Fishing with stickbaits and senkos on the sea lochs.

Although I have now moved to Glasgow and I'm currently on my holidays. I managed to put a few sessions through before I left and I was pleased to find out that the fish were there till the end. One method/presentation, that although I used quite late in the season, provided me with some good fish was finesse fishing with soft plastic stickbaits/senkos. Therefore below I give a few points on the way that I've used them for my fishing here.

• Better used at areas that slope fast in good depth with plenty of rocks and kelp. Steep (bluff) rock walls, points and bays are all good locations
• Presence of current is advantageous. 
• Size 4"- 4.8" best for the fish I encounter most often in my marks. Big enough to attract the larger fish but also small enough to offer good hook ups with smaller fish.
• Size 2/0-3/0, 2-4g weighted wide gape offset hooks  most suitable for the best presentation in the deeper water. 
• For my slightly shallower marks (still deep by normal standards!) tungsten insert nail weights added near the lure's centre, may be a better choice than weighted hooks as they retain more of the lure's weightless action.
• Heavier lure models are easier to fish in these depths.
• Horizontal fall is paramount. Many bites OTD. 
• Slow retrieve not always the most effective. Mix and match will show how the fish want it.
• Colour not so important although the addition of sparkle/glitter seems beneficial.
• Heavily salted/scented and with added pork fat etc can give better results in tough days.
• Better to tie the knot straight to the hook for added sensitivity.
• Solid tipped rods have worked best for me.
• Added spinner blades (blink) can 'wake' fish up.

Some ways I rig them:

With added blink...

..It does work.

On weighted offset hooks, best for deep waters.

On standard offset or twistlock hooks with insert weights,
for the slightly shallower marks.

Work well as trailers on madais...

...And jigs.

And a couple videos of fish caught with them!

Overall these lures have consistently sorted the better fish for me and I have now added another card up my sleeve.  As I've mentioned before, they are not a method for every day or every mark, but in the right place they can regularly catch you the best fish.
The weather got noticeably colder the past few days and I don't know how this will have affected the fish up on the lochs. I'm planning a short visit though so I will soon find out..!

Gear used.
Rod:  MC KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g.
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore 4x4 PE 0.6
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs or P-line Halo fluorocarbon, 10lbs,
lures:4"-4.8" stickbaits.

Linnhe LRF with company..

Yesterday I managed to meet up with the well known lrfer Jake Schogler for a day session at Loch Linnhe. Jake is writing an article on Sea angler magazine  about lrf in the Scottish lochs and was interested in fishing around my area. So after a few messages of facebook we arranged to meet up in the morning near Kentallen where we planned to fish for the day. Surprisingly the weather for the past few days has been unseasonably mild and sunny, so we were in luck!
We both geared up (some much heavier than others!) and headed for my favourite mark in Linnhe. The sun wasn't properly over the mountains yet and it was kind of a slow start but soon the fish came to the bite.. A steady stream of codling and small pollock followed.
 I was mixing it up with paddletails on cheburashka, stickbaits and metal jigs while Jake was using mostly dropshot and jighead presentations. I was hoping that the larger pollock would soon show as Jake was keen on getting some, but unfortunately they weren't in a mood that day. We did manage some nice wrasse though (even got one on the stickbait) and were kept busy by the codling, smaller pollock and coalies throughout the day. On a couple of occasions we also managed the fabled double hook-up (!) and all in all it was a productive day and good fun to fish with a fellow like-minded angler like Jake.

The prevalent species right now.

A surprise wrasse on the stickbait!

Good fun with a fellow lrfer!

Nice codling on the stickbait.

One of a few pollock for me.

Another wrasse.

Double hook-up!

