Newton shore Saturday night

Motivated by Gordon’s Newton trip on Friday night I decided to give myself a push to get out and catch a 5 Beard to get my species tally back on track for 50 for the year. I’ve let this slip in the last 6 weeks and it looks like it’s not going to happen but Jamie was daft enough to join me and we met up just before midnight. The wind was blowing from the SW and it was dry which good news was. The lads including Jamie had done well on Wednesday night on the east coast and we were under no illusion that whatever happened we knew it wasn’t going to be a 50 pound bag of fish that was the chat at the end of the session. I had some lug left from the club match last weekend, don’t know why these were still alive as the water was coffee coloured not having been changed for a week. The balance of my bait was made up of refrozen crab again from last week and some squid. The fishing was basically non stop for 3 ½ hours with Jamie not having a blank cast. Small Whiting, small Cod to about 10 inches, Coalies and a stray Cluggie for Jamie. He lost count but I kept mine and had 32 fish the best of which were 8 of my 9 Coalies that were ok sized fish providing decent bites at no more than 30 yards. Still no 5 Beard….. I had been to the 8pm session of Paranormal Activity with Lynn and I thought that this might help me spook the beast with 5 beards but it seems I had more chance of spotting Casper the ghost walking his dug down the beach.

Loch Etive, would have been drier in the sea!

Fished the club match today/tonight at Etive started at a point with deep water. 6 casts produced 4 fish a missed bite and a good fish lost on the ledge...good start.

Some of the guys were struggling with terrain at this area so we walked back the way we came and set up shop. A few fish started to appear here and there but the weather was shocking. My new brolly bought today is in four pieces and will be stored in the green bin till its picked up by the council next Friday.

I added another three fish and ended up with 2 Spurs, 2 Doggies, 2 Thornbacks and a Cod. We agreed to end the match early by unanimous decision as this was the probably the wettest session I have ever fished which is saying something

Congers and a Black Mouth Dog at a Wild Crinan

The drive up was interesting, loads of surface water and traffic. Anyway I met up with Gordon who is currently up there for five days and as we left the confines of the sheltered harbour we were met with a lots of white water and more rain. The pram hood was up in the boat so when it swung round to anchor we picked up some shelter. An hour in and we thought about pulling the plug on it due to the wind. We stuck it out and although we didn't get any Skate( maybe a blessing given the waves) we picked up Whiting, Doggie's, Conger and my first Black Mouth Dogfish for species number 45. The wind dropped away nicely as was forecast but by this time we had had enough and it was time to call it a day. Thanks again to Gordon and I hope the weather gets better for the rest of his trip.

Off Skate fishing in the morning

My first Skate trip of the year is planned for Monday. It would also be good to get a Black Mouth Dogfish as this would take my Scottish Sea fish species caught for 2011 to 46 which is still some way short of my target of 50 and time is running out. I have not contributed anything for October so far and will need to score on both to close the gap. This will leave me with Red Gurnard, Vipi Blenny and my nemesis the elusive 5 beard or 3 bearded Rockling and possibly an officially verified Golden Grey Mullet. Still doable but time is running away.....

Baked Bass Catalonian style

Cooked a fish tonight,caught it a couple of weeks back. We were expecting McG's mum round for dinner as Phil was in hospital...he got out and we had to have the Bass to ourselves.

Bass and romesco sauce. Anybody that says Bass don't eat well just don't like Bass ,Bass anglers, cant cook or prefer their fish with batter and chips( nothing wrong with the latter BTW) Or a bit like myself possible paying over the odds for fish farmed reared crap. When you can catch and cook it yourself its excellent ....bottle of Pinot and its all good in the hood.

Been ill for a week so its been good to have some good food and a glass of wine...must be on the mend and as you can see McG approves !

