Guiding the troopers!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of guiding three gentlemen from England. Richard, Pete and Mark were keen to experience Skye's pollock fishing as they come mainly from a freshwater background and don't get the chance to rockfish much.
The weather was against us from the off with strong SW winds and a non-stop downpour for most of the day. Moreover, we had big tides this week and I know that these conditions when combined can get fish to lockjaw...
Despite the adversity, we had a reasonably good start, with Mark getting most of the fish on a pink Sidewinder rattleback sandeel. Even though we tried to replicate this pattern (and even sharing his lures) he just kept getting most of the fish! An incident that tends to happen sometimes when fishing in groups and I suppose its because of a combination of factors such as a person's retrieve style, setup, cast placement etc. Richard had a couple fish on metals and Pete managed a female cuckoo wrasse.
After the bites dried up on the first spot, it was time to let Peter have a go with the fly rod as that was on his list for the trip. We visited a shallow kelpy mark and as it was sheltered from the wind, he was able to let a few casts. He hooked up on the third or fourth cast and it was a decent dark fish that gave him the runaround!
The others soon joined in with the spinning gear and soon everyone was getting bites!
There seemed to be some bait near the rocks and a seal was hunting nearby. At some point, the pollock started pushing bait near the top and smashing them on the surface! We could see baitfish jumping (more like coalies or herring than sandeels) and pollock come clean out of the water... It was a bit confusing as to who was praying what but sufficient to say that it was awesome to see such activity!
Mark had a go with a topwater but other than a couple bumps he didn't get any to stick. They seemed fixated on what they were feeding and medium-sized paddletails worked best.

Hardy troopers!

First cuckoo of the season.

A nice bend..

Throughout the day bites didn't come easily and we really had to work for them, but every fish was in tip-top condition and fought well. Usually, May fish tend to be thin and a bit slow but this year seems different and the big baitfish shoals probably provided ample food for them.
We finished the day on a deep water mark that tends to give a few fish but with the potential for a better size.
Richard hooked up first but the fish reefed him and it all went a bit quiet after that with only a few tentative bites on our lures. Pete kept persevering and changing lures and spots a lot and he then got the fish of the day! I ran to put the net under a lovely conditioned 65cm pollock that got caught on a 2" curly tail grub on a 10g jighead!
It goes to show that especially this time of year, big fish can be caught on tiny presentations and it's not always the big lure equals big fish... 

Excellent condition.

Notice the tiny jighead...

We then released the fish and after a few more casts, decided to call it a day.
It was a hard days fishing but the gents got the results they wanted and we all went home with a smile on our faces. That's the kind of session that sticks to mind for a while...

Tight Lines!





























 

Firing up ahead!

Had a few sessions from the boat lately and things are well on their way to Summer intensity!
There has been an explosion of bait with big shoals of sandeels dominating the food source.
This has made fish far fussier and more keyed on to smaller sized baits. Moreover the predators seem more spread out right now with groups found only at certain tide states and mainly ''funnel'' spots.
The other day I had a shoal of pollock right under the boat but after a few captures on the heavy gear and large lures, they stopped bitting. Out comes the LRF setup (thinking there were coalies) and got hit by the best fish of the day first cast! More fish came to play and it was mental fun on a -8g rod!

Long but skinny...

Some larger than average coalies knocking about too..

Stacked but fussy..

Even matching the hatch wasn't enough for steady action...

Small lures and finesse worked best...

Lovely dark kelp fish..

Some Summer visitors have started showing, much earlier than anticipated as well..

A sea godlfish!

True survivor.

In already?!

Ive also had the first client for the season in what was probably the best way to kick it off for the Summer!
My Canadian friend Kyle had never fished in Scotland before and in one session he managed to get the trifecta of our saltwater predator species! 
The usual pollock were accompanied by a chunky cod (!!) and a wrasse, all on soft plastics.

A happy angler...

A puzzled guide...

Hat-trick!

A few lunkers too..

He's in!

All in all it was a great session in typical wet Skye weather! I'm getting some more bookings in and its turning out to be a very busy month!
I'm really looking forward to how this season unfolds after such a start. That cod especially made my day! Hopefully there will be a few more to be found...

Tight Lines!

Spring has sprung!

At this time of year, I usually turn my attention to freshwater fishing (namely trout fishing) but various projects and developments have really limited my spare time the past couple months.
Its something I'm planning to do in conjunction with the guiding here in Skye over the Summer and Ill reveal more when its all set up and ready to go!
Anyway, I managed to have a great day out last week from the SIB and was amazed at the amount of life in the water. Seabirds everywhere and I could see small shoals of baitfish near the bottom (spawning herring?) on the fishfinder.
I targeted a 18-20m point at first and used the LRF setup for some smiles... That I got after a shoal of good sized coalies turned up along with a few small pollock. Fish were in a relatively subdued mood and required plenty of stops and free falls on the lures.

Nice sized coalies at the moment.

After the tide started picking up a bit, I moved to my favourite spot, where I was keen to see if there were still fish there as its only 10m deep...
I switched to the heavier gear and put on a 12cm chartreuse shad on a 25g jighead. Got fish from the first cast OTD and they were some good ones!
There were some bruisers among them that seemed to have gone through battles (!) and they were all on the skinny side due to spawning.
I weighed a couple fish that seemed like 3kg+ only to have them register 2.4kg on the sling...
Among the pollock, I got a few very good coalies and one that I suspect, beat my UK coalie pb. Unfortunately, the camera's sd card had filled up and it missed most of the action on the second mark. Nevertheless below is a short vid of the action.

