March '15 Report

Spring is well under way and so are the fish that come with it. We have seen the start of the pollock out on the wrecks with plenty of sprats marking for them to feed on as well as small cuttle fish. The first flatfish of the year have hit the deck with turbot, brill and plaice all making an appearance on our first trip down west. It is the first season that I have caught a brill before turbot on the banks, I usually think later in the year is better for them. We haven’t had any monsters yet but I think we should start seeing a few bigger ones after this big spring tide coming up this weekend. I’ve mentioned it in the last couple of reports but even now, when they have usually disappeared, the spurdogs are still plentiful out on the banks. Just yesterday the staff from Greenoke Energy managed 14 spurs to 21lb along with 11 blonde rays to 28lb in a day that was none stop action start to finish. I’ve started to use 6/0 circle hooks pretty much all the time for this sort of catch and release fishing as they leave the fish unharmed with the hook point always settling in the corner of the mouth and not further to the back.

Sam Cumming

Silver Spray II

Cracking day on the spurs