Too many projects, too little time!

Been a while since my last post and this isn't because of nothing new happening. On the contrary, there's too much going on! 

Fishing has taken a back seat and I've only managed a couple sessions that were relatively productive. Finding the fish was the tricky part as they seemed to be concentrated in only a few places.  Once found, they were up for it and the chatterbait-cheburashka in particular was very effective. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unbelievably I even had some coalies hit the topwater back in February! I was let down by my action cam and smartphone battery life though and don't have the pics and videos that I should have from those sessions.  I blame the long sessions and the cold conditions for this. Especially my smartphone seems to get drained very quickly when I'm running Navionics and the trolling motor from it. I've bought a power bank to alleviate this problem. 

My friend Chris's homemade softplastics and jigheads/chebs have been doing very well too and I definitely think that the suppleness of homepoured softplastics is an important factor for their success in cold conditions and fussy fish. 

One of my mates forktails...

 

And a sandeel imitation.

 

I've had to repair the inflatable keel of my boat  as it started showing tiny holes along a seam and loosing pressure. It looks like it's an age related issue and I've tried to fix it by pouring Sealskin sealant in the tube. This seems to have sorted it for now. I really can't wait for my F-Rib to arrive but there's no clear ETA for that...

Unhappy with not having my new boat and affected by this lockdown, I took the plunge and bought an inflatable pedal kayak to fill the void...! It's a Story-1 dropstitch pedal kayak and only managed to have a wee try on it last week.  Hopefully I'll put it through its paces soon...

The yak minus the pedal gear.

Used it without the pedals just to get a feel for it...

The water chiller has been keeping the fish tank consistently at 12C but unfortunately the goldsinny wrasse has been getting aggressive towards some of the smaller inhabitants. It pecked the wee gurnard's tail and unfortunately the lobster got it soon after.  I think it might be time to release the wrasse and introduce some less territorial (and less toothy) fish. Definitely scorpions and maybe rockling again. The lobster has been incessantly rearranging the tank lately and I think it's time for moulting again.

Love gurnards now!

The starfish appeared out of nowhere weeks after putting it in the tank. The lumpfish unfortunately got taken by the lobster.

My plans for this month are to kick off the trout season and use the kayak as much as possible. Also, would really like a couple calm water days to get the boat out in the salt!

Tight Lines!

Developments in my coldwater marine aquarium.

 A lot has happened to my fish tank since the last post I did about it. Back in Summer, the few unusually hot weeks, unfortunately caused some significant losses. My beloved scorpions, lemon sole and the rockling perished... Because of this, I'm planning on getting a water chiller in Spring to prevent this from happening again. 

I also had to remove a blenny and a big ballan wrasse that were too boisterous towards the other inhabitants of the tank. Lastly, Papi the goby and the veteran of the tank, died a few weeks ago, probably from old age!

It's not been all doom and gloom though. Current Inhabitants are: 1 lobster, 1 goldsinny wrasse, 1 pollock, 1 velvet crab, 1 baby blenny and a gurnard! Along with plenty of prawns and winkles for forage and tank cleaning.

Plenty of cover and structure. 

Queen of the tank. 

It's a very harmonious environment, although only after I taped up the lobster's claws as he was picking fish off while they were sleeping. Lobster's got very territorial and also is a landscape artist(!). It was very surprising seeing it move rocks and plants around just to create the lair it prefers! 

The gurnard is the latest addition and seems very chilled out in the tank. I was also given a tiny boarfish that seemed to be suitable for the fish tank but unfortunately it's tiny size and preference for open swimming to hiding, made it an easy snack. I hope I find a larger one of them as it was so cool!

Only the left one survives now.

Tiny boarfish. Acclimatised but eaten...

Them claws are secure with tape now...

I'm hoping to incorporate a couple more little fish now that the lobster has been "pacified". Think the gurnard needs a shoalmate as the lobster ate his brothers and would also love another sea scorpion. 

I still keep the same regime of adding some water once a month along with some sand vacuum and filter cleaning. Still feeding chopped frozen prawns with some whitefish and pellets for some variety. The pellets are lumpsucker feed and most fish along with the lobster love them.

All in all I still love messing around with the fish tank and see it evolve. With the horrible weather we've been having, it helps me feel better for not being able to go fish.

RIP Papi...

Its got them all!

I have been unable to fish properly for the past couple of weeks either due to the weather being absolutely crap or by getting distracted by other commitments. I have been visiting my loch Linnhe mark close to home though and in these short sessions I started having better results and some more surprises. The mark as I've mentioned before is a narrow deep bay with boulder-covered, steep banks and plenty of kelp close in while soft bottom further out. I have always fished it on the side closest to the road but wanted to try the opposite side as well, since there's a steep point and less angling pressure. Today I finished early from my morning shift and thought it would be a good opportunity to visit the 'other side'.
From the previous sessions here, I noticed that the fish started preferring slightly larger lures than the usual 1.5"-2" ones I've been using. The pollock especially seemed locked on the slim paddletails and I'm pretty sure that's due to the sandeels being their main target now. Thus I had very good results with slim lures such as 2.75" Lunker City Swimfish and the M Ecogear grassminnows.
I started with the same presentation today and after reaching the point I started fan casting around the point in order to locate the fish. I would mix between letting the lure drop freely and also controlled in order to get bites near the bottom or OTD. The bites came quickly and I started getting decent pollock one after the other that were giving a great scrap on the Solpara!

