Search This Blog

Monday 18 March 2024

A Spring like last year?

 I've had a single session so far this month but I have to say I was surprised with the results and the fish behaviour considering the time of year and weather conditions! 

I set off with an ok forecast that, as is so often the case up here, got worse by the time I reached the mark... The northerly swell had persisted throughout the night and I decided on a quick change of mark to a more sheltered one.  This mark is very sheltered but in close proximity to deep water and strong currents. It mainly holds good numbers of average pollock and usually big shoals of coalies.

As soon as I arrived I found the fish holding deep and close to the bottom. I started with the usual soft plastics and it wasn't long for the bites to develop. Once I got a couple fish up, I started switching up the presentations using some lipless/vibration hardbaits and A-rigs thinking they would fire the fish up as it usually happens this time of year. Surprisingly the fish didn't show much interest in these... It was near high water and I saw some bait fish passing higher in the water column, this possibly raised the pollock up and called in a big shoal of coalfish. I had a couple shallow attacks of them on the A-rig and I thought to try a topwater since they seemed fired up. The coalies didn't disappoint and had hit after hit for the best part of an hour! When casting closer to the ledge I noticed a couple pollock coming up for the Autowalker and it wasn't long until they got fired up too. I had a couple hit and misses from good fish until one of the bigger ones stuck! Cracking action for the beginning of March! 

A cracking fish and a cracking take!

Big and small wanted the Autowalker!

Plenty of Coalies.

Rugged fish.

Standard size.

I kept some fish for a feed and all of the pollock were very close to spawning with enlarged gonads. I don't think it's my imagination but in the past couple years Spring fishing has definitely improved...

Water temperature is slightly colder than what it was at this time last year but still close to 9C which may have something to do with the perkier fish. I really hope I can get out soon before all the fish spawn and get myself a couple of fat mamas!


Tight Lines

Sunday 18 February 2024

Belated report...

 Somehow we're in February now and I've realised I haven't made a report of last couple months  fishing. To be fair we've had storm after storm hitting us and any fishing sessions were few and far between weeks of bad weather. 

I kicked off my first session of the year at the beginning of January and the fishing was hectic! Plenty of topwater fish with the coalies being especially ravenous...

First of 2024.

First topwater fish of 2024!

Loved this strike!

Ravenous...





That session was pretty much all my fishing for January as I couldn't go near the sea because of the storms!

Then once February came the storms let up a bit and I managed to get a guiding session last weekend. Still not perfect weather but doable with some hardy souls...












Then yesterday I managed another solo session with adequate conditions and got a few fish for a feed. The coalfish loved a bit of A-rig action although soft plastics and vibration hard baits gave fish equally.

A-rig action...

Average size 

It does now feel more like prespawn and winter fishing with fish responding better to bright colours, slightly smaller sized lures, closer to bottom presentations and some 'annoying' lures like vibs and A-rigs.

Hopefully the Spring fishing will be as good as it was last year although some settled weather would be good enough for me.


Tight lines.




Thursday 7 December 2023

Ding a ling...

 November has been unusually busy for me but the few times I managed to get out, I did some scouting but also visited areas that I've not been in a while...

I've been on the lookout for a mark that would give me good shelter from northerly winds as Staffin can be too exposed at times but also productive enough to worth the effort. Thus I towed the boat and launched at a pretty decent slipway. I had only a couple hours to spare and quite some area to cover. Thus I runned and gunned my way past saved fishy spots on my Navionics app. Most proved very quiet but typically on the last 40 mins of the day I struck into a hotspot with good numbers of solid pollock! I hooked a number of hard fighting fish with a few spitting the hook so I will definitely be returning to this mark... The weather was pretty good on the day but I'm hoping for similar results on a less than ideal day.

Hard fighter

The next session took place in one of my favourite marks that I tend not to fish very often as access with the trailer can be a bit tricky. The wee Honwave and the Tohatsu were needing a good run though so I decided on a tech free day just wanting to get the rod bend. 

Well, there was plenty of that as good pollock and ravenous coalfish were on my lures cast after cast. It was a good day on the topwaters with a couple pollock on the autowalker 115s but also the good old whopper ploper, that drove the coalies in a frenzy! I had two of them hooked up on the same lure a couple times! 

I had to move out of the way as a creel fisherman put the fleet out but waited around as this can be a good trigger for bringing in fish since the fresh bait attracts them... I focused on soft plastics and moved in as soon as the creels were down. Plenty more pollock but the cherry on the cake came as I slowed right down the retrieve and a nice ling hit my shad! Always a pleasure seeing them on my lures...

Nice ling!


Only took one pic as they're a bugger unhooking in the inflatable!

They love that thing!


Excellent condition 

I got some more pollock after that and it wasn't long before I called it a day. It's really refreshing sometimes to fish with minimal gear and just enjoy the tug!

Hoping to get some more outings this month before the holidays. As long as the weather doesn't get too bad it should be pretty good right now.

