Four days of fishing! Part 1, Fishing the Northeast.

I have been given four days off from work this week and I thought it would be my best chance for a good fishing trip  before the season ends. I had two places in mind, either going south and fishing at the Mull of Kintyre or going to the North East and fishing around Wick, Dunnet Head and Thurso. From a look in Google Earth I was immediately drawn to the rugged coastline of the North East and the many points and cliffs there. I chose to go there in the end and on Saturday morning I made the long drive to the town of Wick. My first stop was at the Old Castle where the water is very deep and there is access to the rocky fingers below the castle.
I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of 'life' in the water as I could see loads of fry and coalies moving about. I decided to use my favourite presentation at the moment that does a good job as a 'searcher bait' and thus a Shimano madai jig rigged with some Berkly gulp was cast in the depths. I got some sharp bites but I reacted too fast and missed them, but I was sure they were form wrasse.
I re casted and this time worked the lure slower with twitches near the bottom and soon I had a bite and a fish on! It was fighting well but it wasn't something big, so I hurriedly retrieved line wanting to get my first Northeastern fish in my hands.. I could see colour after a bit, and a lot of it! It was a male cuckoo wrasse and my first one (male)! I got another one after some missed takes and then a female. I noticed that the males where hanging deeper than the female and this maybe a reason why Ive only caught females at my mark back home....

That's Fishy!

Very interesting rock formations.

Stunning colours.

Had to put him back fast...

And another one..

There she is...

A good sign?

Surprisingly I got no codling or pollock and I worked pretty hard for them covering a lot of water and making many casts. I was sure the presentation was good and it seemed that the fish just  weren't there... After  a while a seal popped up and then another one! I moved to a different area but there were even more seals there! I think they may have affected the fishing as I caught nothing around them and so I decided to change location.
I moved to the harbour and  decided to fish the outer breakwater. It is a very fishy looking harbour, with three separate harbours (inner, river, outer) and it would be my main venue.
I kept the madai jig, only I now tipped it with a Keitech sexy impact for a faster retrieve and started casting and working it near the lighthouse. I soon got a nice codling but then lost the jig to a snag! I changed presentation to a 12g cheburashka (was getting very windy) with a #2 offset hook rigged with an Ecogear grass minnow M. I move towards the inner harbour entrance and after a couple casts, I started getting subtle bites and hooking into codling. They were shoaled up near the entrance of the inner harbour and were attacking the Grass minnow every time! I managed about a dozen or more of them until night fall and then they stopped feeding. They were all about the pound mark and really good fun!

Wick Harbour.

Codling on the jig.

They were tightly shoaled and hungry..

Feeding on baby flatfish!

I spend the night in the car and woke up early to target the river part of the harbour. I was hoping to encounter some new species on this trip and I wanted to fish in different areas and not just the rocks! I was thinking that I might get some flatfish and so I got the Solpara and the lrf lures and started working my way from near the bridge towards the mouth of the harbour. I was using mainly Ecogear aqua Katsu mebaru and Berkley fish fry's and suffice to say the place was stuffed with small fish! I was getting hit as soon as the lure touched bottom and among the usual codling and coalies I started getting a stream of whiting and some small flounders as well... Job done and I now had two new species at this trip!

My first whiting!

My first flounder!

They are akin to poor cod in their behaviour, hunting in shoals.

Plenty of teeth on them...

Coalie country up here...

After the morning harbour session, I moved to a rocky outcrop on the northern side of the town but other than a couple coalies, nothing showed so I was back on the road heading to John o Groats and then Dunnet Head. I fished for a bit at John o Groats harbour where I witnessed the most ravenous coalies ever,  that would even hit lures on the surface and even higher when I was lifting them up!
At Dunnet Head I fished at a small slipway where some rock pinnacles created interesting structure in a relatively deep bay. I used my heavier gear to cast larger madai jigs and shads and I finally found some pollock! They hit the jig hard and got hooked straight away!

John o Groats pier.

Rocks from Dunnet head..

Good looking ground.

Flashy but effective..

I finally found them!

