A wintry day with the young guns.

The past couple weeks had a proper wintry feel to them with frosts every day and cold winds for the most part. I always find these first frosts poor fishing-wise and thus I only went on a couple half-hearted outings. I had one session on a deep northern mark and found loads of fish albeit the vast majority of them on the smaller side... It was surprising that there were still cuckoo wrasse about though and I might still give it a go for their ballan cousins. I fished with the heavy gear that day but I believe that the time has come for the finesse gear to get to the forefront... Moreover although the metals got plenty of hits, it was the softplastics that gave fish much more easily... Saying that had I added a couple more assist-hooks on the metals things might have been different. As per usual the coalies are at their most aggressive this time of the year and I had some fun fishing for these Northern-Aji with the lrf gear as well.

Scottish Aji..lol

Even in the bleakest day, coalies can keep our line taut!

This week though we had very mild weather and little wind, thus I was gagging to go out the first chance I got! Unfortunately the car is at the garage but thankfully two of my young friends wanted to do some fishing and today we drove up to Neist point at midday.
We setup to one of my favourite spots and evidently there were plenty of fish swimming about. I had one LRF and a medium-light rod with me and after showing the how-tos to my friend Connor (that hadn't fished before) we started fishing.
We were about 2 hours before high tide and I started with a simple 16g cheburashka, #1 Offset ewg hook and a 4.5" Lunker city Ribster.
We were getting bites from first cast and I was soon into a decent fish! The fight is so much better on the ML gear! The heavier setup has been extremely useful when dealing with big mamas in the kelp forests and also in rough weather but for this kind of mark and calm conditions the lighter stuff rules!

The first decent fish...

I then switched rods with Connor and I took the LRF setup. Soon enough I heard Connor shout that he was in and the drag was screaming line out! It was a much better fish and after a few powerful runs managed to get into the kelp. I then showed Connor how to feed it line and got the fish unstuck. A few moments later I went down the rocks to land it for him and take the obligatory photo before releasing the fish. It was a good fish but for someone who hasn't fished before that was a feat! Beginners luck and all that eh?!

Happy with his first catch!

After Connor got his fish it was my mate Dylan's turn and after an average fish he managed a better one as well! The fish were in good condition and very hungry. It was fascinating to see at one point the wind threw a bottle into the water and soon after a large pollock came up to it from the depths to investigate! Should've brought the topwater lures...

Dylan with his second fish.

The fishing was pretty hectic with some decent fish showing but after having a few more pollock, I wanted to chance it for something else as we were near sundown... I started bouncing bottom with the lure and after a few casts I got a solid take and heavy weight on the line without the pollock's fast runs. The culprit came up soon enough and it was no other that a beautiful ling! This was the perfect end to the day and we then packed up ready for the way home.

Pollock in very good condition.

A beaut of a ling!

Below some thoughts on the day.

• Fish still very active, especially at deeper marks and on settled weather after rough spells.
• Fish keeping mostly deep and close to the bottom but still willing to come higher. Coalies all over the water column as usual.
• The time for finesse and softplastics is here... Metals can be effective (especially slow jigs) but need more assists on them.
• Harder to find the bigger fish consistently now. Some marks inundated with loads of smaller fish.
• Finesse rods will come to play more frequently now as there's need for better bite indication and subtler presentations. Fish although hungry, didn't slam the lures as in the previous months.
• It is a great feeling to introduce someone to fishing and help them catch their first fish!

Will get the video of the session up on Youtube soon. Hopefully the weather will stay like this till Tuesday for another outing...

Tight lines.

Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft KGEvolution Basic KGS-902L.
Reel: Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.8
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 12lbs
Lures:16g cheburashka, #1 offset ewg hook, 4.5" Lunker City Ribster.

A time of plenty...

last week I mainly targeted Rubha Hunish and Neist Point. Results were pretty decent although Rubha Hunish didn't offer any larger fish. The bay I was intending to fish had wind blowing into it and I suppose this scattered the fish. I still had a great session and caught a variety of fish. Started with pollock and a beautiful cuckoo wrasse and ended with some decent coalies and mackerel that I kept for dinner... Below some pics and videos of the day.

A bit choppy...

Recaptured..

Even the little ones are fat!

Stunning...

