Just back from a week's holiday trip in Greece. It was mostly for visiting family and chilling out, but managed to grab a travel rod as well.
Due to the hot Autumn they are having I was hoping I could re-visit the canals and rivers of my area, that I haven't fished in years. Chub and jacks were my main targets and I used mostly little topwaters and spoons for them.
Unfortunately, as usual, the time was very limited and only managed a quick session or two. The canals in my area are generally overfished (netting) and the fish tend to be very small unless a boat or belly boat is applied to get to areas away from the road. Nevertheless, I had some fun with chublets and jacks both hitting the little lures hard, especially the jacks were going airborne for them!
It was such enjoyable fishing that took me back down memory lane and the fishing I did in my youth... Reckon I'll try and get a trip in early September next year as its the best time of the year for this.
If only I could find small topwaters 16 years ago!
Flying cucumbers!
Engulfed.
Also had a couple casts in the salt.
Usual suspects.
I used my Major Craft Crostage CRX-784LG paired with the Shimano Stradic 1000FC. Lures were mainly Aliexpress cheapos and the chub tended to show preference for more natural colours while the jacks wanted 'loud' ones.
Back to windy Skye now and looking forward to the winter fishing. Weather seems to be improving towards the end of the week and Ill try and make the most of it.
Been on my holidays for a week or so now but due to the rainy weather and the lack of time I didn't manage to get any fishing done. That was until Wednesday though as I was just gagging to cast a line!
It was an overcast day with a constant drizzle and I decided to drive my folks to see the South part of the island. We stoped at a wee pier there and it would be rude not to fish a bit! It was still drizzly so my parents sat in the car while I got the LRF setup and started fishing. I started with the Japanese bream rig hoping to get some wrasse or flatfish but instead found the coalies! They were pretty keen as usual and I soon started getting them in. They were of mixed sizes with tiny ones and half pounders hitting the soft plastics near the bottom mostly.
At some point I made a cast and put the rod down on the pier-wall in order to climb over and just then the rod got dragged towards the sea!! I grabbed it and struck into a better fish! After a fun tussle I had a lovely ballan on the rock wall. A quick pic and sent it back..
I love wrasse!!
They certainly like the chinu rig..
After releasing the wrasse my dad came out of the car (with a bag 😆) and he wanted me to keep some fish for next day's dinner. As it was his birthday and they hadn't tried coalie before we started keeping them. Had a few more coalies on the chinu rig but after a while the bite slowed down and I decided to switch to a metal as I thought that the fish needed something different.. This worked and the coalies kept coming, it was apparent that they were hitting higher up in the water column as well by then.
It was approaching sunset by now and the wind and rain died down thus I put on an Ima Pugachev's cobra 60 and started walking the dog on the surface. Straight away I started getting multiple hits on the lure as the coalies loved it! Got some more of them and its interesting to note that I only got the larger sized coalies OTT...
Soon it was time to go as we had a good number of fish in the bag for a proper fry up and I had exhausted the usual ''one more cast'' excuse! A very enjoyable session even though the weather wasn't that nice...
Below some pics and the videos of the session.
Surface hunters..
No tiddlers OTT...
Its so much fun getting them OTT and to me its a pity this kind of fishing is not more widespread in our waters as it really hikes the entertainment in LRF...
Who needs driving to Lochaline for coalies when you live in Skye! lol
Tight Lines
Gear used
Rod: MajorCraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000Fc
Mainline: Unitika Night Game PE 0.3
Leader: Toray Excellent fluorocarbon 6.8lbs
Lures: Berkley 2" Sandworm on GO-Phish chinu rig, 7g metals, Ima Pugachev's cobra 60
The other day on my day off I had a break in the weather and decided to fish mostly topwaters for pollock! I was intending to wake up at first light but the tide state was unfavourable for the mark intended and thus I got a few more hours sleep and went fishing later...!😀
Now I knew this wasn't ideal time for topwater work but the tide was right and I thought it still worthwhile..
On the first spot I had to wait a bit for the tide to ebb and I witnessed as the gullies were slowly emptying and water trickling out just at the lip of the kelpy ledge. ideal ambush conditions... I clipped on a Dam Effzet stickwalker (a sort of pencil-popper) and made the first cast near the edge of the ledge... I had a fish boil at it straight away and on the second cast a fish went airborne and slapped the lure hard with its head, catapulting it a few meters away!!
