Hail, snow, sun and fish! A guided fishing session in February.

Yesterday I had a guided session arranged with avid angler Iwan. He would be in Skye for a week or so with his girlfriend and wanted to catch some pollock and coalfish as he doesn't get the chance to do much rockfishing where he lives.
I was sceptical about the weather as the forecast has been changing every day and thus decided to just pick a day and stick with it... Well that's what we did and Monday morning saw me driving through several inches of hail on the road fallen the night before 😲! Not the best of omens for the day ahead but I persevered and picked Iwan up around 9 o clock. We headed to Neist point and found a bit of a swell running. The previous days had been windy and the swell had not cleared yet. Nevertheless the wind had died down and it was meant to get more pleasant later on in the day. Moreover we arrived about midway to low tide and thus were less concerned about the swell.
We set up on my favourite spot and started rigging up. From the off I noticed that Iwan was using a shorter and lighter rod than I would've liked thus I took the Light shore jigging setup for me in case we needed some 'grunt'.
I set him up with cheburashka and paddletail on his ML setup, but then switched to a Carolina rig with a 1oz tungsten bullet weight on the LSJ rod as the current was too strong (large tides). The lure was a 3" Long John paddletail in UV Magic colour that I thought would be easier to detect in the milky water.
The place was looking 'alive' despite the swell, with birds moving around and cormorants diving, something which is always a good sign...
Iwan started casting around and working the lure by dragging it on the bottom and keeping contact with it while it was slowly swept by the current. When the lure got closer in I told him to just wind it in slow and steady. The fish then slowly started coming, most of them around 2-3lbs but with a few pushing over 4lbs. Very decent for this time of year...

Hooked up!

First of many..

A very decent fish for this time of year.

After a few pollock, Iwan wanted to try for coalies and we got back to the lighter gear fishing metals with his homemade teaser flies. At that point it started snowing! It was the first time I fished under such heavy snowfall and I must admit was quite an awesome sight! 
He got a few coalfish that I quickly cut the gills to bleed out and then changed presentation to jighead for pollock when the coalies stopped biting. It was interesting to note that almost all the coalies preferred the metal to the teaser, something that reinforces my belief that they feed on larger prey at this time of year..

Coalies in the snow!

Unreal...

We were nearing the low tide mark now and the current had reduced considerably. I picked a pink Fiiish Crazy Sandeel as the water was still milky and he proceeded in catching a good number of fish one after the other! With this combination of big tides and swell, it appeared that the fish were looking to feed as soon as the waters calmed down and that was the most productive period of the day.
The fish seemed shoaled over or near certain patches of reef and kelp and they would hit Iwan's Crazy Sandeel hard! So hard that due to the frail material of this lure, we exhausted all the pink bodies and then went to the old classic and much tougher Savagear Sandeel in lemon back. This lure/colour proved equally successful and the fish kept coming.
The tide soon turned and also a glorious sun had come out (crazy Skye weather!) and the bites dried up after that... I was thinking of going on a different spot before the water rose more but thought it worthwhile changing lure to a more natural colour first. We put on a natural coloured sandeel and this seemed to do the trick by catching a few more pollock that had Iwan's little Solpara bent all the way! The short rod (7.5ft) made landing most of the fish that day a bit tricky and it was definitely not ideal for rock fishing but the fun factor cannot be underestimated! Moreover Iwan's old Pflueger reel's antireverse broke and this made a couple landings even more difficult! Thankfully he had a couple spare reels and continued to fish.

He's in again!

A nice one.

Happy angler.

Then the sun came up...

Well conditioned fish...

And they kept coming...

A change to a natural lure got more fish as the sun came out.

Chunky pollock.

At some point the bites died down, something to be expected from hammering a spot all day long, and seeing that we still had some time I decided on a move to a nearby mark for a few more fish. On reaching the second mark things looked quiet but after fishing around we moved to a spot that I saw some birds diving close by... We kept casting and retrieving our lures but other than a couple bumps and rattles we got nothing...
Seeing that the sun was going down I said to Iwan that we gave it our best...But it was then that he hooked up! After a good fight, I scrambled down the rocks and managed to land a nice fish for him, giving a happy ending to a surprisingly fruitful day (considering the weather!).
It was a pleasure seeing Iwan catch so many fish and I'm glad we managed to find them under these conditions and in this time of year. He might be coming again after the summer for some topwater action in the shallow marks... Will be having a video of the trip up soon.

Tight Lines!

Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g and MajorCraft Solpara Wind 7'7", 1/4-3/4oz
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG and others
Mainline:YGK G-Soul WX8 PE1.2.
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 25lbs and16lbs
Lures: Carolina rigged Long John paddletails, Fiiish Crazy sandeels, Savagear Sandeels.

