Mixed bags in the last Skye sessions for 2017!

Well its that time of the year again and Ive only got another week before going back to Greece for holidays...
Ive been out twice and had some surprising results especially for this time of year!
On Monday there were brisk Southwesterlies pushing through that significantly raised the temperatures and despite the choppy sea, I found the fish very active.
I used a variety of lures and techniques that included baited bucktails, soft jerkbaits on darting jigheads, paddletails on cheburashka, slow jigs and even topwaters! It was just as I brought my softplastics up that I saw fish following and hitting them at the surface that lead me to take out a surface lure (I keep one in my bag no matter what the season) and start casting it around. I had a couple of hits from pollock close in but the coalies were on a roll and kept smashing the little Yokozuna 105 FCM! Too bad I had the LSJ setup with me as they were in excellent condition (eating all those sprats lately)!
The metals, softplastics and baited bucktails didn't produce any monsters that day but the variety was nice with pollock, wrasse, coalies and my first codling from Neist Point that hit a 40g Slow jig at distance!

Hopefully they'll make a comeback...

The Northern angler's delight!

They wanted that lure!

The videos of the session.

Today the weather was much calmer and appearing ideal but the big tides and no wind definitely affected the fish. Moreover I saw lots of birds on Monday (including gannets and seagulls) while this time only a few cormorants were working the area. This clearly shows that the baitfish shoals weren't close in and that explains the complete lack of coalies today... Such small differences in weather and conditions mean everything at this time of year.
Nevertheless I had some steady action of pollock and wrasse (again no monsters) that showed a preference for slow/dragging presentations (Texas and cheburashka) and even the pollock seemed to be keeping hard to the bottom. As it happens I did bring the LRF setup with me this time but I only raised one little pollock to my mini topwater lure... eh well we cant have it all!

Always welcome!

Anyway I think that this is it for my UK fishing for this year and cant wait to target some of the Med's species back home. Hopefully the barracudas will be forthcoming this year!

Tight lines and Merry Christmas to all!

Here comes the snow and a PB!

The weather has been cold for weeks and a few days ago the Island was draped in snow! This coincided with reduced intensity winds and small tides...
Needless to say I was raring to go for a few casts and got my chance yesterday morning.
I went out the house in the morning ready to set off but realised that everything was frozen! And moreover being a Sunday I wasn't very sure if the road to my mark would be clear... After seeing a couple neighbours struggling to get their car out, I decided to go back indoors and maybe wait till later hoping that the sun might melt some of the ice.

Imposing landscape...

Around midday I couldn't wait any longer and headed out...
The drive was a bit tricky at some points but not too bad and at last I reached my mark to find perfect conditions. Ebbing tide, overcast and with a slight breeze. I had my LSJ setup with me today as I wanted the extra casting distance and was mainly gonna use large lures on heavy weights.
I clipped on a 14cm Delalande Shadka II on a 40g jighead and started casting about.
I could feel bites near the bottom but nothing big enough to take the large lure.  After a couple more casts I connected with a heavy fish near the bottom! It bend the Solpara like never before and took plenty of line from my tight drag but fortunately didn't snag me on any kelp or rocks. some more steady pump and wind later and I got her up... I knew she was big and as soon as I thump-held her I measured her on the butt of my rod as I have some tape at the 80cm mark that is the supposed length for an 11lbs fish. She was longer than that and I was elated! Got a couple pics of her against the measuring tape and she was about 83cm and in excellent condition. A stonking fish and my new PB!
After a couple pics I quickly unhooked her and plunged her in the sea, typically for this time of year and mark she swam off strong...

A brute!

I fished a bit more catching some usual sized fish but I felt this session couldn't really get any better and called it a day.
Some notes for the day:

• Though I saw plenty of cormorants, the gannets and gulls weren't about and along with the lack of coalies I reckon that the baitfish shoals were further out.
• Again the big lures brought the bigger fish...
• Definitely needing the heavier gear for these fish!
• Used metals (mainly slow jigs) but they proved too indiscriminate and got hit by all sizes of fish.
• Solpara rods are lucky 😉(previous confirmed PB on my LRF Solpara!)

Tight lines!


Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: Duel X wire X8 PE1.5
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs and 25lbs
Lures: 14cm Delalande Shadka II on 40g jighead.

Big lures for the bigger fish..

After my LRF outing the other week, I started focusing more on the larger fish... In the next sessions I brought along heavier gear including a new heavy HRF rod, the Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H. The main reasons for acquiring this rod was my need for a more powerful-tipped rod that can jerk 5"+ softplastics on 25g+ jigheads along with the heavy Texas rig and metals. Of course my Light Shore Jigging could do that just fine but its a heavier rod and besides Ive always wanted to try a purpose-built HRF rod...
On the next few sessions I used a variety of lures and presentations but the biggest fish showed a clear preferenc to the larger soft jerkbaits.. Clearly the presence of herring played a significant role in that.
Below some pics:

Megabass Giant Xlayer gets a solid one!

A beaut of a wrasse..

Another nice fish.

Xlayer does it again!

... And videos as usual. On the second video I use the new rod and its action can be seen.

I'm not gonna go in length about the Power Rock here as Ive only used it a few times but from the start it feels like a very solid and light rod for its rating. Kinda reminds me of the Gamakatsu Akilas rods and has great sensitivity. Most of the bites seemed to lead into hookups with only a couple unhookings. The one thing I'm not too keen on is the top part of the reel seat. It screws down to the reel arm but it has little EVA-Duplon there and gets slippery on wet hands. In any case it appears Ill be getting the gloves on soon as there's cold weather coming and then it shouldn't be too bad...
There are still large shoals of baitfish about but as I mentioned above the weather is turning and I'm not sure when Ill be able to get some fishing done again...

Tight Lines


Gear used.
Rod: APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96 ML, Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H
Reel: Shimano Stradic FK C3000, Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X8 PE 1.2, Duel X wire X8 PE1.5
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs and 25lbs
Lures: Various but 5" soft jerkbaits on 20g-28g darting jigheads most effective on the better fish.