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A small lul in the weather at the weekend let a group of eight hardy anglers venture out to fish the first senior competition held by the club since August in temperatures that were touching just above freezing. Following virtually every Saturday since the end of August been unsuitable for fishing due to strong winds, it was a welcome change to finally get a day out afloat.
With the club’s boat the SYSAC 2 now back over in Stornoway for the winter, despite the slightly lower winds on Saturday, strong northerly winds all week had meant that further out into the Minch was pretty unsettled, so when leaving from Stornoway Harbour skipper Angie Mopp was unsure on just how far out we would get out.
The winner on the day was Ian Kennedy with 70 points for the 100% with Alan Montgomery in second place with 57 points for 81.43%. This was Ian’s first trip out with the club for 4 years, and on a day that was very much bit of a lottery with whom was catching what, some good work fishing jelly eels on a slow retrieve managed to get him 2-3 Lythe (Pollack) which was enough for him to come top of the boat on the day.
To start the day, first of was a stop just off Holm Rocks to see if any Mackerel were around, 2-3 or three came aboard, along with a surprise Herring for Alan Montgomery. Next was a shift a few hundred yards along to fish at the back of Holm Island, here a number of small Coalfish were caught with some larger ones among them up to Zone 3 in size. Whilst fishing for Coalfish and hoping that a Lythe (Pollack) may jump on, anglers were bringing in strings of Coalfish with the vast majority of them just slightly undersize, but there was a few of them well over the 35cm minimum size. Whilst everyone was busy catching Coalfish, as usual when fishing close inshore marks over hard ground Angie Mopp stuck down baits instead of working lures in hope there may be a Wrasse around, and within minutes he was rewarded as his plan came to fruition, and he was grinning ear to ear like the “Cat that got the Cream” as he took a good sized Ballan Wrasse that was “probably” well into Zone 2 in size over the gunnels and held it gleefully for everyone to see. Now I used the word “probably”, as under club competition rules, for each fish that is caught to be counted, it must be measured and verified by another angler, and as Angie Mopp was so carried away with excitement at catching a good sized Ballan he returned the fish to the sea as usual, but forgot to carry out one certain important process... he forgot to measure the fish, making the fish ineligible to be counted in the competition! Despite a cocktail of various protests from a rightly so disappointed Angie the rest of the day, such as “it should be counted as a Zone 1 fish” and “I should at least get the species points...” once he eventually came to terms with his mistake he realised his protests were in vain... sadly Mopp didn’t catch another Ballan Wrasse all day. It has to be mentioned to coincide with his blooper, that ironically Angie was sporting a nice new bait box onboard, with a big logo with the word “Wiser” written on it.....
A few more drifts seen more Coalfish been caught, and a couple more Ballan Wrasse come aboard, including two nice ones to Steve Phipps, but the fishing was slowing down, so Angie Mopp suggested a shift over to the other side, fishing the back of Arnish.
Fishing at Arnish was not to good at all with just a single Lythe coming in to Ian Kannedy, and a few undersized Coalies, so Mopp moved to a mark just up the coast known as “The Bow”. The fishing over this reef was slightly better with some good sized Coalifsh, Pollack, and the odd Cuckoo Wrasse and Ballan Wrasse coming aboard. Sadly no sign of any Cod or Ling that over the years the mark has been known for producing, so it was decided to head out to a mark just out of Grimshader known as “The Caranoch”, again a mark that was known for producing the odd Cod and Ling in the past... but a few drifts over the peak and all that was coming aboard was numerous Poor Cod and some small Cuckoo Wrasse, though Ross Hall did manage a small Red Gurnard. After a few drifts and thoughts of heading back to “The Bow” where the fishing was slightly better, Donnie Maciver surprised everyone by bringing in the best fish of the day, a good sized Ling.
As the afternoon drew to a close, and the light began to fade, it was decided to have one last drift at “The Bow” on the way back to Stornoway Harbour,when we got there a few Pollack came in to Ian Kennedy and Ross Hall, but not much else was caught.
It has to be mentioned that Gillies Mackenzie managed to bring onboard three large stones from the sea bed, one from “The Caranoch”, one from the back of Arnish, and a very large one from the back of Holm Island. Maybe if he had concentrated on trying to catch fish rather than stones he would off had a better day days fishing!
Species caught on the day included Mackerel, Herring, Ballan Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse, Coalfish, Pollack and Poor Cod.
| |
Angler |
Pts |
% |
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. |
Iain Kennedy
Allan Montgomery
Gillies Mackenzie
Angus "Mopp" Macdonald
Ross Hall
Steve Phipps
Donnie Maciver
Iain "Nuts" Maclean |
70
57
48
45
44
36
19
14 |
100
81.43
68.57
100
54.29
51.43
27.14
20 |
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