The weather for this weekend was meant to be calm but frosty. I decided to go on a shore session to begin the year. Was hoping a big mama pollock would show up and start this year with a bang!
Started with a 5" blue/silver shad on a 30g jighead. On the second cast I got a subtle take with the lure hard on the bottom and I struck into solid weight. I had set the drag pretty tight, even so this fish took some drag in short, slow runs. I knew it was a good fish but it didn't fight like a pollock. Slowly I managed to get it closer. It kept trying to snag me up all the way in but soon enough I saw a brown lump coming up. It was a lovely cod and definitely a new shore PB at 3.6kg!
They're getting bigger!
As New Year starts go, this was a cracker! I kept fishing and soon got amongst the pollock. There seemed to be plenty of them but of only average size with the biggest going about 4lbs.
Average stamp.
In good condition.
Most fish took the lure close to the bottom while hopping it. Only a few came up on straight retrieve. Natural colours worked better.
On this session, I paired the Solpara Light Shore Jig rod with my 6000 Daiwa Ballistic LT and a 1.2PE braid. The combo worked well and I might use it more often. I was pleasantly surprised by the 25lbs Duel BIG fluorocarbon leader, as even though most fish tried to kelp me, it held up well. I hope the season continues like this and really looking forward to some settled weather so that I can get the boat out and play with the trolling motor/GPS anchor and also the new relief shading overlay by Navionics. Its amazing!
Wow!
Let's see what this year has in store for us and best wishes to all for good health and tight lines!
Weather has been the usual up and down this month, but there have been a few good days and I've taken advantage of breaks in the storms. I've been fishing off the SIB mostly and at my usual spots as there was no time to explore further.
Even though the fish were still there, the 7.5c water temps after all the melting snow, has definitely slowed them down and as expected the bites were more finicky and would come very close to the bottom. The large shads that were so successful the past few months, were still getting hit, but I had to downsize to get more fish to stick.
At times the fishfinder would show shapes hard on the bottom, they were pollock and could still be caught but needed the lure jigged right in front of them to incite a take. Many fish had eye-worms.
I did manage to get a couple closer to 70cm though and they were all full bellied, getting ready for the spawn.
Fat belly.
A lovely one in the sun..
Better stamp of fish now.
A wee video as well
I've also had a couple shore sessions and the fussy bites were an issue too. Moreover, the fish were very colour-picky, with bright colours (chartreuse and pink) faring much better than natural ones.
Texas rigged paddletail with a 30g tungsten bullet weight and 8mm glass bead was the most productive presentation along with soft jerkbaits on 20-30g darting jigheads over cleaner bottom.
I got a proper shock at some point after landing a nice Ballan wrasse that put up a spirited fight! It was my first ever in February! Must be global warming...
There's a 7" DOT Crawler in there...
WTF!
Pink was the most effective colour on the day.
Something had a go at this one.
Bruiser..
I lost a what felt like a big fish due to the snap opening up and I now tend to tie straight to the Softplastic every time. A bit time-consuming but as the best chance for a big female is now, the stakes are higher and lost fish hurt!
Tight Lines!
Gear used (Boat) Rod: Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H, Reel: Shimano Stradic Fk C3000 Mainline: PE1.2 Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs - 25lbs Lures: various
Gear used. Rod: Sportex Black Pearl travel, 2.7m, 80g Reel: Shimano Biomaster SW 4000XG Mainline: PE1.5 Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 25lbs - 30lbs Lures: Texas rigged 4" bright coloured paddletails, 5" soft jerkbaits on 20-30g darting jigheads.
Last week I was booked to guide three spirited French anglers that drove all the way to Skye from the suburbs of Paris!
Jacques, Pierre and Jean-Paul were keen to sample some of Skye's saltwater fishing and we couldn't have picked a better day to do it. I picked them up at 06:00 from their accommodation and we drove to my favourite shallow bay. It was an overcast, warm morning with only a slight breeze that didn't dissuade the midges at all (French insect repellent don't work on Scottish midges!)! The plan was to try and get a few fish off the top and then fish with the usual softs and metals.
