Birthday morning guiding and trout fishing!

On Friday it was my birthday and I had arranged to get on a boat with my girlfriend in Loch Morar, for a bit of trout fishing/picnic. I had also had a request for a guiding session on the same day and since the lads didn't have another day for it, I decided to take them out on a very early morning session.
We set off at 5AM and reached the mark in 25mins (usually takes 40!). A quick hike down to the rocks and conditions were looking perfect... Overcast, slight chop and ebbing tide.
I set up John and Jamie with softplastics on cheburashka on my two medium setups and after a few casts, John was in! The fish fought well but soon enough a decent pollock was up on the rocks. John caught a few more fish while Jamie was getting bites but failing to connect... I had given Jamie a stiffer, less forgiving rod and the fish being fussy nibblers didn't help him to strike home... After a while, the bites slowed down and it took many lure changes to entice them again... Time was passing and I was worried that Jamie might not catch a fish! We changed a couple spots and as the tide was nearing the low mark we started getting bites again. I had set Jamie up with a soft jerkbait on a darting jighead and he soon hooked up to a good fish! A good fight and we managed to land it after dislodging it from the kelp... Jamie hooked up to another good fish soon after and another good fight ensued! I then set John up with the same presentation and he managed to get a nice coalie just before it was time to go!
  

A chunk!

Early morning face.

John with a hard fighter.

Wanted the soft jerkbait...

Took him a while but...

And another one!

I drove the lads home and then I was off to get the ferry to Mallaig and then on to Loch Morar with my girl! We had a slow start (could be better if I had brought the right lures with me!) but found some fish while slow trolling some mini spoons. Also, I had good results trying mini slow jigs for the brownies with the 7g Duo metal Tetra jig catching a fair share of the day's total... Definitely something worth experimenting more with, in those deep lochs...

Lovely Morar trout.

On the mini slow jig!

Some colour on them!

Not a bad day!

Couldn't really ask for more on my birthday and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Now I'm hoping to have my own boat next time I'm on loch Morar...

Tight lines!

What a cracking day's guiding!

On Tuesday I had arranged to meet up with father and son Sandie and Ben for a days fishing. The lads were very lucky with the weather as we had gale force winds and rain the next day. On the day though, we had a slight breeze that kept away the midges and an overcast sky. Perfect pollock conditions.
They came from Oban and had been fishless on their last few outings, thus were needing a good fish fix... I had just the right place in mind, a shallow bay that tends to hold plenty of average fish and thought it would be a good start to the day.
We set up on our spot and I rigged up the lads with softplastics on my medium setups. I turned my back to grab the camera and start filming but they were already connected to fish!
The pollock started coming in thick and fast, all between 2.5lbs-6lbs and in excellent condition. I think this sudden rise in water temperature and the nice weather for almost a month has definitely contributed to this. All the fish fought surprisingly hard and went back very 'green'...
We used mainly soft plastic paddletails on 18g-22g cheburashka and also slim soft jerkbaits and gulp jerkshads on 15g-20g darting jigheads. Metals have been less productive lately..
After a good few fish I gave Ben a topwater lure to try as the conditions were good and the fish relatively active. He had caught a new PB of 65cm already and was keen to try something else.. He had a few casts and I could see a few fish investigating the lure but wouldn't take. Then while the lure came close to the rock's edge a pollock jumped out of the water and smashed it right in front of us! Mental!, and the look on their faces was priceless! Unfortunately, it missed the hooks and despite persevering, we had no more takers.

Fishing duo..

A chunky one for Ben...

And one for Sandie...

Average size.

A better one.

Hard fighter.

The jerkshads were killing it.

Hooked up!

After a while the bites started slowing down and we decided on a move to a deeper mark, that usually offers fewer but bigger fish. The softplastics kept producing here too and it was here that Sandie hooked the biggest fish of the day... It fought hard but slowly he managed to get it close and I slid it in the net! A beautiful pollock of slightly over 70cm and a new PB for him too!

Daddy does it!

Fun times!

A couple more spots were checked out during the day but it was evident that the 'golden time' had passed. The lads got a few more fish before we decided to call it a day. Had to repair the bottom of the net as it broke after landing so many fish and my thumbs were a bloody mess but it was all worth it in the end... A great days guiding, with good craic and happy faces! It was a pleasure fishing with such passionate anglers and hope to do it again.



