Friday, 15th September was a wet, wet day. Having been to Campbeltown in the morning to buy some whisky, I decided to go for a quick paddle out into Carradale Bay to see if I could catch some Mackerel for tea. Earlier that morning, before setting off to Campbeltown, I had been walking the dog along the beach at Carradale, when I'd spotted a pod of dolphins, not far offshore, obviously working together to hunt fish. I watched in awe, as the dolphins worked from one end of the bay to the other, eventually corralling the fish against the rocks at the far end of the bay. Luckily I had my "Bins" with me, and I was able to spend a good few minutes watching them feast on the trapped fish. But it wasn't long before they suddenly disappeared. So, having seen the dolphins earlier, I knew there were fish out there. Hopefully they would be bigger than everything else I'd caught this holiday. Setting off from the beach in my kayak, I decided to paddle over to where I'd seen the dolphins feasting earlier in the day.
Dropping the line to the bottom, with four silver squid lures, I immediately felt fish on the line. Pulling the line back in were three good size Mackerel and one not so big. I let that one go. I repeated the process and caught three more big Mackerel. So I now had six good size mackerel. As there was no point in carrying on fishing, I headed across the bay for a bit of exercise. It was still raining. But at least the sea was calm and wind light. I eventually followed the coast back to the campsite at Carradale.
As I was hauling my boat out, I got chatting to a chap who was staying a few pitches away from us, so I asked him if he fancied three of the mackerel. When I told him they were less than 20 minutes from being caught, he asked me if I'd gut them for him as he didn't like doing that.
Salad, new pots and super fresh mackerel for tea! (with maybe a tot of whisky for desert)
Awesome!
Distance: 3 miles Time: 57 Mins
GPS track
