California Travel Tours - Sea Fishing in the Oban Area

And it makes for a must visit destination for novice or experienced anglers alike, dolphins and sea eagles, and wildlife such as whales, tidal races (including the world's third largest whirlpool - the Corryvreckan), add to this beautiful scenery of islands. Open water and sea lochs, caves, reefs, argyll's coastline is longer than France's and offers fishing over wrecks, ling and conger, cod, home to record skate and huge pollack. Sea fishing in the Oban area is one of the most exciting and varied spots in the UK.

Shore vs Boat

Craobh Marina and Balvicar and are well-equipped with skippers providing tackle and a wealth of knowledge of local marks, charter boats operate out of Oban. Wreck and reef fishing is most popular and large catches are common. Boat fishing offers a much bigger catch and species seldom caught from the shore, however. Mussel and peeler crab, all will be hooked on rag and lugworm as well as mackerel strips. Coalfish and a variety of flatties, cod, dogfish, thornback ray, spurdog, pollack, the most common fish caught from the shore are mackerel. There are some excellent shore marks such as Dunollie Point on the Ganavan Road just past Oban. Most species in the area can be caught from both shore and boat.

Specimen Skate

Hard-fighting fish, most skate caught in the UK are tagged and returned and anglers are encouraged to do this to preserve numbers of this rare. Mackerel or pollack of 1-2lbs with one fillet cut off which produces more blood and scent to attract the fish, the best bait is a whole coalfish. Commercial grade monofilament around 200lbs is recommended, however. Sharp teeth, there is no need for a wire trace as skate don't have large. The rig should be a simple one with a sliding boom with swivel link with a size 10 bronzed hook. This is a 50lb class rod with a heavy reel loaded with 50lb line attached to a harness and butt rest, ideally. The right tackle is essential, as with all big game fishing. Skate can be caught all year round although the best chances of catching larger ones is between August to October. The British record skate (227lbs) was caught near Tobermory on the Isle of Mull and the area often yields fish well over the 200lb mark which attracts anglers from all over the UK.

Loch Etive

Dogfish and thornback rays, saithe and trout in warmer months whilst bait fishing will produce some large spurdog, spinning here will usually catch pollack. Boats hire is available from Taynuilt pier. And the windsock near Connel Bridge, good marks are Ardchattan Priory and Bonawe Quarry further up the loch on the north shore. Brown trout share the same marks as pollack and spurdog (the loch yielded the Scottish shore record of 15lb 3oz), for example. The salt content is affected by this strange effect which results in a very diverse range of fish. It is one of the most unique lochs in the UK as it has two sets of narrows that affect the tide in such a way that there can be a two hour difference between high tide at the mouth of the loch and Bonawe only 5 miles away. Loch Etive stretches 20 miles inland from its mouth near Connel and the famous tidal Falls of Lora.

The waters in the Oban area are ideal for casual and experienced anglers alike, for diverse and unique fishing.