Shite weather but hungry fish!

Yesterday was the first day I managed to get out and do some fishing in December! We've had some horrific weather the past couple weeks with constant storms and winds of up to 80mph! Even the roof of my shed was blown away and I had to rebuild it!
Nevertheless yesterday I had return client Rob, come up for a session! It was touch and go weather-wise but seeing the conditions in the morning, we decided to go ahead and launch.
Even though we had a great couple sessions last time Rob was up he didn't have enough and this time he wanted to get some big ones on the fly from the sib and if possibly OTT on surface lures too.
Considering the conditions on the day, I thought that it could be tricky doing either of these!
Air temperature was 4C with intermittent rain and N-NE wins. There was some swell as well but it wasn't too bad.
We reached our spot after a short run. We would be fishing the start of a kelpy bay with depths of 8-15m.
We started fishing with softplastics but it was all fairly quiet at first. It was an hour or so after HW and there was little current. I played around with lures, switching to metals and other sps and after about 30mins, the bites started coming... They were good fish in excellent condition.
The bite started to develop, and we had fish taking our lures quite high in the water column. It was time for topwaters! I put on an Autowalker 115s and after only a couple casts, I had a blowup and then I hooked up to a nice fish! Took a while to land it but as soon as I did, I gave the rod to Rob so that he had a go. It wasn't long till he had a couple fish jump on it and then a hook up on a consecutive cast! It was another good fish and Rob was chuffed to get one on topwater as it was something we came close to doing last time but didn't manage to.

We're in!

Nice stamp of fish.

Autowalker 115s does it again!

Finally, he got his too!

Happy with getting the topwater fish, Rob now wanted to get the Fly gear out. It really wasn't good conditions for the fly, as the wind was a pain! But Rob is an experienced fly-angler and managed to cast well despite the wind. Moreover, he would let the current take the fly further out and then start his retrieve. It didn't take long for the bites to come and after a couple fish that shed the hook, he was able to get one in!
The next fish took far longer to come in and the fight was like a tug of war with the fly rod bent to the base! Soon enough Rob got the upper hand and got it close to the surface, this was a far better fish and I barely managed to fit it in the net!
We were elated of getting such a fish landed and about the general results of a day that was looking to be hard for us. I didn't have my scales with me but this may well have been a double and Rob definitely deserved it! It really wasn't easy having to persevere on the fly in conditions like that. Perseverance does pay off as they say!

Bendage!

Big mama on the fly!

I really do think most fly anglers are missing out!

Rob managed another nice fish on the fly but then as the tide intensified, so did the wind and the bite slowed down. It was time to head home and we were glad to get out of the wind! On our way back we were lucky to encounter a pod of dolphins that came extremely close to the boat. It was amazing to see them from such close proximity!

It was great fishing with Rob again and he's already thinking of coming back in the Summer next year as he wants to see Skye with some sun and not the usual rain and wind he's encountered so far!😆 I do hope we get some settled weather soon though as the fish are still so active and takeable on many methods.

Tight Lines!

Best fishing of the year!

The settled weather has continued and the fishing can only be described as being on fire!
Had a sib session with friends Colin and Fred and I still can't find the words to describe how awesome the fishing was!
It was a cold, overcast, morning last week but there was only a breath of wind and very little swell. We fished shallow (10-18m) kelp ledges and from the get-go, the fish went crazy for our lures. After catching some lunkers on sp's, I told the guys to get some topwaters on... Colin is more acquainted with them as he fishes for bass, but Fred had only recently given them much time.
Colin put on a Patchinko while I gave Fred an Autowalker 115s and showed him how this lure works just by retrieving it steadily. Hits were instant..
Colin hooked up to something big, as did Fred though his fish got off soon after. Colin was still bringing his fish in and Fred was in again! Unreal stuff!
Finally, I saw colour from Colin's fish and upon putting it in the net, we realised that this one was a big mama! She went to 10.5lbs and left us all looking each other in joy and disbelief. I unhooked her and Fred's fish and quickly sent them back into the water. The mayhem continued for almost 2 hours and I lost track of how many fish we got. Topwaters really shined on the day. The fish were hitting them hard and getting them deep with far fewer misses than usual. There seemed to be a significant influx of pale pollock (open ground, shoaling fish) along with the darker ones I tend to find more on this mark. The reason must have been the shoals of baitfish showing on the finder... Everything caught fish, even a big squid lure that was skipping the surface as Fred was bringing it in, when a pollock hit it mere meters from the boat!😆

On a Topwater!!!

