THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

That however isn't the entire story. This is a genuine rod and line target, even from a small trailed boat,
and potentially the 'grander' for projects like my bucket list here, with authenticated specimens in excess
of a thousand pounds having already been taken by anglers around the British Isles.
The west coast of Ireland is already a proven six gill hot spot, with locations along the Scottish coast
arguably also waiting to be discovered.
Mixed amongst my two hundred plus audio podcasts are interviews with Irish charter skipper Luke
Aston and Liverpool dinghy angler Mick Duff, both of whom have experience with big six gills in the
area around Ireland's Shannon Estuary.
El Hierro Six Gill at boat
Mick first, fishing out of Kilkee, which is never a reliable
prospect on account of the number of times you can't get
out in a small boat there due to the Atlantic weather. He
and his pals caught several on different occasions in
around two hundred feet of water while fishing for
common skate.
This was in daylight too, which makes the story even
more interesting, as six gills are said to stay out in very
deep water by day, which in any case is close by all
around the outer Shannon. Six gills normally only venture
into shallower areas and up in the water column after
dark.
Fortunately, even huge six gills are fairly docile fish at the
surface, which helps when bringing them up from a
dinghy. For obvious reasons, all were cut free at the side
of the boat with weights estimated up to around four
hundred pounds, which in six gilled terms isn't even an
average fish.
I'm not sure what gear Mickey Duff used, though if he
was targeting common skate and subsequently expecting
big six gills, then it will have been fairly substantial.
Going off my own experience, I did a 'biggie' once on an
eighty pound class outfit. Graeme Pullen, who had far larger fish than mine, even managed to beat a
'grander' on a stand-up outfit, though I personally would be a bit concerned about trying that.
You really need to be sat comfortably when harnessed up to a huge fish in a safe way that won't see you
suddenly vanishing over the side. This might sound dramatic, and big six gills can hardly be described
as fighting fish, but they can pull, which added to the constant immense pressure you are already under
from their sheer bulk, on a lumpy day could just be enough to tip the balance.....literally.
So it's a big, wide, large capacity reel loaded to the hilt with quality powerful braid obviously due to the
depth. Down at the business end we used quite a short wire trace of around four hundred pounds bs with
two forged 14/0 hooks impaled into a whole bonito.
A thousand pound six gill is over thirteen feet in length, so from the wire to the main line you will then
need a good fifteen feet of ultra heavy mono to act as a protective rubbing strip, particularly as braid
will have to be used for bite detection due to the depth.
As for the take, that will be in the form of a few short tugs and pulls. That's it. Don't expect line to
suddenly start vanishing from the reel. And last but not least, like Mick Duff, we did most of our fishing
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