Recently returned from a week and a half back home in Greece. It was my cousin's wedding but of course the fishing rod came along with me.
As I was travelling down to Glasgow for my flight, I thought a good idea to checkout the sea-lochs as I want sure how much fishing I would manage to do back home. On the drive down the weather was relatively good with sunshine interspersed with light drizzle.
First stop was Loch Leven and then Loch Linnhe. Both marks produced and it was good to get some more of the variety found in the lochs. Cuckoo wrasse, codling and pollock showed up in the usual sizes.
Such vibrant colours on the sea-loch fish!
I miss codling a bit...
Usual size of pollock down there..lol
On a Vassalo with Savagear prawn...
Back home I only managed to fish twice! Once in the breakwater of Kavala's harbour where the painted combers wouldn't leave me alone and then on a more serious session, where I introduced my friend Stelios to the joy of fishing for freshwater perch!
It was Stelio's first time fishing in freshwater and our venue was the Thisavros dam in Drama prefecture. This is my go-to place for perch, but on this occasion it took us a while to find the fish, as I haven't fished there in years... I managed to locate the better fish towards the end of the day, feeding aggressively at the base of a rock-filled dam and we thoroughly enjoyed our fishing then with multiple catches! It would've been worthwhile to stay the night and fish the sunrise but time was very limited...
Below pics and videos of both sessions.
Kavala breakwater.
So greedy! If only they got bigger...
Thisavros lake.
Usual size of perch...
My friend Stelios with a perch.
After arriving back to Scotland I drove to Loch Etive and managed some pretty codling before continuing my drive back to Skye..
Posing...
Well conditioned codling..
A re-caught codling.
Now I'm back to the lovely Skye weather! Cant complain about the fishing though...
I haven't done much fishing the past couple of weeks, as I'm preparing to move to the Isle of Skye for the summer season! A trip to loch Etive to check out if the pollock are in numbers didn't produce much and knowing that I'll be targeting them all summer long I didn't try again.
One of only few fish in Loch Etive..
Last Wednesday though, my friend Achileas from Edinburgh asked me to show him around my marks on the west Coast and a quick trip to loch Fyne was arranged. Achileas is a new convert to LRF and after catching his first fish (sea trout) on his new gear wanted more...! I knew that Loch Fyne would be ideal for him to enjoy some fast paced action and also to catch his first pollock.
We arrived at the loch about midday at high tide. It was a mostly dry day but with a brisk westerly wind that made things a bit trickier. On arrival to the mark I was glad to see that they had re-introduced fish in the fish-farm cages nearby, something that attracts more fish due to the frequent feeding. Thus we fished near them and we started getting hits from the first cast!
The hits were coming very close to the surface and after reeling the culprit in, they turned out to be little coalies. Loads of them didn't allow our metals to get deeper as they would hit them on the fall. This wasn't too bad though as it proved to be just what my friend was looking for, and he enjoyed catching them on his light rod (Solpara).
Soon we managed to get among the pollock although they weren't of any great size...
After doing this for a couple hours, I decided to get out my new rod to try out. Its a Majorcraft KG Evolution Sensitive Custom KGS-862SC (2.62m, 4-18g) and I got it for slightly heavier cheburashka and other bottom-finesse presentations. First impressions were good but different to what I was expecting.
I was thinking this rod would be similar to its solid tipped brother but its slightly slower actioned and the tip is slightly bend all the time with the weights I was using. The casts were good but where the rod really shines is its sensitivity (as the name suggests) somehow it reminds me of tubular tipped, mebaru-type lrf rods. Moreover I don't think its a coincidence, that although I only got two bites on the bottom, both were translated into hooked fish (codling). I will write more about this rod after a few months of good use.
It is also important to add that both codling spewed out crustacean remains and I believe a creature lure would work well too at this time of the year.
Not looking too bad!
The better codling on my new rod.
My friend's fish caught without hooking it!
We decided to call it a day around 18:00 as we had caught plenty of fish and the weather was turning worse.
It was a pleasure fishing with Achileas and I have already invited him to Skye, although he will need much beefier gear there!
Hopefully my next report will be from monster pollock and coalies in Skye!
Stay tuned..
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI and Majorcraft KG Evolution Sensitive Custom KGS-862SC (2.62m, 4-18g)
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb and Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE, Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.8
Leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocaron 8lbs and 16lbs.
Lure: metals on the light gear and 14g cheburashka with 3" paddletails on the heavier one.
Once again on my days off I decided to head up to my familiar marks in the sealochs. This was not what I would've preferred at the moment as I had other plans for this time of the year but the lack of car has really limited my choices and of course fishing is fishing!