I then drove up to Thurso with the intention of fishing Scrabster harbour and indeed the harbour looked very inviting but unfortunately I was running late as I didn't want to be driving in the night or stay there so I decided with a heavy heart to leave this for another time and head home.
It was an interesting trip and a needed change of scenery. The Northeast seems more productive than anticipated and I'm sure with more effort much better fish would be found. Its very interesting to see such differences in both the landscape, marks and fish and although I was hoping for some larger fish I enjoyed the trip and the variety.. Some notes from my trip:

• The numbers of coalies are  unbelievable!
• So much life in and out of the water.. Seals, birds, fry everywhere!
• Proper rough ground..
• Where are the pollock?!
• A lot of  commercial fishing activity..

On the next part I'll describe the fishing at my usual marks...

Tight lines!

Gear used.

Rod: Various
Reel: Various
Mainline: Various
Rig: cheburashka, jighead,
lure:Various Ecogear Aqua, Berkley Gulp, Madai jigs, Grass minnows.

An unusual session.

I was fishing the other day in my mark at Loch Linnhe targeting mostly small stuff on cheburashka with my newly arrived Crostage replacement tip. I was let off work early but it was almost midday already and very sunny, so I wasn't expecting anything special. Thus I used 3lbs fluoro mainline and enjoyed catching some codling and small pollock on the Crostage.
I was using some Ecogear Aqua slim soft baits to see if they would be more effective than their much cheaper Berkley Gulp counterparts. I was fishing the basin but at a smaller boulder strewn bay near a small point. There was a shelve of around 2m deep with kelp and boulders for the first 10m and then the bottom plunged rapidly after that, being relatively clean. The tide was coming in and only an hour or so till high tide. On approaching the point, instead of the usual poor cod nibbles I got a good bite and a good fish on that unfortunately took me to the kelp. I could feel the fish moving about and gave it line but the thin line parted after a while.
I considered this a fluke and persevered with the same small-fish presentation. I caught another decent pollock and landed it safely this time, and I started  thinking of changing presentation although the line was too light for this kind of mark.
A couple casts later and I got the usual nibble of a poor cod and after striking I had him on. On retrieving the fish I felt a couple very sharp bumps and then I got solid resistance! It was obviously a pollock that attacked the already hooked poor cod and I didn't expect it to get hooked but as I brought the two fish in, I realised that the poor cod was only lip hooked and the hook-point was free to hook the pollock as well!

Tricky to land on the swallower/kelpy marks

Small lures catch everything!

The whole food chain!

After this fish I decided to risk it with the larger lures and started using shads of around 3" on 5g jigheads. The shads had the usual big round paddle on them  and this is something that in deeper marks and light jigheads. I try to avoid. The reasons  being that  they take too long to sink, rise too much on the retrieve and sometimes don't work properly on the fall as the jighead is too light to make them kick right. One thing I do when I encounter these situations is to modify the shads tail with a scissor, making it more rectangular in shape. This way Ive found the lure gets a tighter action and works better with light jigheads. More over on some of these paddle-tails if seen on slow motion, the tail seems to be swirling instead of the more realistic kicking from side to side and this modification improves the action in my opinion although most fish don't really mind! Bellow some pics of how I cut the tails and the rest of the fish caught on modified shads.

The usual round paddle...

...and the way I cut it for a tighter action.

Tomorrow I'm planning a fishing marathon on the North coast of Scotland and weather depending I will make the long drive to fish some marks around Wick and Thurso. Hopefully Ill encounter some good fish!

Tight Lines!

Gear used.
Rod:  Majorcraft CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro lite 1000
Mainline: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon 3lbs
Rig: cheburashka, jighead
lure: Ecogear Aqua katsu Mebaru Shirasu 2", Lunker city and Daiwa shads.

Early morning surprise!

