What a weekend that was...

 Had a guiding session after work on Friday and one yesterday morning. The fishing was fantastic to say the least!

On Friday I met up with James, a committed fisho that studies in Aberdeen Uni and wanted a taste of some Skye pollack. The session started fairly slowly with plenty of fish showing on the sonar but not overly aggressive towards our lures ( early postspawn behaviour). A bit of tweaking and perseverance coaxed them out and James started catching. His pb was something like 4lbs so we quickly beat that and started getting a succession of average pollock. This continued until near sundown when the fish quietened down. At this time of year this can mean that they have switched off but in this occasion it was just that the bigguns came out to play...

First of many...

Hit it first cast!

They're getting bigger...

James got a solid bite and then an immediate run pulling loads of drag! Little by little he got the upper hand and brought a lovely fish up to the surface. I quickly slipped the net under her and got it in the boat. She went 4.2kgs and after a quick photo was put straight back. Pretty much the same thing happened on the next cast! This time it was a slightly leaner fish at 3.9kg! Absolutely unreal fish back to back and if we were 3 weeks before, then they'd be easy doubles. Nevertheless, James was understandably over the moon with his catches and it was time to head in. Absolute pleasure fishing with such passionate young anglers.

Lunker!

Proper rod-bend!

Copy paste almost!

On Saturday it was  again time for my friend Mubashar and his mates to come up for some fishing. This time they had 2 new friends from Egypt that they wanted to introduce to Scottish saltwater fishing. As usual, I did two mini sessions on the boat and got the first group of 3 out. It was a much windier day than Friday but I managed to find some calmer water behind an island. The lads were looking to get a good feed out so mainly interested in eaters. Them we found in good numbers and mixed with plenty of codling and a few nice coalies. It didn't take the boys long to start catching and it got very hectic at times with 3 rods bringing fish one after the other and even all at once! 

First fish on Skye for Malik!

Same for Beshoy!

Codmaster...

He's in!

Mubashar with another one!

It was fantastic seeing so many codling showing up and long may they continue! Headed back for crew change and more of the same although with a couple better fish showing up this time.  Before long it was time to head in although it was a struggle to get the rod out of Mubashar's hands!

Yet again we' ve had a cracking day's fishing and the lads will have plenty of fish for a while! 

On the fishing front, we're now into proper postspawn and smaller, finer presentations seemed to get the better fish. I really hope the cod stick around longer as I really love catching them. Have done a service on the boat trailer and a couple reels so I'm feeling ready for the Summer season. Bring it on!

Tight lines!

The silent approach.

Can't believe it's been a month since I wet a line! Saying that, the weather has really been something else this winter. We haven't gotten the big Northerly storms like last year but it has been constantly just bad enough for going out.

Have been keeping a close eye to the forecast and yesterday was looking like the best day we've had so far. Thankfully the forecast got it spot on and I headed out after breakfast. Wasn't looking for anything spectacular, just needing to feel a fish on the end of my line! 

After a bit of faffing with the wires of the electric motor (tbf I don't look after it at all) I got it going and decided to hit a spot where I've been noticing the fish getting spooked easily with the aluminium boat. This time I stopped the main engine a good distance from the mark and made my approach with the electric motor keeping the sounder off. Made a few lure changes at first to see what they liked and natural presentations got hit better. 

I started getting a steady stream of plump pollock near the bottom at first but also on straight retrieve later on. I could also feel some coalies on the vicinity as they'd bump my lure so I thought it was time to try out the new Autowalker 83s from Mechanic Lures. Coalies really love hitting it's bigger brother the Autowalker 115s but a smaller presentation better matches the wee sprats and sandeels they're usually feeding on.

Autowalker 83s

Standard size pollock on the paddletail.

In the net.

Streamlined hunters.

Love seeing codling more often.

I started fan casting and sure enough after some casts I started getting blow ups on it! The 83s comes with only a treble at the back hence it took a few goes for the fish to stick as they were hitting it head on. Nevertheless, the coalies put up a good show as they were of a good size. It seems to me that the 83 has a more aggressive action as I was using it with heavier gear and still getting a pronounced snaking with some tail side slapping. Need to bring out the light game setup next time for a proper go. Saying that, the lure still casts and works very well on MH gear.

I alternated between topwater and SPs keeping the fish interested until the bites dried out. This took surprisingly long though, especially considering that I went toward the end of the "bite time" for this mark.  Made a small move to another nearby spot and found even more fish stacked on a ledge...

Here the coalies were even thicker, interspersed with some pollock and even a couple codling. A brighter coloured soft plastic did better in the deeper water of this mark.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day but as always it was time to head in soon enough. Today is another windy and rainy day so I'm glad I made the most of it. I really hope we get another day like it soon so I can try and winkle out a big girl!

Tight lines. 

THE time of the year...

 As per the title, when weather behaves even a little at this time of year then things seem to come together and make for some great fishing. I've had a few guiding sessions already this month and they have been very productive. 

