Unbelievable!

Went at the loch again today and was gonna fish lrf for a while then later switching to targeting pollock on the heavier gear. Not much was happening with the lrf so after a bit, I got my Major Craft kg evolution and put on a savagear sandeel mounted on an articulated jig head. I started by letting the lure touch bottom and then bounce it back towards me. After a few casts I neared the spot were I caught last week's pollock and slowed down my retrieve, I got a bite and weight on but not really pollock-like runs.. As I got the fish to the surface I realised it was a nice codling of about a pound and was really surprised that it took the large lure.. I held it for a photo but on a closer inspection I saw something else in its mouth as well... It was actually my little jig head and Tict lure that I lost in the weekend! What a voracious feeder and of course I would prefer to have caught it on my lrf gear...
After getting both my lures back I let the fish go and continued my fishing. Not much was happening until I caught a small pollock and then headed home.

A beautiful day.

The glutton!

Thats where it was!

Also went on a short exploratory session yesterday night on the Port Appin pier,  I was pleasantly surprised catching some feisty coalfish and a poor cod.. Finally some fish caught near the surface and not bouncing the bottom (except the poor cod)! Sorry for the bad pics but it was wet.

A lone poor cod.

A very cool little predator!

They were holding near the lights in shallow water and attacking tiny paddletails and slims. Caught some until the action dried up when an otter or something came in the swim! Hope to have some better fishing tomorrow.

Tight lines

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft KG Evolution KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g . Awa Shima Qlite spin, 1-5g, 2.40m
Reel:Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f. Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Spiderwire fluorobraid 10lbs,  Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: mini carolina, jighead, mini texas 
lure: Savagear sandeel mounted on 10gr delalande articulated jighead, slim lures and paddletails.

A welcome surprise.

It has been a terrible week weather-wise and it even snowed heavily on Friday! But thankfully on my days off the wind eased up a bit and not thinking twice I headed up the road to loch Etive as soon as I woke up. The weather wasn't great but at least there was little wind and I could easily do some lrfing and try some new lures, hooks and presentations.
I got hold of some new Tict lures and Decoy float rig MG2 hooks and I wanted to try them on mini Carolina, and mini Texas rigs targeting the deep feeding fish of the loch. These hooks have small fluorescent points on them and maybe they could be picked up more easily in the deep and dark waters.
On reaching the mark, it was looking promising with calm surface and around high tide. I started with a dropshot rig as I wanted to see if it could be more productive but other than a couple knocks I got nothing. I changed to carolina but still no fish and decided to move towards a rock wall with some deeper water. I lost the carolina rig to a snag and tied a mini texas with a 2g running olivette and the MG2 hook in the end. After many casts into the abyss(!) I finally got a bite and a fish on and got a poor cod up. These fish are really sensitive and don't release well coming from such depths so I kept it as I couldn't revive it.. I continued fishing but it was obvious that the fish weren't feeding hard today. I got some more plucks but in combination with plenty of gear losses to snags, no fish landed and the weather going through three seasons in 20 mins I was starting to lose spirit!
Another cast made and as I retrieved the lure closer, it came into contact with some seaweed, I flicked it and then felt a take to which I struck in and got solid resistance. It was obviously a better fish and was making some powerful runs that made the little Awa shima bent beautifully and peeling line from the drag. After about 4-5 runs I slowly gained the upper hand and reeled the fish closer to the surface, I saw it glistening in the water and it proved to be a very brutish looking 3lbs pollock! I hand landed it (as I forgot my golden rule of lrf to always carry a net) and took some photos before releasing it but again the long fight from the deep water got the fish very tired and after several attempts to revive it I just had to take it home as well. I kept fishing but other than a small pollock with an interesting parasite in the eye and a small codling I got no more fish.

Poor cod are obliging but very sensitive.

A pleasant surprise.

He really wanted it!

Jackall peke peke on mini texas with MG2 hook.

Pretty little pollock..

.. interesting.

Codling are fun too.

Today the weather was even better than yesterday with glorious sunshine and of course I did the same thing. The fish were not in their usual haunts though and after some searching and some missed takes I finally found some towards the mouth of the natural harbour. The mini texas rig proved very effective again and light coloured slim lures seemed  to be preferred.

nice colour in the sun light.

The fish have shown better feeding activity when the water is moving and not at the peak of the flood. Later in the day is better also. Moreover they keep near the drop offs and structure with a few exceptions. They don't seem to play with their food and in combination with their quite big mouths (most gadoids) they are relatively easy to catch.
At some point I put the lrf gear in the car and as the tide was going out, I picked the heavier gear to target some bigger fish at the mouth of the natural harbour. I wasn't expecting much, but after a couple casts with a savagear sandeel I got a strong take near the kelp strewn rockwall and the rod arched over to a good fish. It did some good runs but everything came to an abrupt end rather quickly as something gave way.. I reeled the line in only to discover that the line had parted near the knot! I silly mistake as I hadn't checked that knot for ages and instead of making a new one I kept fishing with it..
 Anyway I enjoyed these two sessions and even though it doesn't feel like spring yet, the fish are starting to move so I should be trying at the other nearby lochs as well soon. The hooks seemed to do well but only further outings will tell if they perform better than standard hooks, although in fishing I think that every little helps.. I also had the pollock and poor cod for dinner,  shallow fried with oatcake crumple on top and plenty of lemon juice which was quite nice!

