Holidays done.

 Back to Skye a couple days ago from my month long holidays in Greece. This was not strictly speaking a holiday as we went there to do our wedding and baptise the children, hence most of the time was spent with family and preparing everything. 

I only managed 4-5 sessions and most of them in freshwater. I did get a bucket list fish though as we visited Lake Plastira for a few days after the wedding. Its a dam  with rocky bottom and it has good numbers of predatory barbel. In my area in N Greece we don't have this species and I've always wanted to catch one on a lure.

Being midsummer I assumed that they would be close to deeper water and I caught one close to the actual dam. I used a variety of lures and presentations, trying to mimic crustaceans and small fish near the bottom by mainly bottom-bouncing and yo yo jigging but the fish preferred a bronze spoon on a straight retrieve a few meters from the bottom (!). Its always good to be surprised in fishing... Unfortunately i snagged and lost that lure a few casts later and didn't get any other bites. I was hoping that this trip wouldn't turn out to be a grind fishing-wise but the fish had other ideas... I fished a couple other areas with the ISUP and whilst I could see fish jumping (seemed mainly for parasite removal not hunting) they wouldn't hit. The last morning of our stay there, I revisited the dam and fished small metal jigs on a straight retrieve. It took a while but I got another bite and an unreal fight from a better specimen. These fish fight like salmonids! I released the fish and fished another hour or so for no more bites...

Streamlined power.

My first barbel on lure.

A much better specimen!

ISUP on the lake

To be fair I knew from my research that the autumn months are better for these fish and it felt like they were just post-spawn right now. Nevertheless I got another species scratched off the list. I'll definitely plan a dedicated trip for them sometime in the future.

The last few days in Greece saw me have a couple lrf sessions from the ISUP which has become my favourite summer fishing style. One day I had a good number of species and located a group of yellow scad but had to cut the outing short and the next day my efforts were thwarted by an actual storm that justified my purchase of a double paddle for the paddleboard...

ISUP lrf annular bream.

A wee melanouri (saddled bream)

Yellow scad are great fun!

Needless to say we also got covid as well and it seemed like nature was conspiring against me catching fish..! Perseverance pays off though and on my last session on my last day in Greece, I chose to visit my favourite dam close to home. It was raining but meant to clear later on (great conditions for midsummer fw fishing). I had a big fat chub on a fiiish black minnow imitation even before inflating the paddleboard and many more came afterwards along with some wee perch. The best action came near dusk where I experienced the best topwater bite in freshwater ever! The chub would attack anything that touched the water and I lost count of how many fish hit!

Fat chub!

A few of them about..

Topwater chublet.

It was tricky landing them on the ISUP with all the trebles flying about and I'll need to make a cradle or something for holding the fish on... I used cicada- like topwaters, small poppers and walkers. All of them got hit equally though I had better hook ups with double trebled lures.

I can't recommend the ISUP highly enough for summer fishing in calm waters. It has really opened up a ton of fishable ground for me and I'm seriously thinking of customising mine for more serious fishing, ie add seat, transducer mount etc. The low cost, speed of deployment, speed on water and quiet approach make it a perfect fishing platform. I suppose having my inflatable pedal kayak in Greece would be an even better fishing vessel but setting up the kayak and launching can feel a bit of a faff while the ISUP is a doddle. 

I'm really looking forward to some solid fishing here now. Need a few sessions on the mackerel and possibly sea trout but we'll see how it goes. Got some guiding booked and time to get serious soon as Autumn is just around the corner! 

Tight lines!

Autumn is truly here.

We've been getting some proper Autumn weather now with lots of rainfall and the usual wind. Saying that there's been plenty of good days to go out but I've been too busy with work and family commitments. I'm also setting up something to do with Aquaponics for next year but more on that in a later post.

Probably the highlight of my fishing the past couple of weeks, has been a couple nice perch I encountered whilst having a couple casts on my way back from a family day in Inverness. Its in a loch that I know holds some smaller ones along with pike but was pleasantly surprised by a couple fish over 1lb. It was dusk and both fish fell on a small sparkle-chartreuse creature on a chatter-cheburashka. 

Lump!

Chatter-cheburashka all in!