The plan took a wee backstep after Jacques though he lost his iPhone and I had to retrace our steps to find it... Typically, all the way back in the car...😆
Apart from Jacques, the others were only occasional anglers and thus not very familiar with modern lure fishing techniques. I had the first cast to try and show them how to 'walk the dog' and I got a hit straight away midway in the retrieve! Immediately I gave the rod to JP and after a couple casts, he started getting the hang of it.. I could see a couple follows from fish and soon enough he hooked up to a lovely 2pounder.
A good start to the day and Pierre was next... He got a few follows and bumps but unfortunately not a topwater fish for him... This was soon rectified after I put a softplastic on a 20g cheburashka and he had his first pollock as well.
The tide state wasn't actually favourable for this mark but near the change point things started to liven up and everybody started hooking up with the softplastics.. Surprisingly Jacques (the most experienced of the group) hadn't caught a fish yet! After the others managed a couple more each, I decided to change his presentation from a paddletail to a darting slim and he was in soon after! Took him a while but he landed the best fish of the morning of approx 5-6lbs.
It was then time to change marks and moved to a trickier ledge where distance and right presentation was key on the day.
Here the experience of Jacques showed as he caught some nice 60+ cm fish and ended the day with a 70cm! The lads kept a few fish for tea but the larger ones went back quickly to keep growing!
It was a very enjoyable day with some true gentlemen and Im glad that everyone caught some decent fish.
JP with his first 'Lieu' and on a topwater!
Pierre was next...
Jacques fight back!
A solid fighter!
The next day I decided to do something that's becoming a favourite style of outing for me. That is, to start early around dawn with topwaters and then switch to the fly gear.
It was another overcast day with a slightly stronger breeze. I started with the well known Xorus Patchinko imitation of the smaller size (10ish cm), that I find works very well in choppier water. After a few dozen passes with the lure I got 2 slaps on it from very decent fish but again, as usual, no hookup! It's so frustrating when they slam the lure so hard that they don't get hooked. And it's usually the bigger specimens that do that...
Anyway, a few casts later and I connected to a feisty 3pounder that was well hooked from the first and middle treble. No more topwater interest after that..
Switched to the Fly and after a bit of the usual faffing about to get the casting right, I connected to a good fish! A good fight but soon enough he was up for a pic. Still surprised how the gentle pressure of the fly rod manages to get them out of the snag, but then again this isn't a very snaggy spot anyway...
Some more casts later, and while working the area where the topwater was hit by a better fish, I got a solid take and immediately realised I was connected to a better fish. Another good fight ensued with plenty of 'hairy' moments but I soon managed to coax her towards me and onto the weedy ledge. A lovely fish around 6-7lbs and I'm convinced it was the same one that hit the topwater at the start of the session! A few pics and then I let her go back in...
Here's the video.
A very productive morning and I was back for breakfast well before 10 AM!
Something that Ill start experimenting with in the next few weeks will be to change the trebles on all my topwaters. I'll try and see if there's any improvement on the hookup ratio by using different types and sizes of trebles, i.e short shanked, round bend, coloured etc.
I'm sure in some cases the lure's action might be affected significantly but as long as I get some more of those hard hits ill be happy...
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
After my LRF outing the other week, I started focusing more on the larger fish... In the next sessions I brought along heavier gear including a new heavy HRF rod, the Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H. The main reasons for acquiring this rod was my need for a more powerful-tipped rod that can jerk 5"+ softplastics on 25g+ jigheads along with the heavy Texas rig and metals. Of course my Light Shore Jigging could do that just fine but its a heavier rod and besides Ive always wanted to try a purpose-built HRF rod...
On the next few sessions I used a variety of lures and presentations but the biggest fish showed a clear preferenc to the larger soft jerkbaits.. Clearly the presence of herring played a significant role in that.
Below some pics:
Megabass Giant Xlayer gets a solid one!
A beaut of a wrasse..
Another nice fish.
Xlayer does it again!
... And videos as usual. On the second video I use the new rod and its action can be seen.
I'm not gonna go in length about the Power Rock here as Ive only used it a few times but from the start it feels like a very solid and light rod for its rating. Kinda reminds me of the Gamakatsu Akilas rods and has great sensitivity. Most of the bites seemed to lead into hookups with only a couple unhookings. The one thing I'm not too keen on is the top part of the reel seat. It screws down to the reel arm but it has little EVA-Duplon there and gets slippery on wet hands. In any case it appears Ill be getting the gloves on soon as there's cold weather coming and then it shouldn't be too bad...
