Thought it was June, not November...

This week I was determined, even without a car, to get a bus and go to Etive yet again. The weather wasn't looking good but I was determined to get among the pollock that should finally be there in numbers...
Well thankfully my mate Ronnie wanted to do the same and so yesterday morning we set off.
On the way to the loch the weather was getting worse and worse. On reaching the mark we were greeted with strong winds and rain. Temperature was around 8 C!
We knew it was gonna be bad and we came prepared with waterproofs but it was even worse than the weatherman predicted! Nevertheless I started fishing blades and trying hard to control them in this wind and after a while I started catching some fish. They weren't of any great size but this raised our hopes that a larger fish would show with perseverance.. Unfortunately this didn't happen, and after a few hours we had enough so we decided to head down to our usual banker mark in loch Fyne.
The weather was a little better there and we got catching fish straight away.. What surprised me was the great depth that most fish were coming from and that some of the pollock still had worms on them. Moreover the number of pollock was relatively limited comparing to codling, that we caught quite a few of. This seems to me to be because of the bad weather that I find  affects the pollock much more than codling and coalies. In any case we caught a good number of fish with some nice codling among them and also lost a couple that got stuck on the way up.
As they say, a day fishing beats a day at home anytime!
Some pics below and a video will come soon.

The largest pollock on the blade...

Lovely looking codling...

On a softie..

Pretty coalie.

Cheburashka kills codling!

A poor cod from the deep on the slow jig..

They are leaner here comparing to the East coast ones..

Red coding are stunning..

I'm not sure I will be heading up in Etive again, unless the weather greatly improves before my holidays back home in two weeks time. I want to try loch Long soon and I'm hoping I will be able to find some productive marks there as its so much closer to Glasgow and I can reach it easily either by train or bus!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI, MC KG Evolution, KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc, Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4,  Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
Leader: Sunline FC guide special fluorocarbon, 6lbs doubled up. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs
Lure: ZX35, metal jigs, paddletails on cheburashka.

Friends to the rescue..

Since I haven't got a car yet again I have been sitting home doing nothing and this really drives me mad! Thankfully my mate Ronnie wanted to have a go blade-baiting for the pollock up in Etive and so yesterday he picked me up with his friend John and we headed north. The day was beautiful with perfect weather and incoming tide at my mark so I was very positive that we would get among the fish..
We put on various blades on our lrf combos and started casting and working the lures near the bottom. I was expecting bites from the start but I was wrong and it proved a very slow start to the day... After about an hour or so without bites, I started getting some and after a few missed strikes (zx are tricky on hooksets) I finally landed a small pollock. I kept casting and got a couple more fish (a pollock and a codling) in quick succession although I lost a couple more who shed the hooks. The guys didn't stick with the blades but they did manage a few fish on jigs. Overall though it was very slow. I decided to have a few last casts and change presentation to a simple 4" hydrotail worm on a 3g jighead worked slowly near the bottom and this gave me a pollock from a spot we had previously worked with blades and metals showing that the fish were in a more passive mood. Thus we decided to head to Loch Fyne as we knew that the action would be much better there. On arrival the mark was looking perfect and as expected we got fish from the first casts on our metal jigs. I was using my MC Crostage CRK-T787AJI tubular tip rod as its perfect for working blades and jigs along with my little Shimano Stradic and 0.4PE line with 6lbs fluoro leader. Knowing that I will encounter reasonably good fish, I thought of trying something that is mainly done in baitfishing when faced with toothy predators. This was to double up the line by making a long loop. Thus I made a rapala knot that created a loop about half the length of the leader and in the end I tied my snap by a palomar knot. This way I was hoping to have a better chance of landing the bigger fish as I could use a tighter drag setting and have better abrasion resistance in the critical last meters of the leader. Moreover this allows to get some of the leader back in case of a snag instead of just using heavier line for leader that usually gets cut on the leader knot or on the braid as the leader is stronger. I also find it more practical than tying a second thicker leader on the existing one... The session continued by pulling out fish after fish, the vast majority of them being small pollock along with a few codling and poor cod.We kept at this pace until sundown really enjoying ourselves with the non-stop action even though no large fish were caught.

