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.
A while back I was contacted by my fellow Greekspinners forum member and Facebook friend Giorgos, that he would be in the UK for holidays and that he would really appreciate if I could take him fishing. This made me extremely happy as I love nothing more than going fishing with like minded anglers and showing off my marks! The month he selected to be in the UK though is definitely not considered prime saltwater lure fishing time... Being almost the end of January now! Nevertheless he was extremely lucky to have his arrival on Friday coincide with unseasonably warm weather, brought by strong Southwesterly winds. This window of opportunity weather wise wasn't going to last long and in similar previous occurrences I always had good results in fishing.
My main worry now was where to take him?
I knew he wanted some spectacular Scottish scenery but also he preferred to fish with the LRF gear and had to find a suitable target for him. The first target that came to my mind were of course coalies! One shoal of them and we would thoroughly enjoy ourselves but as of my last session on Loch Fyne, they still hadn't shown up there. Moreover my quarry mark there is really not considered very scenic and thus also taking the wind's direction in consideration, my thoughts turned to the East coast...
We would have the wind on our backs and I've been wanting, for a long time now, to check how it fares in the winter. Obviously not as sheltered as the sea lochs but on this occasion it wouldn't matter.
We woke up early on Sunday and packed the gear into the car. Had a coffee and made the drive to St Abbs head, arriving around 10 o clock there. High tide was around 14:00, the sea was relatively calm though the wind was threatening to sweep us off our feet! At least the casts would go a long way...!
St Abbs on January..
Giorgos was very excited seeing all the cliffs and couldn't wait to start fishing.
We started on the first accessible rock ledge and put on some metals searching for the coalies. Our position was very elevated and the wind made things very difficult, but we soldiered on.. After fishing next to Giorgos for a while, I decided to move on the other side of the ledge. Not much was happening there as well so I went back to see how Giorgos was doing after some casts and break offs on snags. I found him with the rod bend over and the drag screeching! Straight away I scrambled to the rocks below him and managed to land his first Scottish fish, a plumb coalie! Needless to say he was over the moon and honestly I felt even happier that he caught a fish than I would've felt had I caught it myself!
A very happy LRFer!
Thinking there would be more of them around, we kept casting our metals and working the area but we saw no more signs of them. We soon decided to move to another rock ledge and after a bit of strenuous hiking we reached the spot. Unfortunately my friend wasn't wearing studded shoes and couldn't come all the way to they rocky point so he decided to fish the deep bay instead. I made my way to the tip of the rocky finger and started casting about my metal jig again without success. I saw some water birds diving though and then switched things up and tied a Texas rig with a 7g brass bullet head, glass bead and my favourite Decoy RS WORM 101 offset hooks #2. I mounted a 7,5cm dark coloured (UV) Vibro worm by Crazyfish and started making long casts and working the bottom.
I would let the lure touchdown then give it a few jerks to get some noise from the bead, and then lift and drag it on the bottom. After a few casts I got a proper take and felt some good weight on the end of my line. the fish wasn't tearing about in speed, instead moving relatively slowly but with force and thumping its head about. A typical cod fight although it wasn't meant to be long, as the fish cut me off on the bottom... I was gutted and really annoyed with myself for getting caught unprepared (only with LRF gear).. I was then further annoyed as I realised my action cam battery had died without me realising and I didn't get the action...
I retied the same rig, changed battery and after casting out got a couple sharp bites (possibly coalies) but then got snagged. Another rig and another long cast saw me get a good take again but this time to something with much better speed that unfortunately cut me off again!
This time I got it on video:
I'm thinking that this probably was a good coalfish for reasons I will explain further down.
After loosing the two fish, things slowed down and since it was getting late, I went back to Giorgos to see how he fared. He didn't have a sniff but didn't seem too concerned as the one fish was enough for him to make the trip worthwhile. We made the arduous hike back up the cliff, got in the car and headed home tired but happy!
Giorgos on the ascend..
I may not have managed to land a fish but I was more than happy that Giorgos got one and also was pleasantly surprised at the potential for big winter fish on this mark. Needless to say Ill be back...
Back home, I gutted and cleaned the fish and was left amazed when I found what it had been feeding on!
Cockles?!
The seemed like cockle shells or something and the fish was full of them! This may explain my belief that my second fish was a coalie as they were obviously feeding on the bottom. Would never have thought that coalies would feed on shellfish but always love it when fish surprise me like that! You never stop learning in fishing... Next step try shellfish shaped soft plastics?!
Something else that Giorgos showed me was the existence of anti-fogging pads for action cameras and even gave me his to put on mine! Was always annoyed by that phenomenon and I'm looking forward to making better videos now!
Anti-fogging pads.
It was a real pleasure being a host and fishing with Giorgos and hope we will meet again soon. All in all a great day out despite not landing my fish.
I am now really looking forward to my impending two week holiday trip to far away Chile, and can't stop thinking about the fish I might get there!
Tight Lines and best wishes for a fish-packed 2016!
