Four days of fishing! Part two.

After returning back on home ground, I wanted to pay a visit at Loch Fyne hoping for some big pollock that I didn't find up north... I reached the  mark at midday and it was around high tide. Not the best of tide states for this mark as its usually much better from low onwards.
Undettered I started casting small shads near the point and after a few casts got the first pollock. I thought many more would follow but it didn't happen. I had my favourite mark to myself but the fish weren't responding so I persisted even more, I finally got a solid take and the fish appeared to be decent but unfortunately it got wrapped around a fish farm chain on the way in! I managed a couple more small pollock after that but despite my hardest efforts the fish weren't playing ball. I decided to call it a day and drive back home. On the  way back, I passed Loch Awe and thought it a good idea to have a few casts with the dropshot as there was still light about. The bulrush were dying and the water level was much lower now but the fish were active and hunting. I saw a nice pike attack fry on the surface but only managed two jacks and no perch.. This was intriguing and I think I have to devote a whole day for the freshwater soon as the perch should be shoaling up now...

Been a while!

Little fella.

The next day I wasn't in the mood for driving far and went instead on my bunker-mark in Loch Linnhe. I fished on the medium rock fishing gear using heavy cheburashkas (12g) and offset hooks along with jigheads rigged with Grass Minnows and Lunker City Swimfish shads. I had a very good time catching many codling as they are now tightly shoaled and very aggressive along with a few decent pollock. The codling would typically give a couple false bites before committing and couldn't resist the lure bumping bottom. A nice and comfy session to finish my fishing marathon!

Nice colour variation on the codling.

As in Wick they were tightly shoaled and feeding hard.

Decent pollock

They love Grass Minnows bumped along the bottom.

A perfect hook-set!

On my next day's off I think a freshwater foray is in order before the perch move in the deep and also I'll try to target the codling on the LRF gear for even more fun! Its so surprising that no bigger codling have been found among the little ones.. I guess I'll blame the netting for that..

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Various
Reel: Various
Mainline: Various
Rig: cheburashka, jighead, dropshot
lure: Grass minnows, Lunker city Swimfish, Lunker City Ribsters.

Mix n match.

My days off saw me try a few different marks that I previously noted but for various reasons had not fished there. I targeted  a natural harbour with a steep rock wall in Loch Leven that I thought could produce something. I was planning to fish with my Solpara to maximise the fun.. On my way there though, I stopped near Duror at the mark where I caught the ling before in Loch Linnhe. This place is a mystery to me as it never gives large numbers of fish but there's always a surprise coming from it. And this time was no exception with my first cuckoo wrasse getting caught first cast and only a pollock and a couple poor cod caught after that.. I wasn't complaining though and I made my way to loch Leven. The mark is a kind of tricky to approach but after a bit of scrambling I was on the rock wall. There seemed to be fry moving about and after the first casts I started getting bites and poor cod. I then caught a chunky goldsinny wrasse and a few  codling followed.

My first ever cuckoo wrasse first cast!

The Loch Leven harbour..

Chunky goldsinny..

Codling are everywhere!

I then decided to head down to Loch Etive and fish opposite the Taynuilt pier as the current is strong there and I though this would attract fish. I put on a metal jig and I could see that the tide was just coming in. A few casts around a rocky point and I was in! The coalies started hitting my jig and some of them being quite decent put up a great scrap on the Solpara! I also managed a 2lbs pollock that made things even more interesting.. I was surprised to see small coalies feeding in the surface on flies and I regretted not having a little popper to play around with them.. After the metal jig bite wavered I turned to the microjigs and Ecogear grass minnow to work the bottom. I managed a couple codling and then something better that snagged me up in the kelp.. The plant life has grown dramatically now and I lose fish more often than before, so I think I will revert to braid for my mainline. I concluded the session at my classic spot in the harbour and got another pollock on a 7g HTO shore jig.

Find the current find the coalies...

Super fun on the Solpara

I love metal jigs!

He wanted it!

On Saturday I was on my way to Loch Fyne but I stopped first at loch Awe for some dropshot targeting the perch. The water level was high and I had to wade to my armpits and fish in the bulrush to be successful, I got a couple on the Dekoj 3" swordtail that I really started to favour for the dropshot. I lost two fish in front of me that managed to pass the hook on the bulrush (how do they do that?!) and then got a decent one on the smallest Savagear soft 4play on a jighead.

