Lucky Dip II SW Scotland boat charters

24/06/2026

This lovely weather has been made the most of with fishing trips from Portpatrick and Girvan plus trips out to Ailsa Craig giving lots of people the chance to get up close to this amazing island in the lower Clyde.
The fishing has been good despite hard work finding fish at times but its getting better.
Portpatrick last Sunday saw a club out looking for a mixed day on the drift and at anchor. Picking up lots of bait fish for a change meant we had enough nait to crack on with fishing at anchor. Picking up a few l*d and huss on the first mark we were soon on the move as the tides picked up to an inshore mark. This had few fish showing so move number two and we started seeing more huss. That day ended up with around 40 huss to the boat from 3ob up to 12.9lb , as well as tub and grey gurnard, coalie, whiting, makerel and launce.
At the end of the sunday we refueled and i headed up to spend the night afloat sleeping on the boat, waking up at 0600 sunday i headed into Girvan for Mondays trip .
Monday was to be a long day afloat trying some long range marks , first stop was to pick up some fresh makerel to compliment the frozen i had with me. 40 fresh makerel in the cooler we headed for our first wreck, two drifts but no fish so we headed to a mark to put the anchor down for a look see. Baits down in 120m we soon found a good number of spur to 10lb and a few dogs. Next mark was back to the first wreck to try it at anchor, this produced more spur plus whiting, pout and poor cod but not much else for now.
Next a move inshore to try the shallow reefs north of Girvan harbour producing a good number of pollack on feathers and lures.
We also had a few trips out to land our passengers on Ailsa Craig for a couple of hours and a slow trip around to see the amazing bird collonies the "Craig" is world famous for. We watched the amazing gannets soaring above us and on the water were razor bills , black Guillemots and about 30 Puffins plus terns and gull all working on feeding their young .
A nice gentle cruise back south of Girvan and a run up the coast to see if the Basking sharks were around saw us back unloading in Girvan.
A big shout out to the team at Nobles boat yard for fitting "Lucky Dip II" in for a mid season bottom clean and anode replacement. Thats made a massive difference to the boat performance too.

All in Its been a great week in both Portpatrick and Girvan. Tommorow Thursday 25th we have 4 slots for a run out to Ailsa Craig leaving at 12 and back in around 4pm. Text or whatsapp me on 07841114489

Tight lines and blue skies
Skipper steve

02/06/2026

Lucky Dip II charter boat running from Girvan this week.

02/06/2026

Well we have lots of good stuff to feed back from our first few days up in the seaside town of Girvan.
We took Lucky Dip II up on the 30th May, Saturday evening after cancelling yet another day to the weather not letting us get onto the marks we know have been working for us.
June followed up in the evening in her car so we could stay local and fish on the Sunday. The weather, tides and sea state were just amazing with over 70 pollack, 15 coalie, pouting, poor cod, ling, cuckoo and Ballan wrasse the day was non stop. We were able to fish wrecks, reefs and of course the rough ground around the fabulous Ailsa Craig! Jane had something clean cut one of her baits(12" coalie) just missing the hook so some toothy things about already. Bonus for the day was the chance to see a pair of Basking sharks on two occasions while we moved about.
Day two was taking a team out to "Ailsa Craig" on an annual bird count survey to monitor the heath of the colonies of gannets, gulls, guillemots and puffins, things are looking good as we witnessed some feeding going well.
Day 3 was another run back out with some keen walkers and local families to visit the "Craig" , a 4 hour trip (ok a bit longer!!) gave them all a chance to see up close this amazing place, worked stones for the curling stones, and yet again all the birds and seals but alas no basking sharks today.
Tommorow and thursday we are already fully booked for the fishing with an exploring trip out to some banks ive fished before.
Friday we have a half day out to visit the "Craig" but friday afternoon is open for either a 3 hour round the "Craig" trip at £30 each or a 4hr landing trip at £40 each

Tight lines n blue skies
"Captain Steve"

28/05/2026

28/05/2026

Morning anglers n danglers, well the weather has been really hit n miss the last few weeks again as has the fishing on our local marks. With fish thin on the ground as seems usual this early in the season we have been pushing up to banks and wrecks we know have been working well.
Will let the pictures do the talking but number wise we are averaging 100 pollack 3 to 6lb, coalie, pout, pour cod and some smaller ling. BUT as always these marks throw up some surprising specimens once in a while to like the 25lb ( weighed ashore) Ling from yesterday (27/5/26)
Well worth the extra miles to put my anglers on the better fishing grounds!

Skipper Steve

12/05/2026

Loads going on despite this horrible run of windy weather. We have over the years always looked at making life easier for our guests and anglers and one way we think is to reduce the travel time for anglers. We are this year running a series of week long sessions from the harbour up at Girvan with the opportunity to fish different areas and species. Our first week will be from the 31st May till Friday 5th.
The Sunday trip has spaces available for pollack, wrasse and anchor fishing around one or two of the wrecks and maybe even Ailsa Craig.
Tuesday the 2nd we have a trip out to Ailsa Craig with the intention for our guests to land on and walk around some of the walks and up to the castle.
Round the Island trips will be available through the summer with hopefully a scheduled time table being posted ashore, trips over to the other local islands like Arran and Holy Isle can be booked on a whole boat basis.
PM for details, call or text on 07841 114489
Hopefully we get a good summer to explore the area more.

We will still be operating out of our home base of Portpatrick with our current boat "Lucky Dip II" covering both ports for now.

Tight lines and Blue Skies.
Skipper Steve

25/04/2026

Well i would like to say that the season up Craobh Haven went well and has just ended as i head round the Mull of Kintyre, but at the end of march we had an issue with the engine stopped us then. After testing it was agreed that the most likely cause was the head gasket so we chose to cancel the remaining months bookings.
With quotes for the job coming in at several thousands plus parts it was time for me to get my hands dirty again.

2 days of mucky oily work saw the engine stripped and repaired with initial results looking good i filled up with fuel this morning for the big test.
Im well happy with the work and the engine is a lot cleaner running and is performing really well

Gonna do our first trip on wednesday 29th and planning on heading to a wreck and bank that always fished well for us.
10 slots, first come first on, £65 each with tackle hire available if required.
Then May 2nd we have 6 slots still up for grabs. £65 each.

Thats all for now folks but look forward to seeing you all soon.
Tight lines and Blue skies.
"The Skipper"