Had a guiding session after work on Friday and one yesterday morning. The fishing was fantastic to say the least!
On Friday I met up with James, a committed fisho that studies in Aberdeen Uni and wanted a taste of some Skye pollack. The session started fairly slowly with plenty of fish showing on the sonar but not overly aggressive towards our lures ( early postspawn behaviour). A bit of tweaking and perseverance coaxed them out and James started catching. His pb was something like 4lbs so we quickly beat that and started getting a succession of average pollock. This continued until near sundown when the fish quietened down. At this time of year this can mean that they have switched off but in this occasion it was just that the bigguns came out to play...
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| First of many... |
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| Hit it first cast! |
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| They're getting bigger... |
James got a solid bite and then an immediate run pulling loads of drag! Little by little he got the upper hand and brought a lovely fish up to the surface. I quickly slipped the net under her and got it in the boat. She went 4.2kgs and after a quick photo was put straight back. Pretty much the same thing happened on the next cast! This time it was a slightly leaner fish at 3.9kg! Absolutely unreal fish back to back and if we were 3 weeks before, then they'd be easy doubles. Nevertheless, James was understandably over the moon with his catches and it was time to head in. Absolute pleasure fishing with such passionate young anglers.
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| Lunker! |
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| Proper rod-bend! |
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| Copy paste almost! |
On Saturday it was again time for my friend Mubashar and his mates to come up for some fishing. This time they had 2 new friends from Egypt that they wanted to introduce to Scottish saltwater fishing. As usual, I did two mini sessions on the boat and got the first group of 3 out. It was a much windier day than Friday but I managed to find some calmer water behind an island. The lads were looking to get a good feed out so mainly interested in eaters. Them we found in good numbers and mixed with plenty of codling and a few nice coalies. It didn't take the boys long to start catching and it got very hectic at times with 3 rods bringing fish one after the other and even all at once!
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| First fish on Skye for Malik! |
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| Same for Beshoy! |
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| Codmaster... |
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| He's in! |
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| Mubashar with another one! |
It was fantastic seeing so many codling showing up and long may they continue! Headed back for crew change and more of the same although with a couple better fish showing up this time. Before long it was time to head in although it was a struggle to get the rod out of Mubashar's hands!
Yet again we' ve had a cracking day's fishing and the lads will have plenty of fish for a while!
On the fishing front, we're now into proper postspawn and smaller, finer presentations seemed to get the better fish. I really hope the cod stick around longer as I really love catching them. Have done a service on the boat trailer and a couple reels so I'm feeling ready for the Summer season. Bring it on!
Tight lines!