The doubled up leader.

They preferred flash today..

ZX 35 does the damage..

A nice 'agro' looking codling on the blade.

Fish wanted finesse in the end..

Metals rule in Fyne!

Double hook-up with Ronnie. Had quite a few of those throughout the day...

Tried some little creatures too...

...and cheburashka of course.

Nice codling towards the end of the day..

In the end of the day and even though I pulled numerous fish out of the kelp and rocks, the doubled up leader seemed to have worked. It was frayed but held up much better than normal. Certainly I will try it again next time..
From what we observed it seems that fish definitely need a few more days or a couple weeks of good weather to show up in numbers in Etive. There were definitely more of them than last time but it still doesn't feel as good as it should be.. Loch Fyne was teeming with fish but you have to go through thousands of the little ones to get some better fish.
All in all a most welcome session and I thank my friends Ronnie and John for it. Hope to find a new car soon though before I go mad!

Tight Lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4
Leader: Sunline FC guide special fluorocarbon, 6lbs doubled up.
Lure: ZX35, metal jigs, hydrotail worms/paddletails on cheburashka.

Blade bait pattern starts with a bang!

As I mentioned previously, I had done a session in Etive with blade baits for pollock before my Cyprus trip. The fish weren't there in numbers yet and I was hoping they would start shoaling up by the time of my return.
Thus a few days ago I decided on another trip up Loch Etive, only this time I would spend the night up there, so that I would fish the morning too. Once more though my plans went out of the window and on the way up I broke down with the car's engine seizing up and had to call my brother to pick me up from Inveraray... Undeterred (its become almost normal for me now!) I got my brother's car and headed to the loch. It was a bit late in the day now and the weather was an unreal mix of sun, clouds, showers, wind and a rainbow! I fished until dark with a variety of lures and picked a few small fish. I also had two good bites on the blades but no hook ups and I was even more determined now to fish again at first light.

Notice the recent snow on the mountains!

Thus after fishing into the night without success, I went in the car to sleep. I noticed that the weather changed considerably getting more favourable (it was more pleasant during the night than it was throughout the day) and had high hopes for the morning.
I got up in daybreak and set up on the rocks again. I clipped my trusted Ecogear zx35 blade and after only a couple casts, the following ensued...

As I mention in the video the drag setting proved critical as it was loose enough to allow the fish to take me in the snags without the line abrading too much yet tight enough to tire the fish out in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately I didn't stick with the original setting and lost the second fish. Fighting pollock on LRF gear is completely different to fighting them on the usual heavy spinning gear most anglers use for them. And the notion of locking down the drag proves catastrophic!
The fish was a male full of 'love juices' and hopefully the first of many to come this season. An excellent start to the pattern! Bellow some more pics of the fish and the lures I will be using for them...
Now I only need to find yet another car! lol

Cant fit him in the pic...

A superb fighter!

A variety of offerings...

Thanks for reading and Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4
Leader: Sunline FC guide special fluorocarbon, 6lbs
Lure: ZX35

Cyprus Expedition 2: Saltwater.

