Belated report...

 Somehow we're in February now and I've realised I haven't made a report of last couple months  fishing. To be fair we've had storm after storm hitting us and any fishing sessions were few and far between weeks of bad weather. 

I kicked off my first session of the year at the beginning of January and the fishing was hectic! Plenty of topwater fish with the coalies being especially ravenous...

First of 2024.

First topwater fish of 2024!

Loved this strike!

Ravenous...

That session was pretty much all my fishing for January as I couldn't go near the sea because of the storms!

Then once February came the storms let up a bit and I managed to get a guiding session last weekend. Still not perfect weather but doable with some hardy souls...

Then yesterday I managed another solo session with adequate conditions and got a few fish for a feed. The coalfish loved a bit of A-rig action although soft plastics and vibration hard baits gave fish equally.

A-rig action...

Average size 

It does now feel more like prespawn and winter fishing with fish responding better to bright colours, slightly smaller sized lures, closer to bottom presentations and some 'annoying' lures like vibs and A-rigs.

Hopefully the Spring fishing will be as good as it was last year although some settled weather would be good enough for me.

Tight lines.

Busy times.

Had a fairly productive September and it seems to be getting even busier next month. Fishing has been pretty good and the weather reasonable for the most part. A couple weeks back, I was asked by my manager at work if I could take some company visitors out for some fishing on our workboat. Of course I accepted and had 5 people on the RB boat midweek. The guys were keen fishermen though never fished Skye before or for pollock. I took them to a shallow mark near the cages and it was mayhem from the get go! We used mainly homemade softplastics in loud colours and they all caught well. There's no GPS anchor on the workboat so we were drifting. Sometimes, I think that in relatively shallow, extensive marks such as this one it may actually be better than spotlocking in the warm months.

We had a mad couple hours until the guys had enough and it was time to head back. Definitely wouldn't say no to more sessions like this! 

Unfortunately my HTO HOOLIGAN rod broke on a snag and I haven't managed to find a spare tip for it so I'm on the lookout for another cheapo rod now...

A good bend...

Solid group.

Good condition on them.

Among the better ones.

The week after that, I guided 4 lads on a shore session that didn't turn out too bad. We had to fish the 'wrong' part of the tide due to time constraints and the action wasn't as hot as I would've liked, but we got some good fish regardless. At times it felt like the fish were there but just not keen on feeding...

Rugged warrior.

On the edge!

Midges out..

Last week I had another outing with my mate Andrew. We fished from the tinnie and it was another great day. We started by hitting some coalies on the LRF gear as Andrew loves them! Later on we switched to the bigger lures and started getting among the better fish. It wasn't long till Andrew hooked a good one and after a hard fight I netted him a quality fish. Around the 8lb mark and a new pb for him. Soon enough it was time to go and another good session came to an end. There was a clear big lure = big fish pattern on the day.

Boat lrf is great fun.

Dark kelp pollock 

Love them cuckoos 

Solid fish for Andrew 

Big one!

New pb

We've already had a few rough days now and water temperature is slowly dipping, if it calms down a bit into the following weeks I reckon fishing will really fire up!

Tight lines! 

Normal working order resumed!

 Had a cracking guiding session yesterday that shows how quickly things change in the sea. Fished with Angus, a young local angler that stays away from the Island and doesn't get the opportunity to fish that often. 

I was already out for work commitments in the morning and arranged to meet him later in the day. On the way back from work, I  had a quick reconnaissance troll around my usual spots and a couple other points.  Stumbled upon a good stack of fish in a secondary point and then went to pick up Angus.  Headed straight back to the shoal and he was straight into them! 

The conditions were same as last week with a fresh WSW breeze and chop, same size of tides, state and water clarity, but the fish were in a real hunting mode. Its like a switch flipped and they turned into "Autumn" mode! 

I gave Angus my rod rigged with a homemade sandeel softplastic from my Northumbrian supplier ;-) while I was preparing his setup. The fish absolutely loved the lure and were coming in one after the other! I noticed that his setup was using mono line and decided to have a cast to remember the olden times...

Bending time!

Average size.

Brute of a fish!

God, how did we ever manage to catch fish on that! Zero feel and control. Almost impossible to set the hook properly, but I still caught too! At some point I got a good hit and the fish stayed deep... It took some good drag and got me in the kelp twice. It was very hard to control it with the mono but the line held and buffered the headshakes... I joked that it was probably a feisty little fish but brought up a nice lump of a pollock! Kinda cheeky that I caught it on my clients rod but I made sure he caught plenty more fish on mine!

Nice chunk.

After a while, the fish wisened up and we moved to a different spot. Marked a bait- ball and anchored up with the Haswing close to it. Angus was soon in again and these were some better fish... I think he broke his pb a few times and settled on a 7lber for the day.

Eyes on the prize.

By then the sun was going down and it was time to call it a day.  Such a great day's fishing and in good company. It felt like a different place to last week. The fish showed preference for very loud colours like pink, chartreuse and bright orange. The crazy sandeel imitations got most fish and the metals barely got a sniff. More to come soon.

Tight lines 

A "cracking" day...

 Last weekend I guided a keen angler from my old hunting grounds in Lancaster. Tim wanted to taste what Skye has to offer and came up prepared with 2 brand new rods and reel specifically bought for this trip.

We met up on Saturday morning and were gonna fish that day off the sib and Sunday on the rocks. We set off to the first mark and conditions were looking good. He got his new Savage Gear Sgs8 rod paired with the lovely Shimano Vanford and to be honest I was slightly jealous of the setup... we had a few casts before he got snagged to some kelp. Unfortunately after applying some pressure, the rod snapped just above the spigot!! I didn't think that he exerted so much pressure as I proceeded to free up the lure with a slight tug...! Nevertheless, he switched to his heavier rod (SGS5 I think) and got straight into fish!

They're getting more predictable lately and we found them where I'd expect them to be. I suppose nearing Autumn things will get back to normal after this calm Summer.

We proceeded in finding some good fish mainly on softplastics, with the homemade Crazy Sandeel imitations from my Northumbrian friends doing plenty of damage. At some point we had another breakage, as my net hoop finally succumbed after netting hundreds of fish the past few years! A day of cracks for sure...

Lovely brace.

Some nice coalies about.

Good fish in great background

The next day it was time for shore fishing and I picked up Tim on my way to Neist Point.  The tide wouldn't be at my preferred stage for a few more hours but it's best to fish early in the busier marks anyway.  

The current was strong and we used heavy softplastics first and 40-60g metals later on. There were plenty of fish about although not of any great size. Tim got his pb ballan wrasse though on a paddletail.

Lovely ballan.

Average size.

Content! 

It was time to move to my next spot where I was counting on the better fish but Tim had enough of the hiking and was happy to wrap the day up. Skye hikes can be tough!

It was a pleasure to fish with Tim and he's informed me that the perch in the Lankie are doing well! 

I've got no guiding booked till September now so I'll do some solo sessions hopefully for sea trout and mackerel.

Tight lines