{"id":27868,"date":"2022-10-15T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T16:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=27868"},"modified":"2023-02-14T11:07:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T19:07:14","slug":"kayak-fishing-for-giant-cod-and-coalfish-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2022\/10\/15\/kayak-fishing-for-giant-cod-and-coalfish-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"Kayak Fishing for Giant Cod and Coalfish in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

At roughly one hundred miles off the northeast coast of Scotland, the Shetland Islands are the northernmost tip of the United Kingdom. The islands are known for their wild and dramatic scenery, and the land mass forms a border between the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the North Sea on the east.<\/p>\n

The region is well known for its rich and diverse sea life and, of course, its fantastic fishing. Each summer, anglers flock to fish from one of several charter boats that operate trips to the Muckle Flugga lighthouse, the most northern part of the islands and the UK. Getting to Shetland requires an overnight ferry from Aberdeen. Since we were kayak fishing, we headed to Unst in the far north, as several bays offered some protection for us and the best hope of getting afloat.<\/p>\n

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Unst is the most remote and secluded part of Shetland and requires another two ferries to get to. It has very little in the way of facilities and accommodation options are limited. Our best bet was to set up a wild camp on a beach that would give us and our kayaks easy access to some decent fishing grounds within a mile offshore.<\/p>\n

As with most fishing expeditions, the weather conditions would play a massive role in our success. We\u2019d been studying the weather for months on the lead-up and knew what we would be up against it. The wind rarely seemed to settle below 20 miles per hour, and when we arrived, it was howling. We quickly positioned our two vans as windbreaks to give us some shelter underneath a communal gazebo that I\u2019d packed last minute. It proved a godsend as it gave us a place, despite the weather, to relax, cook and sort out our tackle in prep for a weather window.<\/p>\n

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Being July, we thought it might calm a little, but realistically we knew we wouldn\u2019t be fishing all week as some days would be blown out. With nine nights ahead of us, we needed to stay dry, organized and ready to go if the smallest window arrived. Later that evening, the wind did ease a little, so we decided to venture out and have a look.<\/p>\n

We dragged the kayaks down on trolleys from our base camp, which was just a short distance to the beach where we could launch. A quick look at the marine charts showed some very deep water at around a mile offshore. It dropped to over two hundred feet and looked like the best place to start some drifts. As we pedaled out in our Hobie Revo kayaks, it quickly became apparent that the sea conditions weren\u2019t very nice.<\/p>\n

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It can be deceiving from land when looking out to sea to assess conditions, and given we were overly excited, I think we underestimated it. The sea state was nearing the limit of what we deemed safe from a kayak. The swells were large enough to consume us out of sight from one another momentarily as we pushed onward to deep water.<\/p>\n

We began drift fishing with large shads and heavy spinning rods. The main target was Cod, and fish of over 20 pounds had been caught there in the past, so we were confident. To fish for Cod, you need to lower these lures to the bottom and slowly wind them up around fifteen to twenty turns before dropping them down again. The fish will always be very tight to the bottom, though, with the wind pushing the kayaks along quite quickly, it proved awkward to get the lures down.<\/p>\n

Before long, we each deployed a drogue that would act as a floating anchor to help slow the drift. This worked well. I positioned mine from the bow with my anchor trolley, keeping the kayak\u2019s nose facing the wind. Before long, we were all fishing effectively and catching Cod left, right and center! It seemed like the bottom was alive with them, and after an hour, I\u2019d practically filled my kayak and one of them weighed nearly 17 pounds!<\/p>\n