Today I was starting work at 12:00 and so I decided to visit my mark in Loch Linnhe for an early morning session.
At the mark, I started with my go-to presentation these days, the Duel Salty bait rigged with a slim soft plastic. Today I chose a Keitech sexy Impact instead of the usual Gulp as I'm running low on them and also I wanted to see if there would be a significant difference.
I started casting around and working the jig near the bottom at the beginning of the retrieve while ending with a steady wind close in. I got a small pollock and some bites from smaller fish.
I then made a cast parallel to the rocks and let the lure sink in a semi-controlled line. After touching bottom, I gave it a twitch and felt a take. I struck and I had a fish on! It fought unusually, with rapid head-shakes and on bringing it up I saw it was a small ling! My second one from this mark and curiously, took the lure shortly after touching bottom as the previous one...
After the ling, I continued fishing but it was high tide and things slowed down. I decided to move to the rocky point on the other side and try for the pollock there.
On the point and first cast I lose my lure! Moreover, I had forgotten most of my jigheads and jigs in the car and as the time was running I decided to fish with what I had in my bag...
 I found a 10cm Savagear slug on a 10g jighead and started casting and working the lure back. I got a few pollock and a codling but nothing spectacular before wrapping up.

A true predator!

The usual suspects..

Obviously, some more Salty Baits and lures are on their long journey from Japan now and cant wait to get my hands on them! Until then I'll be using the usual stuff...

Tight Lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Daiwa Tournament 8 Accudepth braid 10lbs
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.
lures: Duel Salty Bait 10g with Keitech Sexy Impact trailer.

Salty Bait does it again.

Lately I have been experimenting with kabura and inchiku type metal jigs for my pollock fishing on the medium gear. Since the fish have started to show up again in numbers and are quite aggressive and competitive, I was thinking that something different may grab their attention.
Moreover besides the visual attraction I wanted to add something for flavour/scent as well, and thus I added some Berkley gulp as trailers to the jig.
The jig used is the Duel Salty Bait 10g, that comes with an offset hook and a rigged muppet. The lure has been successful as it is on pollock, but I wanted to see if Gulp would bring better results.
The first test was on my previous trip to Easdale, where the deep waters, snaggy bottom and strong wind didn't allow me to work my usual metal jigs and softplastics effectively. The Salty Bait on the other hand, casts well, is easy to work and with the addition of the Gulp very effective, as I caught a couple good pollock that almost engulfed the lure!
I added Berkley Gulp Minnows or Sandeels as their slim profile wouldn't affect negatively the jig's action. In truth they enhanced the action and it looks somehow like they're rigged on the cheburashka with an enticing wiggle in straight retrieve. The two ways I worked them are either a straight retrieve with some pauses here and there, or worked on the bottom with a series of abrupt pulls (not jerks!) where the rod is loaded and brings the lure up, and then let it reach bottom again before repeating.
Today I visited Loch Linnhe and I only used this presentation to see if it would work on calmer, clearer water. The casts are really good with this lure and I was able to cover a lot of water quickly and find the fish, that were typically holding near the bottom of the point at the entrance to a deep basin.
They would hit the lures on both types of retrieve, usually after a pause or acceleration and what impressed me was their confidence on the take and usually solid hook-up. Moreover codling seem to like them as well and I would like to try them somewhere that there are larger cod as I think that it can give good results. Below some pics of today's fish and lure used.

Todays presentation.

This one was kept for tea as it engulfed it!

Plumb codling.

Deep hooking...

Even little ones go for it.

Biggest of the day.

I was using my KG Evolution rod today and with its solid tip, I felt every touch and movement on the lure, thus I think its ideal for the method. The fish were mostly coming from distance but as the evening went on they started to move closer to the rocks. I had very good fun catching a good number of them and also losing some that caught me unprepared... More tests will follow but I think its a method/presentation that its worth a look and can turn up unexpected results. I am surprised that shore jigging has caught on so fast in Greece and the Med, while here where the waters and species are very conducive for it, it hasn't. I might look more seriously into it at some later point as I really believe it can throw up some monsters!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Daiwa Tournament 8 Accudepth braid 10lbs
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.
lures: Duel Salty Bait 10g with Berkley gulp trailer.

The pollock are back!

