On the weekend I visited Easdale, a mark that I had tried there previously but it felt quite early with no fish to be caught. It did look good though and I wanted to return as soon as I got a few nice days. Well surprisingly the weather has been really good lately and it was perfect to try there again. The area is known for its slate mines and it has deep water with lots of rocks as well as strong currents between the nearby islands. I started at the North Cuan harbour trying to find some wrasse and indeed they were there.. After catching a few I moved to the rocks after Easdale where the water is very deep with kelp at the bottom of the cliff-face. Last time I tried there with softplastics but this time I was going to work metals in order to cover more water and work the water column more efficiently. I was expecting some mackerel and maybe pollock close in, but instead I started getting coalies.. They would hit quite deep and especially when the lure came close to the kelp edge. I was surprised to find such decent coalfish here as they seem to have moved deeper in the sealochs and are now found in smaller numbers here and there. It was afternoon and very hot with no cloud in the sky and I suppose thats why these fish were holding so deep. The biggest I caught was about 2lbs but I lost a much better fish (coalie or pollock) that took me to the kelp and got stuck..
After a good number of coalies it got uncomfortably hot and I called it a day.
Nort Cuan Ferry.
Little ballans on the micro jig.
Coalies from the deep!
Vertical rock face..
Deep water points with strong current are preferred by coalies.
The next day the weather turned rainy but I didn't mind as I now have my waterproof smock. So I decided to head down to Loch Fyne at my favourite mark there. I wasn't aiming for something in particular just wanted to have some fun and try some new Storm Gomoku (chop suey) hard lures I bought. The intense wind and rain didn't make for ideal conditions and the ballan wrasse eluded me again. Instead though I managed to catch my first rock cook wrasse on the micro jig. Some codling, pollock, poor cod and a few mackerel in the end completed the session. I got a few pollock on the new lures as well and they seem to be a good choice for mimicking crustaceans near the rocks and structure. Their action is similar to a squid jig and I think in shallower marks they will be quite fun to use. Moreover I intent to change the treble for a double and maybe add some appendages to make them more enticing.
pretty codling.
My first rock cook on a peke peke.
usual suspect..
Caught a few for dinner!
pollock on Gomoku chop suey
I don't have any plans for next week but i would like to go a bit further away and maybe camp if the weather is good.. See how it goes.
Tight lines.
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro lite 1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon 4lbs
Rig: cheburashka, hard lures
lure: Jackall peke peke, Berkley gulp fry, metal jigs, Storm Gomoku Chop Suey.
On Saturday I wanted to venture further afield but the weather forecast was not good and soon clouds and rain came. Thus I decided to head up in loch Etive planning to fish a mark that didnt produce anything the few times Ive tried there previously, but with the weather warming up and the fish coming closer to shore, I thought something might turn up.
Its a rocky peninsula with kelp close in but clean, soft bottom further out. It was raining constantly by now and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try my new Vass Tex 175 breathable waterproof smock. Almost 6 years in the UK fishing without waterproofs but I was broken in Scotland! lol
I started fishing with a 3g cheburashka and a Jackall peke peke on a #8 Owner Split shotter hook. The water was deep but not 'abysmal' as its in the nearby basin and this may explain the lack of fish in the colder months. I started getting bites straight away and codling started following one after the other! The biggest ones were close to a pound but their numbers gave me much needed entertainment in the rain. I got a couple bumps as soon as the lure landed and seeing fish jumping I thought of trying retrieving near surface for trout. I managed two of them one on the cheburashka and the other on a Jackall Aji mame jig.
These trout really don't look like sea trout although they're in a sea-loch, I think that since the surface water here is almost fresh, these are just normal brown trout..
parasitism on the eye?
Just a brownie?
They like softies as well..
They like the rain and metals!
In all I had more then twenty codling without anything else except the trout showing up! Very surprising that a type of mark can hold very specific species of fish.. I think next time it rains Ill give it another go as I saw a couple bigger trout splashing there. The smock performed very well and kept me dry and worm throughout the session I hope it will last...
Tight lines
Gear Used.
