A long hike for the big ones...

About this time every year, I tend to get to marks that are harder to reach as Skye is packed with tourists and I prefer to avoid the crowds. Moreover the fishing can be tremendous as well!
Thus on Thursday I took a long hike to my favourite southern mark and started fishing about midday.
The tide had just started to ebb and it was sunny though with a brisk southerly wind and a bit of a swell.
I started casting my usual sps and metals but was getting only tiny pollock that seemed to be shoaled up. Surprisingly for this mark, the coalies weren't about either along with the mackerel that have yet to show up...
Took me about half an hour till I got the first proper bite on a 6" Sluggo on a 20g darting jighead. This mark doesn't produce lots of fish, but what it offers is usually big! The first fish turned out to be the smallest of the lot at 66cm...
They were keeping to a relatively tight spot and casts a few metres either side wouldn't get hit. I clipped on a couple slow jigs too (as the wind was getting stronger) and in all, I had about 50-50 of the fish caught on the metals and softs.
Unfortunately, even though I was using my trusty LSJ setup, I had a brute of a fish take lots of drag and actually manage to open the snap (Owner P-24 Lead snap #1!). Nevertheless, a few more big ones made me feel better after that...

In good condition though a tad thin..

All solid fish here!

A nice kelpie...

 Here's a video of a couple fish only as the battery run out...

A great day in the sun and I honestly cant believe how good the weather has been so far.
Even though I do love this mark, I'm planning to get a RIB in a few months just so I can reach marks like this more easily! Growing old..lol
Had a morning's searching session today, trying to find some mackerel as I've had reports of a few of them getting caught but alas I didn't manage to find any.. Hopefully, it won't be long now for them...

 Tight Lines

Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: Duel X wire X8 PE1.5
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs and 25lbs
Lures: 30- 40g slow jigs, various soft plastics











 

Back on the rocks!

Been having some serious winds up here and also snow, but this hasn't stopped me from making a couple outings.. Especially considering that now might be the best time for prespawn fish that are heavy carrying eggs.
My first session last week was only a short one but very well timed. Got a break in the wind and coupled with the small tide and slowing swell, I hit fish straight away!
Noticed lots of bird activity and started with a pearl Super Xlayer but after that becoming a magnet for piles of plump coalfish I decided to switch to a chartreuse (milky water from swells) Delalande Fire Eel (13cm, 20g) that brought bites from better pollock.

They love white (and large!) lures...

Very well conditioned pollock.

Throughout the session I was pestered by a persistent seal that attacked my coalies and after hooking up to something heavy, felt it it running so hard that I was convinced it was the seal again... Instead, I saw a nice pollock coming up and quickly put her in the net.
A nice fish of near 70cm and the best prize for such late winter outings...

Bruiser!

A video of the day.

The next session took place yesterday, the tide state wasn't ideal and the wind was intensifying by the minute. Moreover the bird activity was reduced comparing to last week but nevertheless I put on a 40g slow jig and started casting out. I noticed that I was getting hits near bottom but at different areas and from smaller fish. something that shows the fish weren't concentrated in one area.
Started landing a steady stream of coalies and small pollock with the metal but it was harder to find the larger fish with it.

Beautiful and aggressive..

It appeared that the pollock were hard on the bottom and required slower tactics. Thus I used Xlayers and Sluggos on 20-30g wobbling and darting jigheads. The better fish started to show (again from a large area) but that damn seal didn't leave me one single fish to land! Utterly frustrating..
Another presentation that seemed to get better fish was  a long heavy dropshot with a 28g sinker and #4 Offset. I would rig curly tail lures and my intent wasn't in working them static as a normal DS but actually dragging them slowly over the bottom. As I was very high over the water, it would mean that the lure was maintaining a more or less even swimming path near the bottom. Slight accelerations and pauses would usually get the bites.

Long DS on heavy lead with a Gulp Nereis.

