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!
At this time of year, I usually turn my attention to freshwater fishing (namely trout fishing) but various projects and developments have really limited my spare time the past couple months.
Its something I'm planning to do in conjunction with the guiding here in Skye over the Summer and Ill reveal more when its all set up and ready to go!
Anyway, I managed to have a great day out last week from the SIB and was amazed at the amount of life in the water. Seabirds everywhere and I could see small shoals of baitfish near the bottom (spawning herring?) on the fishfinder.
I targeted a 18-20m point at first and used the LRF setup for some smiles... That I got after a shoal of good sized coalies turned up along with a few small pollock. Fish were in a relatively subdued mood and required plenty of stops and free falls on the lures.
Nice sized coalies at the moment.
After the tide started picking up a bit, I moved to my favourite spot, where I was keen to see if there were still fish there as its only 10m deep...
I switched to the heavier gear and put on a 12cm chartreuse shad on a 25g jighead. Got fish from the first cast OTD and they were some good ones!
There were some bruisers among them that seemed to have gone through battles (!) and they were all on the skinny side due to spawning.
I weighed a couple fish that seemed like 3kg+ only to have them register 2.4kg on the sling...
Among the pollock, I got a few very good coalies and one that I suspect, beat my UK coalie pb. Unfortunately, the camera's sd card had filled up and it missed most of the action on the second mark. Nevertheless below is a short vid of the action.
Efficiency... 3 pumps.
Bruiser but slim...
Things are coming along nicely and I'm hoping to start going out more in the following months. I'm hoping to get the SIB on some new areas and target some other species with bait. Ideally, I'd like to have a go at catching a skate with the XH gear. Now that should be fun from the SIB!
More to come soon...
Tight Lines
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI. Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H,
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000fc. Shimano Stradic Fk C3000
Mainline: PE0.6 PE1.2
Leader: 7lb fluoro, Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs - 25lbs
Lures: 7g metals and 5cm shads on 7g articulated jigheads. 25g Fiiish black minnow imitation, 15cm slim shad on 30g jigheads.
The other day, seeing as the weather was being too nice, I changed my plans and instead of a freshwater session I decided to visit a distant Southern mark that thought it would be firing up now...
Last time I was there, the fishing was slow yet the quality of fish was evident. By now as the weather has markedly improved it should be expected that the big mamas would be more active.
Thus I started the long hike to the mark and I timed my arrival there 3 hours before low tide.
As my main rock ledge was still inaccessible I started casting on a different rock further back, but thanks to using the LSJ setup I could easily hit the 'sweet spot' especially when using metals.
I begun with a 30g metal and a sabiki teaser further up the leader, as I heard the fishermen started getting mackerel and was hoping to get a few early ones myself. Instead I got a few feisty coalies and kept them for dinner.
Soon more serious fish started to appear and with the tide receding a bit more, I was able to setup on my favourite ledge and gain easy access to the deeper water.
I got some good fish on the metal but lost a few on the way up as they would get unhooked in the thick kelp of this mark...
Nevertheless, I persisted and soon I had a good pollock up. I kept working the metal but things went quiet and I put on an articulated paddletail from Illex, the Nitro Sprat Shad. This lure was immediately taken (OTD) but I just couldn't get the fish to stick on it. This happened more consecutive times and I then had to switch to a different lure. I'm not sure if its the design of the said lure or the pollock where being really funny (maybe both) but I just couldn't hook up on it.
I put on a pearl silver Savagear Sandeel and this was hit with less force and only once. Thinking that this might be a bit 'loud' colour given the bright sunny conditions and calm, clear water I switched to a natural green Fiiish Crazy Sandeel that was taken first cast a few meters in the retrieve near the bottom! A dogged fight ensued (as so many at this time of year) and I soon had a respectable 70cm+ fish on the rocks with the lure all in its mouth! This goes to show that even on very aggressive and actively feeding fish like pollock, the bigger fish are far more wary and fussy than the smaller ones...
A beaut...
Deserves a second pic.
After releasing this fish I kept working the same area with a variety of lures but the bites dried up. It was low tide by then but I kept at it hoping the fish will come to the feed again once the current increased.
At some point I switched off the Gopro and put on a 20g metal for the usual 'last casts'... Well on the second 'last cast' I hooked up to another good fish and after another dogged fight managed to land her. A beautiful fish with a mark on the bottom lip (trying to snag me) and again 70cm+ though this could have easily been a double a couple months back...
