In the second of our Species Fishing and ID guides we look at the ever popular Thornback Ray. These guides aim to give anglers information about the biology of particular shark species that can be caught around the coast of Scotland and some pointers on targeting sharks from both the boat and shore.
If you have a picture of yourself with a Thornback Ray and want to show it off on this page please send it to contact@ssacn.org or post it on the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme’s Facebook page! Remember to …

This post represents the first in a series of elasmobranch identification and fishing guides that will be posted by the SSTP. These guides aim to give anglers information about the biology of particular shark species that can be caught around the coast of Scotland and some pointers on targeting sharks from both the boat and shore.
This feature will also allow you to show off your best catch as we invite anglers to submit pictures for each article! This week we will kick off the feature with the Bull Huss, see …

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 make sure that after hooking your “fish of a lifetime” you and your crew, are properly prepared to tag and release the fish safely back into the sea in absolutely top class condition.
Unlike most sharks …

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 potential of deeply hooking the fish.
The rig also offers a solution to the problem of the tail spines parting your main line as a 10ft 250lb mono rubbing strip is used in front of the short …

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 from the water
handling it badly
other situations outside its normal experience

It is important to learn to recognize these signs of stress as when these appear the fish should be returned to the water as soon as it safe to …

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 the spurdog pup in the region.
To help get a quick understanding of the species and its issues, we have created a non-technical spurdog fact file may be downloaded from here.

Hi,
The purpose of this article is to try and explain why each piece of info requested on the Tagging Card ( available here in pdf ) is important to the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme.
 

Tagger’s name – We reward anglers who have tagged 10, 50 and 100 fish with our bronze, silver and gold baseball hats. A small thank you for the voluntary effort put in, but feedback is that they are appreciated by those who have received them. See the current award winners here.

Tagger’s email – If you record …

Of all the species of shark regularly encountered around the UK, the Spurdog (Squalas Acanthias) is one of the easiest to identify, namely due to the large spines which protrude in front of both dorsal fins
Spurdog are generally slate gray or dark brown on their back which fades to a white belly; they also have distinctive green eyes and scissor like teeth.
Whilst Spurdog may look big and tough creatures they are actually quite delicate especially when out of the water. Losing a fish because of an inappropriate trace …

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, …