 

The next day I visited Neist Point. I haven't been there for a while now as its just too crowded during the summer months but I was lucky on this occasion to have my preferred spot to myself.
I started with the classic Savagear Sandeel and it proved to be a steady producer for most of the day. Surprisingly metals didn't work very well on that spot (quite possibly fish got educated by overuse)...
After catching some decent pollock I switched to a Texas rig with 20g Tungsten bullet weight, a glass bead and a #1 offset hook. The lure of choice was the 4" Reins Curly Curly and I was intending to catch some wrasse since they have become very active lately. I started with long casts and soon enough managed some beautiful cuckoos from the deep while towards the end I got one nice ballan close in.
After a while I changed spot and it was there that I encountered a relatively usual situation when fishing crystal-clear water. As in the fish were there but they would prefer natural presentations and frequent lure changes. Some interesting observations can be seen on the video.
Below pics and videos as usual.

Such an iconic mark!

Decent fish as usual on Neist...

Yet another recapture...

Wheres the lure?!

A feisty ballan..

Kick Tail doing the damage on a day that 'normal' metals didnt do much...

So fat!

Lol! How is this always happening to my fish?!

 What surprised me the most was that in both days I had a relatively high number of recaptures! On one side this is a positive thing as it means there's good C&R going on but in the other hand it means that I'm fishing for the same fish over and over. Considering the resident nature of pollock this shouldn't be too surprising but still Skye is a big place! I'm now even more convinced that for targeting the really quality specimens I should divert my attention to the hardest to get marks...
Somehow though I believe that there will be an influx of fish in the autumn months as they need to feed hard for winter...
Unfortunately, Ive noticed that this time of year the pollock fight hard and also may swallow the lure a lot. This makes reviving fish problematic (especially from the deeper marks) even when kept out of the water for a short time and the losses may be high. The best solution in my opinion is not to target the same mark often and to stop fishing after a few decent fish.
On both days I also tried the fabled Fiiish Crazy Sandeel (albeit on darting jigheads since I lost the original) as I was hoping they would be more durable than the Black minnow. Alas they were very effective as expected but only lasted a couple decent fish each.. 
Something else to note is the wrasse becoming more aggressive and in places that I would get only a couple of their bites I now get loads! A dedicated wrasse-only session is on the cards soon. But first it will have to wait as I'm going on holidays back home on Monday and already cant wait to visit my old marks and finally get some good weather and sunshine! Will be taking the action camera too so I hope to get some cool footage in salt and freshwater...

Tight Lines!

 Gear used.

Rod: Majorcraft KG Evolution Basic KGS-902L, MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Daiwa Freams 2500,Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: YGK G-Soul WX8 PE1.2, YGK G-Soul X3 PE1.5
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 20lbs and 25lbs
Lures: Various

Reconnaissance...

Its been a while that I have been identifying fish-holding marks on google Earth but due to the early of the season and the unstable weather, thought not to gamble and waste my time there, instead preferring the 'surest' marks. last week though we were blessed with good weather and slight winds and I made the call to try out two areas. the first one didn't offer a single bite (shallow, but might be worth checking over in a month's time..) but on the second one i struck gold! Found large numbers of very decent coalies in a shallowish bay along with good numbers of pollock, surprisingly close to the shore... This is definitely a mark to be re-visited especially with the lrf gear and maybe some topwater lures...
On the day I had the chance to use some flies from my friend Tolis of  Smart Flies . I decided to add them as teasers to my usual metal combo rig and they really worked a treat! I was really surprised when towards the end of the session, and with the bites practically non existent, I managed a nice 2kg pollock that hit the teaser instead of the metal! For the past sessions, most larger fish would go for the main lure but obviously this fish saw something it liked...

Worth the trek...

Coalies are suckers for teasers...

Nice coalies on this mark... This one with net wounds..

LRF gear next time...

Spectacular!

Big pollock couldn't resist the sandeel teaser..