A time of plenty...

last week I mainly targeted Rubha Hunish and Neist Point. Results were pretty decent although Rubha Hunish didn't offer any larger fish. The bay I was intending to fish had wind blowing into it and I suppose this scattered the fish. I still had a great session and caught a variety of fish. Started with pollock and a beautiful cuckoo wrasse and ended with some decent coalies and mackerel that I kept for dinner... Below some pics and videos of the day.

A bit choppy...

Recaptured..

Even the little ones are fat!

Stunning...

 

The next day I visited Neist Point. I haven't been there for a while now as its just too crowded during the summer months but I was lucky on this occasion to have my preferred spot to myself.
I started with the classic Savagear Sandeel and it proved to be a steady producer for most of the day. Surprisingly metals didn't work very well on that spot (quite possibly fish got educated by overuse)...
After catching some decent pollock I switched to a Texas rig with 20g Tungsten bullet weight, a glass bead and a #1 offset hook. The lure of choice was the 4" Reins Curly Curly and I was intending to catch some wrasse since they have become very active lately. I started with long casts and soon enough managed some beautiful cuckoos from the deep while towards the end I got one nice ballan close in.
After a while I changed spot and it was there that I encountered a relatively usual situation when fishing crystal-clear water. As in the fish were there but they would prefer natural presentations and frequent lure changes. Some interesting observations can be seen on the video.
Below pics and videos as usual.

Such an iconic mark!

Decent fish as usual on Neist...

Yet another recapture...

Wheres the lure?!

A feisty ballan..

Kick Tail doing the damage on a day that 'normal' metals didnt do much...

So fat!

Lol! How is this always happening to my fish?!

 What surprised me the most was that in both days I had a relatively high number of recaptures! On one side this is a positive thing as it means there's good C&R going on but in the other hand it means that I'm fishing for the same fish over and over. Considering the resident nature of pollock this shouldn't be too surprising but still Skye is a big place! I'm now even more convinced that for targeting the really quality specimens I should divert my attention to the hardest to get marks...
Somehow though I believe that there will be an influx of fish in the autumn months as they need to feed hard for winter...
Unfortunately, Ive noticed that this time of year the pollock fight hard and also may swallow the lure a lot. This makes reviving fish problematic (especially from the deeper marks) even when kept out of the water for a short time and the losses may be high. The best solution in my opinion is not to target the same mark often and to stop fishing after a few decent fish.
On both days I also tried the fabled Fiiish Crazy Sandeel (albeit on darting jigheads since I lost the original) as I was hoping they would be more durable than the Black minnow. Alas they were very effective as expected but only lasted a couple decent fish each.. 
Something else to note is the wrasse becoming more aggressive and in places that I would get only a couple of their bites I now get loads! A dedicated wrasse-only session is on the cards soon. But first it will have to wait as I'm going on holidays back home on Monday and already cant wait to visit my old marks and finally get some good weather and sunshine! Will be taking the action camera too so I hope to get some cool footage in salt and freshwater...

Tight Lines!

 Gear used.

Rod: Majorcraft KG Evolution Basic KGS-902L, MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Daiwa Freams 2500,Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: YGK G-Soul WX8 PE1.2, YGK G-Soul X3 PE1.5
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 20lbs and 25lbs
Lures: Various

Who needs hooks?!

Didn't do much fishing on my days off last week. as my brother visited me, but managed to get an hour or two after high tide late on Friday. Fished one of my favourite deeper marks but it was very slow and also there were creels close in not allowing for proper fishing of the area. On the way back I fished the shallows as I knew there would be fish staging at the kelp and points in the ebbing tide...
 I got a good fish first cast on the good old Savage gear sandeel and a few more decent ones followed. I alternated between sp's, hardbaits and metals and got another nice fish on a 20g metal this time that was caught in the manner you see on the photo...

Such a glutton!

No need for the assist hook!

Its the second time I catch a pollock like that! After this fish the rain started again and I headed home.

The best fish of the session..

It seems like we will be getting some good weather this week and I'm planning to make the most of it! Moreover I'm waiting for new video editing software and will start posting some videos again soon...

Tight Lines!

 Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: YGK G-Soul X3 PE1.5
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 20lbs.
Lures: Various (mainly thin profiled)

Isle of Skye September 2015 Expedition. Day 3.