I quickly released her as well and started on my way back with a spring on my step. It was a good session on a lovely day!
Big mama!
Below the video of some of the action.
When the sun is shining Skye really is as good a place as any! Fishing-wise I consider this time of year one of the best for the larger fish as they are hungry after spawning but on the other hand they usually don't fight as actively as later on in the year and are slim thus not weighing as much as you'd expect..
Well hoping to get some sessions on the trout soon and hopefully the good weather will hang on a while longer!
Its been a while since my last trip and that is mostly due to being too busy at work and with other commitments. Moreover I'm waiting for my new rod to arrive and I just don't feel like going fishing till I get it!
Nevertheless today I had planned a guiding trip for a fellow angler and we met up on Neist Point in the morning. Bruce is getting back into saltwater fishing after a while and was really keen to get some rod bending action! Sometime back he asked me to recommend him a reel and some lures and was now ready for a first taste of Skye rock fishing.
We were greeted by a millpond sea and sunny skies in the morning. After a quick coffee/chat and leader tying we picked our gear and headed down to the mark. Seeing as we have neap tides at the moment and the conditions were calm, I decided to start off at a more exposed point.
I rigged Bruce up with a 20g cheburashka and natural colour 3" paddletail and told him how to work the lure and where to cast. After a while he started getting the hang of it and the nibbles started coming. It took more than usual to get the first fish as we lost a couple in the kelp but soon enough the first pollock of the session was on the rocks! A hard fighting 3 pounder...
We persevered but possibly due to the conditions the fish were staying further out than usual and were more picky. A change to metals shook things up a bit and we soon had a steady stream of fish coming. Also got a couple nice coalies that just cant keep away from metals!
A good coalie on the metal.
A decent first pollock.
After a while and with the bites drying up whilst nearing the high tide point, we decided to move to my favourite spot. We kept using metals and more fish started coming! By this point Bruce was doing great and I was surprised to see a man his age doing so well on the rocks, but all this rock hopping and fish pulling got to his shoulder and he decided to take a break. As I wasn't fishing by this point I decided to have a few casts with the Major Craft KGS-902L and my new Stradic FK C3000 spooled with Unitika Shore Game PE X8 1.2. I had a ribster already rigged on a 16g cheburashka and made a good cast near the rocks across the gully. After touchdown I started a leisurely retrieve and got a gentle tap after a pause. I set the hook into something heavy but other than a few clicks of drag it didn't do much! I was even more surprised after I saw the size of fish coming up and I quickly got down to the rocks and landed it. I have added blue tape on most of my rods marking the 80cm mark thus indicating a usually double figure fish and at a quick glance this fish was approx 75 cm thus around 8lbs. I quickly plunged her back into the water and with a couple swipes of the tail she was gone like nothing happened! We had a laugh about the non-existent fight with Bruce but I find this to be not uncommon especially at this time of year with the fish in postspawn etc. Needless to say we caught fish of half the size later on that fought much harder than that one...
Nice fish, crap fight!
The weather was turning by mid afternoon and the conditions became more conducive for pollock fishing, with a slight chop on the sea and cloud cover. Bruce was back on again and this time he hit a good patch with good numbers of fish in a short time. He was fishing with a ''money minnow'' style swimbait that is very soft and has an oversized paddletail and pollock absolutely loved it. They even hit it while static..
It was interesting to note increased seabird activity with some gannets diving close in and even guillemots swimming after baitfish and occasionally following our lures!
Happy angler!
Rod bendage!
Many of this size...
A few better ones in the mix.
A nice one.
We tried a couple more spots before the day was gone and got some fish from them but it was getting colder now and considering the long walk up (with some fish for Bruce) we decided to call it a day. It felt good to be guiding someone onto fish again and it was for the most part a cracking day in good company. If only for Bruce's hurt shoulder it would be a perfect session. It was a pleasure to fish with Bruce and had a good craic. Glad to see him with a good dinner sorted!
For next week I got some more outings planned but I cant wait to get my hands on the new rod. Will post pics and first impressions as soon as I get it!
Tight Lines!
Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft KGEvolution Basic KGS-902L.
Reel: Shimano Stradic FK C3000
Mainline: Unitika Shore Game X8 PE 1.2
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 16lbs
Lures: 4"-5" paddletails on 16g-20g cheburashka, oversized paddle swimbaits on 16g jighead and Texas rig, 20g-30g metals
