THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

with Wayne on the rod and Graeme on the camera, which blitzed the media at the time, including the
prime time national TV evening news.
That wasn't the first big Porbeagle small boat encounter Graeme had been involved in over the years,
so it can be done, and for my money, this is one of the hot favourite candidates, and a fish that I only
narrowly missed out on myself.
I had the invite from Graeme to be there that day, but unfortunately was unable to make it, leaving
Wayne to jump in as my replacement. On the basis of the arm wrenching struggle Wayne ultimately
then had to endure, whether or not that was a good or bad thing on my part is debatable, particularly as
he is much younger than me.
As ever unfortunately, in that neck of the woods there are drawbacks. Not the least of these are
accessibility and personal safety, though as I've discussed elsewhere under the porbeagle shark sub
heading, Boscastle, where this particular event took place, is a far better location that Bude which was
previously used, though in reality that still isn't saying much.
Bude with its rolling surf tables can be a potential nightmare both for getting out and coming in,
regardless of how flat sea conditions might be out on the fishing marks. At least Boscastle with its ram
shackle slipway is a predictably safer launch and retrieve, if only its availability was better.
Boscastle is very much a high-water slip with access on and off the trailer only possible around the top
of the tide, which as it pulls back, virtually empties the entire harbour, the entrance of which is also
concealed inside of an 'S' bend opening through the cliffs making it difficult to find on the way back in.
Once outside, that's it for ten hours regardless of conditions, with absolutely nowhere else to run if it
suddenly cuts up. On the plus side however, early in the year around March and April when the biggest
porbeagles are on the cards, they are only a short travelling distance away close in to some of the many
headlands which protrude seaward all along this inhospitable stretch of coast.
The final species, and the one I personally used to get my
particular tick in the box is the flapper skate, formerly
known as the common skate.
When I first fished for big skate with Ian Burrett, Paul
Maris, and Dave Hawkeswood, it was either the Sound of
Mull or the Firth or Lorne according to the weather around
our base at Lochaline.
March and April is the main season, which up in the
Scottish Highlands can be less than hospitable, with hail,
snow, and wind a constant threat.
If conditions were very bad, we also had the option of
trailing over to nearby Loch Sunart which is especially
sheltered, and from where we've taken some very big fish.
You can also hire small self drive boats there at Laga Bay
which Dave Devine and I have used to good effect in the
past.
In the early days you could launch at the salmon farm slip.
More recently however, Salen and Resipole have become
the preferred launch sites of choice, with plenty of good fish
about immediately out from both. In fact, I've even seen
Dave Devine, self drive Skate
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