Slow night on the Tay

Overnight in Dundee again, rod packed but it was hardly worth the effort.The salad seems to be following me around making things difficult as it does at this time of year. I've also never seen so many rods out. Never spotted anyone catching but I did manage this little fish and one other offer between cleaning trebles. I did see a guy paddle by in a yak, he must have disturbed a fish maybe a big  Sea Trout or a Grilse as it jumped twice and nearly landed in his yak.

The west coast has been  better for me this year than the Tay, by a mile. I've not managed a night trip for Sea Trout yet and it's getting on in the season. I think I might try and get one under my belt before the majority of fish head up a river somewhere.

Fishing in the salad

On Sunday conditions were good, yes it was bright but the sea had a lot of movement in it and there seemed to be a little life around with some Gannets and the odd Tern. There was also lots of suspended lettuce floating around which proved a bit frustrating especially as I was a bit weary from the night shift session. Anyway, bumped into Brent and we worked our way along the shoreline till he had a hit and within 20 minutes he had two fish.

It was sort of clear the lure every cast and if you managed to get a retrieve in there might be a fish or two in the swell. I changed to a Wave Worm fished weedless on a 7g Owner sled head which made the combined weight about 22g, that seemed to work, when I say work I mean fish reasonably effectively and I was only stripping salad off every 4 or 5 casts. After about 20 minutes I had a really solid take and the fish zig zagged around in the swell, it felt pretty good but unfortunately it came off in the undertow of a large wave, not happy but that was it for me. If you could deal/put up  with the conditions there were some fish to be had.

I got a call from Lynne about then as I had lost track of time and decided to head up the road for some food and maybe another beer….

Too much thinking

I drew a blank on the Mullet in the morning and then took a walk in the sunshine to look at stretch of beach that I’m not overly familiar with. This could loosely be disguised as fishing as with mirror calm seas and bright sunshine the prospects were pretty much zero for Bass. A solitary Mackerel interrupted my walk. For once I wished there were more holes in my waders and had to stop off for a breather in the shade of some rocks before pushing on back to the car. With that objective achieved I bought myself a cold beer and went for a sleep for a few hours in preparation of a night shift.

I tend not to think too much about anything other than the business in hand while I’m on the beach not a conscious decision, it just happens and I’m better for it and lucky to have it this way. For whatever reason on Saturday night I was in a more thoughtful mood.  Work, family, money and of course my reasons for  standing in the dark alone on a Saturday night 100 miles from home  were sort of turning over in my head.  You definitely need an understanding partner and you definitely need to be driven, both of those boxes ticked. The balance of my thoughts were put on the to do list and I decided to concentrate on catching some fish as at this time of night there’s not much of a view you see.

My second fish of the night, catching at night on lures is just plain addictive

Fishing’s a funny game a lot of the time there’s nobody there to see your small victories but equally your failures as well, maybe something in that as its risk free in that respect.

If there’s a less damaging form of escapism I’m yet to find it. When fish like these tear off into the darkness  you feel every head sheak and tail beat it  was apparent to me why I was here.

I had three decent fish with the balance made up by some school Bass turning it into a good night to be on a beach in the rain. I did have an incident wading which was pretty silly, never came close to getting cut off before but that's what happened. The only other downside being my camera seems to be on the way out the FT20 is waterproof but some broad lines appeared on the screen and it also stopped working , I wasn't sure these would come out. It's currently residing in a bag of rice in case it's a moisture issue having noticed a droplet on the battery when I opened it up.

 

 

 

 

 

UV Lures ?

I fished a beach last night with Jamie and another couple of forum members, these lads had a Bass each when it was still light, Jamie managed a couple of Mackerel which provided some fun. The fishing was no great shakes and I had not had a sniff of a fish by this point. As the light went I managed 3 school Bass and lost another. We were fishing in close proximity for once so were covering pretty much the same ground. It seemed to me that my in-line UV seemed to be more appealing than the other offerings as in what was prime time the rest of guys never connected.

Reminds me I've not been Sea Trout fishing for weeks....

We then went on and fished some rough ground but had nothing to show for our efforts.

Back to normal

I gave my shoulder a run out last night, seems fine after the operation. My main concern was my range of movement and also me taking a tumble, fine on both fronts. Unfortunately the fishing was back to normal as well, two Mackerel and two Pollack in at 1.30 am for 3 hours fishing. I think when this weather breaks if you happen to be in the right place over the next few tides sort of Tuesday and Wednesday you might do well, if its Bass you’re after…..

Need some help?

It looks like I won’t be in Ireland this year which is a pity.  4 of the last 5 years I’ve made plans to fish with Jim in Wexford but due to the weather it’s been only one trip which has gone ahead. The fishing in July 2011 was tough but we caught fish, I enjoyed myself, lessons were learned and experience gained. Jim has a good way to him and I like how he goes about his business. By all accounts and by Ireland’s standards last year was poor and a continuing trend based on his long term views of things in his part of the world. I wish him all the best for 2013, guiding is a life style choice and I guess we all like the idea of it but the reality of it could be very different.