The next day I woke up around 08:00 and got ready to drive north again. I checked the weather and was disappointed to see the southerly winds still strong, as it would possibly mean that I couldn't fish the most iconic of Skye fishing marks, the Neist point. I have been wanting to fish this mark since I first heard about Skye and last time with Scott the weather didn't allow us to fish there. It was looking like my efforts would be thwarted again by the weather but at least I had to visit the mark...
I made a plan B of fishing Milovaig and/or trying at some of the marks north of Waternish at the middle peninsula of northern Skye.
After a relatively long drive I was on the point and I could see that my fears came true as the sea was rough with wide caps on the waves. Nevertheless I walked to the lighthouse to inspect the mark hoping that I would get the chance to fish it before I left. I then drove to Milovaig for a few casts around the pier there. The marks was looking good and there were already a couple anglers there but it didn't seem like they caught anything and after thrashing the place with casts, I got nothing as well. I'm not so sure this was down to the mark that fish weren't caught but more likely because of the time (afternoon) and weather conditions. Of course tide state could be a reason too being almost high tide.

Neist Point with rough seas..

What a place!

Milovaig pier.

After a short lunch in the car I drove to the middle point and stopped at a rocky headland near Trumpan. The mark was looking perfect as it was completely protected from the wind and close to deep water although not a first choice mark had the conditions been better... I decided to take the finesse gear (mistake) as I thought it would be adequate, though this time with the 10lbs leader on it and headed down to some rocks in the middle of two small rocky bays. Again the water wasn't particularly deep, but the kelp was thick and definitely worth a few casts.
I began with  a blue/silver 3" Long John paddletail on a 12g cheburashka. After a few casts, I got the first pollock but then decided to change lure as I was getting some tentative bites and no hook ups. I changed to the good old 10cm Savagear sandeel in natural colour on a 10g jighead. I made a long cast to the area were I was getting the bites and the results were instant! A nice fish got hooked and after a good and 'hairy' fight I managed to slip my thump in its mouth and land it. If I hadn't doubled up the leader line with a loop, I'm convinced I would have lost that fish... Some more pollock followed from that area until I decided to move to the rocks enveloping the bay. After a tricky scramble on the rocks I reached a large boulder covered in bird droppings but being an ideal vantage point for fishing as it was overseeing the entrance to the bay. I lost the sandeel to a snag and I reverted back to the cheburashka and paddletail. I was getting fish but still a lot of finicky bites so I dropped the weight of the cheburashka to 7g and changed the lure to a 4" Reins G-tail Saturn in oxblood colour. Curly/ripple tail worms (jellyworms) are classic pollock lures but the clownish 7"+  monstrosities that most anglers use were never to my liking. These lures are meant for finesse and more subdued presentations thus I always had good results on them in 2"- 4"and natural colours (with some exceptions) and of course retrieved much more slowly and subtly than the usual straight fast wind more commonly used...
The fish did seem to be concentrated in that area but not in a proper hunting mood yet and keeping low between the kelp. Thus I worked the lure near the bottom with a slow retrieve and a few subtle twitches to make it jump upwards. I had fish after fish after fish on that presentation until a good pollock got the lure with him after bending the hook open. I then started using #1 Decoy rock fish EX heavy offset worm 13S and this never happened again. That was my last of the G-tails but I had more curly tail worms with me and I decided to further change my presentation by reverting to the classic Texas rig, something that I haven't used in a long while surprisingly...
Thus I put on a 7g cone lead followed by an orange luminous bead and a #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook with the lure of choice being a no-name 3.5" pink curly tail worm. This did the trick equally well and the fish kept coming... So many that I didn't bother taking many pics and even the action camera died after some point! I also used some stick baits towards the end for a bit of variety as the fish went on a frenzy.. A good days result after a lot of searching around.

A hard fight with the finesse setup...

Average stamp of fish..

Rugged fighters..

This goes to show again that even not so great-looking marks can provide you with excellent sport in Skye, even under adverse conditions. I caught more than 20 fish between 2-6 lbs from a relatively small area and again had a larger number of losses than I would have liked. Definitely a couple pb-feeling fish among the lost ones..
Moreover these results don't mean that fishing any lure will do. The change to a more natural colour from the bright blue/silver brought the first good fish and lessened the tentative bites and then the slower presentation with the curly tail provided only positive takes. Had I persevered with the original lure I'm sure I wouldn't have caught even half as many fish.

The video of the day.

Tight Lines!

Gear used.
Rod:  MC KG Evolution, KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g.
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
Leader: P Line Halo fluorocarbon, 10lbs
Lures: 3"-4" paddletails on cheburashka and jigheads, 3"-4" curly tail worms on cheburashka and Texas rig. Stickbaits on weighted offset hooks.

Trip to Islay and back on track!

