Normal working order resumed!

 Had a cracking guiding session yesterday that shows how quickly things change in the sea. Fished with Angus, a young local angler that stays away from the Island and doesn't get the opportunity to fish that often. 

I was already out for work commitments in the morning and arranged to meet him later in the day. On the way back from work, I  had a quick reconnaissance troll around my usual spots and a couple other points.  Stumbled upon a good stack of fish in a secondary point and then went to pick up Angus.  Headed straight back to the shoal and he was straight into them! 

The conditions were same as last week with a fresh WSW breeze and chop, same size of tides, state and water clarity, but the fish were in a real hunting mode. Its like a switch flipped and they turned into "Autumn" mode! 

I gave Angus my rod rigged with a homemade sandeel softplastic from my Northumbrian supplier ;-) while I was preparing his setup. The fish absolutely loved the lure and were coming in one after the other! I noticed that his setup was using mono line and decided to have a cast to remember the olden times...

Bending time!

Average size.

Brute of a fish!

God, how did we ever manage to catch fish on that! Zero feel and control. Almost impossible to set the hook properly, but I still caught too! At some point I got a good hit and the fish stayed deep... It took some good drag and got me in the kelp twice. It was very hard to control it with the mono but the line held and buffered the headshakes... I joked that it was probably a feisty little fish but brought up a nice lump of a pollock! Kinda cheeky that I caught it on my clients rod but I made sure he caught plenty more fish on mine!

Nice chunk.

After a while, the fish wisened up and we moved to a different spot. Marked a bait- ball and anchored up with the Haswing close to it. Angus was soon in again and these were some better fish... I think he broke his pb a few times and settled on a 7lber for the day.

Eyes on the prize.

By then the sun was going down and it was time to call it a day.  Such a great day's fishing and in good company. It felt like a different place to last week. The fish showed preference for very loud colours like pink, chartreuse and bright orange. The crazy sandeel imitations got most fish and the metals barely got a sniff. More to come soon.

Tight lines 

Topwater time and Island hopping!

Had some fantastic sessions lately and the settled weather along with the aggressive fish, made for some very exciting fishing!
Firstly, I had a good day out on the SIB with my friend Milos. It was his first time fishing in Scotland and I made sure he caught his first Scottish fish! Whats more, he caught it on a topwater lure that's made by a friend, within the first few casts! We had loads more pollock throughout the morning, mostly on sps and metals. Also, we picked up some mackerel and a wee wrasse on a Breaden metalmaru with the LRF gear.

First Scottish fish...

...And on a topwater!

Metalmaru for this aggressive wee fella. 

LRF pig!

Mechanic Lures Autowalker 115s...

Then on Sunday, I had the pleasure to fish again with the mad Geordie crew! The lads were up for the third time in a row and this time they brought two Skye virgins...
I've fished with the lads in most good marks of the Island and this time I wanted to offer them something different... I've been thinking for a while to try and get my friends on the islands I tend to visit with the sib, but instead of fishing from the boat, just beach and fish from the rocks.
This we did and soon enough we started catching. The fish preferred metals early in the morning and Keith managed a few OTT with a patchinko and my friend Soulis Autowalker 115s.
Unfortunately, the head of my prized Solpara landing net fell off (worn threads) while trying to net the first fish and for the remainder of the day we fished without it, resulting in some losses. Nevertheless, everyone caught some very good kelp pollock with their dark colours and the action got intense soon after HW. 
Later on in the day, the soft plastics started giving most fish, with the Fiiish Crazy Sandeel proving irresistible to the big ones! Mick realised this last year and now he was armed with a whole box full of them! He got some very good fish but also got reefed by a few donkeys!

There we go.

Mick with the first.

Bob with a chunk.

Topwater aficionado!

A nice one!

Double hook up!

Dave with a good one!

And another kelpie...

Keith bringing one up accompanied by its mate!

Lovely fish for Mick.

Another OTT for Keith.

A brute.

 It was an awesome day and we returned to the harbour knackered! The island doesn't have sheep on it and the vegetation grows wild, making hiking quite tiresome. We did get rewarded with excellent fishing though along with seeing a big sea-eagle, so no complaints there.
I have already ordered a replacement net and can't wait to get out there again!

Tight Lines!

They're back!