A nice presentation

If only I had a belly boat!

I wanted to drive to loch Fyne after the perch session but I had an unpleasant surprise when the car broke down and I find myself yet again without a car! I hope I'll manage to get it repaired soon as I'm now starting to turn my attention towards salmon.. I really have to get one before I finish the season!

Tight lines!

Gear used
Rod: Major Craft Solpara SPS-S792M (7'9", 0.5g-5g), Awa shima qlite spin, 2.40, 1-5g
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000, Tica libra SA2500
Mainline: Sunline Siglon fluorocarbon, 3lbs. Sunline FC guide special fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
Rig: metal jigs, microjig, dropshot
lure: Ecogear grass minnow s, Jaxon hexan ice pilker, HTO shore jig, Dekoj swordtail, Nikko-Kasei pin worm.

Weekend action.

The past weekend I had my two days off and I was looking forward in making the most of them trying some different presentations especially targeting perch and trout. Unfortunately the extremely beautiful and sunny weather in Saturday saw me doing a BBQ with my brother and this limited my fishing time! Nonetheless a new colleague from work wanted to go fishing and I thought it would be nice to introduce him to LRF and also possibly get him to catch a fish or two... Thus we set off for Loch Etive at my favourite mark in order to target the pollock. The water was quite low, the sun was high and there was little wind, exactly the opposite conditions for pollock fishing! But still I was positive that we would catch.
I started with a small blade but changed to a Fiiish Black Minnow 70 as I thought the reflections were a bit too much with this sun... My colleague was using a Black minnow 90. From the first casts we started getting bites OTD but the fish weren't committing hard and most of them seemed to be coming from small fish. I caught a couple small pollock, a coalie and a codling but my colleague nothing, although he missed a good fish that bit towards the end of the retrieve but he stalled on the strike and didn't hook it. I thought a move inside the basin to target the smaller fish was in order so that he would get something.. On the first cast from a rock in the new area he got hit OTD and the fish seemed good, after a while I managed to slip the net under a nice codling that had grabbed the Black Minnow while still having a large crab in its throat! My colleague was very happy with this as its the first time he caught a cod and didn't think they can be caught from the shore on lures! After this fish we both caught plenty of little codling before moving to a new area where we caught nothing. We did find some mussels though that we collected and they were excellent for dinner that night..

A couple of this size..

A nice codling on the Black minnow...

Greedy!

Plenty of these...

On Sunday I had one thing in my mind: Perch on dropshot! First though, I tried for the trout on my way to the perch mark. I wanted to target them with small pilkers and soft plastics instead of the usual spoons and spinners, but the fish weren't playing ball with only one caught after several bumps. The water had receded alot and there were loads of insects in the water that may have affected the fish's behaviour.

The only one of the day..

I then went on my perch spot and after a few casts with the Lunker city ribster on dropshot I got a typical bite and after striking, a feisty fish on the end of my line. After a short fight I landed a nice perch of about a pound and felt quite pleased at managing to get the result I wanted. I also managed to get the action on the camera.

Pretty fish..

 I persisted but no more fish came so I decided to do some run and gun down the lake in order to find some new spots. I identified some very fishy locations and I fished fast with my heavier gear and Salmo sliders as I can cover water easily and effectively.  I have great faith in this lure for both pike and perch and in the shallow bays its a killer. I managed another perch from a bay next to a point and got some hits without hook ups from some other areas that I will have to check out better soon...

Hungry!

Fishy...

It started to rain heavily at some point and after being out for most of the day, I decided to call it a day and head home to rest! I didn't get any pike but I'm sure Ill get on them again soon..

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Various
Reel:various
Mainline: various
Rig: dropshot, articulated jighead
lure: Fiiish Black minnow, lunker city ribster, Salmo slider

New travel rod testing..