Tight Lines!


Gear used
Rod: APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96MLX, Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H
Reel: 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
Lures: Various

First fish on the fly!

Back in Christmas, my girlfriend bought me a fly fishing setup as a present and I have spent some time practising and even tried a couple times but without success. The fish are now in the shallows though as the sandeel are in. So the other day I decided on a full-on flyfishing session on a shallow mark.
The rod is only an introductory 9ft 8wt and I had two reels, one spooled with weight forward line and a 3m sinking topshot, while the other was spooled with a fast-sink line.
I didn't use any fancy flies (I'm too worried about losing them on rocks while casting!) just some bulk bought clousers in two colours, a chartreuse/white and a black/ brownish on a 20lbs fluorocarbon leader.
After the hike to the spot, conditions were perfect and I soon started casting (or attempting to anyway 😁) and letting my fly sink.
I was fiddling with my phone at some point and then as I started stripping the line in, I felt the sudden weight and the rod arched over... Fish on!
The feeling was so different to a spinning rod and the fight was pretty mental! I soon got the hang of it though and managed to land a beautifully conditioned pollock of only about 2.5lbs! Was expecting a much larger fish after such a fight but it was great fun nonetheless...
I kept casting at the same area and the fish seemed to be shoaled as I got a few more even bigger ones than the first!

Excellent condition!

Not bad for a first timer...

It was interesting to note how they wouldnt realise they were caught at times and theyd start pulling hard straight after! Also all the fish were relatively 'green' when landed and went back like stink.
I was expecting them to inhale the fly but surprisingly all hookups were pretty neat with the last fish just barely hooked on the bottom lip.
The action didn't last long and the fish either moved on or just ignored my offerings. I had a few follows too that were very cool to see in the gin clear water!
I know that had I brought the spinning gear, Id have bagged up as I could cover more water but I felt very satisfied with my results and decided to call it a day.
Definitely need more sessions under my belt, especially to get the casting sorted but I'm also hoping to get one on a popper fly! Now that would be awesome!
Heres the video of the session.

The good weather continues and just waiting for the mackerel now. Very excited for this summer's fishing!

Tight Lines!

Summer visitors started showing!

The past couple weeks the weather has improved drastically and the waters have been warming fast. As a result, the fry has filled the shallow bays and some summer species made an appearance... It's amazing to note how much some sunshine speeds things up! Sandeels are in and that makes pollock very picky at this time of year thus I turned my attention to lighter targets, namely flounders and wrasse. I was intending to do some freshwater fishing, but the swarms of midges that also came along with the heat, put me off a bit..!
The flounder show up in a couple small harbours in the South part of the island and they're usually pretty aggressive. I used and LRF setup with 3-6g cheburaskas and fat micro pilkers with a #6-#10 hook rigged with Isome or Jackall Peke Peke/Ring.
I suspect the intense sunlight made them more cautious than usual and they were harder to tempt, but with a little persuasion a few came out for a pic!

LRF in the sun! Nothing better!

Such cool fish!

Crystal clear!

On a micro pilker tipped with isome worm.

Saw this one take the lure...

Then it was the wrasse's turn! I was actually fishing for pollock in a shallow mark but they were ignoring my lures for the most part... As I brought the shad over a rocky ledge I saw a shape following it and gave a couple jiggles to the lure. The fish hit and I struck to a plump wee ballan. I recast again and saw another one hit but I struck too fast and startled it...
In the end, I had a couple more casts at the pier and got another smaller ballan.

First ballan for 2018!

Fussy pollock...

Later on the same day, I targeted a much deeper mark hoping that the cuckoo wrasse would show as well. It took a while but I was rewarded with a good sized male cuckoo in full spawning colours. It hit very aggressively OTD on a Texas rig with 28g tungsten bullet weight, #1/0 offset rigged with a 4" slim paddletail.

Just stunning!

 Will be making a wee vid of some of these catches and really hope this fantastic weather lasts abit longer!

Tight lines!

Gear used
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-S792M, APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96MLX,
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000Fc, Stradic FK C3000
Mainline: Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.6, Duel Hardcore X8 PE 1.2
Leader: Toray Excellent fluorocarbon 6.8lbs, Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs
Lures: Various