This was our only session to be as Jake had family commitments for the rest of the weekend.
 Seeing how good the weather was today, I decided to visit Loch Fyne for the day hoping to find some better fish. I drove to find the loch calm as a lake and the sun glaring down.. A beautiful day but not exactly ideal for good fishing. As expected the fish were hanging deep and I decided that the best way of approach would be an 8g cheburashka and a 3" Keitech Easy shiner shad. I was getting bites every cast and codling along with poor cod were coming in at a steady pace although again the pollock eluded me as I only caught a few small ones. I put the lack of pollock down to the sunny weather and I also witnessed another angler catching a nice mackerel! Its mid November!
I moved along the harbour to the opposite point catching some smaller fish along the way with my first corkwing wrasse among them! Yet another new species for me!
At the point I reverted to cheburashka/shad combo and started fan-casting. I found a spot where the depth changes abruptly and focused my attention there. I was getting bites from  poor cod and I quickly retrieved the lure a bit shallower near the base of the breakwater's boulders. I got a good take and a very nice run that made me think I hooked a nice pollock. In the end I brought a good wrasse to the surface! The warm weather has definitely made them more active.. I kept casting around with the occasional codling coming up but it was nearing sundown now and I was hoping for something better to come along. After a long cast towards the spot mentioned earlier, I got another good take and again solid resistance.. This fight was different with plenty of head shakes and the fish kept deep, but with some sustained pressure I managed to bring up a very nice codling! Its been a while since I caught one that big and it put a smile on my face. Of course it was returned straight back and I decided to play around with some mini species afterwards. I caught another corkwing and a golsiney before calling it a day.

My first corkwing!

A good fighter.

A proper codling!

Mr fatty..

Lovely fish..

Feisty golsiney!

And a little video of the wrasse's run although I lost some time trying to turn on the camera again!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod:  MC KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g , MC Crostage CRK-T782AJI .
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Yamatoyo SW super Light Game PE 0.4, Duel Hardcore 4x4 PE 0.6
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.P-line Halo fluorocarbon, 10lbs,
lures: cheburashka, metal jigs and 4"stickbaits.

From nano to mega..

I have been unable to do much fishing lately as I have been very busy preparing to move to another place, job etc. I was gagging for some fishing though and since the weather has been ok, I found a couple hours on my break to do something that I don't do very often. This is to target the micro species with tiny hooks and lures. Its not that I don't enjoy this kind of fishing but being in a fishing paradise that is the west coast of Scotland, I tend to overlook the micro-predators.. Moreover I don't know areas with many rockpools etc around here so I just went down the Port Appin pier to see what could be had.. I was gonna be using a 2g cheburashka and a #18 long shank hook with another #20 hook tied above in a double dropshot fashion. I threaded some Isome on the bottom hook while the top one was baited with Gulp just to see if there was any difference in bites.
I had seen small corkwing wrasse, butterfish, gobies, blennies and of course the various gadoids but I was less interested in the latter as I catch them all the time!
Thus I started dropping the rig down the pier walls and the bites didn't take long to arrive...

The rig.

How cool is this little scorpion?!

Hordes of baby pollock...

An unexpected pouting.

My first Scottish blenny...

My first Scottish goby...

The hardest part was trying to avoid the ravenous baby pollock and coalies but in the end I managed a couple of my targets.. Moreover I didn't notice any preference to one or the other brand, both caught fish...
Today I got laid off early and decided to head up to Loch Etive since I haven't fished there for a while and I was keen to try for pollock and possibly some trout.
I started fishing at my favourite pollock mark and used 4" stickbaits on 3.5g, 3/0 weighted offset hooks. After many casts and while working the lure deep down with steady retrieve and pauses, I got a gentle take and I struck into something good. It made a screeching first run  and a few  less powerful ones while I was bringing it up, but in the end I managed to land a very good pollock of 66-67cm.
A last trophy possibly? After releasing the fish  I got another much smaller one before I decided to move and change gear and tactics in order to target the trout. I used the Majorcraft Crostage/Shimano stradic 1000fc for them with a 7g hexagonal ice spoon/pilker and after casting about in a weedy shallow bay I got a couple before calling it a day.

A good pollock.

Secure hook set.

They love stickbaits.. (among many other lures of course!)

A lovely Etive trout..

A few more fish from a couple quick sessions here and there. The mild weather seems to have stimulated the fish and they have been very obliging.. Pity I don't have more time here!
I was very impressed in one of these sessions where I witnessed some nice codling attack my lures almost at my feet, while hiding amongst the kelp in shallow water! More over I have been playing around with floating soft plastics on carolina rig in preparation for my winter canal fishing...

Nice codling hit at my feet...

...on a swimming-jig with a 3"senko..

Carolina with floating softbaits..

...a promising presentation.

I'm looking to have a few more sessions this week as it might be my last one up here and I'm also looking to write a post regarding my stickbait/senko fishing along with some videos..

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: MC Solpara for nanojig, MC KG Light for stickbaits, MC Crostage for trout.
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Yamatoyo SW super Light Game PE 0.4, Duel Hardcore 4x4 PE 0.6
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.P-line Halo fluorocarbon, 10lbs,
lures: cheburashka, metal jigs and 4"stickbaits.