Sea fishing in Orkney what a difference a day makes

[BigBadCol]

Orkneys 18th – 22nd Nov 2017

When you do a search of t’internet for ‘sea fishing in the Orkneys’, not a lot comes up.
I first ventured up there in 2012 when money was tight, and I was (if I’m honest) suffering a little bit of depression. The trip was with my sea fishing club (MADSAC) Meltham And District Sea Angling Club. We must be one of the most land locked sea fishing clubs in the country. Anyway, it’s a fantastic club to join, lots of good lads’ n lasses and trips away every year and most months out on a boat.
Any way I wonder, back to my story. Once in Orkney 5 years ago I immediately fell in love with the place, it’s one of those places you can go and totally chill out and forget the trials & tribulations of life. The people are friendly, the scenery is out-standing, and the Sea fishing is ……………………… Well it looks like it’s an amazing place to chuck a line in anywhere and you’ll catch fish. White beaches clear blue seas and rock marks into tremendously deep water. Bait is easy to dig, and the mackerel are in abundance throughout the summer months. However, in the 5 years for coming to the Orkneys I have never once seen another shore angler apart from the odd fluff chucker in the summer.
This time however was different. We arrived on the Saturday after what was an amazingly rough crossing on a delayed ferry. With it getting dark at 1500hrs it was a rush to get to the Butchers Dounby before they closed at 1600hrs (trust me it’s the best butcher EVER) It was then a mad dash back to Scapa bay so I could catch low water as it went dark to dig some worms for Sundays session. After about an hour I’d well over 100 lug, yellows, blacks, whites and a few sand eel. (and I can’t dig worms efficiently at all).
So, bait sorted all I had to do was book into our accommodation, have some grub and spend the night in the pub with the LHG & our landlords.

The next morning (Sunday) after a quick breakfast I hit Barrier No.1 at St Marys. A nice easy mark fishing the concrete block into 20-30m of water. Previous times here I’ve caought ballans to 3lb (lost bigger) Cod to 5lb and a club record cuckoo wrasse of 13oz (we don’t catch many lol). Coalies show and Pollack. In fact it’s one of those marks that really can produce anything even sea trout. The mark I fished today was by the life ring 1/3 the what across from the Italian chapel end.





As you can see they are huge blocks and are very comfy to fish off. This is into St Marys side, you can fish any side dependant on wind direction & strength.
I fished 1 rod on the float and 1 rod on the bottom. I had a steady flow of coalies, nothing massive just tiddlers up to 1lb.






Great fun on light gear. I fished for 2 hours and called it a day. I then headed to Hatston pier which is in Kirkwall. I did try to get on here on my last visit but it was blowing a hoolie and apart from hiding in the car boot and fishing from there I couldn’t get out of the wind.

Today however it was a little different today, in that there were actual shore anglers lining all the pier. (It’s a huge pier where in the summer the cruise ships dock).
Flabbergasted I approached one of these rare people and asked what was occurring? It’s a match he says, I introduced myself and my new -found shore angler went by the name of Jim. I explained that I had never seen a shore angler in 5 years of visiting the Orkneys. Little did I know they have a facebook page and have regular matches throughout the year. Trying not to sound too keen I probed Jim for much needed ‘local information’. It was good to compare stories and find a few new places to try. He showed me pictures of common skate upto 150lbs that he had fought and lost at the death as he was unable to land but took pictures as it surfaced. There were cod and pollock well into double figures. A real gentleman and he was very forthcoming with his local knowledge. We even arranged to meet one day to fish a mark I’ve fished before on Hoxa head. I let Jim alone and left him to fish his match, I drove away with a huge grin on my face and eager to try another mark not 100yards away from a mark I fished on Hoxa head.

The next day I woke to rain (lots of it and a stiff Easterly breeze) This was ok because the mark I was heading to was on the West of Hoxa head and I would be sheltered from most of it. (Well that was the theory)



The road to Hoxa head its about ½ mile walk.

For those of you that do not know located on Hoxa head there is a WW2 gun battery or rather there are ruins of said battery (it must have been one hell of a place in the war) Hoxa head runs NE-SW there are several places to get down and fish and some like the mark I was going too you can fish off the top into deep water and a clean bottom.



