First bass on Skye!

 I've had the rare opportunity on Sunday to go on a solo trip with the kayak. It's been a while since I've done that and pretty much forgotten/couldn't be bothered fitting the pedals and other accessories... Instead I used it as a paddle board and just paddled as it was flat calm. I went to my seatrout mark just to give myself a last chance of hooking a better one of these fish for this year and also to explore the area some more.

A day for it!

I paddled against the current at first so as to make it easier to fish with the current later on. This was a deeper rocky area and I could see lots of baitfish around. I also passed some boulder fields and identified some larger wrasse moving about. I had just changed leader from a thicker to a thinner one for the seatrout but decided to get a wee soft plastic down for the wrasse. This typically meant that I got busted on the first fish so I had to retie a thicker leader...!

I rigged a new softplastic creature bait  on an articulated Texas jighead and dropped it into a good looking hole. It didn't take long to see a dark shape moving towards my lure and I struck once I felt the take. A spirited wee fight and I landed a lovely wee ballan. I persevered a bit more but the rest of them seemed to have spooked and I reverted back to seatrout fishing. 

Can't say no to wrasse.

Cool jighead, the presentation looks similar to a jika rig.

Despite my efforts they just didn't seem too interested today and I had 5-6 follows and one half-hearted take which dropped off immediately after. By now I had drifted to the shallow bays and kept covering water. 

After yet another cast, I saw some disturbance in the surface near my lure and then a gray shape taking it. I immediately knew what this was and after a wee fight I managed to slip the net under my first Isle of Skye bass! It was only around a kilo but in perfect condition and I put it straight back after a couple photos. I knew there's bass on the island but not in any numbers that would merit targeted efforts. I have been fishing this mark for years and although I've always thought that it would be a good mark for the bass, never encountered them till now. I've rarely visited it after July though and maybe that's a factor... 

First Skye bass!

I persisted casting in the area but I didn't see signs of any more surprisingly. I decided to call it a day soon after. It was one of those days that despite the lack of numbers of landed fish, the encounters and the 'action' was plenty for me. One thing is certain though, the kayak will be coming out much more often!

Tight lines 

Old friends and new weapons.

 Last weekend I had the pleasure to host my friends Alan and Paul again. We only managed to fish the Saturday due to the weather,  but we gave it a good go fishing all day practically. Last year I had a tough week with the lads and we really struggled to get some good fish in the boat. This year I was determined not to let that happen again... 

We had great conditions on the day so much so that we were possibly overconfident... We started at a shallow, kelpy mark that I tend to visit a lot this year. We got fish straight away but then they got fussy very quickly and the action slowed right down. It was infuriating as we could see loads of fish on the sounder and also feeling bites on our lures but no hookups. We spent a bit longer than I would've allowed regularly on this mark as I was thinking that the fish were waiting for the right tide state. Nevertheless I decided to move eventually and we headed for some slightly deeper spots. Thankfully we found some active fish and the boys got stuck in! 

Paul with a nice coalie.

Warrior pollack 

Alan with a plump fish in perfect conditions

Good times

Getting better...

That's more like it!

A nice one for Paul.

Eyes bigger than his belly this wrasse..

Alan's lure pile...

They're both in!

Double trouble 

Great condition on these fish 

I had some new rods to try as well, one being the MH Spro Specter finesse spin (2.42m 18-48g) and the other the Mifine Maximus (2.28m 10-40g). They both got some fish and I'm happy with them but can't form an opinion until after much further use.

Maximus!

New MH rod

We noticed extensive shoals of baitfish throughout the day and I persisted with topwaters as it seemed perfect for them. The fish had different ideas though and I only managed one to the usual Autowalker...

Topwater love.

Get in!

The lads got a good number of fish with the bigger ones around 3kg but no monsters showed up this time. I'm glad the fish played ball in the end as it was honestly a cracking day weather wise.