There are still large shoals of baitfish about but as I mentioned above the weather is turning and I'm not sure when Ill be able to get some fishing done again...
Tight Lines
Gear used.
Rod: APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96 ML, Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H
Reel: Shimano 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 and 25lbs
Lures: Various but 5" soft jerkbaits on 20g-28g darting jigheads most effective on the better fish.
Been a couple days back home from my holidays in Ireland and one thing I have to say is that I will definitely be going there again!
I went with my girlfriend Claire and we spent a week in County Kerry. This was most certainly not a fishing holiday but the travel rods went into the suitcase of course...
I didn't have any serious targets or 'must catch' fish list in mind, though I definitely wanted to get some wrasse and if possible a bass or two. Moreover I'd be taking the LRF gear as well so any of the smaller predators would be very welcome especially with some scad among them!
I had done some homework before the trip and had scores of points on Google maps ready to be sussed out...Most areas were exposed rocky coastlines and beaches with the occasional harbour/pier for the light stuff. I had heard only the best and was fired up to get started!
The weather was ok to begin with and we got a couple decent days but I only fished a bit here and there with the LRF and managed to catch my first Irish fish... Not a scad but a coalie 😆
Little did I know that the weather would turn bad and I'd get few chances to fish the more exposed marks I wanted.
Not a scad!
The first area we stayed in was Valentia Island and from Google Earth and the web I could tell that it would be very suitable for wrasse fishing, plus having some piers/harbours close by would offer ample opportunities to fish the light gear.
This being the open Atlantic, the swell was present at various intensities throughout the week and I only managed one HRF session for wrasse before the swell build up.
What a session it was though!
After a bit of a hike in the wind and rain with Claire we found the path down the rocks and on first look it was pretty rough (but still fishable). Thankfully we found a hollow at the rocks and out of the wind to settle down and fish from.
I was using my Spro Mobile Stick 80MH paired with the Shimano Stradic FK C3000 and the rig of choice being the good old Texas rig with a 20g tungsten bullet weight, glass bead and #1 wide gape offset hook. I would be using 3" Gulp Alive swimming mullets in a simple drag and pause retrieve.
From the first cast the fish showed their presence but instead of wrasse I got some pollock! Definitely not what I was looking for there..! Soon enough though, I started getting the familiar sharp taps of wrasse and after setting the hook a different fight ensued...
It didn't take long to get the first ballan out and there were many more to come!
All of them around the 2lbs mark but fighting hard and in a ravenous mood... Haven't had similar wrasse-fishing since I left the Channel Islands...
Toothy...
Them lips!
On the act!
Decent size...
Cant say no to them!
Big gob!
Conditions were lively...
I love wrasse!
That was my most memorable session of the trip. The next day the swell intensified considerably and
I had to find sheltered areas to fish. This meant more LRF and I had good sessions with mackerel, coalies and smaller ballan and corkwing wrasse but unfortunately no scad!
Dingle harbour breakwater.
Lovely corkwing.
Loads of mackies about.
My LRF setup was a 7'2'' (0.5-7g) Snowbee Kuroshio travel LRF rod paired with my Shimano Stradic 1000fc and using mainly small cheburashkas and metals. I didnt take too many softplastics with me as the space was limited and again I relied mostly on the Gulp.
We spent the last couple days on the Dingle peninsula and in retrospect we could've spent the whole week there as it simply has got it all!
Got pollock from the rocky points, wrasse in the harbour and while I snuck out before breakfast for a few casts, had a feisty bass on the trusty Megabass Zonk Gataride. Unfortunately this was gonna be our last day in Dingle and I didnt get the chance to fish there more... What a place.!
Before breakfast.
It was a great holiday in all and got some useful observations/notes for the next time:
much cheaper and convenient to get the ferry there in my own car. Too much unnecessary hassle renting one there..
No need for fancy rigs and many lures.
A tubular tip LRF rod might have been more suitable as when I encountered a bass following my tiny softplastics, I couldn't use a topwater or a jerkbait to potentially tease it into striking.
Just 2 setups would be enough. a 1-10g for light game (but capable of something heavier) and a sort of 10-30g for the bigger stuff.
Swell forecast more important than weather forecast...
I'm working on the videos now and should be up next week sometime!