This weekend saw me visit the isles of  Islay and Jura for a meet up with some friends and with the intention of doing some hiking and general roam-around the islands. Our base was near loch Gorm in Islay and one day was spend on Jura walking up the Paps there. This was not to be a fishing expedition but of course I took my Savagear roadrunner travel rod just to see what was there and with the intention to plan a future trip if there was any good fishing potential. Most of Islay is rocky with a few shallow bays and even some beautiful sandy beaches. There are some freshwater lochs as well but I was planning to focus on the saltwater this time. I wasn't targeting one species particularly but I was hoping for some wrasse or dare I say bass...
On the first day we visited a bay near our base with a sandy beach and rocks all around it. The ground looked really fishy but after some casts with metal jigs and soft plastics, it became apparent that there weren't many fish about.. I got a bite and a follow from what looked like a small pollock but that was it.. On closer inspection, the rockpools weren't very lively either and there weren't any baitfish to be seen. Both signs that although we re in the end of june, it may still be a bit early for the summer species and shallow areas to fire off.. I didn't give up and decided to target deeper water instead, especially at harbours and rock marks.
Next morning we were to get the ferry from port Askaig to cross the Sound of Islay for Jura. We were a bit early and the harbour was looking  very likely to produce some fish... There was very strong current in the Sound and I was sure that something may be hiding in ambush near the walls and pillars of the pier.. I put on a white savagear lrf psycho sprat (5g) and on the first cast I started to feel some bumps as the lure was sinking on free line, I yo yo jigged it a couple times and I was in! The fish was small but putting up a good scrap and on reaching the surface I could see it was nothing else than a coalie! It was quite plump and I knew they would be in a group so I persisted with jigging. I was catching one after the other and all of a much better stamp than the ones in the mainland, moreover they were prettier fish with more blue/green hues than the more darker/grey coloured ones from the lochs. Superb fun and I regret not taking the lrf travel rod with me, they would have given me mad fights on it! I did get a few reaching the two pound mark that really do pull! I later foul hooked one from the back and I swear I thought it was a 5lbs+ pollock! Surprisingly there weren't many pollock about but I did get one of around 3lbs that unfortunately for him took the lure to the throat and I had to keep it for lunch...

Lost them from the mainland to find them here!

A beautiful fighter.

Unfortunate deep hooking.

Pollock for lunch..

The coalies here looked prettier with a more blue/green colour..

Decent sized..

Port Askaig..

Port Askaig entrance..

beach with rocks

Rock pools weren't as lively as I expected..

Very wrassy but the wrasse weren't there..

This hectic session was cut short as we had to board the ferry and cross to Jura. We then made the hike up the Paps and it was late afternoon before we went to get the ferry back. My friends then went in a pub and I started fishing again at the pier. The fish were there and I started getting plenty of them on the psycho sprat again. I tried a savagear sandeel on a 12g Xorus Basic shad jighead hoping for something bigger to hit. The lure was getting lots of hits but no hook-ups as they were from small fish, after a while a few coalies did manage to get it in their mouth though! This presentation did get some slightly better coalies but not what I was expecting so I reverted back to the psycho sprat. I moved along the harbour getting fish at almost every cast and I managed some larger specimens very close to the walls. It was a very enjoyable session and Im sure that this side of the island might hold some really good pollock and coalies.

Always a good spot near the boats..

Hungry!

A good spot.

Among the bigger ones..

Face of a hunter..

Little pollock from the kelp at the base of the pier.

On the next day we visited some other areas around the island and even went swimming in the beach! the water was freezing but the sun was making it bearable.. I fished for a bit on a natural harbour near a village and caught a few more coalies and pollock but nothing bigger.. There were some seals about so they may have had an impact on the fish..

Beautiful location..

Lean little pollock..

The weather was fantastic..

Excellent lure!

This was to be my last session as we were to leave next morning and moreover Greece was playing on the telly so I watched the match instead. Overall I had a great time and even though I didn't catch any big fish, the sheer numbers of the coalies put a smile in my face and also convinced me that in a more serious trip better results are to be had.. The island looks like it could hold a few bass especially in the shallow areas that will warm up faster and also keep sandeels. I did see a small shoal of them in port Ellen and also mackerel will be coming soon, so I'm sure a trip is well worth planning a bit later.. Ill just close with some more pics...

View from the middle Pap of Jura.

Freshwater loch in Jura.

I got some good news in the end of this trip learning that my friend wanted to sell his car and so I'm now a proud car owner again and back on track. Definitely more fishing to come! I was really going crazy even though its only been two weeks without a car...

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.

Rod: Savage Gear Roadrunner XLNT, 7', 3-16g
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro Lite 1000
Mainline: Fins windtamer, 10lbs, Dragon fluorocarbon 8lbs leader
lure: Savage gear lrf psycho sprat, Savage gear sandeel with Xorus basic shad jighead.