This repeated itself a good few times before I finally managed to catch a fish..
Lure rotation was very important as the fish would soon get 'tired' of the same lure passing overhead and would require a change. Nevertheless after a good number of attacks, the surface action died down (usually when fish get pricked by the hooks they wise-up) and it was time to move to a different area.
I then fished with the LRF gear for a while and this saw me catch my first Skye whiting and a couple mackerel along with the usual 'interference' of pollock...
In late afternoon I drove to my last mark for the day where its a shallow bay with access to deeper water nearby and plenty of rocks and kelp. Perfect topwater fishing ground..
From the off it was clear that the fish were spread out in a wide area and were very aggressive towards the lures as they were hitting them constantly! Again though this didn't translate to hooked fish and I speculate that the fish weren't really feeding but just going for reaction bites out of aggression. Some of the hits on the WTD's were brutal! I suspect that in similar conditions early in the morning or around dusk (or even with some cloud cover as it was broad daylight) the hook ups would have been more...
Moreover as the water was slightly choppy at times, the more stable lures seemed to 'stick' better to the fish and the ones with narrower actions. Wide swaying lures would incite a lot of interest but the fish wouldnt stick..! Food for thought..
Of course this is where a good selection of various topwaters will make the difference.
Regarding the type/speed of retrieve, short burts of 'thrashing' the
lure at the surface seemed to drive them wild and also when the lure was
approaching drifting bits of kelp or seaweed etc, it was taken even
static!
I hooked a couple fish and had one cut the line just infront of me (and taking my lure) but just seeing those violent strikes and the pollock going airborne was really enough for me!
A wee whiting...
Towards the end of the session I moved to a sheltered rock-wall that the fish tend to hold very close to and it was there that I had some fish leaping out of the water mere meters away from me! Absolutely heart-racing stuff! And many of these fish weren't the usual couple pounders but actually pretty decent fish..
Soon after I hooked up close in to a decent one on my trusty Ima Salt Skimmer and as I tried to land it on the rocks (left the net in the car 😞) it thrashed and managed to break the leader and take my Skimmer with it!
Gutted but filled with sights of leaping pollock, I decided to call it a day..
Below the video of the day... There were many more strikes during the day but it would be tiring to include them all in this...!
Thanks for reading and Tight Lines!
Gear used.
Rod: APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96 MLX
Reel: Shimano Stradic FK C3000
Mainline: Unitika Shore Game X8 PE 1.2
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 18lbs
Lures: Ima Salt Skimmer. Tacklehouse Vulture, Dam Effzet stickwalker, Duel Silver dog, Lucky Craft Gunfish, Zara saltwater Spook
As per the title the weather has been atrocious the past couple weeks and I only found opportunities to fish here and there, mostly in the more sheltered areas. The fish have obliged but its been difficult to get to the larger pollock as the coalies are in huge numbers and truculent right now! Even the usual up-sizing the lures that used to dissuade them has little effect now!
Nevertheless here's a little video from last week.
Today I had a quick session before the expected gales started and managed a couple average fish (among hordes of coalies) on topwaters of all lures! I kept one fish as I wanted to try out a ceviche recipe for pollock that I thought it might work. Well it did and its now my favourite way to eat them!
A decent fish on the vulture.
Scottish squid with gram flour and pollock ceviche. Tasty!
I was surprised to find the fish very willing to come off the top even though the water was 'lively' and the wind strong. If only this weather calmed down abit...!
Last week I was given a surprise three days off from work and not being able to control myself, got the ticket for Oban and went to get the car from my brother. Although I wasn't gonna fish my usual area but instead chose to drive up to Skye yet again! I blame the weather for this (!) as the unseasonably mild and dry days were absolutely perfect for fishing. The only factor I didn't calculate was the moon phase as it came to play a critical role to my fishing success (as I will describe further down). Moreover I only have videos from my fish and sessions there, again for reasons I will mention...
For this trip I was better prepared with new leader line (16lbs), more metal jigs of 15g-20g, more cheburashkas (15g-20g) and lots more soft plastics along with a few hardbaits that I thought could work so I was looking very optimistic...
So as the winds were from the south, It was yet again a good opportunity to head to the northern marks. Thus I drove in the night at Aird were I slept in the car.
I woke up to a lovely day and headed to the rocks. First order of the day were topwaters!
