In in the hard nosed world of business it's openly acknowledged that results are the only thing that matter. Failure to produce equals failure to work. It's uncompromisingly as simple as that. And the same can also be true of operating a charter fishing business. You really are only as good as your last season. When repeat booking time comes around, parties that had a bad experience may be reluctant to sign up for the following season. With that in mind, any charter skipper with a good a business head on his or her shoulders will be only too aware that investment can tip the balance. Not only in the facilities such as the boat and electronics. It also has to go into the behind the scenes stuff that anglers rarely think about yet take for granted. The stuff that can either make or break the business, finding fish. The problem is, even that aspect of investment comes at a huge cost. Obvious as it might sound, to find fish you need to be there when they are there. You also need the weather and plenty of fuel. But when it comes time to get out and 'Findyermarks', you can't realistically look with fare paying anglers on board. Yet few operators can afford to set aside prime days on the best tides when the weather is right. Its a real dilemma. But that's the harsh reality of business if you want to survive.

There are numerous ways of getting yourself new fishing marks including having them given to you, nicking them off someone else, and pure chance. Most however are found through hard work. I know a number of skippers who during the normal course of motoring about will press the 'man over board' function on their GPS if the sounder shows some hitherto unknown interesting feature. This is logged as a way point which can later be transferred to the chart for closer examination or kept for further investigation at some future date. Time spent deliberately sounding out what appear to be potential marks shown on the chart is another approach. But in the final analysis, however marks are identified, they will at some stage need to be fished at key times when the demands of the business make it difficult to take time out, and not just once, but possibly several times to ascertain what's there and how best to approach it in terms of bait, tactics and timing. So when you pay for a spot on a boat it isn't just the space and the water beneath your feet that you are buying into. It's hard earned knowledge and great value for money

I recently joined Ian and Matthew Burrett who skipper 'Onyermarks' and 'Onyermarks Too' out from Drummore in Scotland on a charter free day to be spent exploring potentially interesting new species and fishing marks. The third member of the team, Spike Millington who skippers 'Go'West' had a booking leaving Ian, Matthew and myself to fish from the one boat. Angler pressure is not generally an issue for the 'Onyermarks' lads thanks to a rigidly applied catch and return policy for everything other than mackerel and sandeels caught for bait. This includes record fish, of which there have been quite a few including tope, bull huss, conger and more. I myself returned a Scottish record Ballan Wrasse aboard 'Onyermarks' a couple of years ago on a day when three IGFA world record fly caught pollack also went back. There is no compromise with this aspect of the business. If you don't like it then don't book the boat. It's as simple as that. A fish in the water is worth many times more than a corpse in the fish box, not only to Ian's business, but to angling and the economy of the area as a whole. Even so, new marks along with adaptation to changing circumstances are vital to keeping anglers happy and coming back.

From an 'Onyermarks' perspective, Luce Bay fishes predictably well at certain times of the year and on certain tides, plus of course when the weather allows open access to everything on offer. But the secret to real and lasting success comes from having sufficient sheltered water marks with a mix of quality and variety to tuck into as opposed to cancelling when the wind is blowing hard. Also marks you can switch to when the tides are wrong such as early autumn when the tope packs start to disperse from their summer long haunts around the Scares, and when either colour in the water following a blow, or flat calm sea's bathed in sunshine make it difficult to get a result with the inshore pollack. Banker marks are an asset the strength of which cannot be over stated, for no matter how good the trick, a one trick pony cannot sustain a charter angling business through the vagaries of a typical British year.

Our day was to be split into clearly defined segments. Over the past few seasons, increasing numbers of black bream have been paying Luce Bay a visit to the point where they are now actually targetable. Better still, one of the areas they show a real liking for is close enough both to base and to the shore to be pretty much fishable on any wind direction with west in it. One day last season when the three boats decided to give it a looking at they pulled between them around a hundred fish, all of which went back. But because of lost days due to the weather this year there had not been any chance of exploring the potential further, though in the days prior to my arrival a grabbed hour spent on it had shown the fish were again there. Then the weather stepped in and put the mockers on things. Yes it is a sheltered spot, and on the day I fished conditions were absolutely perfect. The problem was that on the previous day a south easterly gale had battered all the inshore marks scattering the fish every which way. One of those rare occasions when I had a charter skipper saying to me you most definitely should not have been here yesterday. Small pollack, dogs and a few gurnards were the only die-hards still in residence. But next season everyone expects the bream to be back and that other haunts will most certainly be found.

