Last Sunday I was unexpectedly given 4 days off and as I was planning to meet with my friend Scott anyway, I though it would be a good idea if he managed to get a couple extra days off so that we could go somewhere with more 'potential'...
That he did and we then decided to head northwest starting at Loch Linnhe, then moving to Lochaline where we would stay a couple nights and finish off at Portree in Skye.
Scott was looking to add some more species to his 50 fish for this year and he was aiming in this trip for cuckoo wrasse and ling more specifically among others, hence the choice of marks with deep waters.
After the morning drive we reached Loch Linnhe to find good weather conditions. I was confident that Scott would get his cuckoos here and maybe even a ling even though Ive caught them later in the season from this mark. From my previous sessions recently here I knew that there were fish about but not in the numbers that this mark is capable of yet. Nevertheless we started fishing and as expected it was relatively slow fishing. We were fishing the usual combination of metals and softplastics with Scott even using bait, and after a while the first fish started showing. Pollock and some codling along with poor cod were the order of the day, although I did get some 'wrassy' bites that didn't lead to the fish getting caught though.. Scott did manage his cuckoo though and I was glad the mark came true for him.. After a while we decided to change spots towards the old pier at Kentallen. The tide was rising as well and things started to get livelier with some nice codling taken at distance on cheburashka and small paddletails. I could see lots of bait moving about and decided to 'match the hatch' with a 3" sluggo mounted on a simple 4g, #4 jighead. I fished the lure mostly OTD and then straight retrieve near the base of the kelp and some pollock finally obliged..
After a while we decided to head off to Lochaline so that we had enough time to fish there as well. On the way there the scenery was beautiful but the weather changed with clouds and rain coming down. We weren't too bothered though as we came prepared and well, this is Scotland and you cant do anything about it...!
Lochaline is renown for the very deep waters close to shore (at the western pier) and Scott had good results there especially on the wrasse species. On arriving there we first got sorted in our accommodation and then decided to head down to the ferry pier wich is at the mouth of Loch Aline and worth a few chucks with the light gear. Metals went on and from the first casts it became obvious that the place was stuffed with fish! There were large shoals of coalies feeding in the channel and they would at times smash fry near the rocks, they started hitting our metals and put a great bend on the rods along with a smile on our faces.. It was a fish a chuck for the most part and I was surprised to see so many and more importantly decent coalies of 1/2lbs-1lbs. They had recently quietened down on the lochs further south (same as last year) but I'm pretty sure all of them came up here now! Among them we caught a few mackerel as well but the coalies seemed to overshadow everything! I tried different lures as well such as soft plastics, crancks, minnows, blades etc but the most effective lures as expected were the metals followed by soft plastics and then hardbaits.
Below a video that shows what it was like...
As the sun went down the fish started hitting fry in shallow pockets near the harbour walls and rocks and I thought it was a good time to try something that Ive wanted to do since that day in the middle of February, to catch them on poppers! I was prepared with some lovely looking mini-poppers from Cultiva and Duel. They were about 4cm each and a bit thicker than I would've liked as the fish were feeding on slimmer profile fry, but after a bit of persuading they started to follow and hit them! The hits varied form full blown smacks while the lure was in motion to fish softly sucking it in while static! Moreover the hits started intensifying the darker it got and as the wind died down. Fishing under the lights and especially the transition from shadow/dark water to lighted, seemed the most productive spot along with areas near structure. I would give the popper a few good pulls to produce commotion soon after landing and would then retrieve it more gently with plenty of pauses. Most fish would hit on the first pulls after a pause. It is an addictive way of catching them that kept me totally focused and of course there is no better way of fishing than the visual surface one! Unfortunately I couldn't use the action cam (although in retrospect I should've next to the lights) as it was too dark and also the pics aren't great, but I caught plenty of hard fighting, popper-smashing coalies and it was well into the night when I decided to call it a day... Light gear fun at its maximum!
More to follow tomorrow with some good pollock action! Plenty of pics and a couple videos as well...
Tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI, MC KG Evolution, KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4, Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs
lure: various.
That he did and we then decided to head northwest starting at Loch Linnhe, then moving to Lochaline where we would stay a couple nights and finish off at Portree in Skye.
Scott was looking to add some more species to his 50 fish for this year and he was aiming in this trip for cuckoo wrasse and ling more specifically among others, hence the choice of marks with deep waters.
