The past weekend saw me venturing a bit further away from my regular marks as I wanted to try somewhere new since my regular marks didn't produce more than the expected. Thus, in Sunday after spending the morning in the west side of loch Awe without much to show for my efforts I decided to go to the opposite side and then drive down to Inveraray. I had read about some good fishing in the huge loch Fyne and especially about a mark that was described as 'terminal tackle graveyard'! I checked it out in Google earth and it did look very promising, being near a quarry , it was again a deep harbour with plenty of boulders and rocks in, as well as looking deeper than the surrounding water. I was secretly hoping for some wrasse action as I haven't located them near home so far and I really missed them since leaving Sark.
After some driving I finally reached the mark and it was looking really impressive..
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| Lots of rocks in the water.. |
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| The harbour.. |
I was planning to fish with the lrf gear to see what was out there and mainly utilise the 'microjig' articulated jigheads for a different presentation that I wanted to try for a while. The microjig is mainly used in Eastern Europe for UL fishing bottom presentations and is really versatile as you can change hooks fast with a little ring/clip and/or add a trace for pegged carolina. Moreover it gives a nice wobble to the softbait as its dragged on the bottom. So I put on a #8 Owner spitshotter hook by breaking the top of the eye of the 4g microjig and locking it in place with the pliers. I prefer to do it this way so the hook is looking upwards but it can also be done with a double ring and a plugging single hook since the eye is looking accordingly.
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| The way I rigged the hook |
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| With a shirasu worm.. |
I threaded a pearl white Ecogear power Shirasu worm and started casting towards the middle of the harbour and working the lure back slowly on the bottom. I was simply retrieving and pausing without many jerks and that seemed to be working fine as I soon started getting bites and landing fish. Pollock, codling and shoaled poor cod were coming in numbers from the deeper areas. The fish were feeding hard even though it was low tide and an otter was diving about! The poor cod in particular surprised me with their sheer aggression... I made my way casting and getting fish around the harbour and I reached an area with big boulders and weed. I could see small wrasse species milling around and tried to catch them as they were probably a new species for me.. I had to change my presentation though as they had small mouths. I rigged a #12, 1g jighead with a piece of Jackall peke-peke and after a few tries I finally got one to hold on.. It was a goldsinny wrasse and a new species for me!
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| The first of many.. |
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| Many on this size. |
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| The like the microjig. |
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| Most poor cod I've ever caught in a session! |
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| Codling of a decent size.. |
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| Love the variation in colour. |
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| My first goldsinny wrasse! |
I changed back to the microjig/shirasu combo and kept casting and working the lure among the boulders on a sink and draw fashion as soon as the lure touched bottom. As I was retrieving the lure after a couple casts It came into view (since the water was pretty clear) and I saw a large figure moving towards it and attack.. i felt the bite and set the hook.. The fish woke up and it went on a mad run towards the deep. I could see clearly that it was a ballan wrasse and it was fighting hard on my lrf gear! After a few more frantic runs the fish started to tire and I manged to pull it up. It was a beauty and my first Scottish ballan wrasse!
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| Beautifull Scottish ballan wrasse.. |
I persevered on the spot and hooked another one although the hook pulled...
I wanted to see if there were any scorpions around the legs of a jetty and moved towards it as I didn't want to target the wrasse with such light gear. Working the legs of the jetty gave me more little pollock and poor cod but surprisingly no scorpion fish. The sun was setting and I decided to go home as I had enjoyed a very productive session although it was a pity I didn't have the action cam with me...
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Doesn't that look fishy?!
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| Many smaller pollock were hitting anything falling in the water. |
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| After all those fish! |
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I will definitely visit this mark again as it surely has more to offer but unfortunately yesterday I had to send my car for trash! This is a major setback and I wont be fishing for a while but I'm looking to get another one asap! The microjig presentation proved very effective and hopefully Ill be doing more of that when I'm out fishing again..
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| R.I.P |
Thanks for reading!
Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g)
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: microjig, jighead
lure: Ecogear Shirasu worm, Tict brilliant
I then decided to head down to Loch Etive and fish opposite the Taynuilt pier as the current is strong there and I though this would attract fish. I put on a metal jig and I could see that the tide was just coming in. A few casts around a rocky point and I was in! The coalies started hitting my jig and some of them being quite decent put up a great scrap on the Solpara! I also managed a 2lbs pollock that made things even more interesting.. I was surprised to see small coalies feeding in the surface on flies and I regretted not having a little popper to play around with them.. After the metal jig bite wavered I turned to the microjigs and Ecogear grass minnow to work the bottom. I managed a couple codling and then something better that snagged me up in the kelp.. The plant life has grown dramatically now and I lose fish more often than before, so I think I will revert to braid for my mainline. I concluded the session at my classic spot in the harbour and got another pollock on a 7g HTO shore jig.
