It's midsummer already!

I have no idea where the time has gone and we're in the end of July already... I have been very busy with work and other commitments have taken over. Nevertheless, weather has been pretty good and I have made it out a few times, mostly from the boat but also from shore targeting seatrout.

The boat fishing has been as good as usual having fallen into the usual Summer patterns in contrast to the madness of this Spring. Fish can be a bit finicky and gone a bit deeper than usual but with persistence and fishing whilst drifting, plenty of fish will be had. Mackerel are in and as usual, numbers are better over the west side of the island.

Regarding the seatrout, I did encounter good numbers of sewin but lost the one good fish of the day. Definitely gotten rusty after not fishing for trout for so long!

I've had a weekend down Arisaig visiting the in-laws and it was the first time I seriously fished there. I used a wee dingy and once paddling further out in the bay, got some good sized mackerel and a few good pollock. I really should spend more time fishing there especially targeting the sandy areas for flatfish...

Dave is in again!

Lovely evening fish.

Topwater baby!

Plenty of them but where's their mamas?

Summer paddling 

You know it's Summer.

Arisaig got a few pollock too..

On the crab lure meant for wrasse...

Standard size.

I'm really trying to make the most of my evenings after work right now as I know that this good weather will soon go! Hoping to get a couple more seatrout sessions in and hopefully some freshwater ones too.

I'll be heading back to Greece at the end of the month and Im really looking forward to some fishing there. 

Tight lines 

A bit hectic!

The past couple of weeks have been a blur... I've been very busy at work but also with guiding and I got to see some familiar faces. I feel really proud to have so many returning anglers! The fishing has been typical of Mid-summer with fussy fish and short feeding spells. Persistence, frequent spot changes and realistic finesse presentations were key for getting the fish.

Weather has been good for the most part although as we're getting into August, things seem to change. Had the first few mackerel sessions as well, though only at the western part of the Island still. I've yet to find some spare time for freshwater fishing but I'm hoping to change this soon.

I have more guiding to do this week with yet more familiar faces! Hopefully it'll be time for some topwater strikes...

Tight lines! 

They're back!

Had a great day yesterday with the return of the fishing-mad Geordies from last year! The day also saw us catch the first mackerel of the year and I'm so glad they're finally in!
We started the day around 06:30 in a shallow bay hoping for a topwater bite. The lads have been here since the weekend and the weather hadn't been kind to them. Constant Southwesterlies and rain made fishing hard for them but yesterday the wind died down and I was hoping that the fish would be up for it. There seemed to be some bait in the bay keeping very close to the shore and I am not sure if it affected things but despite our efforts, the topwater stuff wasn't happening...
Change of plans and on went the softplasics and metals, and we were soon catching.
The fish were surprisingly deep in the morning and the bites relatively slow. It could be that most fish were concentrated where the bait was but we persisted at our spot and soon enough things got better.
It was only Keith and Mick over this time and they were both hooking into average fish in turns thus keeping me busy with the net. Mick was working mostly metals while Keith had softplastics on and the fish showed an equal preference in the morning. They were both kitted out with new ''finnessy'' rods and that made a difference on the day as the bites were more often gentle taps.
On the day we tried 3 marks and caught fish in all of them. The last mark was a sheltered, deep water  rock-wall and it was there that Mick lost a big fish at our feet (unhooked itself on the rocks!) and soon after Keith got the best fish of the day. We were seeing lots of sandeels around and the Fiiish Crazy Sandeel matched the hatch well!
By that time I had to go but the lads kept fishing and by the time I arrived home, Keith had gone and caught an even better fish!
Below some pics of the day.

Nice pic for Keith

A decent one for Mick.

Keith's in!

Mick's in!

Slab of bronze.

Hello there!

Best fish of the day to Keith!

And an even better one after I left!!

I was elated that the lads managed to get such a great day after the tough few days they had..
August is usually very unsettled here but now that the mackerel are in, its time for some light gear fun!
Great to see and guide the lads again and Skye showed its colours once more. Pity that the fish weren't up for the topwater bite, especially since I've changed trebles to all my lures and needing to test the treble configurations, hopefully will get some settled weather to do that soon...