Unlike last time, I took a few with me including poppers and WTD lures as I was sure I'd have fun with them on Skye.. After seeing some disturbance on the water's surface (definitely from hunting coalies) I made a cast and after a couple more I got a good take and a lively fight. I then landed a very good coalie of 2lbs thus making me think that surface fishing might be a legit way of catching the bigger coalies as well... After fishing some more on the surface and having a laugh with all the smacks and hits along with catching a few more coalies and pollock. It was time for some serious fishing..
I started with the usual cheburashka and paddletail but was surprised to see that the fish were being a bit picky... Last time I had great success on this mark with senkos/stickbaits and of course the
Salty Bait inchiku/stickbait combo, thus I put on a 5" stickbait on a weighted offset that did a much better work. Still, I noticed that the water was receding very fast and it was then that it dawned on me that we are near the full moon and that means big tides. Now this may be advantageous for some species (like bass etc) but I think for pollock and other structure-oriented fish may not be so positive.
In combination with the mild weather and sunshine it felt as if the fish were dispersed and the action was not as hectic as last time. More over the bigger fish didn't show with most fish being in the 2.5lbs-4lbs bracket.
I walked towards the deeper water spot thinking of trying some new inchiku/madai jigs where I caught the ling and cuckoo wrasse before, only to find a completely altered mark. The water was very low now as the tide was ebbing and a torrent was pushing past the rocks. It was impossible to hold bottom but making the most out of the situation I used some normal metal jigs, casting them uptide, letting them touch down and jigging them near the bottom and adjacent to the rocks. I lost a couple jigs doing that but got rewarded with a hard fighting pollock.
I had planned to fish this mark for most of the day but facing these conditions I thought it best to change mark. I headed back to the car and then made my way to the middle peninsula in the area around Waternish that I had great success last time. I reached the shallow kelpy bay and by now the tide was on its way up. I started from the same rocks in the middle of the bay and put on a Salty bait/stickbait combo. After a few casts I got a good take and after a strong fight managed a nice pollock of 2.7kg. Unfortunately I messed up with the action cam buttons and only got the release video...
Thinking this was a good start and that there would be more of them about I made my way for the rocky point overlooking the bay. I was shocked when I realised that the water was too high and I couldn't access the point! This was disappointing as it was near sundown and I knew there would be a host of pollock waiting for me there... Anyway I went back to the rocks i was before and just played around with the surface lures. Again I had so many hits and splashes with only a few fish to show but I got some useful notes afterwards.
After the sun coming down I called it a day and had something to eat. Moreover I formulated a better plan for the next day so as not to be caught out unprepared by the tide state again. I was going to fish the same area in the morning as the tide would recede and then maybe have a quick session on Neist point before the drive home.
So, early next morning I was back on the bay. the water was still high but receding and I decided to play around with various lures until I could access the rocky point. I started with cheburashka and paddletail but other than a couple smaller fish I didn't get anything. I could see birds diving about though and a seal so I knew the fish were there. I changed to the inchiku/stickbait and got a fish first cast. I then lost the lure with another fish (!) and seeing that both takes were quite high in the water column, I decided it was time for the hardbaits...
I put on an Xrap in mackerel but after a few casts, nothing. I switched to a Max rap 15 thinking it would imitate a sandeel and on first cast I got a coalie. Second cast and after a few jerks I get a proper fish on! It fought well and it was clearly a decent fish but it took me to the kelp just a few meters away from me... Not having another Max rap, I used a sinking pencil lure by Taps and after letting it sink I started retrieving it with constant jerks and some pauses. In one of those pauses I got hit and landed an average fish soon after. By now it was time to move to the other spot though but I was glad I tried the hard baits.. I'm pretty sure that in marks such as this and in places like Skye they can be an added weapon when the fish want something different as in this case.
I scrambled the rocks to my spot and since there was still plenty of water I decided to work a 5" Powertail worm on a Texas rig with a #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook, an orange luminous bead and a 7g cone weight. I would work this until the water pulled out and the kelp would be too tangled to get the lure amongst it. This certainly did the trick and I had fish after fish all of a decent size and fighting well. They were all in tip top condition and really fat (like the ones I encountered on the East Coast). The new thicker leader line seemed to be working better as I lost fewer fish from close in. This was to change as the tide ebbed even more and I had to change presentation to cheburashka and metals for longer casts. A true kelp forest, was like a wall in front of me and I lost some fish as they went straight in the kelp-wall and even the 16lbs fluoro along with the 1.5PE braid weren't enough to bring them up. I'm starting to think that the sort of proper shore jigging gear or the setups used for 'punching' in largemouth bass fishing maybe whats needed for these situations but I don't encounter them often enough to warrant such a purchase...!
