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Tuesday 15 March 2022

The Springtime grind...

Was contacted by some lads coming on holiday to Skye, for some guiding over the weekend and I managed to make it happen yesterday. Forecast was surprisingly good but it deteriorated on the day (sigh!). Nevertheless I decided to get Dale and his large company (7 people in total) across to the island in two loads. 
We got settled and set off for the first mark of the day.  I informed the guys that as we're getting into the spawn now, it would take persistence to coax them out. Usually when they are spawning,  you get sessions with immature fish and a couple larger prespawners if they can be bothered to bite. We used mainly loud colours and metals throughout the day and we started getting some small fish straight away.  

Keen group...

On a productive rocky outcrop.

It took a while for quality to improve but Dale did it with a plump female that took his 60g metal OTD. This proved to be the fish of the day too and went back to the drink after a good fight. A few more eater-sized fish were caught but there was no real pattern. Most of the guys caught (and lost) fish throughout the day but even though conditions were good, you could feel the change from a few weeks back where even while there was a swell and big tides, the fish were more aggressive and there was a discernible pattern.

Man of the day.




The highlight of the day was when one of the guys caught a tadpole fish on a slow jig!
It's the first time I saw one alive and couldn't believe it went for a metal!!! Told the lad to go get a lottery ticket because he wouldn't get another one like that in his life... For the story, it was caught in about 23m water in an area with underwater caves and lots of boulders. It took a 40g pink slow jig.

Unbelievable!


Young gun.


Soon enough the session came to a close. The wind had really picked up and it got a bit hairy (wet more accurately) when leaving the island. We all got back at the slipway in the end and we said our goodbyes. The guys were proper troopers and hopefully they'll be back in better weather.

I think I'll only go for another session if conditions are perfect otherwise I've got too many projects that needing completion just now. 

Tight lines.