Rod: Majorcraft CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro lite 1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon 4lbs
Rig: cheburashka, hard lures
lure: Jackall peke peke, Jackal Mame jig.
On my days off I managed to do two good sessions. On Friday the weather was nice and me and my friend John decided to head down to Loch Fyne, at my favourite mark for species variety. He is interested in LRF and I thought it would be the right place to have some good action! On arrival, there was a strong wind and the resident seal was swimming around but I was not deterred as this mark never fails to provide something.. I rigged the Solpara for my friend, first with a small metal jig (Jackall mame jig) as he wanted to target mackerel and later with a 3g cheburashka and a Jackall peke peke. I used my Crostage with a heavier cheburashka and an Ecogear grass minnow S.
We started casting from the left point of the harbour as the wind was behind us and helped getting distance on the cast. Moreover the current was strong and I was expecting predators hiding or patrolling around the point to intercept food coming with the current.
John was into the first mackerel pretty quickly followed by plenty of small pollock. Things were slower for me in the bottom but as I was retrieving the lure I got hit hard close in and the fish started taking drag. It hit among the boulders and at first I thought it was a good wrasse, but after a while a nice pollock of around 2kg surfaced! I got some of the fight on video and here it is.
For the rest of the session we caught a good variety of fish with John getting the only ballan wrasse of the day. We managed a good few mackerel that are always superb on light gear along with a couple more decent pollock among the little ones. Codling, poor cod, a lonely coalie and some goldsinney wrasse were also caught and it just shows that this mark is a species hotspot! I made another video with some of the other fish caught along the day. We left with smiling faces and a bag of mackerel for dinner..
Some pics.
The only ballan of the day..
Stunning colour1
John with a nice red codling!
Aggressive goldsinneys!
Tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft CRK-T782AJI, Majorcraft Solpara SPS-S792M
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000, Mitchell Mag Pro lite 1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs and 4lbs
Rig: cheburashka, hard lures
lure: Ecogear Shirasu worm, Tict brilliant, Ecogear grassminnow S, Ernest Mago Ika sama jig, jackal Mame jig.
Although LRF is a relatively new thing, the idea of fishing ultra light with lures has been around for a while... Especially in eastern Europe where anglers for a long time have utilised ice fishing jigs (eg mormyshka, pilkers) and small lures targeting various freshwater predators of smaller size. The perch in particular have a large following and gear specialised for their fishing such as micro and nano jigs (mikrodzhig). From YouTube videos I got interested in some of the gear used there and what caught my eye were those small simple articulated jigheads with the double 'ears' called cheburashka. It took me a while to find somewhere to buy them from, as I didn't know their name at first, but I finally managed to locate some on eBay and an e-shop in Latvia. After receiving them I started using them more and more in my fishing and to be honest they almost replaced normal jigheads at my bottom fishing! Their versatility where you can clip whatever hook you like in an instant and also use them quickly for pegged carolina rigs, the attractiveness of the combo with the soft bait moving more freely (sort of like a jika rig) and most important, their cheap price have made them indispensable for my fishing especially when working the bottom.
Various types of cheburashka..
Productive combo for clear bottom.
Killer!
My favourite combo is a 4g cheburashka with a #8 Owner Slim Offset hook along with a slim soft plastic such as a Jackall Mebaru Bushi, Ecogear shirasu, Sakura AJ worm etc. A variety of fish will take and the combo is pretty weed/snagless although not as good as a standard texas rig.
Ive been using them for a couple months now and have only positive points for them. They come in various sizes and types, with the most simple one having two eyes where you can add a split ring and a hook although this would need plugging single type of hooks so that the hookpoint looks up (not that important I find). My way though, is to cut with pliers the top of the eye, pass the hook and close it with the pliers. Then again you can just buy the ones with the clips where adding the hook is easier. I have also used such variations of the articulated jighead form Japan by Ocean Ruler and although they are very good, the eastern European ones are just cheaper!
Some pics of fish caught on them in recent sessions and also a video from my day off in Loch Fyne. The weather was really crap but I still had a productive session!
