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
The other day I was lucky to get some spectacular weather coinciding with my day off and I decided to visit a well known nearby mark to catch a few mackerel for the barbie. Admittedly I haven't done as much LRF as I would like but the weather hasn't helped at all and besides I'll be going home for holidays soon and LRF is all I'll be doing!
This mark is very close to Portree and quite pressured (especially from mackerel-feathering anglers) but on the day I was the only one there. This probably meant that the mackerel haven't shown there yet and indeed after some casts around I didn't encounter a single one...
I did find healthy numbers of small pollock though and proceeded to enjoy the action from them.
I was fishing a 2" Magbite Samba soft plastic on a #8 long shank hook and a 3g tungsten cheburashka. The pollock seemed to love it and were all over it as soon as it hit the deck.
I caught a few fish and made my way towards the tip of the point where the kelp was thicker and the depth greater. It was there that I got a solid take and got busted on a powerful run... I tied a new leader (6lbs) and slcakened the drag... Recasted and the same thing happened again! I quickly got my heavier setup out and fished at the spot but got no takes... I resumed the LRF and changed lure to a 2" Jackall Peke Peke. Also I tied on a 8lbs leader.
After catching a few more small pollock, I got another serious take and this time fought the fish for longer but in the end It made a strong run and the braid parted!
Afterwards I realised that the braid had weakened from use... It goes to show the powerful attraction of LRF gear on fish of every size...
In any case it was a very enjoyable session that got even better when I managed a feisty little wrasse soon after!
Nothing wrong with sausages on the bbq that day.. lol
Below some pics and the video of the session.
Today I returned from a week-long holiday back home in Greece. Although this was most certainly not a fishing trip, still the little Spro mobile stick found its way among my stuff along with a newly acquired yet used Shimano Biomaster 1000fb and naturally I had a couple sessions in some of my old haunts... Unbelievably the bad weather followed me there and I didn't manage a single outing on freshwater. Moreover the sea-fish seemed to be affected as well from all that rain but thankfully LRF gear and tactics helped me have some fun!
One particular session stands out as I fished with my cousin Kyriakos, something we haven't done in a while, and catching a good number of fish. It was a long time since I taught him the basics but he soon put that knowledge to good use, managing plenty of painted and plain combers along with an annular sea bream. He was using cheburashka with isome and generally soft plastics while I was using metals, blades and soft plastics as well in the end. This saw me catching loads of painted combers, with the blades and small paddletails being the most effective lures while I lost something much bigger (grouper or snapper probably) on the ZX blade that didn't stick. Towards sundown I got a couple sea-bass on a 2" white Jackall Peke Peke on a Crazyg jighead. But also got a nice hit on a popper just a couple meters away from my feet without a hookup though..
What impressed us was the good size of some of the painted combers along with their expanded bellies so I'm guessing that they could still be spawning! In the end of June?!
Some pics below and a video will follow soon.
A perfect rock mark..
Painted comber will take a large variety of lures..
Chunky goby from the shallows..
Beautiful!
A happy lrfer!
Double hook-up!
A perfect target for Mebaring and Kurodai tactics..
Match the hatch.. If you look closely...
Baby goldblotch grouper
Two banded sea bream on isome..
Most of them with expanded bellies...
A bit of silver..
A good little fighter..
A serious painted comber..
A nice little break from the hustle and bustle of the city and although the weather yet again messes up my plans, I still thoroughly enjoyed my trip! Now I'm curious to see what July brings...
Tight Lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile stick 80 UL
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000 fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid PE 0.4
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs
lure: various
On the weekend I visited Easdale, a mark that I had tried there previously but it felt quite early with no fish to be caught. It did look good though and I wanted to return as soon as I got a few nice days. Well surprisingly the weather has been really good lately and it was perfect to try there again. The area is known for its slate mines and it has deep water with lots of rocks as well as strong currents between the nearby islands. I started at the North Cuan harbour trying to find some wrasse and indeed they were there.. After catching a few I moved to the rocks after Easdale where the water is very deep with kelp at the bottom of the cliff-face. Last time I tried there with softplastics but this time I was going to work metals in order to cover more water and work the water column more efficiently. I was expecting some mackerel and maybe pollock close in, but instead I started getting coalies.. They would hit quite deep and especially when the lure came close to the kelp edge. I was surprised to find such decent coalfish here as they seem to have moved deeper in the sealochs and are now found in smaller numbers here and there. It was afternoon and very hot with no cloud in the sky and I suppose thats why these fish were holding so deep. The biggest I caught was about 2lbs but I lost a much better fish (coalie or pollock) that took me to the kelp and got stuck..
After a good number of coalies it got uncomfortably hot and I called it a day.
Nort Cuan Ferry.
Little ballans on the micro jig.
Coalies from the deep!
Vertical rock face..
Deep water points with strong current are preferred by coalies.
The next day the weather turned rainy but I didn't mind as I now have my waterproof smock. So I decided to head down to Loch Fyne at my favourite mark there. I wasn't aiming for something in particular just wanted to have some fun and try some new Storm Gomoku (chop suey) hard lures I bought. The intense wind and rain didn't make for ideal conditions and the ballan wrasse eluded me again. Instead though I managed to catch my first rock cook wrasse on the micro jig. Some codling, pollock, poor cod and a few mackerel in the end completed the session. I got a few pollock on the new lures as well and they seem to be a good choice for mimicking crustaceans near the rocks and structure. Their action is similar to a squid jig and I think in shallower marks they will be quite fun to use. Moreover I intent to change the treble for a double and maybe add some appendages to make them more enticing.
pretty codling.
My first rock cook on a peke peke.
usual suspect..
Caught a few for dinner!
pollock on Gomoku chop suey
I don't have any plans for next week but i would like to go a bit further away and maybe camp if the weather is good.. See how it goes.
Tight lines.
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro lite 1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon 4lbs
Rig: cheburashka, hard lures
lure: Jackall peke peke, Berkley gulp fry, metal jigs, Storm Gomoku Chop Suey.
