With thanks to the original author – Les McBride
Big powerful common skate will terminally expose any weakness in tackle. Terminal tackle in particular needs to be strong, and rig design well considered. But what is the best rig?
Boat angler Les has numerous massive commons under his belt and reveals the rig that works for him and many other dedicated skate hunters…
Imagine a fish almost eight feet long with sharp, crushing teeth at one end, and row upon row of jagged line-slicing thorns studded along the back, wings and tail. …

The Scottish Shark Tagging Programme’s shark identification card shows 12 of the most common sharks, skates and rays in Scottish waters.
To get your copy of the SSTP Shark identification card

Just ‘click’ on the image.

In the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme we are tagging and collecting data for the following species; tope, smoothhound, spurdog, bull huss, rays and common skate.
We are also recording numbers, but NOT tagging, of all other shark species caught, inc. Lesser Spotted Dogfish.
This guide may be downloaded here (pdf).
The following are the SSTP minimum tagging sizes :

Tope …………. Length 100cm (10.0 lb)

Spurdog……… Length 90cm (6.4 lb)

Bull Huss…… Length 100cm (7 lb)

Smoothhound…. Length 100cm (6.5 lb)

Rays……… Wingspan 50cm (5.25lb)

Common Skate… Wingspan 55cm (5.3lb)

If a fish is below the minimum tagging size, …

By Ian Burrett
Where to Look
Tope like features or structures, so look for reefs, deep hollows, trenches etc. Back Eddies around headlands are my favourite marks as they tend to be holding areas for bait fish. You can usually pick the strength of tide by the distance away from the headland. I like at least 25-30 ft of water below me and a reasonable amount of tide so a 2-10 oz lead will hold comfortable during the tide run.
If the mackerel are out of season then in many areas, the staple …

By Davy Holt
The purpose of this “Guide” is to give the relevant factual information required for the capture and safe return of Common Skate caught by anglers. I also hope it counters some of the fictional information that has been published in the Angling press regarding the world of Skate Angling. This is not a finished page and will be updated quite a bit more.
The Common Skate is one of the few species of fish where local populations can suffer as badly from poor angling practices as from commercial fishing …

The well being of the fish we catch has to be our principle concern.
Whilst sharks may look big and tough creatures they are actually quite delicate, especially when out of the water so when tagging it is necessary to return them to the water with the minimum of fuss and distress to the fish.
Please follow these few simple guidelines :

Strike early: This is essential to avoid a deep hooked fish as gut hooked sharks have a much lower survival rate than mouth hooked sharks.

Be Prepared: Have T bars, pliers, wire …

Introduction
The spurdog or spiny dogfish has been fished beyond safe biological levels and are classed as critically endangered so please treat any fish you catch with respect and release them as soon as possible.
Whilst Spurdog may look big and tough creatures they are actually quite delicate especially when out of the water.
This code has been written so that you can enjoy fishing for spurdog but most importantly cause the minimum of damage to any Spurdog you are lucky enough to encounter.
It is worth remembering that the sharp …

Author :: Davy Holt
General
The purpose of this ‘code of conduct’ is to act as a guide for the capture and safe return of common skate caught by anglers.
The common skate is one of the few species of fish where local populations can suffer as badly from poor angling practices as from commercial fishing pressure. The once prolific grounds off the Northern & Western coast of Scotland were wiped out in the 1970’s due in part to the now frowned upon practice of anglers bringing skate ashore to be …

Approved by the NFSA, SACN, SFSA, Shark Trust and the UK shark tagging programme
Introduction
Whilst tope may look big and tough creatures they are actually quite delicate especially when out of the water. This code has been written so that you can enjoy tope angling but most importantly cause the minimum of damage to any tope you are lucky enough to encounter. Please remember a gut hooked fish is usually down to bad angling practise and should be avoided by striking early and releasing a tope at the side of the …