Again though the seal thwarted all my efforts to land a fish and I decided to give up instead of keep feeding her!
Hoping to get some settled conditions again soon and that seal to bugger off... lol

 Gear used.
Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG
Mainline: Duel X wire X8 PE1.5
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs and 25lbs
Lures: Delalande Fire Eel (13cm, 20g)

Mixed bags in the last Skye sessions for 2017!

Well its that time of the year again and Ive only got another week before going back to Greece for holidays...
Ive been out twice and had some surprising results especially for this time of year!
On Monday there were brisk Southwesterlies pushing through that significantly raised the temperatures and despite the choppy sea, I found the fish very active.
I used a variety of lures and techniques that included baited bucktails, soft jerkbaits on darting jigheads, paddletails on cheburashka, slow jigs and even topwaters! It was just as I brought my softplastics up that I saw fish following and hitting them at the surface that lead me to take out a surface lure (I keep one in my bag no matter what the season) and start casting it around. I had a couple of hits from pollock close in but the coalies were on a roll and kept smashing the little Yokozuna 105 FCM! Too bad I had the LSJ setup with me as they were in excellent condition (eating all those sprats lately)!
The metals, softplastics and baited bucktails didn't produce any monsters that day but the variety was nice with pollock, wrasse, coalies and my first codling from Neist Point that hit a 40g Slow jig at distance!

Hopefully they'll make a comeback...

The Northern angler's delight!

They wanted that lure!

The videos of the session.

Today the weather was much calmer and appearing ideal but the big tides and no wind definitely affected the fish. Moreover I saw lots of birds on Monday (including gannets and seagulls) while this time only a few cormorants were working the area. This clearly shows that the baitfish shoals weren't close in and that explains the complete lack of coalies today... Such small differences in weather and conditions mean everything at this time of year.
Nevertheless I had some steady action of pollock and wrasse (again no monsters) that showed a preference for slow/dragging presentations (Texas and cheburashka) and even the pollock seemed to be keeping hard to the bottom. As it happens I did bring the LRF setup with me this time but I only raised one little pollock to my mini topwater lure... eh well we cant have it all!

Always welcome!

Anyway I think that this is it for my UK fishing for this year and cant wait to target some of the Med's species back home. Hopefully the barracudas will be forthcoming this year!

Tight lines and Merry Christmas to all!

Feels a bit more like summer now...

The past week the weather has been pretty good although with variable winds and it finally feels a bit more like it should for the end of July!
Had a late afternoon guiding session on Friday that didn't produce the expected results for various reasons though the brisk easterlies and hungry seals played a major part to that. Thankfully everyone caught and it was also the first session that healthy numbers of mackerel showed up!

Dougie with a nice one.

Jamie with a fish caught on metal.

Adam with another one.

Fished till the sun went down...

The next day I thought to make a dedicated mackerel trip for a nice dinner and headed to my most prolific mackerel-spot. It was almost high tide and as I was squatting to tie my lure I heard some loud plopping noises.. I then realised that the plopping sound were coming from diving gannets and indeed there was a number of them working quite a large area of the bay and diving for what I presume were mackerel as I started getting them from the first cast!
It wasn't as intense as say in a blitz but they kept at it for over an hour, something that indicates large numbers of mackerel there.
I was fishing 20g slow jigs with a teaser in the form of a long shank #8 hook baited with a 2" Gulp sandworm hoping to pick up anything. This rig had no chance of hitting bottom and the double headers were coming in thick and fast!
Closer in I'd pick up pollock and also the first wee ballan of the year! I saw it chase the metal and after a little waggling of the sandworm in its face it took it!

On the teaser.

On the jig...

Hello there..

A lamprey mark?

Didn't manage any more wrasse though, something that I find peculiar.. Even more peculiar was when ending the session and gutting the mackerel, I tossed the guts and heads in the sea but there was absolutely nothing bar a few tiny coalies coming for the scraps! I have done this in the past in different locations and its always a pleasure watching the multitudes of smaller fish (wrasse mainly but also gobies, blennies and little congers) congregating and fighting over the scraps but nothing happened this time....
Anyway, hoping to do some LRF over the coming week and possibly try and find a few ballans.. Moreover there are couple spots I need to be checking out and will also try and get some footage of my Apia and new Gamakatsu travel rod in action...

