I haven't done much fishing the past couple of weeks, as I'm preparing to move to the Isle of Skye for the summer season! A trip to loch Etive to check out if the pollock are in numbers didn't produce much and knowing that I'll be targeting them all summer long I didn't try again.
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| One of only few fish in Loch Etive.. |
Last Wednesday though, my friend Achileas from Edinburgh asked me to show him around my marks on the west Coast and a quick trip to loch Fyne was arranged. Achileas is a new convert to LRF and after catching his first fish (sea trout) on his new gear wanted more...! I knew that Loch Fyne would be ideal for him to enjoy some fast paced action and also to catch his first pollock.
We arrived at the loch about midday at high tide. It was a mostly dry day but with a brisk westerly wind that made things a bit trickier. On arrival to the mark I was glad to see that they had re-introduced fish in the fish-farm cages nearby, something that attracts more fish due to the frequent feeding. Thus we fished near them and we started getting hits from the first cast!
The hits were coming very close to the surface and after reeling the culprit in, they turned out to be little coalies. Loads of them didn't allow our metals to get deeper as they would hit them on the fall. This wasn't too bad though as it proved to be just what my friend was looking for, and he enjoyed catching them on his light rod (Solpara).
Soon we managed to get among the pollock although they weren't of any great size...
After doing this for a couple hours, I decided to get out my new rod to try out. Its a Majorcraft KG Evolution Sensitive Custom KGS-862SC (2.62m, 4-18g) and I got it for slightly heavier cheburashka and other bottom-finesse presentations. First impressions were good but different to what I was expecting.
I was thinking this rod would be similar to its solid tipped brother but its slightly slower actioned and the tip is slightly bend all the time with the weights I was using. The casts were good but where the rod really shines is its sensitivity (as the name suggests) somehow it reminds me of tubular tipped, mebaru-type lrf rods. Moreover I don't think its a coincidence, that although I only got two bites on the bottom, both were translated into hooked fish (codling). I will write more about this rod after a few months of good use.
It is also important to add that both codling spewed out crustacean remains and I believe a creature lure would work well too at this time of the year.
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| Not looking too bad! |
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| The better codling on my new rod. |
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| My friend's fish caught without hooking it! |
We decided to call it a day around 18:00 as we had caught plenty of fish and the weather was turning worse.
It was a pleasure fishing with Achileas and I have already invited him to Skye, although he will need much beefier gear there!
Hopefully my next report will be from monster pollock and coalies in Skye!
Stay tuned..
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI and Majorcraft KG Evolution Sensitive Custom KGS-862SC (2.62m, 4-18g)
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb and Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE, Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.8
Leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocaron 8lbs and 16lbs.
Lure: metals on the light gear and 14g cheburashka with 3" paddletails on the heavier one.
