Shark mark

IT’S easy to get stuck in an angling rut, fishing the same waters for the same species until it all starts getting a bit stale.

With that in mind, I set up a day out with recent Fish of the Week winner Tam Paterson, hoping for some giant skate action to break up what’s been a poor salmon season.

Never having fished from a boat in Scottish seas, I wasn’t sure what I was letting myself in for.

But it turned out my shipmates included not one but three Fish of the Week veterans, and a few reprobates I already knew.

If it hadn’t been for the weather, you’d have thought it was an episode of Pirates of the Caribbean.

We’d chartered the Predator II out of Portpatrick and as we set off, skipper Dominic said that because our day might be cut short by the wind, we’d skip fishing for the table and head straight to the “shark mark”.

I could almost hear the cello from Jaws as we anchored and cast in, most of us initially fishing strings of feathers and mackerel strips to catch some bait.

Small fish were being pulled over the rail within minutes – and they kept coming all day.

The big game boys fishing large baits on large hooks were soon in on the action, with a range of shark species coming to the net.

And so it went on until, as predicted, the wind started making things not dangerous but a bit uncomfortable.

As we headed in, I tried to tally up all the species that had come to the boat.

I lost count after nine – mackerel, whiting, grey gurnard, tub gurnard, haddock, dogfish, spurdog, tope and bull huss.

Most of them were fish I’d never seen alive, if ever at all.

Kudos to Seaman Vinnie, who scooped a fiver off everybody else for landing the biggest fish – and caught more shark species than all the rest put together.

But for me, the fish of the day was a three-and-a-halfpound tub gurnard caught by the skipper. Stunning.

For a complete novice, it was a great introduction to boat fishing. Dominic knows his business inside out and was ready with tackle, bait and advice.

Among his many stories, he was telling us about some amazing coalfish caught in the Shetlands – and I got back to the office only to find the Fish of the Week entry featured on this page.

The craic was top-notch, too, and I’m hoping to get out again before November, when Dom packs up to go uptiding.

Meantime, I’ve got a great excuse to nip down the tackle shop and by a new rod. The wife’s going to be thrilled...