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 

My first Scottish bass!

 Had a lovely break down Dumfries way with the family last week. Obviously, it would be rude not to try and wet a line in the salt and freshwater down there and it was the perfect opportunity for me to get my first Scottish bass. I had an Invitation from my mate Colin last year but with covid and other commitments (plus the 7h drive) I never got round to it.

Througout our stay the weather had been very warm and I had a day on Loch ken in the kayak. It was some hard fishing as the water levels were low and I lost the morning by the time I managed to sort out the fishing permit and launch. Why cant we have online permits everywhere in this day and age...! Anyway, I only fished till mid afternoon and I was baked by the end of the session with barely a fish to show for my efforts. A feisty jack and a couple perch but at least I enjoyed the pedaling. Lovely Loch but super busy and I think itd be better in Autumn.

The next day, I met Colin on a bouldery beach at mid-morning to go after some bass. I used my APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96MLX paired with Shimano Stradic FL 3000XHG and mainly casting Savagear Seekers as we reasoned the fish would be keeping further out in such a sunny day. There was a good face-on breeze blowing though, something I find positive when bass fishing on beaches. Colin indicated the spot we'd be casting from and within a few casts I got a good strike and fish on. It was only a schoolie but I was very happy to finally tick it off the list. 

We had about half a dozen fish each in a couple hours, mainly schoolies with some keepers too. They were stubbornly holding far out and with the chop and high sun wouldnt hit topwaters. Thus, seekers and similar lures were the best option. We each had a couple falls in the water as its been a while since I've waded a beach and wasn't wearing studded boots. To my surprize, the water temperature was very pleasant and in retrospect I should just have worn some shorts!

My first in Scotland!

Beautiful!

Perch from loch Ken.

Theres definitely good potential for better fish down there but unfortunately, we live so far away that it can only be a once a year treat. Back in Skye now and the weather seems to be holding up. Planning some fishing very soon...

 

Tight Lines

Fish and molluscs from my holidays in Greece!

As in last year I managed to spend almost a month back home in Greece! I went along with my girlfriend at the end of December and returned yesterday night. Similarly to last year my fishing time was greatly overestimated (girlfriend and too many friends and relatives 😁) but the variety of species was pretty good.
First off I had some LRF sessions in the local harbours and rockmarks of N. Iraklitsa, N. Peramos and Kavala. The weather was fantastic for the duration of my stay, in stark contrast with the polar-like conditions of the year before...
I was surprised to find many 'summer' species still around and large shoals of baitfish close in.
Unfortunately on my flight to Greece, my LRF case was stolen (!) and I had only very basic gear left... Thankfully that included a small bag of cheburashkas and some jigheads. I had some soft plastics and of course Isome and Gulp sanworms, with the latter proving the most successful bait...

A good fighter on the LRF...

Beautiful striped seabream

Weevers over sandy bottom...

Hungry goby.

The ubiquitous painted comber!

like a mirror...

This winter weather was fantastic!

While LRFing over a rocky point I noticed baitfish shoals moving about and fishing boats close to shore trolling. I wasn't sure what they were fishing for and started casting some metals on the heavier gear I had with me... I then decided to put on a topwater and picked a Lucky Craft Gunfish 95 as dusk was approaching. After a few casts I started seeing splashes and hits on the topwater from multiple fish and with a few more casts and missed strikes I managed to connect with a fish! It jumped a couple times but was soon brought on the rocks and it was a small bluefish!

Been a long while since I caught one of them and was gutted that the Gopro had no battery!

Baby bluefish were close in.

My next fishing outings took place in Southern Greece at the lovely town of Ermioni with my fishing buddy Stelios. We chose Ermioni as it offers a good variety of targets and also because my friend's contacts reported meagre results in Poros (our first choice). 

We mainly night fished and concentrated on squid and cuttlefish and also false scad.

The mollusks were more forthcoming and again it was a while since I had done any 'eging' to target them. Thankfully Stelios had an endless variety of squid-jigs and we had a lot to play with!

Most of the squid were small but my friend got one of over 800g while I got half kilo one as my largest. Moreover I managed to catch my smallest ever mollusk, a tiny musky octopus (μοσχιός)! Some cuttlefish and an octopus raised the species count for mollusks to 4...

Later in the night it was time for scad and we used 6-10g darting and Gamakatsu range swimmer jigheads with 3" Sluggos and Tiny Xlayers. The fish were not tightly grouped (possibly as there wasn't much fry in the harbour) and after covering the area with the softplastics we thought to try small metals to try deeper. Metals are not a lure I tend to use much at night but for such aggressive fish they can actually be very effective, especially if they have some 'fluo' on them. The only drawback to the metals was that they came with too small a treble and I had no assist hooks with me. This in combination with my rod having a stiff tip meant that I lost a couple fish. 

It was interesting to note the size of these false scad with all of them being descent fish...

Squidlet...

Cuttlefish...

A tiny musk octopus!

Octopus..

Plenty of them around..

Lovely colour..

They put up a good scrap when bigger..

False scad.

Predators of the night..

At dawn we would move at a nearby rocky point and target barracudas with jerkbaits. A pattern that seems to get results very often as the cudas target passing fish high up in the water column at that time. To be honest the results weren't that good and I only managed to get a couple small fish but they're such a cool fish even small! 

After the sunrise I fished softplastics and metals near the bottom and this resulted in a few small golden groupers.