Had a great day yesterday with the return of the fishing-mad Geordies from last year! The day also saw us catch the first mackerel of the year and I'm so glad they're finally in!
We started the day around 06:30 in a shallow bay hoping for a topwater bite. The lads have been here since the weekend and the weather hadn't been kind to them. Constant Southwesterlies and rain made fishing hard for them but yesterday the wind died down and I was hoping that the fish would be up for it. There seemed to be some bait in the bay keeping very close to the shore and I am not sure if it affected things but despite our efforts, the topwater stuff wasn't happening...
Change of plans and on went the softplasics and metals, and we were soon catching.
The fish were surprisingly deep in the morning and the bites relatively slow. It could be that most fish were concentrated where the bait was but we persisted at our spot and soon enough things got better.
It was only Keith and Mick over this time and they were both hooking into average fish in turns thus keeping me busy with the net. Mick was working mostly metals while Keith had softplastics on and the fish showed an equal preference in the morning. They were both kitted out with new ''finnessy'' rods and that made a difference on the day as the bites were more often gentle taps.
On the day we tried 3 marks and caught fish in all of them. The last mark was a sheltered, deep water  rock-wall and it was there that Mick lost a big fish at our feet (unhooked itself on the rocks!) and soon after Keith got the best fish of the day. We were seeing lots of sandeels around and the Fiiish Crazy Sandeel matched the hatch well!
By that time I had to go but the lads kept fishing and by the time I arrived home, Keith had gone and caught an even better fish!
Below some pics of the day.

Nice pic for Keith

A decent one for Mick.

Keith's in!

Mick's in!

Slab of bronze.

Hello there!

Best fish of the day to Keith!

And an even better one after I left!!

I was elated that the lads managed to get such a great day after the tough few days they had..
August is usually very unsettled here but now that the mackerel are in, its time for some light gear fun!
Great to see and guide the lads again and Skye showed its colours once more. Pity that the fish weren't up for the topwater bite, especially since I've changed trebles to all my lures and needing to test the treble configurations, hopefully will get some settled weather to do that soon...

Tight Lines!

Postspawn session: The time for big pollock.

The other day, seeing as the weather was being too nice, I changed my plans and instead of a freshwater session I decided to visit a distant Southern mark that thought it would be firing up now...
Last time I was there, the fishing was slow yet the quality of fish was evident. By now as the weather has markedly improved it should be expected that the big mamas would be more active.
Thus I started the long hike to the mark and I timed my arrival there 3 hours before low tide.
As my main rock ledge was still inaccessible I started casting on a different rock further back, but thanks to using the LSJ setup I could easily hit the 'sweet spot' especially when using metals.
I begun with a 30g metal and a sabiki teaser further up the leader, as I heard the fishermen started getting mackerel and was hoping to get a few early ones myself. Instead I got a few feisty coalies and kept them for dinner.
Soon more serious fish started to appear and with the tide receding a bit more, I was able to setup on my favourite ledge and gain easy access to the deeper water.
I got some good fish on the metal but lost a few on the way up as they would get unhooked in the thick kelp of this mark...
Nevertheless, I persisted and soon I had a good pollock up. I kept working the metal but things went quiet and I put on an articulated paddletail from Illex, the Nitro Sprat Shad. This lure was immediately taken (OTD) but I just couldn't get the fish to stick on it. This happened more consecutive times and I then had to switch to a different lure. I'm not sure if its the design of the said lure or the pollock where being really funny (maybe both) but I just couldn't hook up on it.
 I put on a pearl silver Savagear Sandeel and this was hit with less force and only once. Thinking that this might be a bit 'loud' colour given the bright sunny conditions and calm, clear water I switched to a natural green Fiiish Crazy Sandeel that was taken first cast a few meters in the retrieve near the bottom! A dogged fight ensued (as so many at this time of year) and I soon had a respectable 70cm+ fish on the rocks with the lure all in its mouth! This goes to show that even on very aggressive and actively feeding fish like pollock, the bigger fish are far more wary and fussy than the smaller ones...

A beaut...

Deserves a second pic.

After releasing this fish I kept working the same area with a variety of lures but the bites dried up. It was low tide by then but I kept at it hoping the fish will come to the feed again once the current increased.
At some point I switched off the Gopro and put on a 20g metal for the usual 'last casts'... Well on the second 'last cast' I hooked up to another good fish and after another dogged fight managed to land her. A beautiful fish with a mark on the bottom lip (trying to snag me) and again 70cm+ though this could have easily been a double a couple months back...
I quickly released her as well and started on my way back with a spring on my step. It was a good session on a lovely day!

Big mama!

Below the video of some of the action.

 When the sun is shining Skye really is as good a place as any! Fishing-wise I consider this time of year one of the best for the larger fish as they are hungry after spawning but on the other hand they usually don't fight as actively as later on in the year and are slim thus not weighing as much as you'd expect..
Well hoping to get some sessions on the trout soon and hopefully the good weather will hang on a while longer!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: Duel X wire X8 PE1.5
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 20lbs.
Lures: Various.

Hail, snow, sun and fish! A guided fishing session in February.

