My friend Kevin has set up a charter business based at Collafirth in the north of the mainland for those of you considering a visit. Collafirth is about 35 miles north of Lerwick, but on the mainland so no ferry trips to Yell or Unst are required to reach the boat. It is within an hour by sea of Muckle Flugga and the grounds north of Unst, although based on our maiden trip last Saturday that's not always necessary.
We left Collafirth around midday for the maiden outing with a mixed group, and a quick stop outside the bay gave us a good haul of mackerel quickly, so after stopping for some photographs of the old whaling station at Fethaland, Kevin took us out to try for some Cod on the rough ground west of the Ramna stacks. The weather was set fair, light variable winds and a cloudy sky, but warm and dry
We tackled up with a variety of gear, i was using a set of three Norwegian 12/0 rubber eels on a paternoster rig, and it didn't take long before the rod slammed over with a heavy pull and started shaking violently, after a tough fight I bought a double shot of beautiful cod to the top, best one probably 17 or 18lbs, with the other maybe just a double. We had several drifts and kept taking cod, i even had three on one drop, but the size didn't hold up and the later fish were codling 4-6 lbs, so we decided to move 7 miles out to a small wreck NW of the stacks.
As we neared the wreck, the sounder showed a small mark exactly on the numbers we had, which is always nice when you are going somewhere you have never tried before, so we went up tide and dropped the gear for the first drift. My rod slammed over and was nearly torn from my grasp, and a quick look around showed that others were in too; in 400 feet it takes a fair while to get a fish in, but eventually a nice cod in the 25lb range hit the top, together with a couple of decent 15-20lb ling on other rods, nice start. picture of an average cod below.
We continued to drift the wreck for a couple of hours, not with any great urgency as we had plenty of fish, but we continued to catch, several more big cod, I had a double shot of nice coalies around 15lbs, lots more ling came aboard, mostly around 15lbs with the best around 20lbs or so, and a solitary big pollack around 14lbs i suppose.
When we decided to call it a day at 5pm we had a good haul of fish, plenty for everyone and some left for a fry for the villagers, without going mad, a very nice result. Based on our first try there is a lot more to discover out to the west as this area is not heavily fished, its quite a way from the main population centres.
I don't have many pictures yet as i was too busy fishing, if I said that I only had one drift all day without a fish, and that was because we drifted a little too far off the wreck you will understand just how good the fishing was, a really enjoyable day out, thanks for the invite Kevin.
Lots of pictures were taken by others, and when i get some I will add them to the thread, for now I only have one picture of the boat, and one of me with a decent cod, more to follow.
The boat is an Evolution 38, named KAILEE, and has a 430 HP Volvo engine giving an easy 15 knot cruise and 20 knot top speed. She is licenced category 2 for 60 miles from a safe haven, and has plenty of room for 10 anglers, a full suite of modern electronics, and a big fish hold. Kevin Tait can be reached on 07765907818. If you call please remember that Shetland has poor mobile coverage and Kevin can be out of coverage for long periods so leave a message and he will get back to you when he gets the messages.
I should make it clear that i have no financial link here, just a friend.
We left Collafirth around midday for the maiden outing with a mixed group, and a quick stop outside the bay gave us a good haul of mackerel quickly, so after stopping for some photographs of the old whaling station at Fethaland, Kevin took us out to try for some Cod on the rough ground west of the Ramna stacks. The weather was set fair, light variable winds and a cloudy sky, but warm and dry
We tackled up with a variety of gear, i was using a set of three Norwegian 12/0 rubber eels on a paternoster rig, and it didn't take long before the rod slammed over with a heavy pull and started shaking violently, after a tough fight I bought a double shot of beautiful cod to the top, best one probably 17 or 18lbs, with the other maybe just a double. We had several drifts and kept taking cod, i even had three on one drop, but the size didn't hold up and the later fish were codling 4-6 lbs, so we decided to move 7 miles out to a small wreck NW of the stacks.
As we neared the wreck, the sounder showed a small mark exactly on the numbers we had, which is always nice when you are going somewhere you have never tried before, so we went up tide and dropped the gear for the first drift. My rod slammed over and was nearly torn from my grasp, and a quick look around showed that others were in too; in 400 feet it takes a fair while to get a fish in, but eventually a nice cod in the 25lb range hit the top, together with a couple of decent 15-20lb ling on other rods, nice start. picture of an average cod below.
We continued to drift the wreck for a couple of hours, not with any great urgency as we had plenty of fish, but we continued to catch, several more big cod, I had a double shot of nice coalies around 15lbs, lots more ling came aboard, mostly around 15lbs with the best around 20lbs or so, and a solitary big pollack around 14lbs i suppose.
When we decided to call it a day at 5pm we had a good haul of fish, plenty for everyone and some left for a fry for the villagers, without going mad, a very nice result. Based on our first try there is a lot more to discover out to the west as this area is not heavily fished, its quite a way from the main population centres.
I don't have many pictures yet as i was too busy fishing, if I said that I only had one drift all day without a fish, and that was because we drifted a little too far off the wreck you will understand just how good the fishing was, a really enjoyable day out, thanks for the invite Kevin.
Lots of pictures were taken by others, and when i get some I will add them to the thread, for now I only have one picture of the boat, and one of me with a decent cod, more to follow.
The boat is an Evolution 38, named KAILEE, and has a 430 HP Volvo engine giving an easy 15 knot cruise and 20 knot top speed. She is licenced category 2 for 60 miles from a safe haven, and has plenty of room for 10 anglers, a full suite of modern electronics, and a big fish hold. Kevin Tait can be reached on 07765907818. If you call please remember that Shetland has poor mobile coverage and Kevin can be out of coverage for long periods so leave a message and he will get back to you when he gets the messages.
I should make it clear that i have no financial link here, just a friend.