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 7.5cm Crazyfish Vibro worm on a Texas rig with a 7g
brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead and #2 Decoy RS worm 101 hook.
Woke up yesterday and looking out my window I realised that there was no rain and no wind! It has been pretty bad for the past few weeks although the temperature seems to be relatively high for this time of year. Anyway having finally gotten some days off I didn't need more encouragement to pack the gear in the car and go. Destination was Loch Fyne and I would fish with the LRF gear again. I didn't expect things to have changed so I would follow similar tactics as in last time. Namely a carolina rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead, #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook and this time the lures were mostly dark, slim paddltetails as the water was crystal clear.
I arrived at the mark maybe an hour before high tide, and it was going to be a big tide as my spot was already covered by water...
I started casting my rig around the point and focused on bottom work at distance first and then changing to more OTD and steady retrieve tactics as things were slow on the bottom. A few casts in and I got my first bite on a steady retrieve after a couple tugs with the rod tip to get some noise going. The fish put up a good little scrap but was soon landed. Only a small pollock but much better than the micro ones from last time! This bite kept until the high tide mark with a few pollock caught on the same way. They would hit as soon as the lure passed a ledge or rocks they were staging. I also had a couple OTD fish and bites showing that the fish were pretty up for it for this time of the year...
Finally!
Much better than last time!
They seem healthy as well still.
I then decided to move to the second point and play with the codling but after a couple hours there and with the weather starting to change, I got only a couple codling-like missed bites and a lovely short spinned sea scorpion. It comes to me that most times I encounter them, the codling are quiet. Possible preference for less competition?
I Love sea scorpions!
Stunning...
On the upside, I met a fellow lure angler and member of The Lure Forum on the second point and we had a good chat and a lovely coffee that he generously offered. Joe fishes Loch Fyne regularly with heavier gear and had lost a good fish today that took him to the rocks. Nevertheless he sounded as pleased as me for going out and enjoying the day. Moreover he owns a boat and has kindly invited me to join him on a trip when the weather is a bit better. Now that would really be cool!
It really was a lovely day to be out and I needed it. Although the codling didn't play ball, the pollock more than made up for it plus I always enjoy catching the sea scorpions. The brass and glass combo either in carolina or texas rig seems to do the job well and for the second time I noticed that I had very limited losses. Possibly 2 rigs, which for this mark is very good. In addition I only had a couple missed bites and for that I think that the extra sharp Decoy RS worm 101 hook played an important role.
Below the video with the pollock action.
Thanks for reading and tight lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 2.5"-3" dark slim paddletails on a carolina or texas rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead and #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook.
It has been too long since my last fishing session (and blog post for that matter) as the worsening weather, increased workload and lack of car conspired against me... Things are looking up recently though as I finally managed to get myself a car and today nothing was going to stop me from going fishing! Not even the rain, sleet and 20-30 mile winds that I encountered...
The past month, even though I wasn't fishing, I didn't stay idle either.. I purchased various bits and pieces of fishing gear to try and also sent the heavier reels for service.
One bit of gear I bought were some brass bullet weights along with a pack of glass beads from Aliexpress. Now you can find both of these items from UK and European sellers but especially the brand named ones are ridiculously expensive!
What I noticed from last winter especially, was that while the fish were there at the marks I fish, most of the time they would be fairly fussy and needed something 'extra' to get their attention and make them commit.
After watching some fellow Japanese HRF anglers targeting greenling (tohoku) with big golden coloured brass sinkers, I thought that they could work for our species too soI gave them a go today.
Since Ive sent the larger reels for service, I decided to use a LRF setup namely my Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI paired with my Shimano Biomaster 1000fb.
Blinky presentation.
I took it easy in the morning and only arrived at Loch Fyne around 13:00. It was high tide and the weather was terrible but there were transitions of calmness and even spells of sunshine amidst the wind and rain. I fished at both points of the harbour and got into fish straight away! It was a joy feeling a fish on the end of my line once again! A shoal of baby pollock were hanging near the ledge just before the deeper water and they would attack my lure (jackall I Shad 2.8") as soon as it passed through or above them.
Due to the intense wind and cold hands (time for gloves now) I missed a few bites.. Nevertheless it became apparent that the bottom fish weren't very active and I then moved to the other side of the harbour, where the codling are usually more concentrated. Unfortunately the wind had reduced the water clarity and also didn't allow for long casts and thus I only managed one decent codling that gave me a very good scrap and a couple small pollock
A bleak day..
First fish!
A decent scrapper!
It was interesting to note the lack of coalies as I would have loved to play with them a bit!
Anyway, It was a relatively pleasant short session despite the bad weather and I hope to repeat it soon before Christmas.
The brass and glass combo did seem to attract fish easily but I will need to have more sessions with them. Another interesting point is that I didn't loose a single rig today! I could have been just lucky although I believe that the brass sinker's larger mass and less density may have had something to do with this..
Tight Lines!
Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 2.8" Jackall I Shad on a carolina rig with a 6g brass bullet weight and glass bead.