Madness...

Hungry fish.

Another nice one for Fred.

So many double hook-ups!

Stonking fish..

Some bait there...

On the puffin!

At some point, Colin offered me to try his favourite rod, a Tailwalk eginn paired with a Shimano Sustain. It was a lovely combo that I could fish with all day... I say was and not is, as unfortunately the setup was lost in the most unreal incident that I've ever experienced whilst fishing...! We were all fishing softplastics for a bit and Colin and Fred were into fish, wanting to help land their fish, I retrieved my line, put the rod down with the tip over the water and the lure just hanging in the water. This proved to be a big mistake... As I was bending over with the net, I caught with the corner of my eye, the rod flying into the water at speed!! Obviously, a pollock took the static lure anc crash-dived taking the rod with it...! I was left speechless after this incident and also very deflated that I lost such a great rod and reel. I tried to retrieve it for an hour or so with a lead and hooks but to no avail. Colin
took it better than me and we decided to not let this stop us from enjoying the day. I've since sorted it out.  We kept fishing and despite the bite slowing down, the fish were still willing to take OTT. Thus we would cast metals and softplastics and after seeing interest, we'd try a topwater. This gave me a lovely pollock on the Autowalker again.
It was soon time to head back after a day that none of us would forget any time soon!

A dark kelp brute.

A pale one and a kelpie.

Autowalker does it again!

Big gob.

Even on the squid!?

And a wee video

This week, I was guiding again but from the rocks this time. Friends Ryan and Craig came for the first time to Skye and wanted to experience the fishing. Conditions were looking great although the tide wasnt ideal. We started soon after first light but things were slow to develop. The seals were keeping very close and once we started getting some fish, they became a pest by stealing them... We encountered shoaled up 2-3lbs fish and it proved hard to get through them to the bigger ones throughout the day. It kinda felt like spring in a way ie shoals of smaller immature pollock but very few bigger ones.
We did hook a few 4lbers but only managed to land a couple whole...😑
Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant day and it felt good to be on the rocks again. Was getting too lazy fishing off the boat all the time. The boys were happy as long as they were catching fish as even the ones we were catching were of good size compared to where they usually fish. It does bug me on the rare days when the biguns don't show and despite our efforts, it just wasn't happening that day. Goes to show that even in Skye you cant expect lunkers every day.
I did recommend to the lads that they come again after Xmas when the big females are in. Hopefully I'll be able to showcase them the potential of this place then...

Plenty of smaller ones..

A better one..

Seal attack signs..

Double hookup!

A chunk for Craig.

A cuckoo for Ryan.

Until next time Tight Lines to all!

Some exciting fishing on two sibs!

The weather has settled a bit the past couple of weeks and this has allowed me to get out a good few times. I had a fun session fishing around Neist Point from the sib, something I've wanted to do since I got it! It was a fantastic sunny day and I got good numbers of pollock along with a nice wrasse and some coalies. I had found shoals of tiny mackerel and after catching some on feathers, I decided to use them as bait near the bottom.
My target was spurdog but unsurprisingly it was almost impossible to get through the pollock! A large shoal was holding over a rocky reef at around 50m deep and would pick up anything dropping before it hit the bottom!

Good stamp of pollock.

Lovely wrasse!

Unfortunately, it was time to head home and I didn't manage to catch a spurdog...
The next day I went out on a new boat I got for solo outings. It's a Honwave T32 air v floor inflatable and I paired it with my old Evinrude 2 stroke outboard. I've been wanting a lighter and
faster-to-assemble combo for when I want to hit multiple spots and from 'rougher' launching areas.
In the day, the combo behaved pretty well and I got 14-15kts although I did have some issues with the boat that im trying to resolve...
The fishing wasn't bad either, with a few good pollock among a 'flood' of chunky coalies. I also got among some codling from a deeper spot. Not a bad couple of hours.

Hungry chunks!

From slightly deeper water.

 Then yesterday, we were in a small tide week and in combination with the settled conditions I was hoping the fish would be up for it. I targeted the area around Neist again and was going to do some bottom fishing for those spurdogs again, but on the way there, the pollock had other ideas...
I found shoaled pollock and coalies high up in the water column and they would often break the surface as they were feeding!
Time for topwaters! I took out a Mechanic lures Autowalker 115s and after a few casts, I had a couple blow-ups and fish jumping on it. It didn't take long before I connected to one and the fun started!
Got some nice fish and the hook-up ratio was far better than usual. It appeared that the fish were hitting to feed. Top fish was one of about 2.5kg that managed to hook me while thrashing!
After that fish, I decided that it was already a successful day and headed home. I'll get those spurdogs at some point for sure...