Cuda at dawn on Duo Tide Minnow Slim.

A small cuda..

Love groupers!

On our way back from Ermioni we got a text from Stelio's friend in Poros only to find out that he went and smashed the barracudas there! We cant be lucky all the time...

After my return from Athens I started targeting some local harbours and coastal lagoons for bass but unfortunately just when I started finding the fish my time was up!

Used 3"-4" slim paddletails on 10-14g jigheads on medium fast retrieves near sundown for them and would switch to 4" soft jerkbaits on the same jigheads but worked near the bottom when it got dark. Successful lures were 4" Pontoon 21 Attira, 4" Reins Rockvibe shad and Megabass Xlayer.

The presence of bait was always necessary for the bass to be in numbers in the harbour...

Local bass from the lagoons..

...and from the harbour.

Well that was it for my fishing adventures in Greece and I'm now back in Scotland!

Time to see how them pollock are doing...

Tight Lines and best wishes for a productive season!

Gear used.

Rod: Gamakatsu Akilas mobile 80MH, Snowbee Kuroshio 4pc travel LRF rod (05g-7g)
Reel: Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f, Shimano Stradic 1000fc
Mainline: YGK P.E Line Frontier WX8 Shore Casting Line 150m P.E 0.8 , 14lb,
Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.6
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 18lbs, Toray Excellent fluorocarbon 6.8lbs
Lures: various

Oh Ireland!

Been a couple days back home from my holidays in Ireland and one thing I have to say is that I will definitely be going there again!
I went with my girlfriend Claire and we spent a week in County Kerry. This was most certainly not a fishing holiday but the travel rods went into the suitcase of course...
I didn't have any serious targets or 'must catch' fish list in mind, though I definitely wanted to get some wrasse and if possible a bass or two. Moreover I'd be taking the LRF gear as well so any of the smaller predators would be very welcome especially with some scad among them!
I had done some homework before the trip and had scores of points on Google maps ready to be sussed out...Most areas were exposed rocky coastlines and beaches with the occasional harbour/pier for the light stuff. I had heard only the best and was fired up to get started!
The weather was ok to begin with and we got a couple decent days but I only fished a bit here and there with the LRF and managed to catch my first Irish fish... Not a scad but a coalie 😆
Little did I know that the weather would turn bad and I'd get few chances to fish the more exposed marks I wanted.

Not a scad!

The first area we stayed in was Valentia Island and from Google Earth and the web I could tell that it would be very suitable for wrasse fishing, plus having some piers/harbours close by would offer ample opportunities to fish the light gear.
This being the open Atlantic, the swell was present at various intensities throughout the week and I only managed one HRF session for wrasse before the swell build up.
What a session it was though!
After a bit of a hike in the wind and rain with Claire we found the path down the rocks and on first look it was pretty rough (but still fishable). Thankfully we found a hollow at the rocks and out of the wind to settle down and fish from.
I was using my Spro Mobile Stick 80MH paired with the Shimano Stradic FK C3000 and the rig of choice being the good old Texas rig with a 20g tungsten bullet weight, glass bead and #1 wide gape offset hook. I would be using 3" Gulp Alive swimming mullets in a simple drag and pause retrieve.
From the first cast the fish showed their presence but instead of wrasse I got some pollock! Definitely not what I was looking for there..! Soon enough though, I started getting the familiar sharp taps of wrasse and after setting the hook a different fight ensued...
It didn't take long to get the first ballan out and there were many more to come!
All of them around the 2lbs mark but fighting hard and in a ravenous mood... Haven't had similar wrasse-fishing since I left the Channel Islands...

Toothy...

Them lips!

On the act!

Decent size...

Cant say no to them!

Big gob!

Conditions were lively...

I love wrasse!

That was my most memorable session of the trip. The next day the swell intensified considerably and
I had to find sheltered areas to fish. This meant more LRF and I had good sessions with mackerel, coalies and smaller ballan and corkwing wrasse but unfortunately no scad!

Dingle harbour breakwater.

Lovely corkwing.

Loads of mackies about.

My LRF setup was a 7'2'' (0.5-7g) Snowbee Kuroshio travel LRF rod paired with my Shimano Stradic 1000fc and using mainly small cheburashkas and metals. I didnt take too many softplastics with me as the space was limited and again I relied mostly on the Gulp.
We spent the last couple days on the Dingle peninsula and in retrospect we could've spent the whole week there as it simply has got it all!
Got pollock from the rocky points, wrasse in the harbour and while I snuck out before breakfast for a few casts, had a feisty bass on the trusty Megabass Zonk Gataride. Unfortunately this was gonna be our last day in Dingle and I didnt get the chance to fish there more... What a place.!

Before breakfast.

It was a great holiday in all and got some useful observations/notes for the next time:

• much cheaper and convenient to get the ferry there in my own car. Too much unnecessary hassle renting one there..
• No need for fancy rigs and many lures. 
• A tubular tip LRF rod might have been more suitable as when I encountered a bass following my tiny softplastics, I couldn't use a topwater or a jerkbait to potentially tease it into striking.
• Just 2 setups would be enough. a 1-10g for light game (but capable of something heavier) and a sort of 10-30g for the bigger stuff. 
• Swell forecast more important than weather forecast...

 I'm working on the videos now and should be up next week sometime!

Tight Lines!