Another potential we wanted to take a closer look at was the rays. Luce Bay was once famous for its rays. Then, as elsewhere, numbers plummeted into almost terminal decline as the commercial boats got stuck into them. But slowly, numbers have been steadily increasing over the past few years. Not to anything like they once were, but reliable enough to be another potential string to Ian's bow. This was discovered through one of those rare lucky chance encounters that happen from time to time. Dogged by bad weather, Ian tucked in to the only shelter he could find where he thought he might still be in with a sniff at a few tope only to find himself 'dogged' by rays. But not just any rays. This particular day produced a 50/50 mix of spotted as well as thornback rays. The big questions were, how extensive or restrictive was the mark, and how long might they stay. Traditionally, the rays would be pretty much off the scene by the start of September. But with rising sea temperatures playing all sorts of tricks on previously established patterns, who knows. Again only a good injection of investigation time will provide a comprehensive answer, which is always the dilemma as there is never enough time without fare paying anglers to settle the issue once and for all.

Fortunately there was something else that was getting Ian, Matthew and Spike quite literally bubbling with excitement. Quite by chance a couple of weeks earlier while looking for somewhere to tope fish out of the main run of a big tide, the 'Onyermarks' boats decided to take look at some alternative tope marks that they had been thinking about for quite some time but had yet to try. With small joey mackerel plentiful, they also decided to put out a few live baits. It wasn't exactly tope city down there with the fish coming through in sudden short bursts where everyone was into them, then nothing for a while. But what was so exciting is that mixed in amongst the tope, and in every instance coinciding with their arrival suggesting that they too were following the mackerel shoals, were bass that were picking up the live baits. Luce Bay has long been known as one of the few areas of Scotland where shore anglers can realistically target bass, and good sized bass at that. But in all the years the 'Onyermarks' team had been fishing the area, save for the very odd one, they were not considered as a boat fishing target. Yet now all of a sudden they were finding them with exciting regularity at both this and another mark where one of Spike's party caught and released one of 13 pounds (last year Andy Wainwright caught and released a 16 pounder aboard 'Riptide'. The current Scottish boat record stands at just under 9 pounds.

This, if it could be sustained, would prove a real shot in the arm for south west Scotland. Not from the perspective of something else to try when conditions are not good enough to go elsewhere, because this is in quite an exposed spot in any direction wind. The real value of finding these bass would come from the fact that they were there at a time when the main tope packs out in the bay were starting to disperse away from their summer haunts, and of course the fact that bass are a prime angling species which boat anglers in Scotland are noticeably starved of. Many questions still need to be answered. Was this a flash in the pan or could it be sustained. Were the bass about there earlier when the boats were concentrating on the main bread and butter fishing, plus of course, how precise is this mark and indeed are there others like it. All questions that can only be answered through the investment and passing of time which brings the story back to where it all started, can you afford to do it with fare paying anglers on board. Well in this particular instance I think the answer is probably yes, providing they appreciate the risks of failure. Simply to be in with a chance of a Scottish bass is worth the investment, on top of which, as we found out on the day, it can also be a very good tope mark. So regardless of the bass fishing outcome, it would not be completely wasted effort.

Having no fare paying anglers on the boat also gave both Ian and Matthew the chance to have a good fish themselves. But as importantly, it also provided the opportunity for a good long chat about quite a wide range of subjects including fish conservation which is one that is very dear to Ian Burrett's heart. For besides trying to find time to put at one side to further explore the scope of Luce Bay in a direct angling sense, Ian also gives up a great deal of his time and personal money fighting anglings corner at a political level. Ian Burrett is one of the founder members of SOS (Save Our Sharks) which recently joined forces with the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers and The Sea Angling Conservation Network to form a single group with a larger single voice known as SSACN (Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network) who have already had some very creditable successes including getting tope declared a recreational species only. The sad irony is that while the governments of England and Wales have taken this up, their home government of Scotland is having none of it. Spurdog conservation by the imposition of a commercial ban, though unfortunately with a 5% by-catch rider has been another successful outcome. The next step is to prove that Lochs Sunart and Etive are spurdog nursery areas. A 'tagathon' in November 2008 followed by satellite monitoring will hopefully provide much needed data in support of this, which, if it is conclusive, will according to the Scottish Marine Directorate lead to legislation to that effect.

Just remember that Scotland's fight is also anglings fight with beneficial spin-off's already in place for all of us, and more in the pipeline aimed at protecting all cartilaginous species throughout the length and breadth of Europe. So take a look at the SSACN site on www.ssacn.org, and if you feel strongly about the future of your sea angling, particularly for species with a low reproductive turn over such as sharks and rays, either make a direct donation, or simply join the organisation in support of the fight.