Portpatrick Charters. Skippered boat charter
Fish the North Channel out of Portpatrick on Rhins Ranger with local skipper Ian Cerexhe.
Our boat, Rhins Ranger, is a 36 ft Cygnus “Cy-fish” design, purpose built for sea angling. It is MCA coded Category 2 (up to 60 nautical miles from a safe haven) for 12 passengers and 2 crew.
There is a toilet on board and we provide complimentary hot drinks all day.
First class tackle can be provided free of charge (except for charges for losses and breakages) but please request in advance.
For a full day’s fishing we depart at 09.00 and return at 16.00 and we can be on good fishing marks within 15 minutes of leaving harbour though we expect to range much further than that in the course of a day
A typical day will cover both drift fishing and fishing at anchor at different stages of the tide. We fish over banks and reefs offshore for a wide range of species, while close inshore, around rocky points and skerries, pollack give exciting sport in the strong tide runs.
We have some excellent wreck fishing within reach, depending upon neap tides and fine weather.
The Species
You may expect to catch any of our regular species such as mackerel, herring, launce, cod, haddock, whiting, ling, coalfish, pollack, pouting, plaice, dab, turbot, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, grey, red & tub gurnard, lesser spotted dogfish, bull huss, spurdog, smooth hound, tope, thornback ray, conger.
Catch & Release
We like to remind our clients of the need for conservation and responsible fishing. We encourage catch & release for all species on the principle that “if you are not going to eat it then please release it”. However we insist upon catch & release for tope, which we record and tag where possible before release.
From mid-summer until autumn very large tope may be encountered but unless you are properly rigged you have small chance of boating them. Therefore if you specifically want to go tope fishing let us know in advance and we will see you are equipped and rigged properly to aid both catching and releasing.
The Seasons
Generally speaking we operate out of Portpatrick in summer and out of Stranraer, in the more sheltered waters of Loch Ryan, during the winter. However, our permanent moorings in both locations allow us to vary that in response to clients’ wishes, fishing opportunities and, at all times, the weather
Scenery & nature watching
Much of the coast of The Rhins of Galloway is inaccessible by road. We can show you its dramatic cliffs and secluded bays.
Sea bird species are well represented along our coastline generally. There are particularly notable breeding sites such as Mull of Galloway and the gannet colonies of The Scare Rocks to the south and Ailsa Craig to the north.
Any of these is a full-day outing and, of course, fine weather dependant.
At any time we may encounter basking sharks, seals, porpoises, various dolphin species and minke whales although sightings are sporadic and do not support dedicated “whale watching” trips.
Booking & Charges
Our main business is skippered charter where a group, of any size up to a maximum twelve, takes the boat for a day for their exclusive use at a day rate.
However we try to accommodate individuals by holding “open charter” days when, subject to a minimum number of participants, we charge a rate per person.
For guidance, for the 2009 season a full day charter is £350 for sea angling.
A day charter for other purposes, such as bird watching which will involve relatively long distance cruising, will incur a further charge to cover extra fuel.
The rate for “open charter” anglers is £40 per person per day.
Contact
Portpatrick Charters. Skippered boat charter
7 South Crescent
Portpatrick
Dumfries
DG9 8JR
Great Britain
Tel: +44 (1776) 810271
Mobile +44 (7917) 798624
E-Mail: icerexhe@tiscali.co.uk
WWW: http://www.portpatrickcharters.co.uk