This picture does not show the torrential rain nor the stiff Easterly wind. I was in the water for around 1120hrs. This mark is literally no more than 50 yards away from a ledge I fished before and caught some nice wrasse from but did lose gear.
I baited up with a nice fat worm cocktail



There’s no need to cast far but I let one fly about 150yards or so. I was into deep water the lead took a while to land on the deck. As I tightened up I couldn’t get my line to anchor, It was soon apparent I had something on. After a brief fight (I forgot to tighten the clutch) this little beauty turned up.



Not in the water 5 minutes and I had pulled in a nice 2lb4oz cod. (tea sorted) I was dancing like nobody was watching what a great start.

My next cast I had a huge slack liner but was unable to catch up with what ever had tried. The 3rd cast resulted in a bigger cod that was stolen by 1 of the 2 seals that had took up residence under my rod. In fact they had an uncanny habit of popping up everytime I picked my rod up lol.

I was soon into another fish and cod No.2 landed.



I missed another slack liner and had another cod stolen by the seals. But soon enough cod No.3 was landed.



I then wound into what felt like a bigger fish by far, however ½ way in all went slack and what ever was on had done one.


I then thought I saw a bite but the rod never moved again so I left it for a few minutes and then reeled in a lovely surprise. I knew they were here but I’ve never caught 1 from the shore EVER. A lovely little ling.



The obligatory selfie.




BY now it was almost 1400hrs I’d had a busy 3 hours almost, I was also starting to feel a little moist (I’d forgotten my waterproof pants)

1 last cast produced the biggest cod of the session @ 3lb 8oz



3 of the 4 cod kept 1 for me n the LHG & 2 for the land lady.

Slightly damp but smiling like a cat who’d got the cream I made my way back to the car and a much needed warm back at the accommodation.

Dive, dive, dive



Tuesday was the day I was too meet Jim. We were heading to the same mark as I’d fished the day before. The weather had changed in that there was not much rain but the wind had flipped & would be in our faces (only 10-15mph so comfortable)


I arrived more or less at the same time as the previous day, I was going tom change tactics today tho. I was setting up 2 rods 1 with big baits and 1 with a 2 hook flapper to see what I could tempt out.



First cast with the flapper produced what has to be the most colourful fish I’ve seen in the form of a cuckoo wrasse.





Keen to get it back (they are difficult to keep alive) I didn’t weigh it. But it was bigger than my previous PB. I clambered down the wet rocks and eventually it kicked off (I hope to survive)



Jim turned up and had a moan about me fishing his prime spot, all in good fun tho lol.
All I can say is “what a difference a day makes” The fishing was slower than the previous day and I actually lost gear; (3 sets) I learned a valuable lesson though. Jim was using 80lb braid and although he did get snagged a couple of times he managed to break them free with only straightening his hooks.

Another ling



The cod were a no show today although the ling did put in an appearance and I even smashed my newly acquired PB with a ling of 2lb5oz (a baby I know but still MY PB)






We fished into darkness (1600hrs) and got to witness grand sunset.







So no cod today but a fantastic end to a fantastic trip. I’ll be up again sometime soon and I cannot to go visit a few more new found marks. Of course none would have been possible but for a chance meeting with my Orkney host Jim.

Thanks for reading and sticking with it.

Big Col.

[liphook]

What a belting report all the more pleased to read it because it's my spiritual home - my mum was born and raised in Scapa bay and I have family throughout Orkney and Shetland. The fishing in the more remote islands is still untapped. I'll drop you a PM Col

[BigBadCol]

What a belting report all the more pleased to read it because it's my spiritual home - my mum was born and raised in Scapa bay and I have family throughout Orkney and Shetland. The fishing in the more remote islands is still untapped. I'll drop you a PM Col

It's an amazing sopt for sure. I think I will end up retired here.

[Shane ousby]

Top class fishing report and photos....,great read....

[sharpey]

Brilliant report. Well done mate.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[pros]

Thats a great report Col. thanks.

[Slanester]

Cracking report mate, didn't want it to end. Felt like I was fishing with you. Thanks.

[billbob]

Top report, really good read. Thanks very much.

[rob f]

Well done Col, on a brilliant report and some fantastic photos ,well fished mate

[BigBadCol]

Thank you all for your kind replies.

Big Col