Excellent fun on this size!

I also got a few sharp bites that cut the lures tails and I then changed tactics as I knew that wrasse were about... I put on the trusty cheburashka with a #10 long shank hook rigged with a 2" Berkley Fish fry. After allowing the lure to touch bottom I quickly got bites and landed in quick succession a codling, a sea scorpion, a cuckoo wrasse and a ballan wrasse!

Haven't caught one in a while!

Seem to be getting only females for some reason..

I love ballan wrasse!

I missed a few more wrasse bites and I noticed that they would bite better when the lure was worked more aggressively (not faster retrieve).
I then started seeing fish breaking in the surface and targeted them instead. It was a large school of mackerel and I soon had one on the end of my line. I lost a couple and realised that the small hook didn't give me a secure enough hook hold so I changed lure to a 7g Yoshikawa little bit metal jig that would also allow me longer casts. On the first cast and as soon as the jig landed in the water I had a fish on! This one fought like a demon and for a moment I thought I hooked something very serious.. In the end I managed to land a brute of a mackerel of almost 40cm! Its the second time I catch a mackerel that big and I really wish they would get to this size more often!

The photo doesn't do it justice..

Dinner...

After catching a few more mackerel I decided to head home as I was really pleased with this short session. The mark has proven once again its worth and I will soon revisit it...
Bellow are some pics of a couple previous short sessions.

Cuckoo wrasse are lovely..

My first dragonet!

Shinny poor cod..

Gurnards are cool..

Hungry codling..

My biggest fish from this mark...

Beautiful view from the 'other side'.

All in all I think my persistence with this mark paid off and I just cant believe that it holds so many different types of fish! Hope to do some more fishing on my days off and possibly on the heavier gear for some good pollock on the deeper marks.

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g).
Reel: Shimano Exage 1000fc
Mainline: Spiderwire invisibraid 6lbs. Dragon fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
Rig: metal jigs, microjig, jighead
lure: Lunker City 2.75" Swimfish, Ecogear grass minnow M, Berkley Fish fry 2", 7g Yoshikawa little bit.

From gurnards to Salmon!

My days off have been quite productive. The weather has been really horrible with constant rain at times  but this made me think that the time for my salmon trip has come. Before that though I did a short LRF session in Etive on Wednesday and was planning to go for salmon on Thursday. I was hoping to get some more trout on the LRF as whenever I target the bottom species, I get a couple of them OTD. It was a slow session with only a few codling but I did get a few trout and also gurnards! Three in a row as there seemed to be a group of them. They were holding over soft bottom and were quite aggressive towards my 2" Berkley Gulp Fish Fry. What I noticed and have also read that before, is that the way they bite makes for missed strikes and a steady slow retrieve after the first tap usually sees them hooking themselves. I finished the session with coalies on the metal jigs fished in the current. I made a video as well..

Pretty trout..

Another trout meant to be here!

I love gurnard..

Deformed coalie..

On thursday I drove to river Orchy to try for salmon. I was hoping that the rains would have spurred even more fish up and I would stand better chance of catching one. I purchased my day permit but the news werent great. There were fish about but not biting (at least not on the fly) although somebody caught a couple on spinning the previous day. I decided to fish the same beat where that fish got caught and after driving there and having a chat with the owner I started fishing. I fished with my medium rock fishing gear and a 15g flying c type spinner. The river was looking very good with some deep pools, rapids and plenty of structure and cover. I reached an eddy  with a couple sunken trees in it and after seeing a trout follow, I persisted. I caught another trout and walking upstream I made a cast straight on the tree. After a few cranks I got a solid hit and I knew at once that I've done it! This followed..

The Orchy holds a lot of trout as well.

The king of the river!

A lovely 75cm fish and a lifelong dream come true! I thought that I would get more as I had the rest of the day fishing but alas I didn't find any more fish. I did caught plenty of trout and even a jack pike though.
I am now seriously hooked on salmon and thinking of attempting another trip before the end of the season but the cost is the only deterrent in my already limited budget!


Tight lines

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI,   Majorcraft KG Evolution,KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Shimano Exage 1000fd ,Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Spiderwire invisibraid 0.10mm, Seaguar Kanzen braid 10lbs
leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs.
lures: Berkley Gulp Fish fry, 7g HTO shore jig, 8g Savagear lrf psycho sprat, 15g Flying c type spinner.