Black Rocks Rockling romp

With better tides and also a rising tide into darkness I had high hopes of a few Bass tonight but I'm afraid they were a no show. I think the last ten days weather has dispersed these fish locally and whatever pattern they've been following has been broken. I will make a few phone calls over the next day or so to see if its worth spending some time on the beaches nearby or more than likely I will be heading south again.

Anyway the beach was strewn with weed and this was a real problem so all I managed were four Shore Rockling. After taking some abuse from the lads chasing these for my species count it was nice to get a few but as it happens not any that mattered as I need a 5 beard and a 3 beard but now I've found the Rockling rythm there only a cast away Mr Kennedy! So these pictures are especially for you Willie ..... :0 )

I found myself surrounded by foxes again tonight so much so I think I need to check my waders for rabbits. At one point I had three within 5 yards and they just kept coming closer and closer. When I get back to the car I loaded up drove home narrowly missing another two.

Another gem in the news today

The NHS in Scotland recently sent a survey to 900 people who had died while in their care asking them how they rated the treatment they received .....WTF!

No doubt if it hadn't come to light the wigs on the board of directors would have taken the lack of response as a positive one and broke out the cigars, port and had a team building event on Necker Island.

The head of client relations/admin pictured above refused to comment on the situation but they did rattle out a cracking tune on the drums.

Rant over for this week although this might now become a weekly feature on my blog dependent on how the sunlamp treatment for SAD goes LOL

Missing the sunshine? Feeling grumpy? Over eating? book yourself a holiday in the sunshine or contact this mob if your skint.

http://www.sada.org.uk/

Politicians are ballbags...I'm going fishing

Sick of listening to Nick Clegg, David Cameron and everything coming out of the IMF, Greece and the Arab spring I decided to go fishing while they all talk mince and sort nothing out. It seemed the most reasonable of options and the window in the weather albeit with crap tides and times seemed preferable to buying a new TV after considering launching a wading boot through it just before the forecasted"rogue satellite" potentially crashed into the street or perhaps the nearby primary school.....

Anyway no Bass at Turnberry tonight, the sea had a nice lift and roll to it but all I managed were two Flounders and a match winning bag of kelp when the tide did eventually turn. So two hours of peace was to be had and even if the weed rolling around in the tide caused me a few problems it was better than visiting Dixons or Comet and explaining to my insurer how a wading boot caused the TV to break.

This time last week...

No fishing for me this weekend I'm afraid and next weekend looks sketchy for opportunity.

Stonehaven Harbour

While working in Aberdeen this week I had a few hours on the harbour wall. Nothing to write home about. I tried for fresh Mackerel and had one within 5 minutes, fished two rods with a mix of worm, crab and Mackerel. Lots of small Coalies, Cod and a few Whiting nothing new to add to the species list and the 3 Bearded Rockling and Vipi Blenny continue to avoid any offering I make. I dropped a small strap Conger of about 4-5 pounds that took a strip of fish bait close in, fishing size 4 fine wire nordic bend hooks ain't good for a lift up a harbour wall! Had a nice chat with an American couple visiting for their 10th wedding anniversary/business trip. We spoke about everything from 9/11 to the laundry bill at the Thistle Hotel Aberdeen ( £170 is excessive BTW) We were freezing our nuts off but the chat was good and the offer of a drink in the bar was cool, nice to meet you and one day I will be over to fish for those Striped Bass on the New England coast.

Weirdo with a Weaver fish

Scottish sea species number 44 for the club count and 45 for my personal list. I believe this to be Scotland's only venomous fish species.....carefully handled considering my shaky record and hospitalisation 20 years ago with Scotland's only venomous snake the Adder

Machrihanish

We had our long awaited trip last weekend, good banter, reasonable weather and some decent fishing. Seven species including Bass,Turbot and Weavers!

See the full report here http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=591600

Mixed Bag

I looked at the beach Jamie and me were supposed to fish last night and just didn't fancy it. Too calm, no wave and the winds forecast for that time just didn't materialise.

Anyway Jamie stuck to his guns and caught fish and had great delight in texting and calling me to say so. I wondered if I had made the right decision and despite me getting my first Shore Rockling of the year the prospect of some Bass made me shift for the third time. Not big fish just school Bass but four fish and a Flounder from a mark not normally frequented left me fairly satisfied with my efforts. The wind arrive at midnight and shortly after that I wrapped it for another night. Another highlight of the night was when I went to bait up my other rod and bent down to pick some bait up and a fox had its snout in the trough... nearly shat myself! Chased it up the beach as I was angry I got a fright.

Busy night tonight mixed bag

I'm just checking my emails and then I'm off to bed. I will put a post up later this morning but Scottish species 44 tonight and one that's been proving difficult for me to achieve. After what I thought was a poor decision the plan eventually came together like it seems to more often than not( did I just say that?) That one will probably bite me on the backside a bit like the fox I met tonight....

Wrasse..again

I love my Wrasse fishing so I had another try for them today. Worm baits to locate and search for the fish and then switch to hardback crab to sort the larger fish out was the tactic and it worked. I banged out a number of medium weight Ballans but not the 3 pound plus fish I was looking for. True to form the hardbacks did take all the larger specimens and when using worm I picked this nice little Corkwing Wrasse up which is a new PB at 5.5 oz. The Rio hard alloy mono I bought for lure fishing is really good for Wrasse, tough,abrasion resistant and ideal for dropping into the kelp jungle that these fish live in.

Golden Grey

Having been trying to get a Golden Grey for a couple of weeks now I met with and spoke to another angler who reckons like me there are hybrid Mullet around. I have suspected this myself on considering some of the features on the NMC web site and handling a few suspect fish. I will however keep trying. This fish was around 14 oz the same size as the other 3 Mullet I caught from the same area last night which looked very different and were stone wall Thick Lips(This has now confirmed as a GG by someone who has caught them from the area I fished and I will count this on my personal list for 2011)