Mackerel and ling in loch Linnhe!

Lately I have focused on the trout in the streams and neglected my sea fish.. So I decided to change this a bit.. I'm curious to see if the vibe/blade bait pattern for pollock is still on, so I visited my pollock mark again. The place looks different now and the seaweed and kelp have really grown. This made the correct presentation of these lures difficult and I had to switch to something weedless. I used a Lunker City Ribster on a 3.5g texas jighead as I have great faith in this presentation both because of its attractiveness and weedless/snagless ability. After a couple casts and working the lure O.T.D doing practically very little retrieve-wise, I got hit and struck into a good fish.. The fight was furious but relatively quick and a nice pollock was landed! This means that the fish are still there and I will just have to adapt and use my typical weedless soft plastics instead of the hard lures now. I did enjoy getting them on the blades though..! After the first fish I got a couple more bites but no hookups, the light was fading though and I headed home.

Still there...

Today I wanted to fish for trout along with my action camera so that I could get some nice footage and later visit some marks on lochs Linnhe and leven. Things didn't go as planned though, as the camera run out of battery before I got the action (!) and I would have to go back home to recharge it. I decided to stop with the trout as I didn't want to unsettle the other swims so that I could visit them later in the day. Instead I went to a mark that although near to me and with a good depth as well as looking productive, hasn't given me anything besides a couple bites... Its a deep basin enclosed by a rocky peninsula and an artificial boulder wall. Theres a stream running into it and the vegetation is thick in the water. The bottom is mostly mud/sand  but close in there are a lot of snags/boulders and kelp. Previously I hadn't covered  the place seriously but today I worked the area well, fan-casting and bumping the bottom. I used various articulated micojigs

 (that I will cover in a post soon) as they are perfect for searching out new areas. I wasn't getting much in the distance and the bites started coming when the lure was close to where the soft-meets-hard close in. The first fish, as usual for these deep marks, were poor cod  and this gave me hope for more to come. In another cast I let the lure sink on tight line and got a fish on straight after touching bottom. It felt decent and fought in a sort of cod-like fashion, it also pulled some line and I was expecting a nice codling, but then a long silhouette started coming towards the surface. It took me completely by surprise but it was a small ling that liked the ecogear shirasu. One look at the ling's  mouth and I suddenly thought about all those cut lines In Etive and I
was pretty sure now that the culprit was ling! I thought that this fish prefers offshore wrecks but then again the depths here are big and there's plenty of structure and food for them. Another unlikely species for the LRF list added!
 I persisted fishing and moving towards the back end of the bay where the vegetation was more prolific and i started catching some small pollock and a couple codling, the fish had black spots and I think that this means that  only now they started to get really active in this location. Its amazing how different the timing can be for fish even in lochs of close proximity...

Ling on LRF!

Sharp teeth!

A beautiful location.

Pollock on Ecogear minnow.

Little codling with the characteristic black spots..

After a while I thought of trying my luck on the top layers of the water hoping that mackerel may be around as its meant to be the middle of summer! I put on a 2.5" Tict brilliant on a 3g jighead and after a few casts, I got hit OTD soon after the lure landed. The take and fight was unmistakable and the first mackerel of the year was in my hands! I kept the fish for lunch and proceeded to catch another slightly larger one on a Savagear lrf psycho sprat. I was very happy with the short session and i decided to go home and enjoy my fish fresh with a cold beer!

They are here!

Tomorrow I'm planning to visit loch Fyne again and i hope to get some good footage to put a video together..

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod : Majorcraft CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: microjig, jighead
lure: Ecogear Shirasu worm, Tict brilliant, Ecogear Minnow, Savagear lrf psycho sprat, Lunker City Ribster

Jungle trouting..

After returning from my Islay trip I didn't have whole days off so other than a couple short sessions I didn't do much.. It has also rained a lot and I was skeptical in doing long trips, thus I decided to focus closer at home. There are a couple burns within a few minute's drive from home that I knew they hold trout as I saw them on my long trek last time I went trout fishing. Today on my break I though it was a good opportunity to check out the one closer to me. I put on the waders and after some scrambling above fences and bushes, reached the little burn. It was carrying a lot of water from the recent rains but no colour so I was optimistic. I started casting my #0 spinner about and sure enough the little brownies were hitting it hard! I walked up the stream for about half a mile and must have caught over 20 of them.. They were small as its only a small burn but I got a few better ones from the deeper swims. Still though, their sheer aggression, acrobatic fights and stunning looks made my day! I also noticed that most of them were looking chunky and that there were no salmon parr on this stream..

Precision casting needed!

nice swim..

Stunning.

Typical holding spot under bridges..

Surprising how many fish come from a good spot..

I also found some trout in a little stream flowing through a town which make for very different scenery! Overall it seems that they are everywhere up here...

Urban trout.. Need to look into it..

This week Im planning to visit Loch Fyne again but this time with the action camera and hopefully il get some nice footage. Ive also checked out a small loch that holds pike and perch and it looks promising..