I also had a short boat session in the salt that resulted in some nice pollock. Got some great footage of them hitting the lure underwater and will upload when ready.

Last week, my parents have come over to see us and I managed a short session with my dad on the sib. It was a choppy day but we managed a couple keepers that mum cooked straight after! 

More than a decade since we fished together! 

He's in! 

Good eaters.

Haven't fished with my dad in more than a decade so it was great to see him catch!

More recently, I've been in Inverness again and devoted some time in finding those perch again. I've been given some lovely softplastics from Tom at Kelpie Lures a while back and thought it was a good opportunity to try some of them. 

I decided to fish the bulb tail on a ned rig  as they look great underwater and it's a natural presentation. I fished an area with structure and dome depth that looked very 'perchy'. Didn't do too much in terms of action to the lure, just a few shakes and bumping bottom. Got an abrupt bite and some energetic head shakes straight away.  Felt a bit too lively to be a perch and to my surprise it was a nice brownie!  I had to take a quick pic and put her straight back as the season is over. I kid you not, as soon as I released the fish I turned my head and was greeted by the fishery officer!  I explained that I was targeting perch and  seeing that I released the fish and my gear he was happy to let me fish on... After a few more casts I decided to try another area with a bit more current. I was working my lure with the current and a few meters before the end of the retrieve I got another sharp bite with heavier weight on the strike. I momentarily thought it was a pike but the fight was very different and after some toing and froing,  I managed to land a salmon! Yet again a fish out of season so a quick pic, unhooking and sent her straight back. Decided that this was definitely not a perch spot and hearing some more splashes in the water, stopped fishing. Don't think I've ever considered salmonids as nuisance species before...!

Trout like ned rig too...

As do the salmon!

Great presentation.

It was great to see that the loch has healthy numbers of salmonids and that the lures work on them but I really hoped to have encountered a perch or two! Might try another loch instead. 

Tight lines!

Tropical fishing.

 I've not gone holidays outside the country so far but it seems that the hot weather has come to us.  This, combined with big tides, very clear water and sunny conditions, has unfortunately made fishing quite hard especially in the salt. Its something I call the midsummer blues when every year around this time the fishing slows down.  Typically I had 3 consecutive days guiding from shore and boat! We had to work hard for our fish but we didn't do too bad in the end...

Cracking days...

A happy angler.

That's better.

Wrasse from 20m.

Nick with a dark kelpy.

Got one too.

And then the haar lifted.

It came down to fishing early mornings while the haar was still low and then choose deeper kelpy marks when the sun came out. Especially from the boat it became apparent that the fish moved a bit deeper and were keeping low in the water column.  Also they were more loosely shoaled and fairly spread out. Nevertheless a good number of them came out, fighting hard along with a couple ballan wrasse.

Mackerel and cod from a solo day.

Hadn't caught one in a while 

Have been really spoiled with the weather this summer and I can't complain even though it makes fishing hard work. 

Had a couple solo outings in the freshwater that didn't go too bad. Fished for perch on another hot day, and despite taking a while to find them, they were shoaled up in a weedy bay and in a hunting mode. I didn't use finesse tactics and instead opted for a chatterbait-cheburashka and 2" softplastics. The bites were instant and one after the other. No fish of any size but loads of them! Got a few slaps on a wee topwater as well but no hookups. I really wish I wouldn't have to drive 2 hours plus to fish for them. Also managed a lovely brownie that smashed a mini spoon almost at my feet!  

Perch on chatterbait-cheburashka 

Loads of them. 

A welcome surprise. 

Got busy times ahead with lots more fishing and guiding! Also need some LRF mackerel for the bbq...

Tight lines 

Holiday fishing with an ISUP!

 Been home for a few days now after my holidays back in Greece. Only went for a couple weeks and it was mostly for family time, especially since my folks hadn't seen the baby yet. I wasn't too fussed about serious fishing but I did want to visit the dams for perch and chub and this time I had a secret weapon...! I brought along an inflatable paddle board (ISUP) and was keen on trying to fish off that. 

The main reason behind the SUP purchace was because one of the dams had gotten overgrown with vegetation and it was very difficult to fish from the shore. I hadn't fished there for more than a decade even though it held big perch and chub.