I'm starting to think that the tinnie may not be as 'stealthy' as the sibs when approaching shallow water fish. It could be the noise reverberating from the metal hull, the shiny colour and/or even the 2 stroke engine that does it, but its been a few times now that we approach a mark, catch a couple fish and they then go into lockjaw.  I'm going to try hanging off slightly farther from the fish next time and also turn off the engine (use the electric motor) before closing in. See how it goes.

I've not fished at all for myself the past couple months but hopefully I'll manage it this month as guiding has slowed down. I really want to take the boat out the west side and try a session for spurdogs... 

Tight lines 

A "cracking" day...

 Last weekend I guided a keen angler from my old hunting grounds in Lancaster. Tim wanted to taste what Skye has to offer and came up prepared with 2 brand new rods and reel specifically bought for this trip.

We met up on Saturday morning and were gonna fish that day off the sib and Sunday on the rocks. We set off to the first mark and conditions were looking good. He got his new Savage Gear Sgs8 rod paired with the lovely Shimano Vanford and to be honest I was slightly jealous of the setup... we had a few casts before he got snagged to some kelp. Unfortunately after applying some pressure, the rod snapped just above the spigot!! I didn't think that he exerted so much pressure as I proceeded to free up the lure with a slight tug...! Nevertheless, he switched to his heavier rod (SGS5 I think) and got straight into fish!

They're getting more predictable lately and we found them where I'd expect them to be. I suppose nearing Autumn things will get back to normal after this calm Summer.

We proceeded in finding some good fish mainly on softplastics, with the homemade Crazy Sandeel imitations from my Northumbrian friends doing plenty of damage. At some point we had another breakage, as my net hoop finally succumbed after netting hundreds of fish the past few years! A day of cracks for sure...

Lovely brace.

Some nice coalies about.

Good fish in great background

The next day it was time for shore fishing and I picked up Tim on my way to Neist Point.  The tide wouldn't be at my preferred stage for a few more hours but it's best to fish early in the busier marks anyway.  

The current was strong and we used heavy softplastics first and 40-60g metals later on. There were plenty of fish about although not of any great size. Tim got his pb ballan wrasse though on a paddletail.

Lovely ballan.

Average size.

Content! 

It was time to move to my next spot where I was counting on the better fish but Tim had enough of the hiking and was happy to wrap the day up. Skye hikes can be tough!

It was a pleasure to fish with Tim and he's informed me that the perch in the Lankie are doing well! 

I've got no guiding booked till September now so I'll do some solo sessions hopefully for sea trout and mackerel.

Tight lines 

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

Firing up ahead!

Had a few sessions from the boat lately and things are well on their way to Summer intensity!
There has been an explosion of bait with big shoals of sandeels dominating the food source.
This has made fish far fussier and more keyed on to smaller sized baits. Moreover the predators seem more spread out right now with groups found only at certain tide states and mainly ''funnel'' spots.
The other day I had a shoal of pollock right under the boat but after a few captures on the heavy gear and large lures, they stopped bitting. Out comes the LRF setup (thinking there were coalies) and got hit by the best fish of the day first cast! More fish came to play and it was mental fun on a -8g rod!

Long but skinny...

Some larger than average coalies knocking about too..

Stacked but fussy..

Even matching the hatch wasn't enough for steady action...

Small lures and finesse worked best...

Lovely dark kelp fish..

Some Summer visitors have started showing, much earlier than anticipated as well..

A sea godlfish!

True survivor.

In already?!

Ive also had the first client for the season in what was probably the best way to kick it off for the Summer!
My Canadian friend Kyle had never fished in Scotland before and in one session he managed to get the trifecta of our saltwater predator species! 
The usual pollock were accompanied by a chunky cod (!!) and a wrasse, all on soft plastics.

A happy angler...

A puzzled guide...

Hat-trick!

A few lunkers too..

He's in!

All in all it was a great session in typical wet Skye weather! I'm getting some more bookings in and its turning out to be a very busy month!
I'm really looking forward to how this season unfolds after such a start. That cod especially made my day! Hopefully there will be a few more to be found...

Tight Lines!