I visit his blog on a regular basis where the dialogue, images and links provide some inspiration.When you fish alone as much as I do as well as not having anyone around me that has it that bad for lure fishing for Bass its good to have a look at what goes on elsewhere. I’ve been in need of a lift recently see Here for a mindset  and Here for some of what worked on Saturday.

Thanks Jim

Bass guiding with Sam

I got a text from Sam late last week asking if he could meet up with me at the weekend when he was up from London. I don’t need an excuse to cut loose for a couple of tides and with Lynne spending money on wedding dresses an overnight trip was a winner.

Sam does more Trout fishing than anything else so on the way down I explained where we would be going, tactics for the night, how I would go about fishing the marks and what to expect. We pitched the tent on a beach and got the burgers sorted out and then cracked on with the fishing. It turned out to be Mackerel mania, never seen so many here, great fun but not really what we were after. We did manage to catch Bass but they were small.

It was nice to be fishing at night in a t-shirt for once

I then took him to a mark I call wheelchair beach as that’s what you will need if it all goes wrong. We stumbled around in the dark with Sam occasionally moving like Bez in the 90’s but fair play to him he never put his torch on once. We drew a blank and I was told I was a shit guide so we hit our beetle infested tent at 3am for some shut eye.

We made a few casts about 7am and I lost a fish but with the tide still dropping it was time for bacon rolls and some coffee. Then we were on for a cracking session where we caught fish on the two areas we visited.

This fish clonked the lure on the first turn of the handle.

Strange picture this as the fish looks dead but it went back.

Its too bright for Bass today..........

This fish fought like a tiger and also snagged me three times. I was really lucky to land it.

Sam was delighted with the fish he caught.His previous PB was a pound.

I've had some Pollack on the long rod but on this trip it was well and truly christened.

 

One of those days when you look at the sea and you just know......

 



 

Lynne's first fish!

Very proud!! But not brave enough to handle the little critter.....

Not that I'm competitive......

Sunny Sunday

I met up with fellow blogger Callum Connor AKA http://www.phishfingerz.com/ last weekend. We spoke about meeting up for a Wrasse session last year so the continuing heat wave provided a forecasted sunny Sunday that would be just the ticket.

We exchanged a few texts on Saturday and after I had Lynne check the ferry times for Sunday (I was out of 3G and battery life) we agreed to meet at 7am for the 7.15am ferry. After 5 hours sleep and a 5.30am rise we met up in the car park near the ferry only to shortly realise the first ferry was 9.15am, nice one Lynne! With a couple of hours to kill I drove us both up to Wemyss Bay with the intention of maybe putting us on a Wrasse from the rocks. Callum opted for a weedless plastic and I went for a metal for maybe a mackerel. Callum was first up with some action a  follow straightaway and on my third cast from the rocks my lure was hit, the rod bent and I was into a nice little Sea Trout, good start. Neither Callum nor I had a camera at that point but just as it was about lift out time the fish came off. Callum then had a couple of hits but soon enough it was time to get back in the car.

We eventually got to the mark and I began to rig up a second rod with my plan being sort of bait and switch, find a pocket of Wrasse with float fished ragworm and then throw some plastics at them. I hadn’t the line through the second eye when Callum was into a fish which turned out to be a Pollack about a pound followed by another and umpteen hits on his Fiish Minnow. I eventually made my first cast with a Ribster lure and 5g head and a few lifts and a turn into the first cast the rod hooped over and after a nice run I was snagged, school boy error as the drag was still slackened off after playing the Sea Trout. The fish worked itself out after 5 minutes I was able to lift it free of the kelp.

 

The bites dried up pretty quickly and we started to move around to find the fish.

A Ballan on float fished rag I then had few cast with lures. It produced some interest but the fish didn't seem that agressive on the day.

Callum on a Gulp/weedless conhead set up

The Wrasse seem to be smaller at the moment

The Ribster again...

I found a little pocket of fish in a gulley and we set about trying to extract them

Another species for this year, a little Corkwing

It was really hot day and it looks almost tropical here

 

So, nice enough day, fishing was OK but it still has a way to go for numbers and size of fish. The early start was a killer for me and even with the air con on the drive home felt like it took a long time. I arrived home in time to see most of the tennis, worst ways to spend a Sunday.

Eel's & Flatties

I decided to add a few species to my tally for the year and dust the cobwebs off the bait rods. I’d be lying if I thought I didn’t have the outside chance of something silver and spikey but the first thing up was something snotty and green.

I forgot how nice these are to handle...

 

 

This was the first run out with my long rod and braid/fixed spool set up. At 15ft it takes a bit of getting used to in comparison to what I’ve been using especially when I can’t remember the last time I picked up a beach rod. With standard set up and long rig side by side it was noticeable how good the bite detection was. So all in I had eleven fish in a couple of hours which killed some time before I went exploring a new mark with lures for a couple of hours before dusk.

 

Big paddle for a small fish

This was the best of the bunch

The mark looked OK and I'll try it again but it produced only these. I left about 9.30 as I had a 5.30am which turned out to be totally unnecessary thanks to my better half!