Tight lines

The last Skye fish for 2016!

The past couple weeks I have managed to do two outings in order to close my 2016 account up here in Skye. I would've liked to have been on the rocks much more often as the weather has been very mild and settled for the most part, but being very busy at work, didn't get the chance. Nevertheless both sessions were on fire with lots of decent fish coming out and I have to say that I feel 'full' of fishing bliss! lol I'm now going back home and I hope to be making some reports on my fishing there...
On both sessions The fish were very active and the general weather patterns were the same. That is around 10C temperatures with brisk westerlies. On the second session the winds were a bit more than brisk with a moderate swell! This didn't slow down the fishing though... I used the heavy gear on the first day and the ML/HRF setup on the second one. I had lots of fish in the 3lbs-5lbs bracket with a couple more than that and also a few cutoffs even on the heavy gear! Moreover the coalies are now in their best size with a proper fatty caught the other day on a 5" paddletail and 3/0 jighead. 😲
I also got a surprise in the form of a beautiful male cuckoo wrasse in the last session.

A good stamp of fish...

Metals were very productive on the calm day...

Heavy Texas does the job...

A solid fish!

Of course the SaltyBait always produces..

Such beauty..

As I mentioned, the second day conditions were far rougher and this affected the fish lure preference but not their feeding activity. While I caught plenty of fish on metals on the calmer conditions of the first day, it was a different story in the swell... I had far more consistent results then with 'flashy' colours and loud presentations i.e chartreuse paddletails on cheburashka, pearl-white sp's on Vassalo Swimming jigs and Carolina rig with red floater before the hook. It was also very noticeable that the use of the lighter gear didn't inhibit me but instead helped with fishing lighter weights and picking up bites better despite the swell and current. The finer lines really cut through the water...

Chartreuse was the colour of the second day..

Loud presentations in the swell...

A fatty!

Recaptured fish!

On the 2nd day metals were preferred by the smaller ones.

Nice one!

A lovely surprise.

The place of dreams...

Goodbye.. for 2016...

Another interesting occurrence on the second day, was when the sun came out and soon enough the bites from larger fish slowed down.. I then switched to small slow jigs and reverted into catching fish albeit the smaller ones and also coalies. As soon as the sun got behind the clouds and became darker, the bigger fish started feeding again and the softplastics again picked the best ones out.
Below the action filled videos!

These two days were all I needed before leaving and I'm now looking forward to some good fishing back home! I'm hoping to get some bass and barracuda from the salt and chub and pike from the freshwater... Lets see!

Tight Lines and Merry Christmas!

Gear used.

Rod: MajorCraft Solpara SPS-1002LSJ, 3.05m. max 50g and MajorCraft KGEvolution Basic KGS-902L.
Reel: Shimano SW Biomaster 4000XG and Shimano Stradic Ci4 2500f
Mainline:YGK G-Soul WX8 PE1.2and  Duel Hardcore x4 PE0.8
Leader: Duel Hardcore Powerleader fluorocarbon 25lbs, 16lbs and12lbs
Lures: 20g -30g metals, 16g-20g cheburashka with various paddletails on  #1 offset ewg hook, Carolina rig with 20g -30g tungsten bullet-8mm glass bead-swivel-25cm line-#1/0 offset ewg hook and various softbaits.

The isle of Skye fishing experience!