Observations of the week

1. Its time to put away the garden furniture

2. Conrad Murrays going to the big house and his silicon bird will be looking for a new doctor

3. Liam Fox will probably be looking for a new job

4. Peeler crabs seem to more agressive at this time of year. Just put 45 in the fridge to cool down for Jamie and me ahead of the weekend as they seem to be going "tonto" A night in the cooler should keep them calm as they are intent on attacking me and each other

This might be my last Bass session of the year on Sunday or maybe second last before my attention is switched to travelling east in search of decent Cod.

Mako Portugal

I found this old video clip, Portimao Portugal I think it was 2008. Out on Natusha with Clayton the guy on the right. It was a tourist type of a boat, bit of a tug really and long like a barge top speed about 1o knots fishing about 15 anglers. I fished with him for 3 years each time I went I had 1 or 2 sessions. He did well with the blue sharks and a few went about 80 pounds but mostly 10-20 pound fish each time I was on his boat seemed to be the norm. In addition there were always a few Dorado and Polmeta on the float rigs to keep me happy. Anyway in the last 5 minutes of the day the deckie wound the rods in...close to the boat so that they were easier to take out. This seemed to trigger a take on one of the rods, deckie strikes fish, fish tears off , handle comes off the reel, line breaks , fish gone. I had my own rods with me Exage travel rods 20/30's and my baits were still about 20 yards from the boat so I wound mine in a little closer, fish takes bait, fish runs, I strike, fish runs and as I tighten further into the fish with massive bow in the line a Mako appears ten feet in the air off my right hand shoulder behind me up on the bow of the boat....holy fuck its a Mako....game on. I kid you not Clayton had the Jaws music on over the tannoy system normally reserved for the radio. Numerous jumps and around the boat twice I get the fish to the side of the boat and he handballs it in, luckily it stays on. Not the most fish friendly picture but the blood on the fish is the deckies and they were both keen that I didn't get hurt, the fish went back but could have been handled better.

That night I walked into a restaurant with Lynn and a family shouts up Mako Marty! I got the video clip blue toothed to me in the bar. So I found this little video today, a memory from a few years back down the line. I've had Blue Marlin 500+ pounds, Amberjacks, GT's, Stiped Marlin and Sailfish and a few more... this fish was special caught on £40 day trip on my own tackle in Eurpean waters ....Mako madness right enough. As you can hear at the end of the clip I was a happy chap in happy times!

Dunure / Heads of Ayr boat trip

Thanks to Willie for the invite to join him, Jamie and Michelle on Reel Deal for a day afloat. The rain was horrendous and while down south were enjoying a heatwave there was enough water up here to put out the sun. There was not a great deal of wind but a nice drift saw us covering some of the reefs in the area which produced plenty of fish albeit not big and we had small Cod, Whiting, Cuckoo Wrasse, Haddock, Dabs, Mackerel and Poor Cod. Michelle had never fished before and managed do well and took to it easily. After fishing last night I was knackered and it did catch up with me as the rain fell I got pretty cold. Anyway I managed to freeze down some Mackerel for the winter and have a laugh at the same time so its all good.

Wet night on the Bass in the SW

The Friday night rain was not in the sketch but rain it did. After driving through it for most of my journey I thought I had left it behind me but after about 40 minutes on my chosen mark it didn't stop. The tide was still dropping when I had a fish on my first cast and after banging out 4 fish on 6 casts I had visions of it being a bumper night on the Bass. These 2 fish came home with me as I was looking for a fish around the 3 pound mark to bake whole. The small fish had scoffed the crab bait down and was bleeding badly so unfortunatley and despite it's size it to made the journey home with me. I released 2 fish about a 1 1/2 pounds and despite a few moves it was only a couple of dogfish for me as the tide started to build. Disappointing really as with no wind and a nice surf conditions were fine apart from the rain but at least Sunday's dinner is now sorted. My Olympus has been playing up lately and did again tonight so it looks like I'll be shopping for a new camera soon. Another couple of self timer gem's here and I think I should look happier and stop chewing gum but with nobody there to say cheese this is what happens....