Autowalker does it again!

Lovely dark kelp fish.

Thats my blood...

Its been a fantastic couple weeks and I hope that the nice weather continues. I'm looking forward to my time off from work coming soon and intend to get out as much as I can.  Definitely gonna try and bait fish for some different species although it will be hard to get away from surface feeding fish!


Tight Lines

Fishing and guiding amidst the washout!

Well, its October now and we've yet to see an end to the near constant wind and rain!
Ive only done limited fishing comparing to the same time of year the previous seasons, but the fish seem so up for it that its almost like they're asking for a bit of calm weather to go on a rampage!
I'm saying this after having a guiding session off the rocks and sib today and we literally had fish from the first cast! Moreover, even though the waters were slightly cloudy, with a swell running and brisk SE winds, we witnessed fish hitting topwaters... I love this time of year because of the fish feeding so hard but damn, I could do with some settled conditions!
Anyway, today I had a revisit from Andrew who had come back in summer for some rockfishing, only now he brought his mate Nick and wanted to fish off the Sib but also a couple rocky points if possible. The lads were mostly focused on numbers today although Andrew wanted to catch on the fly and also requested as many coalies as possible! Its so cool to find like-minded anglers!
I was worried about the forecast all week but thankfully it stabilised and I managed to plan a session in the North of the island.
We set off at dawn and after a short run on the SIB, we reached the mark.
We were fishing near the edge of a kelp covered ledge over 8-12m of water. Armed with 12-14cm shads on 30g jigheads, the lads started casting near the kelp and straight away were into good fish.
There was a touch of chaos in the boat for a few moments but in the end we got both fish landed and it was time for the usual pics.

First cast!

A fat one for Andrew.

Many more followed and most were over 2kg with the biggest going 3.6kg on the scales. The pollock were in excellent condition, fat and rounded though the few coalies we found seemed on the slim side.
The sps were more consistent with the big fish as expected though some crackers were caught on tiny metals as well. It was very interesting watching the sounder when small shoals of coalies would appear, we'd get a couple and then pollock would crash the party and the coalies would move on...
After catching a good few fish and even though the conditions were far from ideal, I put on a topwater just hoping we'd get one or two to jump on it. Well it actually managed to raise 5-6 fish with a small one jumping on the lure as i was about to pull it out of the water! No hook ups unfortynatelly.

Happy faces!

Mayhem!

After a while, Nick wanted to stretch his legs a bit and we beached on a rocky outcrop so that he could have a few casts there, while me and Andrew would stay in the boat and try to locate some coalies and catch them on the fly.
It turned out that coalies were very patchy on the day but instead Andrew managed a wee pollock on the fly. His setup was a very light one and with all that wind, he could only get the fly a limited distance. I'm sure that with a heavier setup, the results would've been much better.
While we were looking for shoals of coalies we passed over deeper water and saw fish near the bottom, wondering what they were, I put on a slim paddletail on a 28g cheburashka and let it touch bottom. Got a couple soft bumps  and then struck into a fish. It turned out to be a wee codling. They were shoaled up but a bit finicky and we didn't manage another one as the pollock were quicker on the bite. I found shoals of codling at about this time of year last year too, so it must be a seasonal movement.

A nice one for Nick.

Even the biggest fish get tempted by small metals..

Silvery pollock on silver metal.

A good bend on the wee rod!

Small but Andrews first pollock on fly.

So fat and strong!

Need to get on them!

Cod food.

With this and that it was time to head back to the harbour. A very successful day in a thankfully better day than forecasted! It was a pleasure having the guys and hopefully we'll fish again together at some point.
Lately Ive been thinking of purchasing a slightly smaller sib to go with my wee 2stroke outboard for solo missions. Even though my solid floor takes relatively little time to assemble, its too heavy in combination with the 20hp outboard for the 'rougher' launches, plus the 2 stroke is just sitting there gathering dust... Saying that, I was very happy that the lads didn't mind at all fishing in such a cosy space and the Yam performed well with the added load.
The tourist season is very slowly winding down and this gives me more time to get out. I have November off and I'm really looking forward to some chilled out fishing then. Hopefully the weather will calm down by then!
Below some more fishy pics from recent solo outings and a wee topwater fishing clip from last week!

Gairloch wrasse.

The strike was mental!

Whopper plopper coalie!

Tight Lines!