Thus I took the bus to Oban and then got picked up by my brother (not before I had some chucks in the little stream there though!), left him home and drove up to kentallen for an afternoon session there.
It was about this time last year that this mark really shone and although the session was productive, it wasn't as good as last year. something very noticeable is the scarcity of mackerel which I think is one of the reasons for the larger fish not showing up here... Still I had some codling, pollock, a ballan and a cuckoo wrasse on a combination of metals, shads on cheburashkas and stickworms.
An urban trout..
Lovely ballan on Linnhe..
Codling on the inchiku.
Love getting them on stickbaits!
Well hooked.
After a good few hours I got in the car and drove to loch Etive where I usually spend the night. I had a few casts around but it was already dark and other than a couple finicky bites I got nothing.
On the morning, things got much better and I lost a good fish on the first few casts that took the braid over a rock ledge. I think over-confidence by me was the main factor for loosing that fish though. I then decided to hike towards the northern part of the loch as there are some marks that I wanted to try there. The weather was turning noticeably more sour by the hour but I was hoping that the fish would still show. I stopped on the first mark were I had done well last time and the fish were there! I had some nice pollock and a few small codling until they stopped biting. I was surprised by not getting more codling as they are usually found in good numbers at the bottom of the rock ledges there..
I kept walking north and after a while reached a well known mark that surprisingly didn't give anything. I moved again towards a rocky outcrop that looked very fishy from afar, but it proved less so up-close and with shallower water than I thought. By now the wind was howling and the rain intensified and as a consequence the fishing suffered. Cant remember of a day that it wasn't like this in Etive for this Summer...
Unfortunately Ive got almost no pics from the sessions as my phone is
playing up. I did manage to make two videos though from Linnhe and
Etive.
A couple days later I went up to Loch Fyne (that I haven't been in a while) with a friend. This was a good opportunity to try a new rod that I bought and since the plan was to keep some fish for the pan, I decided to start with metals and a teaser tied 40cm above the lure.
The rod is a Majorcraft KG Evolution Basic KGS-902L, 7-23g, 2.70m and it was bought with my next trip to Skye in mind as well as fishing heavier metals at distance without losing the 'finesse' character that I love on my rods.. I paired it with my Abu Garcia Soron STX 40 and the balance was very good. The only think I disliked was that the reel was spooled with much heavier line than the rod is meant to have and this decreased the sensitivity and casting distance. I have now changed the line to a finer braid and I'm sure the setup will feel much better. Even though I had the heavy line, the rod still made excellent casts with the metals and I have now ordered more in the 14g-20g weights. Being Loch Fyne, the fish started coming from the off and pollock after pollock were landed. They weren't of any great size and didn't gave much of a fight on my rod, but I had set up my friend with my spro UL mobile stick and Shimano Biomaster 1000fb combo on 3lbs flouro straight through and it was a different story on that setup! After getting a few fish I got hit on the end of a long cast and was bringing up something relatively decent when all of a sudden the fish got heavier and started taking line at an alarming rate! The runs were heavy and strong with the culprit moving near the surface and making powerful runs from side to side. The rod was bent to the maximum and drag was peeling from the reel and for a few seconds I thought I had hooked the mother of all trouts or salmon! After a few minutes of this tug of war I started slowly bringing it in and then with the help of my polaroids I realised there was a fat seal on the end of my line!! Thankfully she wasn't hooked but just holding tight to my fish and then she let go of it (the only part remaining anyway!). Obviously she must have thought that this wasn't as easy a meal as it looked! This was the first time this happened to me and hopefully the last! Nevertheless, the rod performed admirably and I seriously recommend it... lol
The serenity of Loch Fyne
Couldn't resist having a go at them with the light gear!
The lack of mackerel was evident in loch Fyne as well and I'm not so sure as to why this is so... Very disappointing as I absolutely love them on my plate! Moreover the usual masses of anglers there, were nowhere to be seen although I'm thankful for that. I didn't try much with softplastics as we didn't have much time so again no major fish (or more species) were caught. I then proceeded in gutting and cleaning our catch and soon couldn't believe the amount of fish that were attracted.. Various wrasses along with gobies, blennies and even two strap congers came to feed on the fish guts. I tried luring the eels with the Marukyu crabs but only wrasse would nibble them...
Anyway they were a very enjoyable few days but to be honest I got my eyes on a second visit to Skye in a couple weeks and I cant wait! Until then I'm sure Ill have a couple more sessions on the sea lochs or even the East Coast with my friend Scott.
Tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: MC KG Evolution, KGS-902L, 2.7m, 7-23g.
