Lucky Dip II SW Scotland boat charters

28/08/2026

With our next block of trips from Girvan starting on 2nd September here are some available dates for trips both fishing and Ailsa Craig

2nd, 16:00 trip has 4 spots left. 4hr landing
3rd, 8hr fishing 09:00 start
4th 8hr fishing 09:00 start
5th fully booked
6th full
7th open to bookings
8th 8hr fishing 10:00 to 18:00 7 spaces
9th Ailsa Craig 4hr 09:00 till 13:00 11 spaces (2nd trip available)
10th open to bookings
11th open to bookings
12th booked full
13th Ailsa Craig, 4hr 14:00 till 18:00 7 spaces
14th full
15th open to bookings
16th 11:00 till 19:00 fishing. 10 spaces
17th Ailsa Craig 4hr, 12:00 till 16:00 9 spaces
18th Fishing, 08:30 till 19:00 tope, spur, skate 8 spaces, £100 each including tackle.
19th Full
20th Full
21st to 25th Closed, away to Southampton boat show!
26th 8hr fishing, 8 spaces
27th full

2.5hr round the Craig trips are £30 each
4hr landing trips are £40 each
8hr fishing starts at £65 each

Other trips can be arranged to suit if we have space and time available

All the 4hr trips can be changed to a 2.5hr trip if you book the boat.
All trips can accommodate wheel chairs up to 3ft width on to the deck area, wheel chair occupants will be required to wear a supplied automatic life jacket before access is allowed onto the pontoons.
Please come early so we can sort out quickly as we are still very restricted on tides in the harbour. We may have to tweak times and duration to ensure we have enough water to get in or out of the harbour.

Please text or WhatsApp on 07841 114489 to find out more and for booking, i wont answer the phone if I'm driving or busy on the boat but will get back as soon as i can.
Please specify trip type and number of passengers you have as it makes booking in easier.
I will ask everyone to contact me the night before your trip to confirm the weather is ok. I will not chase bookings, if no contact is made I will offer the spaces up for others.
We only confirm the evening before the trip due to changeable forecasts ( and still get it wrong)

Due to the very nature of the weather we may change trips or cancel trips at any time but this will be explained to you and any difference in costs worked out for you.
Payment is on the day, cash only please!

19/08/2026

19/08/2026

We have had so much going on its been hard to sit down and put up any posts recently. We have been updating Lucky Dip IIs electronics to fall in line with the new regulations, a long over due tidy up of my floating office and relocating of the catering department is in full swing. New rail mounted bait tables, more seating, step over and wheel chair access for the stern, getting everything ready for a 36v battery system (excited for this one!).
New regulations means electronics need upgraded new VHF radio, Navtex weather system and soon AIS along with my tablet with full Garmin navionics system.
The handy step over along with an aluminium ramp means we have a fully accessible deck area for mobility and wheel chairs users up to 3ft wide( 4ft gate) and an easy to use gangway on to the pontoons at Girvan.
Every thing else comes as a tidy up after a few years of hard usage with a polish up due and new paint for the deck and gunwales. A lift out for late October and November is planned for this with some new logos for the sides too.

Now to the real use of our boats the fishing and sightseeing from both Portpatrick and Girvan, its been pretty good with lots of anglers and tourists going home happy with some amazing fish getting caught. Tours out to Ailsa craig have been very popular from Girvan with the opportunity to land on or just for a cruise around the island seeing the spectacular bird colonies and quarries for the curling stones.

We are back down to Portpatrick until September 1st when we are back up to Girvan for 3 weeks until the 20th when me n June head away south to the Southampton boat show!!

Sadly for various reasons we have decided not to make a return up to Craobh Haven and the amazing skate fishing this year but plan to be running two boats, Lucky Dip II will be heading full time to Girvan and we are weighing up options for Portpatrick with a similar vessel on the horizon for Portpatrick's fishing.

Dates for Girvan will follow on a shared post soon!

Tightlines and bule skies

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