For the past couple of weeks the pollock have been making their presence felt, more so than in the previous summer months. Apart from the occasional decent fish, the summer is not usually considered the best season for pollock and this was true for me and this summer. I'm not referring to the usual 1-2lbs fish that are ubiquitous pretty much everywhere but to the 3lbs+ fish.  I hadn't seen large fish in numbers since spring time but in the latest sessions I started getting some of them and I was thinking that a visit to Loch Fyne was in order to target them, as I caught a good one on my visit with my friend John there.
Thus I was there by midday and everything looked promising. Overcast sky, tide coming in and plenty of baitfish around. I headed straight away for the point at the entrance of the basin as this is where I usually catch pollock here. There was an other angler already fishing there but he was concentrating on the outside of the basin and fishing with feathers for mackerel. Although he hadn't caught anything.
I was fishing with the Solpara as Ive managed to break the tip of my Crostage (spare on its way) and I wasn't expecting something extraordinary so felt pretty well covered with it.
I was using the same 2.75" Lunker City Swimfish on a 7g Sakura fishead that's been effective lately and made a good cast towards my 'hot spot'. After letting the lure touch bottom on loose line, as the place is quite deep, I started a stop and go retrieve with some jerks of the rod tip. I felt a tap on the pause but kept retrieving and then I got a solid take. I struck and the rod tip just stuck down without recovering! I could feel it was a decent fish and it was bringing the Solpara to its limit.. I kept the drag setting as it was, since the rod could take it and let the fish do its runs. It was very powerful and kept diving with unstoppable force but slowly I was making progress on it. It snagged me for a while but after feeding it line it got out again.. Slowly but surely it was coming up and I was sure it was a good fish, but I did not expect it would be that big as what surfaced next! The guy fishing next to me couldn't believe it! It was my biggest pollock ever and pushing double figures.

PB!

Unfortunately I couldn't take pics with my phone as it had taken water but thankfully the other lad fishing offered to shoot a couple pics. I was planning to release the fish but seeing that the lad had no fish I decided to give him the fish and asked him if he could weigh it. He then send me a text and the fish weighed 9lbs7oz!
I continued fishing after the big fish and managed a few more descent pollock and a couple good codling of 1.5-2lbs. Most of the fish were caught on a 6g cheburashka with a #2 offset hook and various slim paddletails.
Today I decided to fish near Easdale as the deep waters there should provide me with some more pollock and good coalies.
I fished from the rocks first, overlooking a shallow bay where the water drops quickly to great depth. The pollock and coalfish usually lay around the kelp where the depth changes and attack what moves above. I was using metal jigs but due to the wind and the thicker braid on my heavier setup, I couldnt work them properly and only managed a nice coalie. I decided to change tactics and try something Ive been thinking for a while. I would use small kabura/inchiku type jigs that have been productive to me in the past in similar conditions but I added some gulp on the hook instead of the usual muppet. The lure I used was the 10g Duel Salty bait and I just added a Berkley Gulp minnow on the offset hook. These lures are meant to imitate crustaceans/mollusks/nothing in particular! But seem to draw fish. Most of these lures are worked on steady retrieve and/or pulls of the rod tip but not with the usual jerks of shore jigging. They have an intriguing action and in this case they proved successful as I managed two nice pollock although I lost the one when pulling it out of the water..

Coalies this size are superb fighters!

A successful presentation that I need to keep working on...

He wanted the salty bait!

I decided to move as there wasn't much else showing. I walked to the car but I decided to change gear to the lighter stuff and try the harbour entrance as the tide was coming in and it looked a good spot for coalies. I put on the microjig baited with 2" Berkley Gulp Fish fry and as predicted, the coalies were there and kept coming thick and fast on the lure! It was hectic action and I made a short video that I will upload soon.

Coalies!

After this I felt pretty satisfied with my days fishing and called it a day.
I'm looking forward to more pollock action as I better get the most out of it now, although I think it will be a while before I catch a pollock like this again!

Tight Lines!

Gear used.

Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g),   Majorcraft KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Exage 1000fd ,Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Spiderwire invisibraid 0.10mm, FinnsWindtamer braid 10lbs
leader: Dragon 7lbs Fluorocarbon, YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.
lures: 2.75"Lunker city Swimfish, Duel Salty bait 10g with Berkley Gulp Minnow trailer, 2" Berkley Fish Fry.