I will let Neil or Paul tell the whole story. We had a bit of excitement on Saturday at the Spurdog Tagathon on Loch Sunart. Heading out on our Kayaks towards Larga Bay we hooked up to a buoy. In strong winds and lashing rain I had great difficulty in following Paul on his Dorado. At one point i was going backwards for 10 minutes while paddling my socks off. I had to pull into a small Island and wait till the gusts of wind died down before i headed out and tied up to pauls kayak.

The wind and rain was relentless and felt like i was out at open sea. Anyway after a long day catching spurs, thornbacks and a couple of dozen of doggies we were getting ready to pack up as the light was almost gone. As i reached for my rod it buckled over and did a full 180 around the kayak. I only had time to hold on for a minute as it made mince meat of my spurdog rig. Paul reacted quickly and got another big bait in the water. Within 3 minutes it was on and a tug of war ensued for about 15 minutes. At this time it was dark and it was bucketing down with rain. I was bobbing up and down and by this time and drifting free from paul. I only had one pass to get the photograph as Paul released the skate from his kayak and it was very blurred. Unfortunately due to the extreme weather Shauns photos of the skate did not come out either.

Next time im taking a proper skate rig with me.

Nice to meet you at the weekend John, all be it very briefly. Could you get Shaun to drop me an e-mail. I forgot to pick up my rod…

The weekend was a bit of a whistle stop tour for me. I arrived at 5pm on the Saturday afternoon after a trouble free 5 hour drive. We kipped in the car on the Saturday night after a couple of beers..    , and after a day afloat on the Sunday we made the long journey home again.

Dedicated or mad ? I’m unsure,  I think we probably rest somewhere between the two.

Anyway for most people the fishing was grim on the Sunday, the best action happening on the Saturday. At least we were blessed with some fine weather for our efforts.

Stephen was first to boat a fish with a nice we thornback to kick off the tally…

I seemed to have the pedigree chum on again as my hooks were just LSD magnets.

Just one of a continuous stream of these things that I hauled up through 300 feet… :’(

After an hour on our first mark we were forced to up anchor by an impromptu visit from a huge well ship.  This beast comes into the sea lochs to Hoover the fish out of the Salmon farms.

After it had passed I went over and hooked off on Paul’s bow. He managed a spur while I was there but I think the plague of LSD’s had followed me over, as I was soon back on form winding them up from the depths.  Now if there was ever a dogfish tagathon, I’m your man ....

The fishing died away as did the tide and the reports from other boats catching all but dried up. With that in mind and the sun rapidly sinking over the horizon we headed to the shore to prepare for the long journey home. Once ashore the rumble of the Ronja Pioneer was heard coming back down the loch. This time it was sitting lower in the water, loaded with fish and water in it’s tanks.  If you look closely on this picture there’s more than a Sea trooper in it’s path….  was your [-Banned Word-] twitching there Paul ?

It’s a superb venue when you get the weather, even better when the fish decide to feed, as Paul can certainly verify.

Well done Paul, it’s got to be my turn next…

Neil.

A couple of beers, Neil   Where I come from a “couple” means 2 not 8 For some reason “hey fishermen, sing us a song” keeps going through my head…..
It was a great trip, a really great venue. I’ll be back.

I Stephen, it was a good weekend right enough. Might take it to the next level next year and take some food with us…..

I could have cleared the shelves in the chippy at Calendar, wait a minute, we did .........................

Neil.

Neil - 22 November 2008 09:05 PM

I Stephen, it was a good weekend right enough. Might take it to the next level next year and take some food with us…..

I could have cleared the shelves in the chippy at Calendar, wait a minute, we did .........................

Neil.

next year neil don’t leave it until the last minute and we’ll have you booked in for the meal…

to be honest, if jonny had been there you would have gotten fed, the staff just don’t want to work as hard when the owners not there, you know the thing…

of course on sunday night we found out that the loch shiel hotel is doing takeaway pizza now….

Happy Dude - 23 November 2008 12:10 AM

Neil - 22 November 2008 09:05 PM

I Stephen, it was a good weekend right enough. Might take it to the next level next year and take some food with us…..

I could have cleared the shelves in the chippy at Calendar, wait a minute, we did .........................

Neil.

on sunday night we found out that the loch shiel hotel is doing takeaway pizza now….

Now you tell me…........

I will certainly be organised in plenty time for next year. An extra day and some accommodation above freezing point would be a good start.

Neil.

Neil - 23 November 2008 11:24 AM

Happy Dude - 23 November 2008 12:10 AM

Neil - 22 November 2008 09:05 PM

I Stephen, it was a good weekend right enough. Might take it to the next level next year and take some food with us…..

I could have cleared the shelves in the chippy at Calendar, wait a minute, we did .........................

Neil.

on sunday night we found out that the loch shiel hotel is doing takeaway pizza now….

Now you tell me…........

I will certainly be organised in plenty time for next year. An extra day and some accommodation above freezing point would be a good start.

Neil.

........and some accomodation where the staff don’t leave frying pans in your bed. You just can’t get the staff nowadays  

and here’s all of us having bets that you pair had a double sleeping bag, to keep warm of course… 

It was a single sleeping bag. More snug than a double

cracking skate well done.