Tutorials
Status of the Shark–Infographic
Here is a fine example of an infographic from the Discovery Channel. Note :: It is quite a large image so may take a while to download.
Starry Smooth-hound or Common Smooth-hound?
In the first of our guest articles, Dr Farrell discusses some identification issues surrounding smooth-hound species in north-east Atlantic waters and the work he has carried out in an attempt to resolve these issues. Species Identification and Biology The first and main question that always seems to arise when talking about smooth-hounds is “what species [...]
Identification issues in Smooth-hound from the north-east Atlantic
This week the SSTP are proud to present a series of guest articles by Dr Edward Farrell. Dr Farrell is the chairman of the Irish Elasmobranch Group, Co-regional Vice Chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and member of the European Elasmobranch Association Scientific Committee; in a series of articles for tagsharks.com Dr Farrell will [...]
Tope Handling – A code of best practice
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 [...]
Essentials for Tope Fishing
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 [...]
Loch Etive small boat launch guide.
For boat anglers, there is only really one launch site at Loch Etive and that is to the right of Kelly’s Pier, Taynuilt (GPS N56deg 26’ 22.24” W005deg 13’ 54.03”). Access is obtained from Taynuilt village via the B845 road that runs down to the loch via the old Iron Foundry. Excellent views can be [...]
Common Skate – Code of best practice
This code has been written in conjunction with some of Scotland’s top “Catch and Release” recreational sea anglers with the specific aim of helping you to enjoy the awesome physical challenge of fishing for common skate. Most importantly however the advice and techniques outlined in this guide have been developed by skate angling experts to [...]
Rigging up for Skate
Images and pattern kindly supplied by Les McBride The main feature about the rig is the extremely short hook length of just 12-14 inches. Not only does this stop the trace tangling up on the 450 ft plus drop, it also substantially increases your chance of hooking the fish in the jaw and eliminates the [...]
Avoiding stress in rays and skates
While tagging is important, the survival of the fish ALWAYS takes priority. Returning the fish as soon as possible minimizes the stress to the animal. Recognizing signs of stress is important. When elasmobranches get stressed, they flush blood to their extremities turning them pink. Stress can be caused by: over playing a fish removing it [...]
Spurdog Fact File
Spurdog are one of the focus species of the SSTP’s tagging efforts and are the primary target of SSACN’s Tagathon weekend which takes place annually in late autumn. Tagathon is centered around Lochs Sunart and Etive as evidence from anglers suggests that Lochs Sunart and Etive and surrounding waters have unique resident populations and that [...]