Yesterday I met up with my friends Scott and Lee for a full day's fishing. We arranged to meet around 10:00 in a South-facing mark and take it from there. The weather forecast was surprisingly good although there was some indication of brisk South-Easterly winds. The mark we picked doesn't hold masses of fish but it usually provides a few quality-pollock.
On arrival the winds felt a bit more brisk than the forecast and after meeting with the guys we proceeded to the rocky promontory... They informed me that they actually had a few casts at a nearby pier and had caught launce, flounder and plaice! Now that warrants some attention...
We reached the mark just before high tide and we could see that there was a considerable swell that cut off access to the best spot. Nonetheless we started fishing but after a couple hours we had nothing to show for our efforts.. I had three half-hearted takes from better fish that didn't develop and Lee got busted by a good fish. In all, I thought we were wasting our time as we could've had a dozen fish in the Northern marks... Thus I suggested we hit the road and go to Neist Point as we would still get a good few hours fishing there before nightfall.

The famous lighthouse.

After some driving we finally reached Neist and I then realised that the Southerlies had affected this mark as well... We headed for the most exposed part but after losing a fish and getting soaked by the waves, we decided to move to the more protected side. The current was very strong there as usual, but it was nearing low tide and would slow down. I soon got a fish on but it got unhooked, then Lee was in but once again the Scottish pollock played dirty on him and got free of the lure! Things were very quiet and I suggested we move further back to an even more protected spot where I thought our best chances of success were. By then the sun was going down and on the last spot conditions looked very promising. The water was much calmer and straight away I opted for a 6" Hogy on a Crazyg wave deep offset jighead. The lads were fishing mainly metals with Lee utilising slow jigs in particular... I soon got into fish but had two failed hookups (the design of the jighead must have something to do with this) but I kept getting bites while retrieving and was soon into a better fish! It fought hard and took plenty of line but after a while I had him up for a photo. A nice fish of 7.4lbs that went back shortly after the pic.

The lads on the rocks...

A nice fish...

I then realised that Scott was in as well and soon enough he had another good pollock up! We realised that the fish were fairly localised and also were hunting in groups.

Scott is in...

A nice one!

The only one who didn't get a fish by this point was Lee! And he was starting to get frustrated after the consecutive losses during the day.. Soon enough though he was into a fish as well (by that time we had multiple hook-ups) that fought hard. He got the upper hand after a while and we were expecting a nice pollock only to see a dark shape coming up from the depths.. At first I thought it was a cod but then Scott shouted 'LING'!! We were all speechless at that moment and full of excitement! Scott proceeded into securing the fish and got it on the rocks. It was then high-fives and congratulations all around! The fish was weighed in at 7.8lbs! A magnificent fish made even more special by being caught on a lure (slow jig)! Needless to say the Lee was over the moon with this capture and who wouldn't be! This is practically a fish of a lifetime for the shore based lure angler...

Fishing side by side...

Double hook-up!

Another nice pollock for Scott.

What a fish!

We kept fishing after that but the action seemed to subside after a while. We were still getting fish but most of them of a smaller size and they were more spread-out than before. Not that anybody really cared by that point... We all caught some good fish after working hard for them all day and in adverse weather conditions. The ling was obviously the cherry on the cake and really showed off the fishing potential of Skye!
As the sun set, we made the long hike up to the cars and then drove to Portree for a much needed meal and a few celebratory drinks. It was a real pleasure fishing with the lads and I hope we can arrange another trip sometime in the near future...

Tight Lines!

Isle of Skye September 2015 Expedition. Day 2.

I woke up early next morning to be greeted by a fantastic view. The sun hadn't risen yet but everything looked perfect for a good start to the days fishing. I headed off on foot towards a peninsula that I saw on Google earth just a short walk away from the bay I was fishing the day before. The peninsula was more or less rectangular in shape and jutting out towards the northeast. I started fishing on the eastern point as it was overlooking a secondary bay adjacent to the one from yesterday. Although there was little wind, the sea was a bit rough and in these conditions I prefer fishing in sheltered spots as I believe pollock favour them then.

I could see baitfish on the bayside area of the point and I knew the pollock wont be far.

I started with metals and the pollock were on them form the start! The average stamp of these fish was around 3lbs but there were bucket loads of them and they fought hard and dirty.. The depth here was not great, maybe 6-7m at the end of the cast but the bottom was covered with kelp. I lost a few of my conventional metals and decided a Salty Bait/senko combo would be more suitable for this situation, as its relatively weedless, rises fast on the retrieve and offers a larger profile so that it could sort the bigger fish out.