Yesterday I had a guided session arranged with avid angler Iwan. He would be in Skye for a week or so with his girlfriend and wanted to catch some pollock and coalfish as he doesn't get the chance to do much rockfishing where he lives.
I was sceptical about the weather as the forecast has been changing every day and thus decided to just pick a day and stick with it... Well that's what we did and Monday morning saw me driving through several inches of hail on the road fallen the night before 😲! Not the best of omens for the day ahead but I persevered and picked Iwan up around 9 o clock. We headed to Neist point and found a bit of a swell running. The previous days had been windy and the swell had not cleared yet. Nevertheless the wind had died down and it was meant to get more pleasant later on in the day. Moreover we arrived about midway to low tide and thus were less concerned about the swell.
We set up on my favourite spot and started rigging up. From the off I noticed that Iwan was using a shorter and lighter rod than I would've liked thus I took the Light shore jigging setup for me in case we needed some 'grunt'.
I set him up with cheburashka and paddletail on his ML setup, but then switched to a Carolina rig with a 1oz tungsten bullet weight on the LSJ rod as the current was too strong (large tides). The lure was a 3" Long John paddletail in UV Magic colour that I thought would be easier to detect in the milky water.
The place was looking 'alive' despite the swell, with birds moving around and cormorants diving, something which is always a good sign...
Iwan started casting around and working the lure by dragging it on the bottom and keeping contact with it while it was slowly swept by the current. When the lure got closer in I told him to just wind it in slow and steady. The fish then slowly started coming, most of them around 2-3lbs but with a few pushing over 4lbs. Very decent for this time of year...

Hooked up!

First of many..

A very decent fish for this time of year.

After a few pollock, Iwan wanted to try for coalies and we got back to the lighter gear fishing metals with his homemade teaser flies. At that point it started snowing! It was the first time I fished under such heavy snowfall and I must admit was quite an awesome sight! 
He got a few coalfish that I quickly cut the gills to bleed out and then changed presentation to jighead for pollock when the coalies stopped biting. It was interesting to note that almost all the coalies preferred the metal to the teaser, something that reinforces my belief that they feed on larger prey at this time of year..

Coalies in the snow!

Unreal...

We were nearing the low tide mark now and the current had reduced considerably. I picked a pink Fiiish Crazy Sandeel as the water was still milky and he proceeded in catching a good number of fish one after the other! With this combination of big tides and swell, it appeared that the fish were looking to feed as soon as the waters calmed down and that was the most productive period of the day.
The fish seemed shoaled over or near certain patches of reef and kelp and they would hit Iwan's Crazy Sandeel hard! So hard that due to the frail material of this lure, we exhausted all the pink bodies and then went to the old classic and much tougher Savagear Sandeel in lemon back. This lure/colour proved equally successful and the fish kept coming.
The tide soon turned and also a glorious sun had come out (crazy Skye weather!) and the bites dried up after that... I was thinking of going on a different spot before the water rose more but thought it worthwhile changing lure to a more natural colour first. We put on a natural coloured sandeel and this seemed to do the trick by catching a few more pollock that had Iwan's little Solpara bent all the way! The short rod (7.5ft) made landing most of the fish that day a bit tricky and it was definitely not ideal for rock fishing but the fun factor cannot be underestimated! Moreover Iwan's old Pflueger reel's antireverse broke and this made a couple landings even more difficult! Thankfully he had a couple spare reels and continued to fish.

He's in again!

A nice one.

Happy angler.

Then the sun came up...

Well conditioned fish...

And they kept coming...

A change to a natural lure got more fish as the sun came out.

Chunky pollock.

At some point the bites died down, something to be expected from hammering a spot all day long, and seeing that we still had some time I decided on a move to a nearby mark for a few more fish. On reaching the second mark things looked quiet but after fishing around we moved to a spot that I saw some birds diving close by... We kept casting and retrieving our lures but other than a couple bumps and rattles we got nothing...
Seeing that the sun was going down I said to Iwan that we gave it our best...But it was then that he hooked up! After a good fight, I scrambled down the rocks and managed to land a nice fish for him, giving a happy ending to a surprisingly fruitful day (considering the weather!).
It was a pleasure seeing Iwan catch so many fish and I'm glad we managed to find them under these conditions and in this time of year. He might be coming again after the summer for some topwater action in the shallow marks... Will be having a video of the trip up soon.

Tight Lines!

Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g and MajorCraft Solpara Wind 7'7", 1/4-3/4oz
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG and others
Mainline:YGK G-Soul WX8 PE1.2.
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 25lbs and16lbs
Lures: Carolina rigged Long John paddletails, Fiiish Crazy sandeels, Savagear Sandeels.