Normal working order resumed!

 Had a cracking guiding session yesterday that shows how quickly things change in the sea. Fished with Angus, a young local angler that stays away from the Island and doesn't get the opportunity to fish that often. 

I was already out for work commitments in the morning and arranged to meet him later in the day. On the way back from work, I  had a quick reconnaissance troll around my usual spots and a couple other points.  Stumbled upon a good stack of fish in a secondary point and then went to pick up Angus.  Headed straight back to the shoal and he was straight into them! 

The conditions were same as last week with a fresh WSW breeze and chop, same size of tides, state and water clarity, but the fish were in a real hunting mode. Its like a switch flipped and they turned into "Autumn" mode! 

I gave Angus my rod rigged with a homemade sandeel softplastic from my Northumbrian supplier ;-) while I was preparing his setup. The fish absolutely loved the lure and were coming in one after the other! I noticed that his setup was using mono line and decided to have a cast to remember the olden times...

Bending time!

Average size.

Brute of a fish!

God, how did we ever manage to catch fish on that! Zero feel and control. Almost impossible to set the hook properly, but I still caught too! At some point I got a good hit and the fish stayed deep... It took some good drag and got me in the kelp twice. It was very hard to control it with the mono but the line held and buffered the headshakes... I joked that it was probably a feisty little fish but brought up a nice lump of a pollock! Kinda cheeky that I caught it on my clients rod but I made sure he caught plenty more fish on mine!

Nice chunk.

After a while, the fish wisened up and we moved to a different spot. Marked a bait- ball and anchored up with the Haswing close to it. Angus was soon in again and these were some better fish... I think he broke his pb a few times and settled on a 7lber for the day.

Eyes on the prize.

By then the sun was going down and it was time to call it a day.  Such a great day's fishing and in good company. It felt like a different place to last week. The fish showed preference for very loud colours like pink, chartreuse and bright orange. The crazy sandeel imitations got most fish and the metals barely got a sniff. More to come soon.

Tight lines 

That's fishing...

 Been a busy couple weeks for me with family holidays and other commitments but last week I hosted Alan and Paul again for a week. Up until their arrival the weather was fantastic but typically once they got here the winds picked up. We had two full days and I have to admit that unfortunately, this was some of the toughest fishing I've had in years... We fished hard, covered ground, moved areas, changed a myriad of lures and presentations but it just wasnt happening. Thankfully the lads had a couple good days on bait with spurdog and rays giving them some action. 

Even though we found some concentrations of fish (looser than last year), the abundance of bait was possibly what made them very picky. Moreover we couldnt hit the areas I'd have liked due to the wind. I felt really bad for the guys as they worked so hard but the fish didnt play ball. Especially when they brought a glut of new lures and jigheads to try as well. We cought some average sized fish but nothing to shout about.

Second-cast fish filled with promise...

A couple double strikers.

Best fish on a deadsticked sp on cheburashka.

Anyway, the lads had a good time as they enjoyed the pubs (a bit more than they'd like!) and hopefully they'll be back next year to try again. This is fishing I suppose and even in a top destination like Skye, nothing is guaranteed.

I experienced the finnicky mood of the fish furtherly, on a solo outing on my way to a family day out. I had a few casts early in the morning at a weedy spot where I know to hold good fish. I raised one on the Autowalker and then as they wouldnt come up, I tried a variety of softplastics and metals. I must've had a dozen follows on my lures and at time nips at them but not taking it properly. The water clarity was very good as it usually is this time of year and I could see the fish clearly... In the end I tried a Xorus Patchinko just in case and managed a solitary pollock.

Solitary Patchinko smasher.

The abundance of bait, clear waters and very sttled weather are my main plausible factors for the  finnicky nature of the fish at the moment and I really hope this doesnt last long as we're entering my favourite fishing time of the year...

Tight lines!