Last week saw Mike and I up in Oban, Scotland. We were scheduled to fish for a couple of days with Ronnie Campbell aboard his boat the Laura Dawn with common skate the main target.

It was a six man team, Fin Lamont and Ewen Hill, both from the Glasgow region, Mark Cole a well known carp angler from Essex, ex WSF moderator Adam Riach from Keith, plus Mike and I.

We’d got two skate virgin’s aboard, Mike and Mark, plus Adam and Ewen had only caught one skate each before, so Findlay and I chose not to fish, or at least not until everyone else had caught as we’d both caught a fair few common skate in the past. I decided to bottom fish when possible in the hope of a black mouthed dogfish as this would have been another new species for me.

The weather was bitterly cold with snow down to low level on the mountains and a stinging wind coming in from the northwest quarter. It was so cold that the water bottles were fully frozen inside the cars and a packet of Haribo sweets had set like concrete! Not to mention Adam’s now solid bananas!

The first day did not get off to a great start with Adam losing a skate after a short fight, but Ewen quickly set the hook in to big 121lb male followed by Mark who lost his skate virginity with a cracking 193lb female skate that fought hard and long. Adam then boated a 154lber that took ages to shift off the bottom and made several long powerful dives back for the seabed.

A ticking ratchet indicated another skate taking the bait. Donning a harness and butt pad it was Mike Jr’s opportunity again as he’d already had two skate come off the hook when initially starting to fight them. This time the hook was in and the fish came off the bottom relatively quickly but power dived several times typically indicating a male fish which always fight harder than the often much bigger female skate. On the deck it made 60lbs and meant both our skate virgin’s were virgin’s no more.

There were also two other skate lost that first day.

While all this was going on I was fishing luminous Hokkeye’s and other assorted rigs aimed at the black mouthed doggies. Unfortunately all I caught were spurdogs one after the other up to maybe 4lbs and a single LSD.

The second day was equally cold with the wind now almost northerly and the forecast for heavy snow to come in for the following day.

We’d fished a depth of 460-feet the first day, but Ronnie decided on fishing deeper water and went for a mark in 530-feet with the hope I might find my black mouth doggie in it. Even in this depth and fishing 50lb mono we were still holding bottom on the small neap tides with 2lb of lead.

Yet again the first two skate hooked were lost after brief fights. This is unusual as mostly they take a bait greedily and even Ronnie was mystified as to why the fish were coming unstuck.

Ewen finally got the bite we’d been waiting for and set the hook in to another skate. This refused to budge and he had to lock his legs and back against the weight of the fish and just keep the rod bent to apply as much pressure to initially move the fish. This took a little over 15 minutes and can be a good indicator of a big fish.

Once the skate moved it did so reluctantly and only gradually came up through the water column hanging in the tide for brief spells using the width of the wing to increase the pressure. We’d all guessed this was a “lump” and when it came up to the surface it was truly huge. In the boat its length and width measurement gave us a weight of 205lbs, a cracking fish!

With everyone having now caught I took the next run which produced a 174lber for me, this fish with a tag, no 4963, in the wing from a previous capture and yet again illustrating that catch and release is an important part of sea angling providing much needed information on these still little understood fish.

The final skate came to Adam who landed another big female skate of 183lbs that had him pouring sweat as it repeatedly made short dives back for the seabed.

A great couple of days fishing then, resulting in seven skate boated and five lost. Seeing Mark and Mike land their first skate and the huge grins on their faces as the photos were taken, then seeing the fish slide gently back in to sea and wing their way down is what angling is all about.

I didn’t get my black mouthed doggie, which was a shame, but it wasn’t for the want of trying.

It was a great team with plenty of fun and banter on the boat and with just the odd ale or two enjoyed in the pub as we relived the battles just fought. Mike and I really enjoyed our all too brief stay in Oban and we’re hugely grateful to all the lads onboard, but especially to Fin and Ronnie. Thanks lads, and I hope we all get to fish together again soon!