After the morning drive we reached Loch Linnhe to find good weather conditions. I was confident that Scott would get his cuckoos here and maybe even a ling even though Ive caught them later in the season from this mark. From my previous sessions recently here I knew that there were fish about but not in the numbers that this mark is capable of yet. Nevertheless we started fishing and as expected it was relatively slow fishing. We were fishing the usual combination of metals and softplastics with Scott even using bait, and after a while the first fish started showing. Pollock and some codling along with poor cod were the order of the day, although I did get some 'wrassy' bites that didn't lead to the fish getting caught though.. Scott did manage his cuckoo though and I was glad the mark came true for him.. After a while we decided to change spots towards the old pier at Kentallen. The tide was rising as well and things started to get livelier with some nice codling taken at distance on cheburashka and small paddletails. I could see lots of bait moving about and decided to 'match the hatch' with a 3" sluggo mounted on a simple 4g, #4 jighead. I fished the lure mostly OTD and then straight retrieve near the base of the kelp and some pollock finally obliged..
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| Nice codling form Linnhe. |
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| Cheburashka and paddletail killer combo! |
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| Match the hatch and pollock follow! |
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| He wanted the sluggo! |
After a while we decided to head off to Lochaline so that we had enough time to fish there as well. On the way there the scenery was beautiful but the weather changed with clouds and rain coming down. We weren't too bothered though as we came prepared and well, this is Scotland and you cant do anything about it...!
Lochaline is renown for the very deep waters close to shore (at the western pier) and Scott had good results there especially on the wrasse species. On arriving there we first got sorted in our accommodation and then decided to head down to the ferry pier wich is at the mouth of Loch Aline and worth a few chucks with the light gear. Metals went on and from the first casts it became obvious that the place was stuffed with fish! There were large shoals of coalies feeding in the channel and they would at times smash fry near the rocks, they started hitting our metals and put a great bend on the rods along with a smile on our faces.. It was a fish a chuck for the most part and I was surprised to see so many and more importantly decent coalies of 1/2lbs-1lbs. They had recently quietened down on the lochs further south (same as last year) but I'm pretty sure all of them came up here now! Among them we caught a few mackerel as well but the coalies seemed to overshadow everything! I tried different lures as well such as soft plastics, crancks, minnows, blades etc but the most effective lures as expected were the metals followed by soft plastics and then hardbaits.
Below a video that shows what it was like...
As the sun went down the fish started hitting fry in shallow pockets near the harbour walls and rocks and I thought it was a good time to try something that Ive wanted to do since that day in the middle of February, to catch them on poppers! I was prepared with some lovely looking mini-poppers from Cultiva and Duel. They were about 4cm each and a bit thicker than I would've liked as the fish were feeding on slimmer profile fry, but after a bit of persuading they started to follow and hit them! The hits varied form full blown smacks while the lure was in motion to fish softly sucking it in while static! Moreover the hits started intensifying the darker it got and as the wind died down. Fishing under the lights and especially the transition from shadow/dark water to lighted, seemed the most productive spot along with areas near structure. I would give the popper a few good pulls to produce commotion soon after landing and would then retrieve it more gently with plenty of pauses. Most fish would hit on the first pulls after a pause. It is an addictive way of catching them that kept me totally focused and of course there is no better way of fishing than the visual surface one! Unfortunately I couldn't use the action cam (although in retrospect I should've next to the lights) as it was too dark and also the pics aren't great, but I caught plenty of hard fighting, popper-smashing coalies and it was well into the night when I decided to call it a day... Light gear fun at its maximum!
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| Cheap yet effective metals rigged with micro-assist or single hook. |
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| Lots of hard fighting coalies! |
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| They're plump up here... |
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| At the pier legs with ice-jigs... |
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| Lochaline Ferry pier. |
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| A pug-nosed coalie OTT! |
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| Plenty followed suit... |
More to follow tomorrow with some good pollock action! Plenty of pics and a couple videos as well...
Tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI, MC KG Evolution, KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4, Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs
lure: various.
Looks good fun, nice getting them off the top.
ReplyDeleteIt really was man! From the top gets it to another dimension though! sometimes they would jump on the hit clear out of the water like trout!
DeleteSome cracking fishing there. Well done. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDavid
Thanks pal!
Delete