Tight Lines!

Oh Ireland!

Been a couple days back home from my holidays in Ireland and one thing I have to say is that I will definitely be going there again!
I went with my girlfriend Claire and we spent a week in County Kerry. This was most certainly not a fishing holiday but the travel rods went into the suitcase of course...
I didn't have any serious targets or 'must catch' fish list in mind, though I definitely wanted to get some wrasse and if possible a bass or two. Moreover I'd be taking the LRF gear as well so any of the smaller predators would be very welcome especially with some scad among them!
I had done some homework before the trip and had scores of points on Google maps ready to be sussed out...Most areas were exposed rocky coastlines and beaches with the occasional harbour/pier for the light stuff. I had heard only the best and was fired up to get started!
The weather was ok to begin with and we got a couple decent days but I only fished a bit here and there with the LRF and managed to catch my first Irish fish... Not a scad but a coalie 😆
Little did I know that the weather would turn bad and I'd get few chances to fish the more exposed marks I wanted.

Not a scad!

The first area we stayed in was Valentia Island and from Google Earth and the web I could tell that it would be very suitable for wrasse fishing, plus having some piers/harbours close by would offer ample opportunities to fish the light gear.
This being the open Atlantic, the swell was present at various intensities throughout the week and I only managed one HRF session for wrasse before the swell build up.
What a session it was though!
After a bit of a hike in the wind and rain with Claire we found the path down the rocks and on first look it was pretty rough (but still fishable). Thankfully we found a hollow at the rocks and out of the wind to settle down and fish from.
I was using my Spro Mobile Stick 80MH paired with the Shimano Stradic FK C3000 and the rig of choice being the good old Texas rig with a 20g tungsten bullet weight, glass bead and #1 wide gape offset hook. I would be using 3" Gulp Alive swimming mullets in a simple drag and pause retrieve.
From the first cast the fish showed their presence but instead of wrasse I got some pollock! Definitely not what I was looking for there..! Soon enough though, I started getting the familiar sharp taps of wrasse and after setting the hook a different fight ensued...
It didn't take long to get the first ballan out and there were many more to come!
All of them around the 2lbs mark but fighting hard and in a ravenous mood... Haven't had similar wrasse-fishing since I left the Channel Islands...

Toothy...

Them lips!

On the act!

Decent size...

Cant say no to them!

Big gob!

Conditions were lively...

I love wrasse!

That was my most memorable session of the trip. The next day the swell intensified considerably and
I had to find sheltered areas to fish. This meant more LRF and I had good sessions with mackerel, coalies and smaller ballan and corkwing wrasse but unfortunately no scad!

Dingle harbour breakwater.

Lovely corkwing.

Loads of mackies about.

My LRF setup was a 7'2'' (0.5-7g) Snowbee Kuroshio travel LRF rod paired with my Shimano Stradic 1000fc and using mainly small cheburashkas and metals. I didnt take too many softplastics with me as the space was limited and again I relied mostly on the Gulp.
We spent the last couple days on the Dingle peninsula and in retrospect we could've spent the whole week there as it simply has got it all!
Got pollock from the rocky points, wrasse in the harbour and while I snuck out before breakfast for a few casts, had a feisty bass on the trusty Megabass Zonk Gataride. Unfortunately this was gonna be our last day in Dingle and I didnt get the chance to fish there more... What a place.!

Before breakfast.

It was a great holiday in all and got some useful observations/notes for the next time:

• much cheaper and convenient to get the ferry there in my own car. Too much unnecessary hassle renting one there..
• No need for fancy rigs and many lures. 
• A tubular tip LRF rod might have been more suitable as when I encountered a bass following my tiny softplastics, I couldn't use a topwater or a jerkbait to potentially tease it into striking.
• Just 2 setups would be enough. a 1-10g for light game (but capable of something heavier) and a sort of 10-30g for the bigger stuff. 
• Swell forecast more important than weather forecast...

 I'm working on the videos now and should be up next week sometime!

Tight Lines!