The past couple weeks I have managed to do two outings in order to close my 2016 account up here in Skye. I would've liked to have been on the rocks much more often as the weather has been very mild and settled for the most part, but being very busy at work, didn't get the chance. Nevertheless both sessions were on fire with lots of decent fish coming out and I have to say that I feel 'full' of fishing bliss! lol I'm now going back home and I hope to be making some reports on my fishing there...
On both sessions The fish were very active and the general weather patterns were the same. That is around 10C temperatures with brisk westerlies. On the second session the winds were a bit more than brisk with a moderate swell! This didn't slow down the fishing though... I used the heavy gear on the first day and the ML/HRF setup on the second one. I had lots of fish in the 3lbs-5lbs bracket with a couple more than that and also a few cutoffs even on the heavy gear! Moreover the coalies are now in their best size with a proper fatty caught the other day on a 5" paddletail and 3/0 jighead. 😲
I also got a surprise in the form of a beautiful male cuckoo wrasse in the last session.
A good stamp of fish...
Metals were very productive on the calm day...
Heavy Texas does the job...
A solid fish!
Of course the SaltyBait always produces..
Such beauty..
As I mentioned, the second day conditions were far rougher and this affected the fish lure preference but not their feeding activity. While I caught plenty of fish on metals on the calmer conditions of the first day, it was a different story in the swell... I had far more consistent results then with 'flashy' colours and loud presentations i.e chartreuse paddletails on cheburashka, pearl-white sp's on Vassalo Swimming jigs and Carolina rig with red floater before the hook. It was also very noticeable that the use of the lighter gear didn't inhibit me but instead helped with fishing lighter weights and picking up bites better despite the swell and current. The finer lines really cut through the water...
Chartreuse was the colour of the second day..
Loud presentations in the swell...
A fatty!
Recaptured fish!
On the 2nd day metals were preferred by the smaller ones.
Nice one!
A lovely surprise.
The place of dreams...
Goodbye.. for 2016...
Another interesting occurrence on the second day, was when the sun came out and soon enough the bites from larger fish slowed down.. I then switched to small slow jigs and reverted into catching fish albeit the smaller ones and also coalies. As soon as the sun got behind the clouds and became darker, the bigger fish started feeding again and the softplastics again picked the best ones out.
Below the action filled videos!
These two days were all I needed before leaving and I'm now looking forward to some good fishing back home! I'm hoping to get some bass and barracuda from the salt and chub and pike from the freshwater... Lets see!
Tight Lines and Merry Christmas!
Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g and MajorCraft KGEvolution Basic KGS-902L.
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG and Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f
Mainline:YGK G-Soul WX8 PE1.2and Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.8
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 25lbs, 16lbs and12lbs
Lures: 20g -30g
metals, 16g-20g cheburashka with various paddletails on #1 offset ewg
hook, Carolina rig with 20g -30g tungsten bullet-8mm glass bead-swivel-25cm
line-#1/0 offset ewg hook and various softbaits.
This mild weather has kept up luckily and gave me the opportunity to have another session at the rocks of Neist Point. Ι was expecting to find slight southerly winds but instead got brisk westerlies although nothing to worry about if not a positive factor...
I begun casting metals and from the first cast got fish on! They were hitting aggressively soon after touchdown but as I was using the ML setup lost a few to the kelp... An indication of how aggressive they were was when I got a fish up with the jig lodged in the middle of its mouth and not caught by the hook!
A dull yet mild day...
The rip line close inshore...
Good numbers of 3lbs pollock hitting metals..
A few bigger ones as well...
One look and we all know whats happened here...
Yep.. Greedy pollock.
After a while I moved to my favourite spot on Neist as I wanted to try for other species as well, especially since it was near sundown now. I tied a good old Carolina rig with a 20g tungsten bullet weight, 8mm bead followed by the swivel, 25cm line and a red floater before a 1/0 ewg offset hook. I mounted a 4.5" Lunker City Ribster and after checking it out in the water, was happy with the presentation. The addition of the floater lifts this unsalted lure off the bottom and gives it a very natural movement. On the first cast I got snagged soon after touching bottom but as soon as I pulled the lure out of the snag I got a fish take it! It took drag at ease and after a couple runs cut me off! A good fish...
I tied another Carolina rig in the same way and started getting a good number of pollock on it. The presentation was working either dragged and hopped on the bottom but also on straight retrieve. Another indication that fish were very active...
I got another good fish that managed to cut me off on the base of the rocks and as I couldn't be bothered tying another caro rig I switched to a 16g cheburashka and paddletails. Working it on the bottom I got a 'snappy' take and a different kind of fight.. Soon after I landed a beautiful ballan wrasse! More pollock followed but the bites were growing thinner as the sun dipped down. On another cast I got a weird take on the bottom and heavy weight on the line.. I had my suspicions and I was proved right after hauling a pretty ling on the rocks! It was hooked on its side (!) and looked like it had been in a fight on its younger days. I released it soon after a couple photos..
A very provocative presentation...
Fooled...
And another one!
Beautiful December ballan!
The condition of these pollock was noticeable...
Checkout the bite mark...
They are becoming a bit of a regular occurrence before nightfall...
Chunky fish...
I fished for a bit longer but after catching a couple more pollock thought it best to get on my way as I was working in the evening. A good day on the rocks any day but for this time of year it was superb results! The size and condition of the pollock was surprising though after seeing the large shoals of baitfish (sprats?) close inshore not as much so... Will be uploading the videos soon enough!
Tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft KGEvolution Basic KGS-902L.
Reel: Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.8
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 12lbs
Lures:20g metals, 16g cheburashka with various paddletails on #1 offset ewg hook, Carolina rig with 20g tungsten bullet-8mm glass bead-swivel-25cm line-#1/0 offset ewg hook and a 4.5" Lunker City Ribster.