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Awa Shima Qlite spin, 1-5g, 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: mini carolina, jighead, mini texas 
lure: slim lures proving more effective.

Loch Etive LRF.

Its been a week that Ive been here in Scotland now and although I haven't had much time for long sessions, I have been scouting both online and by car for the best looking marks in the area in preparation for the summer..
I have been for a couple short lrf sessions in Loch Etive at the spot I found as it has provided me with some action whereas most other areas look quiet. The spot as Ive mentioned is a small natural harbour with a good depth and steep rocky banks covered in kelp and seaweed. The bottom is mostly silty with good numbers of mussels, crabs etc, hence plenty of food for the fish.
What has been a revelation, is the number of species there as in only a few sessions Ive managed to get plenty of first time catches! These are: codling, poor cod, coalfish and gurnard. Cant wait for some more surprises!
The tactics I use are simple mini carolina with one or two ssg shots (depending on the wind intensity) pinched 5"-6" above a #8-#10 spit shotter hook and jighead when fishing almost vertically.
These fish seem very susceptible to lrf and are quite aggressive! The best lures have been so far: Ecogear Shirasu worm, Jackall Peke-Peke, Berkley gulps, isome and tiny creatures.
Tackle losses can be a problem as most fish relate to structure, and it would be better if I used slim offset hooks but Ive run out of them..
I have been fishing outside the 'harbour' as well but the fish seem to be concentrated in the basin for now.

Codling are good fun, usually in groups..

voracious feeders

A shiny poor cod.

Mini pollock.

My first gurnard.

My first coalfish.

A hungry little pollock!

After the first couple days here, the weather got beautiful with blue sky and no wind but now we are back to rain and strong winds that makes lrf very difficult. More over the fish have shown preference to more settled weather as the wind seems to push them deeper.
I cant figure out a pattern regarding tide times yet but the fish feed harder near dusk. I hope we get some better weather conditions soon and then who knows what else may come out from there!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Awa Shima Qlite spin, 1-5g, 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: mini carolina, jighead
lure: Berkley gulp worms, Isome, Ecogear Power Shirasu, Jackall peke peke and tiny creatures.

New place new beginning.

On Friday, me and my brother set off for the long trip to the west coast of Scotland where our new job and home is going to be for the coming summer season.
We are living near Oban and naturally I had made my research for the best looking marks in freshwater and saltwater beforehand.
The area is breathtakingly beautiful but the Scottish weather... Well, its just the way it is!
So today I got the opportunity to check out some marks on two sea lochs near me.
I first visited loch Creran and fished under the bridge with heavier gear. I was mostly aiming to check the actions of lures as well as the depth and current flows and not really expecting any fish so early in the season. And not surprisingly I didn't catch anything but saw a pretty otter swimming around. . I always feel fuller when I'm fishing in areas where I get to have wildlife encounters, as they are truly wild and unaltered by human intervention.

Spring not here yet...

After an hour or so, I got in the car and drove to loch Etive.  I went to a promising looking natural harbour where I wanted to do some lrf just to see whats there.. The water was calm as there was no wind but some rain drops started falling.
I tied a #12 split shotter hook and pinched a single ssg shot 5inches from it. The lure was a small Berkley gulp earthworm. After a couple casts I got a slight rattle but reacted too fast, I recast and after waiting (substantially) for the rig to touch bottom I felt a couple bites and set the hook to a fish. I had the drag set  a little loose as I was aiming for mini species and the fish pleasantly took some line before I brought it up.  It was a small codling, my first of its species and also first fish in Scotland!
I was quite excited and kept fishing. . I got another similar take but this time the fish was larger and made a good run. Unfortunately the small hook pulled out..
I persisted and had a couple more bites but the rain got heavier and I decided to go home.

My first ever.

Not great results but I got a new species and my first fish in Scotland! I think this can only be a good sign of things to come..
More reports to come soon from freshwater as well since we are near the opening of the new season, I am really excited and looking forward to some new fishing adventures!

Thanks for reading.

Gear used.
Rod: Awa Shima Qlite spin, 1-5g, 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: mini carolina
lure: Berkley gulp worm

Expedition Philippines!

