Frustrating sport fishing. You do your homework, prepare special rigs, procure a range of natural baits from tackle shops, study local sites to pick up hints and tips, and novices, only few paces away from you on the boat, hook into fish and you don’t.
Three young girls walked on board with no equipment, carrying a supermarket bag, and plundered haddock and cod with hired rods, giggling excitedly as the fish, sometimes three at a time, came over the side.
Two of them were happy, but a the third member was distinctly unhappy, suffering from seasickness as the boat swayed from side to side in the tide and strong wind.
She went from catching to being ill within minutes. Shame, and, thankfully, she was fine when we arrived back on dry land.
However, back to the fishing. Slate grey sky in the morning when we cast off at 8am after munching a three-link sausage roll quayside from well-known local baker and pieman, Murdoch Allan (open 7am), only yards from dockside. The sausage roll and a tuna salad roll came to £7.10.
Fishing from the stern, my partner and I had a slow start, but we caught over 30 during the four-hour session on a falling tide. Squid, natural or lure, proved the most successful but, finding the right depth on the strong tide proved difficult.
Haddock predominated and the cod tempted were small, but it was difficult holding the bottom, even with two heavy weights on.
Rain mid-morning was unpleasant, but the sun shone for the afternoon session, but the fish, for me, did not come out to play. For whatever reason, it was harder to catch on the flood tide and tinsel mackerel lures proved a winner for the girls and for the four men to my left, but not for me using the same pattern.
Shrimps bought from a retail outlet added to feathers proved a winner for the chap next to me, and for his friend two down. Two anglers at the stern also caught using sparkling feathers, but varying speed of drop, adjusting the height in the water column, adding squid and mackerel tips to the feathers, made no difference to my poor catch rate.
By the way, adding mackerel to feathers can prevent mackerel taking them, was told, but it was worth a try as I was targeting cod.
Even one or two black lugworm tipped lashed to the hook with bait elastic, plus a mackerel tip and, on occasions, partnered with squid, on a Eddystone boom and another, longer boom, made no difference.
I did hook into one sizeable fish, a cod, but my line was dragged along the boat by the fish. Not surprisingly, with a full complement of anglers on board, it tangled with another gentleman at the stern. On retrieve, only the head of the cod remained on the hook. A seal lurking nearby poked its head above water and had obviously enjoyed a snack.
First time with Misty Angling Trips. Their 40ft boat, a Cat 4, 20-mile, is insured and licensed for 12 passengers and two crew. They do wreck and reef fishing all year round. Cost £35 for four hours and children aged eight to 13 are £20. They do not take youngsters under eight.
If you require a rod hire that is an additional £10 per person and the rod comes with lures and weights. Should these get lost, replacements are £3 for lures and £2 for weights.
MV Rachel May has toilet on board, raised middle pod where you could cut bait, angling space from the wheelhouse to the stern, blue buckets to deposit fish and a landing net in case an angler hits a big fish. It was not required.
The genial skipper, Gordon Morrison, from Boddam, just south of Peterhead, likes whisky and was intrigued by my accessory tube, an Indian whisky container.
Morrison fished in the North-East as a youngster, venturing out of Boddam with local fishermen, and this inspired him to become a skipper of his own boat. His website blurb says he has amassed a tremendous knowledge of local waters, good fishing spots and local tides.
We enjoyed our trip but two boorish anglers spoiled it for me. My colleague and I left our gear in position at the stern to offload our morning catch into the car parked dockside. On return two anglers were standing with my gear at their feet. No way four people could fish from that area and it was obvious they were not for moving.
I switched to the boarding area. Mistake. I spent the whole second session with the tide pulling my bait under the boat.
It’s over three hours (173 miles) to Fraserburgh, known locally as The Broch and, because of the early start, we stayed overnight at Findlay’s Hotel, Smiddyhill Road, AB43 9WL (T: 01346 519547), situated in a residential area on the outskirts of the town, but only a few minutes from the harbour and handily next to a mini-Morrisons outlet. Great if you forget toothpaste as I did.
Eight bedrooms, three-star, but dated. Big public bar, pool table and darts and a slot machine.
Overall, staff were friendly and helpful and the food good, the locally caught haddock was sizeable and tasty, served with chips and peas. My starter, tomato and red pepper soup, had bags of flavour but, a point to note, last orders for dinner are early.
Breakfast starts at 9am on Saturday, no use for those casting off on the boat at 8am, and access to the in-house water butt was locked. Double room £70.
The bed was comfortable but the downers included that fact that I failed to connect to wi-fi. However, we were there to fish and, between us, we did come home with nearly 40.