After the first few days and the disappointments in the freshwater, I was in need of a morale boost. We had planned to fish with my friends Aggelos and Soulis in their local marks and they informed me that Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii) and the silver cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus scelaratus) had recently appeared in the area and in good numbers. I didn't get too excited though as I'm aware that the sea around most of Cyprus is relatively poor and didn't expect large numbers of fish. Thus we met up with the guys early in the morning of Sunday and headed straight for the mark in Soulis car.
The mark is near a power station and there is strong current generated by the station's outflow. This attracts bait fish and the predators follow... We picked the most favourable spots and started casting. I was using slim soft plastics of 2"-3" on 1.5-3.5g jigheads. From the first casts we all started getting bites and fish on our lures! It was madness and exactly what I needed after the previous hard days. We were on the right spot on the right time and the fish were feeding like crazy! I caught my first Cornet fish and was amazed by the alien look of this fish.. I was even more amazed by the amount of slime that covers them! Something that my friends forgot to mention... But I couldn't care less as I was catching fish! The Cornet fish is a good fighter and at times resembles garfish during the fight although it can move in all directions like an eel! What Ive noticed about them though, is that they would painstakingly observe the lure at times before committing, especially the larger ones. At first light they were relatively easy to catch but as the sun got higher they became more fussy and cautious. They have very good eyesight and I suspect the increased light levels made them more wary to our lures. Moreover after a few fish were caught on a given lure/presentation the rest would soon wise up to it and a change in presentation would have to take place for the bites to resume. This again is explained as they hunt in loose packs and observe the lure all together. Thus as the sun got higher I had to use more realistic colours and lighter jigheads (slower fall rate) to get more bites. Moreover a change to darting jigheads and or cheburashka with the respective change in rod movements/cadence brought more bites. They would generally hit near the bottom but especially later on they could be caught even on minnows worked with plenty of jerks near the surface. They are meant to take metals as well but my friends told me that it might be a bit early in the season for such fast presentations. They would hit one type of metal lures though, blades, and some of the biggest fish were caught on the ecogear ZX30 and 35. Another interesting thing about this fish is that its almost impossible to take a good photo! The camera just couldn't zoom in them properly. 

What a fish!

Eye of the predator..

They can even change colours..

Impossible to zoom on!

Pampos with a good one on the jerkbait.

After catching my fair share of Cornetfish, I noticed my friend Pampos started catching large toad fish on his jerkbaits. Seeing that they would hit so high in the water column and on such flashy lures with erratic retrieves I tied on an lipless cranckbait (that I bought for bass!) and started working it near the surface with lifts of the rod tip. I got a bite and after a few more turns of the handle, a solid take. This was a big fish and definitely not a cornet fish as it was not thrashing about, instead I could feel it thumping its head and moving slowly. I pumped the fish in with the rod bent in an unreal curve and soon a large toad was in the net! The lure popped out of its mouth straight away and in close inspection I could see that the trebles were ruined by the toadfish dentistry! We caught some more toad fish and lost even more from bent hooks, cut lines and ripped softplastics...
The toad fish would hunt in groups in all the water column and they preferred slow but intense actions in the presentation. It was very surprising that some fish would come in like bricks yet others would make sizzling runs on even tight drags! It became apparent that if you allow them some time to turn away from the shore and even more so when the pack is following the caught fish, they would then start to run!
What an unusual bunch of fish!
At some point I got hit OTD on a cheburashka rigged with a 7.5cm ribster and with the rod bent whole I felt that the fish was getting in a snag.. Perplexed as to what it was, I pressed the rod even harder and soon started gaining on the fish. A last attempt to hide in the rocks under my feet failed and I hoisted up a beautiful dusky grouper! It was my biggest ever and after a few pics was returned in the sea.

A pig in the net!

 

Trebles destroyed!

A stunning fish!

In the following days we made more forays in various harbours and we managed to find the smaller cousin of the toad fish with the beautiful green eyes. Some scorpion fish and unbelievable amounts of gobies completed the picture. 2-5g Cheburashkas, #10 longshank hooks and Isome along with tiny paddletails did the business.

Poser goby..

A new lrfer!

Green eyed piggy!

I love scorpion fish!

Aggressive goby.

Baby toad..

Goby central...

The tiniest grouper Ive ever caught!

So all in all another wonderful experience in Cyprus. The fishing was tough but considering the conditions I believe we found the best action we could! Many thanks yet again to my Cypriot friends and especially Pampos, Aggelos and Soulis as without them this trip would've been impossible.. I'm already planning for my next visit there and hopefully the bass will play ball then..
I will post some action packed videos soon!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile stick 80 UL
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4
leader: Sunline FC guide special fluorocarbon, 6lbs
lure: various