Friday, 25 March 2011

Loch Etive RNLI Species Hunt & a tale of two Cluggies



After a hellish club match two weeks ago won by a Cluggie (also known as Short Spined Sea Scorpion in Scotland) I headed back up there on the 19th with Gordon and his daughter Sarah on Tickety Boo. The weather was better and having the flexiblity of the boat this time would put us on some fish. It was a slow start but I made some headway with a small Thornback and a Cod within the first hour or so. We stuck mainly to the margins around the buoys, mussel beds and empty Salmon nets. Gordon, Sarah and myself picked up a number of Pouting more Cod, LSD and then headed out to the deeper water hoping for a Spur or two which we got fairly quickly. The weather came on a bit with the rain and wind increasing and it was time for a move. We went back to the margins where Gordon and Sarah added a few Whiting while I tried casting into the margins with a lure on a spinning rod looking for a small Pollack. In the end up we finished up where we started next to Scott on Scary Mary adding Grey Gurnard and lots of small Coalies and a solitary but crucial Cluggie! I missed out on a Whiting for my own count but the boat ran out a winner on the day. 15 boats and 3 Kayaks took part raising a few quid for the RNLI. Sarah tied with Kyle on Scott's boat for best junior. The ragworm I had got the day before fished on size 6 hooks or smaller seemed to do the trick on the day. A good day out with some nice Ling to double figures caught as well for those that didnt fancy scratching around. I can still hear Scott's abuse as the crucial King Cluggie made an appearance again, better looking than me on the day to be fair! Thanks to Gordon for having me on board

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