Reel: Abu Garcia Soron STX 40
Mainline: Varivas uper PE. 0.15mm (too thick)
leader: Pline Halo 10lbs.
lures: various
After returning from my holidays the only thing on my mind was getting back up the lochs as the weather got a bit better. I got my chance a couple days ago on Wednesday. I took the bus up to Oban and my brother picked me up from there. I then got the car off him as he was going to work and drove straight away to Loch Linnhe at my mark in Kentallen. It was low tide by now but the weather was nice and I was hoping for some quick action. Moreover I wanted to try some new cheapo metals I got from Aliexpress and was determined to fish mainly with them.
I had only my travel rods with me and started fishing with the Savagear roadrunner XLNT 7', 3-16g. It took a while to get bites but I soon had a decent fish on the jig. It was clear that it was a codling and after trying to snag me a couple times I finally got it up. I then changed lure to a smaller metal (again cheapo!) thinking that the fish might want a smaller profile and I also slowed down the retrieve. This resulted in a couple sharp bites and after striking I had something small but feisty on the end of my line. It soon proved to be my first cuckoo wrasse of the year! After the cuckoo I changed spot moving along the coastline but only got a small pollock for my efforts. This didn't really surprise me as this mark tends to fire up towards the end of summer..
Chunky codling from Linnhe..
..on a cheapo yet effective metal.
First cuckoo of the year, on a metal..
The usual suspect...
It was getting late in the day by now and I decided to move to Loch Etive and continue fishing there.
I switched to soft plastics as the mark is more suited to them, but other than a few small pollock on 3" sluggos fished O.T.D nothing else showed. I was sure that in the morning things would be different though...
I slept in the car and woke up around 07:00. I picked up the UL setup (Spro Mobile Stick - Shimano Stradic 1000fc) and rigged my trusted ZX 35 blade on. I wasn't very optimistic about the blade pattern still holding on and was proven right as I only got a couple subtle takes but no hook ups on them.. I then switched to a 6g cheburashka and 3" scented paddletails and started to get bites. They were mostly from small pollock and I was surprised not to get a better one among them. I was getting frustrated after a while but at some point I got hit hard midway on the retrieve by something good! It took some line and got the mobile stick on a full curve and it then did something unusual... It swam fast towards the surface (!), I saw a familiar though un-pollocklike shape coming up and then jumping clean out of the water! A nice Etive trout took a liking to my shad and after a couple more jumps I brought her in.. Its been a while since I caught such a nice trout and of course I wouldn't expect to catch her in Etive! She was around 40cm and quite plump and the best part is that I also got the fight on camera and will post the video soon...
After the trout and while the tide was coming in fast I decided to walk towards the northern part of the Loch at another mark that I haven't fished since last year. I stuck with the cheburashka/shad combo and after a 20min walk I was fishing the new mark. On the first cast I let the lure sink with free line and started hoping it across the bottom. This mark is where a sudden depth change takes place as its a transition from a relatively shallow ledge to a bluff rock wall. I had great success last year targeting pollock and especially codling that hunt on the ledge or station just on its lip. As I was bringing the lure in and almost at the base of the rocks, i got hit by something decent. It made a slow but powerful run and then bore down with headshakes. After a couple minutes a nice rock-codling was brought up and released back to the loch after a quick photo. The mark change seemed to be bearing fruit and I persisted on the spot with the same presentation. Some more codling and pollock started to show and provided me with excellent entertainment! And all fish caught from a small area, goes to show how important knowing the bottom structure can be...
OTD with light jigheads and slims can be the best way for finicky fish..
Unexpected trout!
Fat codling..
Beautiful colours of kelp pollock..
Even small codling go for big lures..
Hungry pollock...
The time was going by fast and I had to stop fishing unfortunately as I was gonna return with my brother to Glasgow. Of course I didn't stop fishing before a number of 'last casts' took place and then I got hit hard by a steam train! Although my setup was UL/LRF I have caught plenty of good fish on it to know that this was something special... The first run was frenetic and truly uncontrollable.. Then the fish slowed down and changed direction coming higher in the water column. Another crazy run and the braid parted! I was left speechless and in awe... I believe that the culprit was either a supercharged pollock or perhaps something with an adipose fin... Hate it when I don't get the chance to at least see the fish that defeat me! I should have inspected the braid as it could easily have weakened somewhere after all those fish...Loch Etive is a magic place where you never know what you could catch next! Obviously I cant wait till I'm back there again..
Tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile stick 80 UL, Savagear roadrunner XLNT 7', 3-16g
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4, Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs
lure: metals and 3" paddletails on cheburashka. 3" sluggos on 1.8g wheelhead for OTD.