I opted for a beginner ISUP, the Suprfit 10.8. Its fairly straightforward inflating it etc, though I bought a double paddle as it only comes with a single for stand up use. To be honest I just needed a stable platform to fish from and be easy to paddle. I did try to stand but only when I was playing with it on the beach and let's just say sitting or kneeling is much better for me...lol  Blaming my extra holiday weight for the lack of balance!

Anyway, the ISUP proved to be very good for what I wanted it to do though unfortunately things have changed on the dams... The overgrown dam seemed to have been reclaimed by nature! The road there was full of fallen rocks and had young trees growing on the sides. Moreover the place where I used to park was so overgrown I drove past it without recognizing it! Eventually, I found a single access point to the water and managed to get the ISUP in. I started casting a small spoon around and it didn't take long to get a fish on! A very nice chub came up after a spirited tussle. Been a while since I had a chub and I was chuffed with this one. Its another obliging and pure fun fish to catch! I had a few more smaller fish on little cicada topwaters but it was slow fishing  for sure. Near sundown I concentrated my efforts for perch but despite fishing with little shads and drop shot I got no perch bites... Instead, I had another good chub on a little Fiiish black minnow imitation. Surprisingly, this fish was caught deep, where I wouldn't expect to find them. The water temperature was quite high so maybe that was the cause. 

The high water temperature along with the increased vegetation may have been the reasons why I didn't get any perch. In the other dam, I found them where they usually are, near boulders and a drop off into 15m+ water. Therefore I should have searched for deeper water structure. I suppose that's something for next year...

 

 

 

 I could really stay fishing on the lakes for days but unfortunately time was yet again against me. Reckon theres a PB chub and perch hiding in there for sure!I have left he SUP there for next Summer anyway. Im sure it could have applications here in Scotland (with wet/dry suit) but the wind would make things tricky for sure. On small lochs though it could definitely help.

Back in Skye now and will have a couple days targeting perch and pike before I hit the pollock again. Its about time for topwaters!

Tight Lines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pike pb smashed!

Last year I received an invitation from my friend Adam, who I used to work with in Glasgow, to go and fish with him for pike in Loch Lomond.
Adam and two of his friends are all hardcore pike anglers and are starting a serious venture into guided fishing in Loch Lomond. Obviously, I couldn't say no but with the year being as busy as it was, we only managed to do this a few days ago...
Woke up at 5am and set off South. I was in the loch by 09:30 where I met Adam. I was very surprised to see him trailering a lovely 5.5m aluminium boat kitted with a 60hp mariner, trolling motor and serious sounder!  A bit of boat envy from my part for sure...
The weather was meant to be rainy and windy in typical Scottish summer fashion. It didn't stop one bit! Nevertheless, we started hitting drop offs and then shallow weedbeds and there we found most of the fish.
We were both using 20cm Savage Gear 3d Linethru Trout swimbaits, though I had a medium sink one while Adam had a slow sinker. We would locate weed patches on the side scan and then we would retrieve our baits over and around them.
 Adam was in first. A nice pike hit his swimbait hard and after a few runs, she was in the net. A few pics and she was back in the water...

Lets go!

Nice boat...

Adam with the first one of many..

I noticed his lure was in albino colour and thought that might be what triggered the fish to hit (as we were covering a small area). I switched to a similar colour yet still a medium sinker.
A couple casts later and Adam was in again! Another beautiful fish came out from the warm water (20C!). This time we suspected that it was the action/sink rate that the fish preferred and I changed to a perch coloured slow sinker as most of the baitfish in the area seemed to be shoals of perch.
After covering one patch of weed, we would move with the trolling motor another 20m or so and cover another patch. Invariably most hits would come quickly and there were usually a couple fish from each spot.
with the shallow sinker I quickly got a hit a couple casts in and got my first Loch Lomond pike, albeit only a jack. Still, this indicated that we had found the pattern of the day...
We kept covering the weedbeds and every new patch we'd either get a fish, hit or a follow. I tried a couple jerkbaits and glidebaits too and had a fish come unhooked from a 20cm Savagear Bleak Glide Swimmer.
I reverted back to the Linethru and soon after I got a solid hit. I struck hard and felt a heavy fish on the other end! It fought well, making some good runs and refusing to come anywhere near the net, but soon enough, Adam expertly got her in the net. A clear PB without a doubt. She measured 110cm and probably around the 10kg mark conservatively. My previous PB was an almost 1m fish from Loch Awe but this fish dwarfed it!