Yesterday I returned from my three week long holiday in the Philippines, thankfully the weather was nice but the temperature was still quite a shock! My main visiting area was the island of Panglao and Tagbilaran city in Bohol Island on the Central Philippines (Visayas).
I haven't heard much about the fishing potential on that part of the Philippines (and in all the Philippines for that matter) but I was sure that the UL/LRF gear would see me catch something. Thus I took with me my two travel rods: The Daiwa spinmatic 6', 4pc, 1-4lbs and the Shimano Beastmaster STC, 2.40-2.70m, 10-40gm. The second rod was taken just in case I could find deeper water or a boat and fish for larger predators.
The waters around Panglao Island are not very deep but the reef is in a short distance from the shore and this attracts many fish. The only problem is that Filipinos just love all kinds of fish and seem to have eaten all the big ones! lol
So on my first visit to the local beach I got my UL gear so that I could see what could be had... We were on a typical beach of the island where the sand meets sea-grass and some rocks after 5-10m from the shore, while the reef can start anywhere from 10-50m away. 
I focused mainly on rocky outcrops on the edges of the beach and used mini carolina rigs with #6 slim offset hooks and SSG shots. On my first cast and after a couple jerks I got the first bite and straight away I knew which species it was... A small garfish very similar to ours had decided to eat the 2" Berkley Fish Fry..

After releasing the garfish I continued fishing and got a sharp bite, I let it develop and after striking I had a feisty fish on the end of my line.. Bringing it in I realised it was a species of wrasse (cigar wrasse) that is very common here.

The protagonist of all the day sessions.

I continued catching some more of these albeit in smaller sizes than the first one until something different hit the lure at high speed. It was a tiny spotted snapper and after a couple casts I got another one. Very aggressive!

Small but fast and furious!

This session was followed by a couple more very short ones in daylight and night time. It was becoming apparent that the cigar wrasse would be the dominant daylight species while at night small cardinal fish (Apogon spp) were abundant.

On the first week of my trip I was planning to visit Balicasag Island where the reef is very close to the shore and its considered a hot spot for snorkeling due to the variety of fish there. Therefore I was planning to do some serious fishing there and took it easy the first few days.
When the day came I was filled with anticipation and excitement! We went on the boat and the plan was that I would fish a few good spots before going on the main island for the day. On reaching the first mark and admiring the clear water and corral strewn reef on the bottom, I begun assembling the rod and in a most unlucky moment disaster struck! The first two sections of my little rod went down a whole on the deck of the boat and into the sea!
I was left speechless and looked like a kid that someone stole my ice cream...! I was even more frustrated when I went snorkeling on the island and saw the multitude of fish swimming a few meters from the beach...
After this mishap I didn't even want to think about fishing! I tried with the heavier gear but to no avail.. After some days though I got an eureka moment! I managed to fit the tip of my Shimano beastmaster to the bottom section of the Spinmatic thus combining the best of the two companies!
Joking aside, the rod  proved adequate and I was back on the fish.

Custom rod lol!

I had a session in Alona beach where although packed with tourists, its a very promising mark with plenty of structure and seaweed. Also there are lots of baitfish around and in retrospect I think I should have put some more time there. I caught a nice variety of fish missing some nice garfish though that kept biting through the line. The highlight of the session was a very colourful triggerfish! there was a shoal of them but they are tricky to catch due to their small mouths and feeding style with small bites. Also they destroy softbaits! The best lures seemed to be small paddletails, twintails and tiny crayfish.

Alona beach

The point I fished.

Absolutely stunning!

Seemed to get the bigger ones from the first casts in the area - classic territorial wrasse.

Had to wade and almost got my smartphone wet!

 What I found very effective apart from the carolina rig was using small tubes with jigheads after I added some liquid attractant in the cavity. If the bites were short, a small hook added on the main one proved successful in catching the finicky fish.

Needs more testing..

..but very effective.

Another good area was the main bridge that connected Panglao with Tagbilaran city, mostly at night.
I fished around the bridge at high tide and when I managed to get past the cardinal fish hordes I got a small grouper (lapu lapu). Tiny padletails, slims and power isome on #8-#10 hooks were very successful.

The bridge

A cracking species!

Devouring and endless!

A welcome but rare surprise.

Paradise..

Need to check it out some other time...

I have to admit that I really wanted to do some more fishing but unfortunately luck wasn't with me.. I hope I can get another opportunity to fish these tropical waters, this time with proper equipment and doubled up! What really amazed me was the willingness of these fish to take a lure and also the much better fighting abilities than our similar fish.. For example the cigar wrasse is similarly built to our Mediterranean rainbow wrasse but it fights so much harder!
It was obvious that the heavy gear was not needed as unfortunately larger fish are not abundant but for the UL/LRF aficionado, Philippines is a very good place to bring a rod.
What I didn't have the chance to explore was the freshwater potential, as Bohol has quite a few rivers, but the access is usually difficult and my accommodation was far from these areas..
I really had a wonderful time there and managed to get a good break from the horrible weather here, moreover I recharged my batteries and I'm now ready to move up in Scotland for the summer season to work (and fish of course!).
By the way, I was feeling restless after the long trip yesterday and paid a visit to the canal with the following results..

A really good way to relax before going to sleep! Will be getting stuck with a few more of these soon.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!


Gear used.

Rod: Daiwa spinmatic 6', 4pc, 1-4lbs later custom made to Shimano Spinmatic!
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: carolina and jighead
lure: Tiny craws good for bigger wrasse, tubes, paddlle/straight tail very effective.