This Spring keeps on giving...

 Been out a few times this month and every time the fishing has been class. I don't know if it's the warm water temperature, harsh winter etc but the fish have been unseasonably aggressive. 

I had a guiding trip with regular visitor Dave and his pal Ash the other day. The lads wanted some fish for a good feed. I knew it was going to be a good day but it turned out even better! More like hauling than fishing... By the end of the session we lost count of the hungry pollock we got along with a few coalies for a touch of variety...

A cracker for Ash.

Unreal weather!

Double trouble!

Crash divin...

Well conditioned...

Most fish came on the retrieve and considerably high in the water column. I did try to showcase  topwaters to the lads but I was just too busy unhooking their fish all the time. Nevertheless, they enjoyed the rodbendage especially after a long winter of limited fishing. Colours weren't that important either as long as there was a change after some fish.  The majority of the fish were still prespawn and I suppose they were after a good feed before the spawn.  We finished the session before midday with a bunch of fish in the cooler and sore arms!

A few days ago I received another new rod for my collection. It's a Westin w3 powerteez 2nd gen (2.7m 21-70g). I decided to go for it as I need a proper powerhouse for the largest fish, something a bit more stepped up than the johncoo ruffy while still under the £100 mark.

I only had a couple hours available but I was glad to find some nice fish that gave it a workout. It's a fast actioned MH rod and it reminds me a bit of the Tailwalk salty shape dash power rock 90 I used to have. Hopefully I'll get plenty more time with it soon.

Good size.

I also made a wee vid of the session.

Im honestly glad the weather and fishing has been so good this Spring after that terrible winter we've had. I'm sure it won't go on forever as the forecast is showing snow for next week (!). Nevertheless, May is just around the corner and as it seems its going to be their spawning time this year, I might target some trout instead. Got a couple days for guiding too so hopefully ill get the free time for all that!

Tight lines

OTT start to April.

 Went out on the 1st of April hoping to see some more surface action from the coalies that have extended their stay this year. Usually we'd get plenty over winter but then they'd go quiet around March time until we hit May. Not this year though as it appears that they and the pollock are in and in feeding mode. 

Started the day on a shallow mark and sure enough the Autowalker 83S found the coalies. Definitely had a couple pollock swat it too but hooking the fish was another matter. Despite the numerous blow ups, it took some tweaking to get them hooked. Again the slower retrieve whilst connected on the middle ring of the lure gave the most positive bites. Saying that, towards the end of the day the fish became more aggressive and the normal way of rigging had more success. Even made a wee vid for old times sake...

Ravenous skinny coalies!

After changing spot and  having enough of the light game, I switched to the heavy setup looking for some bigger fish. They were very positive towards my soft plastics with red being the preferred colour, though they got even more fired up when the A-rig came out! I love power fishing for them like this around spawning time and this is definitely a presentation that seems to deter the smaller fish.

Love how they get a subtle purple colour this time of year.

A-rig doing the damage.

The action only seemed to be getting better as the day got on but I felt very satisfied with the fishing and decided to call it a day. I'm fairly sure that I have now had a fish on topwaters every month of the year! Who needs tropical predators when you have coalies... Hopefully we'll get some more settled weather and the fishing continues like this, water temperature has risen half a degree in the past couple weeks to 8.5C so I suppose it's only gonna get warmer now. Its amazing to see that even with all that snow and ice, it barely got below 8C this year and already rising...

Tight lines.