And that it did getting a few good fish before something much larger got it and cut me off! This was going to happen again after I tied a 5" stickbait on a weighted 5g offset hook. The biggest mistake of this trip was not taking a thicker diameter leader fluorocarbon. Most of the marks here are very different to the layout of my marks in the sea-lochs and there's little room for true finesse and light game.. Although the 10lbs fluoro leader was adequate for the majority of fish, there were more instances that I would have liked were a thicker (just slightly say 12-15lbs) line would make things easier and decrease my losses.

From that point onward I tried to double up some length of my leader by making a loop and this did help a lot.

A perfect start to the day.

Magical...

Slow jigs were very successful but I lost most of them..

Salty Bait/senko combo..

Pollock love stick baits.

After loosing the two fish and also my only 5" senko as well as one of my two 10g Salty Baits (ouch!) I decided to move towards the northwestern point as it seemed deeper and also relatively protected by a small island. I picked the most forward looking rock to stand on and put on a 3" Crazy-Fish Vibro Worm (UV and scented) mounted on a #2 offset hook with a 16g cheburashka. I made a long cast and was surprised at the depth of the mark as it took more than 40 seconds to reach bottom. Moreover the current was strong and I could feel my lure moving very slowly. This seemed more familiar...

I started getting short 'snappy' bites and I was certain of the culprit. Cuckoo wrasse..

I sped up the lure as I didn't want to hook them in such deep water and was aiming for something better. As the lure reached closer I started a steady retrieve to bring it higher in the water column. This saw a fish attack and drag started singing! This felt like a very good fish and took line at will, but as I was fighting from an almost vertical angle, the fight was much easier to control and after a few more runs I got the fish up. I took a pic and quickly threw it back. I then got another decent fish but lost it at the base of the rocks I was standing, as I couldn't dislodge it from the kelp.

Having had enough of the pollock I drew my attention to the bottom species and started targeting the cuckoos. I would bring them in very slowly so they wouldn't puff up so easily. I caught a good number of females along with a lovely male over a pound. Such a beautiful fish!

In amongst the cuckoos I got a different take and a more solid 'cod-like' fight and was delighted to bring up a ling! My first for 2015. Always a joy catching these.

Apart from the cheburashka I also used my 30g Salty Bait tipped with a Gulp sandeel and this made the cuckoos even more willing to bite. of course I couldn't avoid the pollock altogether and some more were caught in surprisingly deep water. This caused problems with their revival and one fish wouldn't make it so I kept it.

A hard fighter.

Such a fun fish to catch..

Very aggressive.

These teeth!

A predator from the deep.

Cant escape them on Skye!

Vibrant colours worked well in the deep water.

I decided to head back to the car for a snack and also to scout another likely looking area for closing the day. After a bit of driving I reached Duntulum  where the area looks good with cliffs and kelpy bays. I took my medium gear and fished some rocks and around boulders for wrasse but I only got a couple finicky plucks before switching to metals. A few average pollock and some nice coalies later and I decided to head off as I was going to spend the night in a hostel at Broadford and I had a good hours drive ahead of me. I would have preferred somewhere much closer but I didn't realise that Skye is still busy with tourists this time of year and almost everywhere was fully booked or very expensive!

On the way back I stopped at Portree and had my fish battered and fried at the chippy there. It was a great ending to a good days fishing as its hard beat fresh fish and chips. I also attracted some more customers to the chippy after they thought that the fish comes in that size.. lol

The shoreline near Duntulum.

A nice coalie.

Supper!

Below some videos.





 



 Tight lines.

Gear used.
Rods: MC KG Evolution, KGS-902L, 2.7m, 7-23g. MC KG Evolution, KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g.
Reels: Abu Garcia Soron STX 40. Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainlines: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 1.5. Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
Leaders: P line Halo fluorocarbon 10lbs. YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 8lbs

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