Such a beast...

...Deserves 3 photos...

I put the big girl back in the water after a few pics and man hugged Adam for helping me catch such a fish.
After this fish, Adam got another one that trashed his swimbait and it was becoming apparent that we were running out of slow sinkers! The fish were in a vicious mood and damaged quite a few lures throughout the day.
By late afternoon it was time to go and pick up Adam's friend Robert and together we would hit a few different spots and also do some perch fishing!
We tried a very weedy bay and there were shoals of perch pushing bait on the surface! I caught a few on the dropshot but after seeing Adam catch yet another pike, I put on a 17cm 4d linethru Perch and started covering the area. Its action is faster than the trout's in the same speed while still slow sinking.
I didn't get any hits on straight retrieve so I let it sink momentarily, it got caught in some weed  and then I ripped/popped the rod to get it free. As soon as I turned the handle, I got hit!
It wasn't a massive fish around 90cm but this attacking behaviour really reminded me of largemouth bass and pollock, hitting a lure after it causes disturbance getting out of a snag.
We then moved to hit some docks and more weedy bays as the sun was setting. We covered an area where the water was boiling with perch and I put down the pike gear... Catching a new pb was enough for me and I only needed perch!
I put on a 3" sluggo on a dropshot rig, aiming for bigger perch and started covering the area. Got a couple knocks from smaller fish and then I noticed that Adam hooked up to a pike again. I lift the rod tip and felt solid weight on my line too! It was clearly a pike and the little dropshot rod was bent all the way! I had the fish on for about five minutes and was even thinking that I might be able to land it but then the line parted... It would have been cool to have double strike fish but we cant win them all!
I persevered with the light gear and the perch went on a rampage as it was getting dark! Fish after fish on a variety of lures. Dropshot, jigs, cranks, minnows (and one almost on topwater!) they all worked. They were only small perch but it was great fun seeing them hunt so aggressively.

There he goes again!

Good times!

Perch frenzy!

Stunning fish!

How I've missed those...

Hungry...

Perch night fishing.

We fished well into the night and then it was time to drop off Robert and head for our tent on a wee island!
I decided to have a little dip in the water just before bed as it was surreal having such warm water while the cold rain was coming down. Adam was well provisioned with everything and after we had some food, got straight into bed.

View from the tent..

That's the way to start the day!

We started the next day at 6am. A bit less rain and even the sun came out at some point.
We hit the same weedy area that we started yesterday, but other than a couple hits and another ruined slow sink Linethru Trout (!) we decided to move.
Tried a very weedy bay with some reeds and lillypads and I got hit first cast! the fish didn't stick but Adam got another straight after. After releasing his fish, I cast my 4d Perch and got smashed on the retrieve by a heavy one! This fish fought even harder than yesterday's Pb with strong drag screaming runs and only after it went all round the boat, was it ready to get in the net.
A very fine 104cm lady was photographed and swiftly released.

Lovely marked.

A hard fighter.

I was a very happy man and felt like job done to me. we fished a bit more but as I couldnt see anyway I could top these couple days, I asked Adam to get me back. I had a long drive and an even longer lure shopping list to order! 😁😁
What an amazing 2 days that was and I have to say that the past couple trips have reignited my passion for freshwater fishing! Now I just need to get some perch and pike on topwaters!
I wish all the best to Adam and the lads in this new venture and Im sure they'll do well. Anyone wanting to get some action on Loch Lomond I can recommend Adam as a great guide. For any enquiries please email: fishingscotland.trips@gmail.com

Tight Lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Sportex Black Pearl travel, 2.7m, 80g
Reel: Shimano Biomaster SW 4000XG
Mainline: PE1.5
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 25lbs - 30lbs and metal trace.
Lures: 20cm Savagear 3d Linethru Trout and 17cm 4d Linethru Perch in slow sink.