Return to my roots..

As I mentioned on my previous post, I am without a car now and this has really started to get to me! Especially yesterday on my day off, I stayed at home and I was feeling like a caged bird... Today I was having none of it.. I was determined to go catch some fish no matter what..
I heard of a little burn that holds plenty of small brown trout and even the occasional salmon in season and I've been wanting to try it out for a while now, though I was getting distracted by the lochs. Today it was the day, but the only problem was the distance... The burn is approximately 2.5 hours walk (!) from my place but nevertheless I was bent on doing it..
After the long walk I finally reached the burn and it did look very fishy with lots of cover and pools. I could see some little fish moving about and I cautiously approached the bank..
My first time fishing with lures was exactly in a place like this back home, ultra light spinning for brown trout and I must admit that its been a while since I've done it... So unsurprisingly, I was a bit rusty and a few casts didn't go where they were meant to!
I soon started getting the hang of it and I was rewarded with some little trout hitting my spinner. I caught plenty and lost some as I was making my way upstream, moreover I got some salmon parr as well, which proves that the burn gets salmon indeed...

Its been a while...

A beauty!

Plenty of parr, a good sign.

Sunken tree.. typical fish magnet!

After a while I reached a nice large pool and I decided to use some soft baits as well. I rigged an orange
Ecogear grass minnow s on a 1.5g jighead and started casting under the little waterfalls. It didn't take long before I started getting bites and more little trout and parr. I got a decent trout that came off but I wasn't bothered as I was having a really good time!

The pool.

They like softies as well!

I fished for a couple hours I think and caught plenty of little fish, so considering the time it would take me to walk back home and the midges eating me alive, I decided to call it a day and return some other time.. Possibly after some good rains later in the season for that elusive salmon.. Next week I'm looking forward to visiting the isle of Islay and doing some fishing there, hope it goes well!

Thanks for reading

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g)
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: spinner, jighead
lure: Ecogear grass minnow s, Lukris and Jaxon #1 spinners.

Fine fishing in Loch Fyne!

The past weekend saw me venturing a bit further away from my regular marks as I wanted to try somewhere new since my regular marks didn't produce more than the expected. Thus, in Sunday after spending the morning in the west side of loch Awe without much to show  for my efforts I decided to go to the opposite side and then drive down to Inveraray. I had read about some good fishing in the huge loch Fyne and especially about a mark that was described as 'terminal tackle graveyard'! I checked it out in Google earth and it did look very promising, being near a quarry , it was again a deep harbour with plenty of boulders and rocks in, as well as looking deeper than the surrounding water. I was secretly hoping for some wrasse action as I haven't located them near home so far and I really missed them since leaving Sark.
After some driving I finally reached the mark and it was looking really impressive..

Lots of rocks in the water..

The harbour..

 I was planning to fish with the lrf gear to see what was out there and mainly utilise the 'microjig' articulated jigheads for a different presentation that I wanted to try for a while. The microjig is mainly used in Eastern Europe for UL fishing bottom presentations and is really versatile as you can change hooks fast with a little ring/clip and/or add a trace for pegged carolina. Moreover it gives a nice wobble to the softbait as its dragged on the bottom. So I put on a #8 Owner spitshotter hook by breaking the top of the eye of the 4g microjig and locking it in place with the pliers. I prefer to do it this way so the hook is looking upwards but it can also be done with a double ring and a plugging single hook since the eye is looking accordingly.

The way I rigged the hook

With a shirasu worm..

I threaded a pearl white Ecogear power Shirasu worm  and started casting towards the middle of the harbour and working the lure back slowly on the bottom. I was simply retrieving and pausing without many jerks and that seemed to be working fine as I soon started getting bites and landing fish. Pollock, codling and shoaled poor cod were coming in numbers from the deeper areas. The fish were feeding hard even though it was low tide and an otter was diving about! The poor cod in particular surprised me with their sheer aggression... I made my way casting and getting fish around the harbour and I reached an area with big boulders and weed. I could see small wrasse species milling around and tried to catch them as they were probably a new species for me.. I had to change my presentation though as they had small mouths. I rigged a #12, 1g jighead with a piece of Jackall peke-peke and after a few tries I finally got one to hold on.. It was a goldsinny wrasse and a new species for me!

The first of many.. 

Many on this size.

The like the microjig.

Most poor cod I've ever caught in a session!

Codling of a decent size..

Love the variation in colour.

My first goldsinny wrasse!

 I changed back to the microjig/shirasu combo and kept casting and working the lure among the boulders on a sink and draw fashion as soon as the lure touched bottom. As I was retrieving the lure after a couple casts It came into view (since the water was pretty clear) and I saw a large figure moving towards it and attack.. i felt the bite and set the hook.. The fish woke up and it went on a mad run towards the deep. I could see clearly that it was a ballan wrasse and it was fighting hard on my lrf gear! After a few more frantic runs the fish started to tire and I manged to pull it up. It was a beauty and my first Scottish ballan wrasse!

Beautifull Scottish ballan wrasse..

I persevered on the spot and hooked another one although the hook pulled...
I wanted to see if there were any scorpions around the legs of a jetty and moved towards it as I didn't want to target the wrasse with such light gear. Working the legs of the jetty gave me more little pollock and poor cod but surprisingly no scorpion fish. The sun was setting and I decided to go home as I had enjoyed a very productive session although it was a pity I didn't have the action cam with me...

Doesn't that look fishy?!

Many smaller pollock were hitting anything falling in the water.

After all those fish!

I will definitely visit this mark again as it surely has more to offer but unfortunately yesterday I had to send my car for trash! This is a major setback and I wont be fishing for a while but I'm looking to get another one asap! The microjig presentation proved very effective and hopefully Ill be doing more of that when I'm out fishing again..

R.I.P

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g)
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: microjig, jighead
lure: Ecogear Shirasu worm, Tict brilliant