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 

My first Scottish bass!

 Had a lovely break down Dumfries way with the family last week. Obviously, it would be rude not to try and wet a line in the salt and freshwater down there and it was the perfect opportunity for me to get my first Scottish bass. I had an Invitation from my mate Colin last year but with covid and other commitments (plus the 7h drive) I never got round to it.

Througout our stay the weather had been very warm and I had a day on Loch ken in the kayak. It was some hard fishing as the water levels were low and I lost the morning by the time I managed to sort out the fishing permit and launch. Why cant we have online permits everywhere in this day and age...! Anyway, I only fished till mid afternoon and I was baked by the end of the session with barely a fish to show for my efforts. A feisty jack and a couple perch but at least I enjoyed the pedaling. Lovely Loch but super busy and I think itd be better in Autumn.

The next day, I met Colin on a bouldery beach at mid-morning to go after some bass. I used my APIA Foojin'R Best Bower 96MLX paired with Shimano Stradic FL 3000XHG and mainly casting Savagear Seekers as we reasoned the fish would be keeping further out in such a sunny day. There was a good face-on breeze blowing though, something I find positive when bass fishing on beaches. Colin indicated the spot we'd be casting from and within a few casts I got a good strike and fish on. It was only a schoolie but I was very happy to finally tick it off the list. 

We had about half a dozen fish each in a couple hours, mainly schoolies with some keepers too. They were stubbornly holding far out and with the chop and high sun wouldnt hit topwaters. Thus, seekers and similar lures were the best option. We each had a couple falls in the water as its been a while since I've waded a beach and wasn't wearing studded boots. To my surprize, the water temperature was very pleasant and in retrospect I should just have worn some shorts!

My first in Scotland!

Beautiful!

Perch from loch Ken.

Theres definitely good potential for better fish down there but unfortunately, we live so far away that it can only be a once a year treat. Back in Skye now and the weather seems to be holding up. Planning some fishing very soon...

 

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Firing up nicely!

 With the settled weather of late the water is now over 10C and the action is picking up fast! I have been fairly busy with guiding the past couple of weeks and the results have been very satisfying. Moreover I havent needed to travel far as Staffin Bay has been the most productive area and right at my doorstep...

Most fish have fallen to natural coloured soft plastics and a couple have opted for the topwater as well!

Bandage!

Nice coalie.

Chunk...

More of this please! 

It's great seeing old and new faces coming over and I'm hoping this hot action continues, hopefully with some Summer species added to the mix.

Had another outing for Seatrout on the kayak but the area seemed devoid of them. Not sure if the green waters from the bloom played some part to this. I could see lots of sandeel but nothing preying on them...

Also a quick freshwater session in less than favorable conditions saw me catching a couple trout. I've yet to find the time for a proper fw kayak session but I'm sure I'll get round to it soon.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I got a new fishfinder but also a new transducer from Aliexpress for my old unit. It turns out that the cheapo transducer works fine and I just need to devise a better mount for it on the kayak.

Anyway plenty more fishing to be done!

Tight lines 

Some tough guiding to start the season.

 Over the weekend I guided for a second time (after many postponed trips due to various reasons) my friend Zubair and his brother along with 2 friends of theirs that haven't fished in Skye before.

The weather didn't allow for a boat outing thus we fished from the rocks. Unfortunately the boys were a bit late and we lost valuable time from the ebb in the morning. I got cut off by something with sharp teeth and Zubair dropped something big that stayed close to the bottom. Possibly spurdogs. 

After that the action slowed down and we had to move to a couple different spots. The bites were few and far between and mostly coming from deeper spots. Typically, the newbies both caught while the "veterans" didn't!  Took another move to get them to catch as well. 

Overall the fish were fussy and apart from the early morning losses, no lunkers showed up. Moreover, we caught  a couple males that were still exuding milk showing that they haven't spawned out fully. I'd usually expect fishing like this in March or April but not May... 

With the colder weather this year i suppose that everything's been pushed back a bit. Water temperatures are over 9C now so hopefully things will pick up quickly. 

I've been doing more wee lochan fishing lately as it gets me some exercise and those brownies are always fun. I got an UL telescopic rod for these smaller waters and every little fish feels like a monster.  Still a bit slow on the seatrout front. 

Only had one short boat session since my last post without having much to show for it. Was more exploratory as I had a few areas marked that I wanted to check out but just then my fishfinder's transducer stopped working and put me all wrong for the day. Had a few average fish here and there and played around with the boat before calling it a day. I've since bought a Garmin striker 4 Vivid with downvu imaging and also ordered a cheap transducer from Aliexpress for the old Garmin. If that works, I'll use the Vivid on the boat and the old one in the kayak...

Who needs hooks when they hit like that!

A cast from the pier after I put the boat away...

Looks good.

It seems that we'll be getting some warmer weather soon and there'll be an end to these Northerlies at last! Raring to get the boat out and do some serious fishing!

Tight lines 

Slowly edging towards Spring.

 The weather has given us glimpses of Spring the past couple of weeks and I've had a few outings in salt and freshwater. Had a few nice fish on a short SIB session after work and got some nice underwater footage that I've yet to edit!  The pollock were up for larger and more natural baits than the reaction lures I tend to use this time of year and there seemed to be a mix of prespawn and postspawn fish.  My Northumbrian friends lures did well again.

A solid fish OTD.

A couple days ago I tried to open my sea trout account as well.  Took me a while, but I did find a group of sewin at a slightly different place of where I usually catch them. They were patrolling a rocky point close to some deeper water.  Got 3 fish stuck, landed 2 and had a couple missed hits as well. Only small but they were there and pretty as ever!

Beautiful silver missile.

 I also managed a very short session on the kayak, on our way back from a day trip. Fitted the fish finder to it as well and I was salivating at what I was seeing!  Definitely will be doing more of that soon. Typically, I only got 2 bites and landed a nice but skinny brownie...

Good size but skinny. 

The inflatable kayak has been a pleasure to use so far and my only gripe is that the rudder could be improved as the turns are quite wide. I'm sure I'll work something out for that...

My time has been more limited than usual the past couple months but now with some of the covid restrictions getting lifted, I hope to start the guiding and even more fishing! 

Tight lines