What has stood out for me, is how important the lure retrieve can be.  I had 2 anglers in the boat the other day and even though the fish were biting well, it took giving them the lure at the speed and manner they wanted it. One angler switched on to it and it was like each person was fishing at a different sea! On the day they wanted a more aggressive approach with intervals of fast recovery and wouldn't look at a slow lure! In the end both anglers sussed it out and the fish kept coming...

Happy Garry with a run of the mill fish.

Good bend! 

Now we're talking! 

We've also had some 'big fish' bites that unfortunately couldn't convert into fish on the deck as they cut us off. Now this is always expected when pollock fishing but these encounters have increased this month. I have added a new rod to my selection (SPRO Specter finesse spin M) and whilst I like it very much, I think it's a bit light for these fish, hence I went and bought the heavier model the other day and can't wait to try it.

Pretty codling 

Dave clocked it!

And again.

Colin soon switched on.

Then THIS happened!

Get in!

These are freshwater rods but as they are designed mainly for soft plastics fishing for Zander etc, they can work well in the heavier models for the sea. They are fast actioned and sensitive whilst maintaining good hooking power. I just hope the MH model can fight the bigger pollock better... The price was good too (80£ish) although I've yet to find something like the Johncoo Ruffy as every rod I've ordered from China recently hasn't come through. 

I've yet to have a proper topwater day this season as I've not found the right conditions for it. I persisted with them the other day though, trying to at least get a blowup for the guys to see (and believe that it happens!) And typically a good fish smashed the lure when they were busy unhooking another fish on the other side of the boat...! 

Nevertheless things are definitely gearing up just now and with a bit of luck we'll get some settled weather the days I'm out. Plenty of fishing to be done into November and hopefully some big mamas will show up.

I've also recently sold my first sib the YAM380S but as yet no luck finding something to replace it. It was a cracking SIB but I really need one in better condition for taking people out in difficult to access areas. Been a while since I've ventured afield...

Tight lines 

 

New boat for the new season!

 Having exhausted my patience waiting for an F-Rib, I started thinking of different options.  Unfortunately, right now is a terrible time to be buying new boats so I was thinking I'd get something later in the Summer if the F-Rib still hadn't turned up. As if happens, an ad came up on the local buy/sell Facebook group, for an Australian Quintrex 420 aluminium dory with 25hp 2 stroke yamaha and trailer. Now I wasn't really keen on the trailer option before as I'd have to fit a towbar to the car as well, but the more I thought about the fishing I end up doing 90% of the time, the more sense it made to go for something like that.

Real boat club...

Easy to launch and retrieve. 

With the help of a friend we picked her up a couple weeks ago and then I had a towbar fitted to the car. Last week I took her out for a wee trial and a couple casts. She performed really well and on Saturday I had a guiding session with Andrew. 

It was a cracker of a day and turned out to be a bit of a red letter day as anywhere we fished and anything we dropped gave fish! Fishing from the tinnie is much more comfortable and we both commented on how dry the ride is. I still use the Haswing Cayman GPS on its marine ply panel and although it doesn't look the prettiest on the boat, it still does the job effortlessly. I used my old transom mount for the transducer and I have to say I really enjoyed the whole setup. The outboard seems to be going well and we done 19-20kts on the day. In combination with using the trolling motor, the fuel consumption was pretty low.

This man again...

On the fishing now, the pollock were stacked and hungry. Lure choice really didn't matter and they'd hit OTD but also on the retrieve. The fish were typically a bit skinny but very energetic on the fights especially for this time of year. Fish from 20m+ depth though would invariably come up blown up and we kept them, while no issues were had with fish from shallower water. 

They were stacked.

Some better conditioned ones too.

Darker one...

Andrew really loves his coalies though so we had to move to another spot for them. We got plenty on the metals and again they were skinny with a few better ones among them. Andrew reckons a better one was over his pb as well!

Pb coalie for Andrew.

Sunny May days...

We hit one last spot before calling it a day in the hope of getting a few cod. I got one but couldn't find the rest of them and Andrew hit some more hard fighting pollock before we headed in.

Recovering the boat was pretty straightforward too as it's fairly light and easy to pull on the trailer. We then divided the fish and said our goodbyes. Couldn't have asked for a better day's fishing and so glad it worked out well for Andrew as we had to work hard for our fish last time...

I'm pleasantly surprised with the way the fishing is firing up just now and can't wait for the next outing. Moreover, I really need to get a few sessions in for the trout. Hopefully I'll get more of this good weather this month for it...

Just a few thoughts on the boat now. It really feels much more robust, tracks better and offers a dryer ride than the sib. The amount of space is just fantastic too. Saying that, it's only rated to 4 people and feels a little less stable when for example 2 of you lean over the same side. I do feel that it'll make my island hopping sessions much easier though as I'm not worried about barnacles and sharp rocks while landing anymore. This will now be the boat I'll be using for all of my local fishing while I'll be taking the sibs further afield where access isn't as straightforward. Need to improve on my trailer reversing skills but thanks to YouTube I'm already making progress on that...

Tight lines!