Below the video of the action.
I fished hard till the bites died down although I could get fish on the metals far out but couldn't bring them up. As I was bringing another fish though and while bending on the side of the rock to thumb it, I didn't realise that the water had gone so low now, so I bend over even more and extended my hand when I felt my boots slipping! I quickly managed to grab hold of some kelp roots just on the side of the rock and was thinking that I managed to avert disaster only to slip again and fall in when I tried to take a step! The water wasn't as cold as I expected and after a couple attempts I was back up on the rocks but I was horrified when I realised that my 'water resistant NOT waterproof smartphone' wasn't working... Thus the phone is dead now and all the pics with it! On closer inc=spection afterwards I realised that the front studs of my boots were worn out...
I made my way back to the car and changed to some dry clothes. Not dissuaded I stuck to the plan and drove to Neist Point for a quick session before it got dark. This time I didn't take the action cam as it was almost out of battery and this was a pity as the session was yet again spectacular. The water was rough and some major waves would crash on the rocks from time to time making for a very scenic background. Taking the water clarity into consideration, I started by using a bright pink 3.25" paddler grub on a 14g cheburashka that had given me good results previously on the same mark. Casting straight out from the rocky point I could feel the lure being dragged with the current so I opted for fishing the inside of a gully. I got a couple sharp bites but no hook ups and thinking it could be a wrasse, I changed lure to a UV green/chartreuse 3" vibro worm and got the fish first cast. It turned out to be a fat kelp pollock and after a few more casts in the gully, only yielding a couple good coalfish, I decided to concentrate at distance again. I changed to a slightly heavier cheburashka (16g) and a silver Paddler Grub. I would let the lure being carried away by the current, only giving it a couple hops on the bottom from time to time until it reached the rocks again. Most times it didn't reach the rocks as it was intercepted by fat pollock staging near the entrance to the gully. These were fish that judging by their length would probably be around 4+lbs but in this case they were more likely 5-6lbs! Around the end I managed a better fish as well that I just couldn't lift its head up from the bottom!
An excellent session and the best way to end yet another visit to this magical place. I honestly think this is the start of an addiction!
A video from the surface fishing.
I will close this post with some further notes on the fishing and conditions I encountered.
Good weather but with big tides around full moon, transformed marks. Fish feeding hard but more dispersed.
Fish somewhat more particular than other times. Possible keying on a particular food source? Simple paddletails didn't cut it all the time, while the inchiku/stickbait was ever reliable!
Good potential with slim jerkbaits at certain marks (shallowish, plenty of kelp) definite slim baitfish pattern.
On surface fishing the Ima Skimmer was by far the most effective lure. Poppers and popper/wtd hybrids much less so. Always best at around sunrise/sundown.
Coalfish are much more efficient surface predators than pollock. The latter would at times jump spectacularly clear out of the water but would miss the lure completely!
All fish were well conditioned and very well fed. May well be the best time (except spring perhaps) for the big fish. Also could possibly be the best time for a large coalfish...
The upgrade to 16lbs leader made a slight difference when fishing at close range and also I had fewer outright cuts on the runs but from the deeper water and generally when the fish tangled right up into the thick kelp they were lost. Moreover it seemed at times that the more stick I gave them the faster they would burrow...
Greenish/silvery slim paddletail lures usually more universally effective.
Takes little wind to roughen up the water at Neist Point but its usually worthwhile fishing there.
In rough conditions, larger, dark paddletails on heavier leads were very effective as well.
Tight Lines!
Gear used.
Rod: MC KG Evolution KGS-902L, 2.7m, 7-23g.
Reel: Abu Garcia Soron STX 40
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 1.5
Leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 16lbs.
Lures: 10g Duel Salty Bait/4.5" stickbait, 12g-16g cheburashka with 3.25"AGM paddler Grub paddletails. 5" stickbaits on 5g weighted offset hooks. Ima skimmer 11cm, Rapala Max rap 15cm.