I have recently purchased a new travel rod since I'm looking to have a complete range of them in preparation for future trips. The rod is the Savage Gear Roadrunner XLNT, 7', 3-16g and as soon as it arrived I was anxious to go and try it. Yesterday I got my opportunity to try it as it was my day off.
I was going to start with the freshwater, throwing some hard baits in the shallow bays for the pike and hopefully perch, and then I would close the session at my pollock mark in Loch Etive before sundown, targeting the pollock with soft plastics.
Reaching Loch Awe and on first inspection the rod seemed nice and light to the hand, being perfectly balanced with the Mitchell Mag Pro Lite 1000, and with a fast action without being too stiff.
 I rigged  a 6cm floating Salmo Slider as the water was quite shallow and I didn't want the lure to dig in the weedy bottom. I was casting in the middle of a weedy bay and retrieving the lure with jerks and twitches on a medium-fast pace trying to work it close to some bulrush. As the lure came closer to the edge of the bulrush, I got the first violent strike and after some vicious head shakes I got my first Scottish perch!

Small but feisty!

Another cast at the same spot lead to another strike and better resistance this time but unfortunately the fish (a bigger perch) threw the hook,, I made a longer cast and after a few turns of the handle with a couple jerks I got a different hard strike and I knew I had a pike in the end of the line. I struck hard lifting the rod as high as i could and the fish was on! It made some spectacular runs and jumped clear of the water 20m away from me (I'm sure these Awe fish are on steroids!) but after a while I got the upper hand and managed to land the fish. It was measured at 74cm and on closer inspection I discovered a long trace going well into the fish's throat.. I didn't try to pull it as I didn't want to cause any additional harm to the fish and let it go. Other than that the pike seemed in good condition so I hope it will be fine..

Bulrush covered bays always hold some fish..

Plenty of these fish around the 75cm mark.

I continued casting and walking towards another bay and then I saw another pike similar to the one I caught but unfortunately this fish was dead.. It had a small hook under its jaw and I'm not sure what happened there.. Possibly bad reviving effort? Anyway after seeing that fish I decided to leave the pike alone and go for the pollock instead.

Such a pity..

Culprit?

I drove to my mark and the sun was going down, the tide was also receding so it was perfect conditions for pollock. I rigged a 3'' Daiwa D'fin shad on a 5g articulated football lead head and started fan casting. It took longer than I was expecting but on a long cast I got a bite OTD and saw the line accelerate, I struck and the fish was on. I could feel it was a decent fish but it didn't start crash diving like a pollock, It felt like it was just cruising with its flanks against me and I thought i might be on to a decent cod or something.. As the fish came closer though, it woke up and made a proper crash dive towards the bottom.. I knew I had a pollock then and after a fantastic fight with a few more runs I managed to land him.

Took him a while to wake up..!

As usual, engulfed!

Another good size pollock and I was quite pleased for an afternoon's fishing, so much so that I decided to call it a day and head home for a beer and a good meal..
I'm quite happy with the rod as it works hard and soft plastics adequately with a good sensitivity on the tip. It also bends well on the fight despite being fast actioned.  I wish they made it a bit longer though but overall I'm very pleased that I bought it and hope it will give me many more fish from my travels to come!
Other than this session I had a previous one covering the same places with the addition of my trout mark a couple days before. I got a couple trout and one surprisingly on a metal jig (lost it on the fight) while yoyo-jigging it with the flow and I feel there's more to come by using this presentation.

They are getting more active..

I then went to the bays with the perch in mind and got my Ul dropshot gear. Instead of catching perch though, I caught a nice pike of 75cm that would not give up and let me land it! But in the end I managed to bring it on the bank. It was caught on a dropshotted Lunker city Ribster on my usual K2K dropshot rig. I am also posting the K2K knot I'm using as it really works best for me.

Sorry for the bad photo but I was using my Action camera and I'm not used to it yet!

K2K knot step 1.

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4.

I finished that session at my polllock mark as well and although I got no big fish I managed a few smaller ones and a codling on a combination of blades and  HTO metal jigs.

Pollock on a HTO metal jig.

Pretty codling on a metal jig.

We are really getting into summer mode lately, with the freshwater especially firing up and hopefully more fish will come. I'm really looking forward to some perch fishing as I really get a kick out of it! Its disheartening though to see fish dying after being mistreated and I think bait anglers especially should be more cautious as the pike can get the bait very deep.
I will probably follow the same pattern on my next days off and try and work on using metal jigs for the trout and some dropshot for perch..

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Gear used

Rod: Savage Gear Roadrunner XLNT, 7', 3-16g
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro Lite 1000
Mainline: Fins windtamer, 10lbs
lure: various