On Thursday, I had the morning off and decided to have a short session on Aird as the tide was good.
I reached the mark bang on high tide and started fishing away with metals. I got a nice fish on the metal but then bites tailed off on the metals. I then switched to a brass n glass Texas rig with a 10g weight, a 8mm glass bead and a 2/0 EWG hook. lures were a variety of slim paddletails, modified stickbaits with an added curly tail and straights. this way I was able to cover the area more precisely and keep the lure in the strike zone, in this case being close to the bottom as the tide was ebbing and the current intensified. I got the best results by casting 'upcurrent' and parallel to the rock-wall, working the lure with short hops on the bottom and bits of straight retrieve. Most fish would hit soon after touchdown or at the straight retrieve immediately after some 'hops'.
After catching some average fish, I got a solid take and the drag started to sing! I was using my KG Evolution Basic (2.7m, 7-23g) and it really was bent to the limit... This was a better fish and after a few runs it managed to get in a snag. I fed it some line and it soon came out, allowing me to bring it up with sharp pumps of the rod. I got a couple pics and then released this strong fighter.. It was interesting to note that the fish had some worms and parasites on it thus I suppose it hasn't been very active so far...
After that fish there was no point fishing any longer so I called it a day and went home for a nice meal.
Below some pics and videos of the action!

The first one on a metal...

And the rest on Texas rig...

Thought the larger profile might get me larger fish...

... Nope!

A good fighter!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to contact me if you fancy sampling some of this great fishing!

Gear used.
Rod:  MC KG Evolution KGS-902L, 2.7m, 7-23g.
Reel: Daiwa Freams 2500
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 1.0
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader FC 20lbs
Lures: metals with teasers and brass n glass Texas rigged softplastics.

Let the games begin...

This week saw a tremendous change in weather patterns and as if somebody flipped a switch it is now summer (well for these few days at least)! I was waiting for my chance to get to the water and got it on Monday as I was working in the afternoon and had the morning free.
The mark I was aching to fish but couldn't all this time was Aird, as it is exposed to Northerly and Easterly winds and had been too rough till now.
I woke up around 06:30 and drove to the mark. High tide was around 08:00 and the wind was only a light breeze. After the walk to the point I was greeted by a slightly rougher sea than I would've liked but still very fishable...
It was the first outing with my new Daiwa Freams 2500 reel and it was newly spooled with PE 1.0 Duel Hardcore X4 braid. The rod of choice was my MC KG Evolution Basic KGS-902L.
Its been a long time since I fished with a Daiwa reel but this season I'm looking to compare this Freams to my Stradic Ci4...
As the sea was choppy and the mark quite deep, I picked UV and vibrant coloured shads to mount on 16g-18g cheburashkas. These certainly did the trick, and I started getting hits OTD. I was surprised to see the fish hunting so high on the water column and they seemed to be in a feeding mode as I soon started getting them in! They were only average fish for Skye standards (2-3lbs) but very welcome, especially after the last few slow sessions. After a while, I got a better fish but unfortunately lost it on the way up... The fish weren't fighting very hard and seemed relatively lean, testament to the very cold water temperatures here (still below 9C!).

First of many...

A bit choppy..

Gleaming in the sun.

After the high tide point (and getting soaked by some large waves!) I changed lures to metals as the fish seemed to be getting more aggressive. At some point I hooked a nice fish and was bringing it in before it managed to get snagged close in. I felt it getting free and applied more pressure when suddenly my reel started screaming and loosing line! This went on for a few minutes at least and it took me a while to think of taking a video on my mobile!
Below is the last part of it before my line broke off near the leader knot...

I retied and cast again, caught another decent pollock and then the same thing happened at the same area (the lip of the ledge before deep water). Now I've caught a seal before on this rod but it didn't feel like this. Moreover for the duration of the session (3hours approx), I saw no signs of any seals about, and they are not usually very inconspicuous. I really have no clue of what it was (Tuna lol!) but it took about 70m of new braid with it along with my fish and lure... On a positive note, the drag of the Freams proved to be top notch!
I think this is going to be a very productive season fishing-wise and full of surprises!

On a closing note, I have been thinking for a while now to offer guided fishing trips on my days off from work, gear can be provided and different disciplines and species targeted. Obviously this would be lures only (LRF, HRF, Light shore jigging etc) and with a strong emphasis on catch and release.
I believe that Skye is a true fishing paradise and with the summer fast approaching more species will become available so if you're interested please get in touch!

Tight Lines and more to come!


Gear used.
Rod:  MC KG Evolution KGS-902L, 2.7m, 7-23g.
Reel: Daiwa Freams 2500
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 1.0
Leader: YGK Nitlon DFC flouorocarbon 16lbs
Lures: 16g-18g cheburashka with 3" UV, Fluo and Chartreuse paddletails.

Linnhe, Etive and Fyne sessions.

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