7500 with jbraid 79lb with 130lb long long leader. Shane was using the sonik black rods with 5000 reels. Just after mid day we were having a steady stream of fish from dogs coalies and thornbacks and spurdogs up to 11lb mark. The baits used were the freshest macks some very nice octopus and herring, anchovies from teign baits. After a little sport we thought about setting up the fire to cook a whole leg of lamb some duck fillets and some burgers. It was New Years Eve! We got as far as starting the fire and putting a log or two to burn down to coals and shanes rod started to do the slow bounce bite using octopus and herring. So he held his rod and set his drag and waited - the fish took off and a long and drawn out run and initially we were concerned of how mych drag this setup would cope with. Well the rod and reel was a bit light but the power pro 100lb was just bomb proof so gradually increased drag until the sonik was absolutely buckled over. So the fight began after about 40mins of the fish just stuck to the bottom. Each time the fish was raised slightly off the floor it would casually just swim off taking more line. This is where shane really had to open the can of whoop ass and try and make ground and get some of the line back on the reel. The 3hr mark past and just like most starting to fish for skate think they are snagged up and want to just go for a break. I convinced him that the fish was on there but just hugging the floor. I managed to bully it off the floor by giving it slack and letting the fish move a little then hitting it hard. Its also good to note theres lots of 100lb snags in the area we fished and the only good way to get out of them is let the fish do the work so - i was letting the fish run and you could feel it snapping multiple snags then i started getting it up off the floor, once off the floor i passed the rod back to big Shane. Its a game of ladders and you have to play the up and down game a few times before they give up. We landed his fish after 3 1/2 hrs and being a first he was very emotional as anyone would be. I have to say this has to be one of the better fights I’ve witnessed due to the size of the gear used and it proves my point that most go overkill with there gear especially fishing the south coast shingle beaches and so on. Whilst we were landing shanes fish my rod started showing signs of the right lump on the end. This girl was a little bit bigger but I absolutely drilled into it as hard as i could as the fish was under a moored boat! And my line was rubbing the stern the whole way up! Kudos to jbraid! I managed to land it in 24mins to be exact and it was on the bank at 10pm leaving us 2hrs to cook our food and get some beers down us for nye. Last new years eve i spent it on chesil and managed a double fig cod 20mins into the new year so to get this was just icing on the cake for another good year to come
The next day we weren’t hung over at all and just to start the year off nicely the van interior light had been left on and we had a flat battery lovely, because of this issue i nearly deficated myself trying to get to a toilet in time and whilst doing so popped my drivers side tyre wall on a bit of metal whilst exiting in a rush. This wasnt a pin prick but a 2 1/2 inch gash all the way through the wall. Great start to 2023!
So now we felt brand new and the tyre issue was enough to stop the fishing for the time being. It was a pause and appraisal moment. Yes lets just put the spare on and deal with it after! I get the locking wheel nut socket out and try my best to undo it, there was no chance and i would strip the socket before the nut would crack loose - so spare tyre idea out of the equation!
Im pretty handy in these situations and always find a solution, something that life builds into you. So i knew i had an extra strong rubber glove in my tackle box that i normally cut strips off and use for a thumb protector on multi’s and its fairly thick at around 2 mm and i knew i had some contact adhesive in my wash bag as i had to buy some in norway for a crown that departed my mouth last week. I set to work- i opened the big vertical slash on the inside tyrewall and held a lighter to it until i had fresh molten rubber bubbling inside and around the area. I then squeezed a load of the adhesive into the slice and held it all together it seamed to hold together pretty well at this stage. So i prepped the outside area and cut the glove up to give me 4 patches each one bigger than the other. Throughout the day i kept on doing one patch after the other until i had run out of glue. Due to it being new years day and the following day being a bank holiday and the fact we were On an island in the hebridies with no hope of any type of recovery whatsoever for a few days i was hoping this would do the trick until we get to somewhere civilised to get the spare wheel on or change the tyre!
Back to the fishing
We made friends with some scotish lads fishing up there and it was a really good to have you boys around so nice one Steve and Lee.
They were after the same target as us and really worked hard at it.
We had a steady stream of spurs coming in with a few nice thornies as well to mix it up a little.
After an eventful first day of 2023 shane made some scram that was a massive burger with everything in it! Top grub for a top session
Everyone was tired and wanting to catch up on sleep but i was looking forward to low tide and the point when the water slacks and changes direction. I had a sneaky feeling everything felt just right so i waited.
To the sound of snoring i had one of them slow bites pull down slow tick tick tick of the reel and stop
this happened for about 20mins until my other rod launched i to an absolute monster of a bite and peeling line off like no tomorrow! SKATE ON I SHOUTED! Nope nobody alive whatsoever! Ok i thought im a big boy!The ground i was standing on was sheet ice and the more hurt i put on the reel the more i slipped forwards, bleep i thought to myself! I played this fish up and down about 4 times and by now im soaked right through and i need a drink and a bit of a break. Steve had got ip to go to the loo over the other side so i called him over to hold/ sit on the rod a bit whilst i gather my things. Hes not fought one before so it was a good chance for him to experience what no other fish does in the uk including the 800+ tuna and that is to completely frustrate you after making so much ground and seeing leader to just head for the floor and sit there!
I tried to wake shane but he was comatose’d.
Steve was ok but making grunting noises and saying stuff under his breath when i returned profusely wiping sweat off his head i thought id have my rod back and start working this monster up again through the depths. I asked steve to do a bit of filming and shortly after he held the phone out my other rod screams off so now were 2’s up
And shanes snoring his head off. We both start shouting to wake him up and he did about an hr later and i got him to take my rod so i could take a pic of the double up. Well done boys !
We carried on fighting the monsters only for both of them to snag up on the way in, but we did yes we did the long wait and managed to surface them just before sunrise.
What a session what a start to the new year and what an experience for some green anglers.
I seriously can’t wait for this year to take off and have never been more excited about angling!
The pics below are the ones i cant add to the post
Thanks for reading
Dave M
I know people that would try to make them last until the next MOT!