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Daiwa Procyon, 6'.6", 1/32-1/8oz
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: spinners

lure: Lukris and Jaxon #0 spinners.

Trip to Islay and back on track!

This weekend saw me visit the isles of  Islay and Jura for a meet up with some friends and with the intention of doing some hiking and general roam-around the islands. Our base was near loch Gorm in Islay and one day was spend on Jura walking up the Paps there. This was not to be a fishing expedition but of course I took my Savagear roadrunner travel rod just to see what was there and with the intention to plan a future trip if there was any good fishing potential. Most of Islay is rocky with a few shallow bays and even some beautiful sandy beaches. There are some freshwater lochs as well but I was planning to focus on the saltwater this time. I wasn't targeting one species particularly but I was hoping for some wrasse or dare I say bass...
On the first day we visited a bay near our base with a sandy beach and rocks all around it. The ground looked really fishy but after some casts with metal jigs and soft plastics, it became apparent that there weren't many fish about.. I got a bite and a follow from what looked like a small pollock but that was it.. On closer inspection, the rockpools weren't very lively either and there weren't any baitfish to be seen. Both signs that although we re in the end of june, it may still be a bit early for the summer species and shallow areas to fire off.. I didn't give up and decided to target deeper water instead, especially at harbours and rock marks.
Next morning we were to get the ferry from port Askaig to cross the Sound of Islay for Jura. We were a bit early and the harbour was looking  very likely to produce some fish... There was very strong current in the Sound and I was sure that something may be hiding in ambush near the walls and pillars of the pier.. I put on a white savagear lrf psycho sprat (5g) and on the first cast I started to feel some bumps as the lure was sinking on free line, I yo yo jigged it a couple times and I was in! The fish was small but putting up a good scrap and on reaching the surface I could see it was nothing else than a coalie! It was quite plump and I knew they would be in a group so I persisted with jigging. I was catching one after the other and all of a much better stamp than the ones in the mainland, moreover they were prettier fish with more blue/green hues than the more darker/grey coloured ones from the lochs. Superb fun and I regret not taking the lrf travel rod with me, they would have given me mad fights on it! I did get a few reaching the two pound mark that really do pull! I later foul hooked one from the back and I swear I thought it was a 5lbs+ pollock! Surprisingly there weren't many pollock about but I did get one of around 3lbs that unfortunately for him took the lure to the throat and I had to keep it for lunch...

Lost them from the mainland to find them here!

A beautiful fighter.

Unfortunate deep hooking.

Pollock for lunch..

The coalies here looked prettier with a more blue/green colour..

Decent sized..

Port Askaig..

Port Askaig entrance..

beach with rocks

Rock pools weren't as lively as I expected..

Very wrassy but the wrasse weren't there..

This hectic session was cut short as we had to board the ferry and cross to Jura. We then made the hike up the Paps and it was late afternoon before we went to get the ferry back. My friends then went in a pub and I started fishing again at the pier. The fish were there and I started getting plenty of them on the psycho sprat again. I tried a savagear sandeel on a 12g Xorus Basic shad jighead hoping for something bigger to hit. The lure was getting lots of hits but no hook-ups as they were from small fish, after a while a few coalies did manage to get it in their mouth though! This presentation did get some slightly better coalies but not what I was expecting so I reverted back to the psycho sprat. I moved along the harbour getting fish at almost every cast and I managed some larger specimens very close to the walls. It was a very enjoyable session and Im sure that this side of the island might hold some really good pollock and coalies.

Always a good spot near the boats..

Hungry!

A good spot.

Among the bigger ones..

Face of a hunter..

Little pollock from the kelp at the base of the pier.

On the next day we visited some other areas around the island and even went swimming in the beach! the water was freezing but the sun was making it bearable.. I fished for a bit on a natural harbour near a village and caught a few more coalies and pollock but nothing bigger.. There were some seals about so they may have had an impact on the fish..

Beautiful location..

Lean little pollock..

The weather was fantastic..

Excellent lure!

This was to be my last session as we were to leave next morning and moreover Greece was playing on the telly so I watched the match instead. Overall I had a great time and even though I didn't catch any big fish, the sheer numbers of the coalies put a smile in my face and also convinced me that in a more serious trip better results are to be had.. The island looks like it could hold a few bass especially in the shallow areas that will warm up faster and also keep sandeels. I did see a small shoal of them in port Ellen and also mackerel will be coming soon, so I'm sure a trip is well worth planning a bit later.. Ill just close with some more pics...

View from the middle Pap of Jura.

Freshwater loch in Jura.

I got some good news in the end of this trip learning that my friend wanted to sell his car and so I'm now a proud car owner again and back on track. Definitely more fishing to come! I was really going crazy even though its only been two weeks without a car...

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.

Rod: Savage Gear Roadrunner XLNT, 7', 3-16g
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro Lite 1000
Mainline: Fins windtamer, 10lbs, Dragon fluorocarbon 8lbs leader
lure: Savage gear lrf psycho sprat, Savage gear sandeel with Xorus basic shad jighead.