Tight lines!








Wednesday 11 October 2023

The red rods are back...

 Last week I had the pleasure of hosting Alan and Paul yet again at my place and got some fishing done. Conditions throughout the week were pretty difficult but as I've said before, this time of year even a short window of opportunity can easily provide some good fishing. 

We managed one short session after work and then a longer one on Saturday. The short session took place in one of my usual Staffin marks and the bigger fish were more prominent there, with Paul getting a screeching run and instant snag-up! Thankfully more fish obliged and we got some solid action for an hour before it was time to head in.

Back again.

Paul with a good lump.

Alan didn't stay behind...

That bend.

And another one.

Decent sizes.







On Saturday the forecast was for brisk Northeasterlies so that excluded my usual launching areas, instead we launched from Stein and fished Loch Bay. This is an area better for numbers although I have taken the occasional good fish from there. Also it can be a good area for topwater fishing as well as ballan wrasse though unfortunately we didn't encounter any on the day. Paul did manage his first pollock on topwater though with the fish hitting mere meters from the boat and giving us all a good surprise! 

Despite being more sheltered than staffin, it was still not perfect conditions yet we got good numbers of fish.

A wee chunk from the numbers mark 





Double hook-up!

Throughout the week, the lads baitfished various parts of the island with good results, getting some good rays especially. 

They were the last guests in my caravan as it's time for it to go. It's done very well for us but it has started to need more maintenance than I can provide. 

Unfortunately the boys complained to me about parking and access becoming more difficult the past couple years and on this visit especially. I remember when I first came to the island, it was always easy enough to ask politely and you could guarantee a parking spot for a few hours. This seems to have definitely changed though and it's a pity. There's limited shore access as it is for most marks on the Island, I suppose it's another point towards boat fishing being the mainstay of my fishing. 

Hopefully weather improves a bit and I can do a couple solo outings. 

Tight lines.


Friday 29 September 2023

Fun in Greece.

 Recently back from our yearly holiday break in Greece. Typically we arrived in foul weather back in Skye whilst it was a very hot September back there. Back in Greece we spent most of the time with family at my hometown but also went south to the Peloponnese for a wedding. This was a good opportunity for fishing there and I had my usual light game setup ( Crostage CRX-784LG, Stradic ci4 2500f) and a heavier one (Gamakatsu Akilas mobile 80H, Daiwa Ballistic LT 6000). 

In all I used the light gear 95% of the time as I just didn't get the conditions or see signs of good fish. I had some sessions from the inflatable paddle board and a few from shore. I had to work for my fish most of the time but when I encountered 'tasty' conditions ( choppy sea) the fish would switch on. Surprisingly I encountered the most new species ever, managing to catch wee amberjacks, tunny, blue runner, pompano and a dentex! I was thinking that I'd get these species down south but actually my local area was the most productive... I did have a close encounter with a beautiful mahi mahi coming inches of my tiny metal jig but deciding against hitting it in Nafplio. That place had a good variety of predator species but I didn't manage to get anything decent out of it unfortunately.

There were 2 days that stood out for me. A wee shore session on a windy day whilst we were at the beach. I fished a rocky bay and caught some feisty wee amberjacks, a tunny OTT and raised a couple bass but only had one half-hearted hit from them. Cracker of a light game session! The other day that stood out was when we rented a boat for half a day and explored around the nearby little islands. We encountered masses of aggressive garfish that would hit most lures and that's where I also got my first dentex on a Savagear Gravity Pencil! 

Scenery from an ISUP...

Feisty wee Amberjacks! 

They fought well...

...but this guy fought harder!


My first pompano ( litsomelanuro in Greek)

Surprisingly few scad and false scad this time...

A nice bream on a metal 

A tiny wee blue runner!



Masses of garfish!




The queen of the Mediterranean!


I also had a couple freshwater outings where I mainly got chub on topwaters. I had a couple donkey sized chub spit my popper or come unhooked straight away that really got the heart going. These were definite pb fish and I suppose they'll have to wait a year...

The day before our return flights, I took a few topwaters and went down the local canal just to see if any wee jacks or chub would give me a pull. I got much more 'pull' than I expected as I lost a fat chub at my feet (I didn't get the net with me) and proceeded to lose 4 more poppers getting cut-off on jacks or snagged up by good chub! I think I need to get a designated heavy- cover  topwater setup for these situations. Still able to cast small lures but with more backbone for landing fish in these overgrown spots.

Popper engulfed...

Plenty of this size...

Didn't get their grandparents this time unfortunately...


As always the days went by pretty quickly but that's the way it goes when you're having fun. Already I have some ideas of things to try next time I'm over, namely getting the ISUP in the canals and maybe visit an island too. 

Returning to Skye in the current weather was a rude awakening of sorts but I'm hoping to get out as soon as conditions settle for the 'golden' part of the season!


Tight lines