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.
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| Fishing duo.. |
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| A chunky one for Ben... |
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| And one for Sandie... |
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| Average size. |
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| A better one. |
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| Hard fighter. |
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| The jerkshads were killing it. |
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| 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!
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| Daddy does it! |
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| 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
Cracking day out with father and son action by the look of things! I wouldn't be sitting on the rock though with all that bird poo over it :-))
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