Efficiency... 3 pumps.

Bruiser but slim...

Things are coming along nicely and I'm hoping to start going out more in the following months. I'm hoping to get the SIB on some new areas and target some other species with bait. Ideally, I'd like to have a go at catching a skate with the XH gear. Now that should be fun from the SIB!
More to come soon...

Tight Lines

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI. Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H,
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000fc. Shimano Stradic Fk C3000
Mainline: PE0.6 PE1.2
Leader: 7lb fluoro, Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs - 25lbs
Lures: 7g metals and 5cm shads on 7g articulated jigheads. 25g Fiiish black minnow imitation, 15cm slim shad on 30g jigheads.

Aquarium update.

Not many major events or catastrophes (!) happened in the past couple of months. I have been changing 30-40lt of seawater every 2-3 weeks and other than a monthly partial filter cleanup, sand vacuum and protein skimmer wash, nothing else was needed and everything's been doing fine...
I have been feeding only frozen food (very slow sinking) in this time and have noticed that this way the bottom gravel has been kept much cleaner even though quite a few of my cleaners have perished due to predation.
Almost all species seem to have grown, except the flounder which seems to be the same size as when it went in.  I have never seen the flounder eat the chopped food while I'm feeding, plus it is nocturnal and I think it mainly feeds by praying on the hermit crabs and shrimp. Lately, as their numbers have been reduced, it has become more active though still not actively feeding when I'm dropping food.
Thus we've been on a 'foraging' trip and have added some more cleaners in the tank. Unfortunately not many survived the sea-scorpions!

Two pals...

Butterfish faces are so expressive.

Survivor prawn.

Mini halibut!

Big Daddy...

Another great survivor from day 1...

Almost doubled in size.

Lately, the fish are generally getting more active (feeling its Spring?). They feed and move about more in the tank. Moreover, one of the rock gobies and a butterfish have had engorged bellies and I think they might have shed eggs, but its highly unlikely that anything will survive in my crowded tank!

I think its time for the pollock to go soon as he's just too big! I might release a couple more fish just to make space for some different species... Cant wait for warmer weather and the mini species it brings!

The Spring feel.

We 've been having fairly warm weather recently, brought by strong Southerlies and even the water temperature rose to 8C+... Due to various issues, I haven't been out fishing that much but hoping to change that pretty soon! Plus, trout season is just around the corner too!
My brother visited us last week and we had a quick outing on the boat. He doesn't like fishing but enjoyed his duty as a 'manual trolling motor/ Spotlock' as the current was running and didn't want to faff with the anchor.
We were just off a rocky point I've been wanting to try for a while, and the sounder screen was filled with markings. Got the lures down and started getting bites from the off. There were loads of fish but very picky and this makes me wonder if they've started spawning already.
I caught some fish on the usual MH setup but after changing to the LRF setup, things got really fired up! We're definitely in the finnesse time of year now...

Looking lively down there.

A wee vid of the session.

 

As you can see, the waves started getting bigger and we had to turn back...
I've also done a catch and cook video of pollock, cooked in my favourite way for this fish, blackened (Cajun style).

Hopefully the warm weather continues and can't wait to hit some freshwater for wee brownies!

Tight Lines!

 

Into February now..

Weather has been the usual up and down this month, but there have been a few good days and I've taken advantage of breaks in the storms. I've been fishing off the SIB mostly and at my usual spots as there was no time to explore further.
Even though the fish were still there, the 7.5c water temps after all the melting snow, has definitely slowed them down and as expected the bites were more finicky and would come very close to the bottom. The large shads that were so successful the past few months, were still getting hit, but I had to downsize to get more fish to stick.
At times the fishfinder would show shapes hard on the bottom, they were pollock and could still be caught but needed the lure jigged right in front of them to incite a take. Many fish had eye-worms.
I did manage to get a couple closer to 70cm though and they were all full bellied, getting ready for the spawn.

Fat belly.

A lovely one in the sun..

Better stamp of fish now.

A wee video as well

 I've also had a couple shore sessions and the fussy bites were an issue too. Moreover, the fish were very colour-picky, with bright colours (chartreuse and pink) faring much better than natural ones.
Texas rigged paddletail with a 30g tungsten bullet weight and 8mm glass bead was the most productive presentation along with soft jerkbaits on 20-30g darting jigheads over cleaner bottom.
I got a proper shock at some point after landing a nice Ballan wrasse that put up a spirited fight! It was my first ever in February! Must be global warming...

There's a 7" DOT Crawler in there...

WTF!

Pink was the most effective colour on the day.

Something had a go at this one.

Bruiser..

 I lost a what felt like a big fish due to the snap opening up and I now tend to tie straight to the Softplastic every time. A bit time-consuming but as the best chance for a big female is now, the stakes are higher and lost fish hurt!

Tight Lines!

Gear used (Boat)
Rod: Tailwalk Saltyshape Dash Power Rock S90H,
Reel: Shimano Stradic Fk C3000
Mainline: PE1.2
Leader: Daiwa Tournament FC fluorocarbon 20lbs - 25lbs
Lures: various

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
Lures: Texas rigged 4" bright coloured paddletails, 5" soft jerkbaits on 20-30g darting jigheads.