Belated report...

 Somehow we're in February now and I've realised I haven't made a report of last couple months  fishing. To be fair we've had storm after storm hitting us and any fishing sessions were few and far between weeks of bad weather. 

I kicked off my first session of the year at the beginning of January and the fishing was hectic! Plenty of topwater fish with the coalies being especially ravenous...

First of 2024.

First topwater fish of 2024!

Loved this strike!

Ravenous...

That session was pretty much all my fishing for January as I couldn't go near the sea because of the storms!

Then once February came the storms let up a bit and I managed to get a guiding session last weekend. Still not perfect weather but doable with some hardy souls...

Then yesterday I managed another solo session with adequate conditions and got a few fish for a feed. The coalfish loved a bit of A-rig action although soft plastics and vibration hard baits gave fish equally.

A-rig action...

Average size 

It does now feel more like prespawn and winter fishing with fish responding better to bright colours, slightly smaller sized lures, closer to bottom presentations and some 'annoying' lures like vibs and A-rigs.

Hopefully the Spring fishing will be as good as it was last year although some settled weather would be good enough for me.

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.

And we're back!

Its been a busy few days for me as I've been trying to do as much fishing as possible since the lockdown eased and the good weather prevails.
Firstly it was the trout. Was raring to target them more seriously this season and I had a great day in a favourite loch of mine. The sun was out and the fish were slow to begin with. I started with the Ryuki but had to change to a golden Aliexpress spoon as they were finicky. They were keeping deeper than usual and prefered the steady retrieve and flash of the spoon. Caught some lovely brownies and also sea trout that were surprisingly subdued in their fights...
The weather changed and the rain started. I moved to the next bay and then the fish got far more active hitting the spoon close in and high in the water column. Time for the Ryuki, and now they were hitting it like mad! I had fish get hooked, then come unstuck only for another one to hit the lure a few meters further in! Very rarely I've had trout do that before!
I have added an extra split ring to all my spoons and now use narrower and longer shanked trebles. I had very few missed bites and the hook hold ratio was better than usual...

A beautiful sea trout!

Really into them just now...

Ryuki slays...

A fatty that hit a rod length away!

Doubled split rings...

Yesterday I also managed to get out on the boat for a couple hours. Found the fish shoaled up in a deep bay and targeted them with the A-Rig and lipless crankbaits. I got a few smaller fish on the A-Rig but due to the depth, current and possibly the fish disposition, the lipless cranks proved far more effective. Nevertheless, the fish seemed a bit subdued and would hit OTD just before touchdown and less on the retrieve. Lipless cranks with some shimmy or roll on the drop were more effective.

Where's that lure now?

Ahh here it is...

Solid fish!

A-Rig only gave little ones that day...

It was fantastic getting back to fishing and I'm keen to do much more trout and freshwater fishing this Summer. I have started making a list of hill lochs that have potential and I'm hoping to target them soon enough. Moreover, I'm looking forward to my birthday this month as I'm planning the traditional visit to loch Morar and possibly Arkaig on the boat.
Hopefully, the restrictions will ease even more and I'll be able to travel further afield.


Tight Lines

Rock fishing from a remote Island and underwater lure testing.

I managed to get another day out last week as I wanted to try out some different stuff.
Firstly, I wanted to get some underwater footage of the chatterbait-cheburashka and the Umbrella rig (A-Rig) whilst fishing. Secondly, I wanted to land on a nearby uninhabited island and do some rock fishing there. Its usually a secondary mark from the SIB but I wanted to have a more thorough go at it from the shore.
The day was a bit windy with a little swell coming in, easily fishable nonetheless. I started off the sib and soon enough I had a lovely, full bellied pollock smashing the A-rig on camera! This was then followed by a couple fish on the chatterbait-cheburashka. Both presentations definitely worth further scrutiny for Spring fishing...

She came in like a missile!

By mid-ebb, I decided to head for the island and start shore fishing. I covered the area where I tend to get better results from the SIB and used mainly 30g chatterbait-cheburashkas and normal cheburaska, rigged with 12-13cm slim or curly tailed soft plastics.
It didn't take long to get into fish and I managed to land a couple average sized pollock but also got reefed by a couple too. I reached a rocky point that had a kelp covered ledge close in and then dropped into a good depth. I worked the lure near the bottom and got a bite within the first few casts. I struck hard and it felt heavy. The fish took some drag and was a proper tug of war to get it through the kelp, but I had her in the net after a few minutes.
A lovely female of 3kg that was released after a couple pics. Definitely fishing this mark again!

Quality fish.

I had another hook up on the very next cast that felt like a good fish, but unfortunately it got stuck straight in the kelp...
All in all a very successful day and it seems that this Spring, despite the mixed weather, the fish are up for it!
Below are a couple videos of the day.

Its quite amazing seeing how hard the big pollock hit the A-rig! But from watching more of the footage I'm going to play around and try and put more weight on the head of the rig, so that it falls head down and has more action on the drop and slow speeds. Also I'll try with more Texas rigged sps. I reckon its a lure that can prove useful in early summer as well when fish like tiny baits...

Playing  around...

Hopefully this lockdown will be over soon, so that I can travel further afield and target them spotted beauties!

Tight Lines!