THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

Why?? Because based on species numbers, available categories and all the rest, the opportunities are so
much more numerous, on top of which, many species have vacant slots waiting to be filled, while others
could so easily be beaten as they currently stand, particularly if you study the line class and fly fishing
tippet opportunities.
Back in 2003 while out tope fishing in Luce Bay aboard Ian Burrett's boat 'Onyermarks', at some stage
during the day long chatter, the subject of fly fishing for pollack drifted in to the conversation.
Immediately my ears pricked up. Apparently, one of Ian's regular parties from up in Scotland's salmon
belt had been down float fishing for pollack close in around the Mull of Galloway, when one of group
raised the possibility of getting down deep enough with a fly outfit and large sandeel pattern to see if a
pollack would take it.
All sorts of line and leader options were discussed, at which point Ian said that the lures would not need
to go all the way down, because pollack will come up under a meal passing overhead and pick it off at
any level, so long as the water was clear enough to get a visual on it.
And so the concept of fly fishing for pollack in south west Scotland was born, with salmon angler Allan
Everington the main driving force.
I remember suggesting to Ian that this would make an excellent subject for a YouTube video and a
magazine feature, so he arranged for Allan and a couple of his salmon fishing chums to come down and
demonstrate all that they had learned on camera. Everything, including the rods, braked fly reels, line
choice, and range of imitative patterns was up for discussion.
Also, their casting techniques and the right areas to fish in the various little coves dotted around the
Mull, where slack periods of tide can vary dramatically, even on such a local scale.
What this does is allow the lures on their various breaking strain tippets to be worked well down
amongst the fish on the drift, where in the past, the group had already boated specimens on the fly well
over a number of current IGFA records, all of which were released unclaimed as is Ian's boat booking
policy.
It would be easy for anyone reading this
to dismiss unclaimed records as
exaggeration. What you have to
appreciate is that Ian Burrett, who is
projects director for the influential
marine conservation group the Scottish
Sea Angling Conservation Network
(SSACN), will only take bookings on
the basis that all fish other than
mackerel which are required for bait,
are carefully returned to the water alive,
otherwise, don't make the booking.
On top of this, freshwater anglers like
Pollack taken on fly
Allan and his mates tend not to have
the same seek and destroy mentality as
some sea anglers, so pretty much
everything goes back anyway. And that includes records, be they the IGFA world tippet records that
were our primary target, or the Scottish record ballan wrasse which I also took on the same day while
fishing a bait after all the filming was done.
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