Visit to the Coastguard & Lifeboat Station at Girvan

Despite a low attendance from club members the visit went ahead. First we visited the coastguard station. Where Alex took us through all the procedures and duties these guys undertake.

                                        The lifting equipment demo of an injured person from the cliffs

Then it was across the road to the lifeboat station where again we were taken through all the procedures and duties that these guys, who are all volunteers, undertake. An added bonus we were taken out in the lifeboat we were shown a man overboard procedure where one of the crew kindly jumped into the water twice! To show us how they go about getting a man back

All n all it was an excellent nigh t hopefully we do not need the assistance from these guys but it is comforting to know that they are there.

                                          Willie at the controls of the lifeboat with coxswain Gary

                                                                               Man overboard!

Safely back

Inside the lifeboat

 

 

Some freswater action

Stewart had a nice Salmon and a  Sea Trout during the week.

Martin managed to get his kayak afloat last weekend and had some Perch and Bream.

 

Crinan Skate Trip

Willie and I headed to Crinan on Friday with Ticketty Boo! II with my friend Colin to take advantage of a weather window before the yucky weekend arrived. 

The day started and ended fairly quietly, but we twice had double skate hook ups and boated fish of 174, 180, 182, 186 and 201lb between us for a total of 923lb. This total is certainly a PB for my boat. We lost  another biggie and had a seventh fish spit the bait after a short run.

Tides were to be fairly small, but this didn't stop the 2.5lb leads from bouncing away a couple of times.Most successful bait was squid, which took four of the fish. All skate were measured and released.

The 201lb big girl puts Willie in pole position for the skate trophy this year. With my very last drop on the small rod, I was lucky to bag a Black Mouthed Dogfish which won't do my species hunt hopes for 2015 any harm.

Slowly winding up

This month and into May will see the usual seasonal increase in opportunities in the SW with the arrival of the Smoothounds, Bass and maybe Tope. Some decent spells of calm and bright weather will likely mean our members targeting some Plaice and increasing their species counts in the Portpatrick area. Try and forward on some picture for the blog after your sessions please. Until then, here are a few more from Martin who got battered by the weather last weekend while catching four Sea Trout.

Stewart takes Chris for a shot on the Pike

 

Lucky winner Chris Grant.

I took this years winner of a free guided pike trip (donated at prizegiving night)to one of my haunts down in the Galloway forest. Conditions were flat calm which is not very good for pike but we were there anyway so decided to crack on. I baited up two float rods, one fished close in and the other a bit further out.

After 20 minutes the close in float took  dive which resulted in a fish of about 4lb played well by Chris.

Although not his first pike it was a PB so well done

It was the only fish of the day alas but we went home happy
 

Etive shore match

Eleven anglers fished the first shore match of year at Etive.

1st F Spiers with 6 fish for 289pts.
2nd I Grant with 4 fish for 157pts.
3rd M Bletsoe with 3 fish for 127pts.
4th J Soon with 2 fish for 114pts.
5th N Wilson with 2 fish for 106pts.
6th J Wilson with 1 fish for 58pts.
7th S Wilson with 1 fish for 55pts.

Longest fish J Soons with 67cms

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Trout in the sun

Martin had a couple of fish despite in challenging conditions.

                                          Nearly- catch of the day right enough! A nice solid fish for March.