Back in Winter

Nearly that time again. Some footage from the start of the year. Having had a few problems with laptops and cameras I've just discovered a few bits and pieces I had forgotten about.

My last day of summer

The last day of August was a pleasant affair, nice warm afternoon down in D&G. The fishing was pretty slow till some macks turned up and started to plough into baitfish  well out of casting range. I watched as the shoal got hit a good few times and got broken down into smaller patches rippling on the surface.I paraded along the rocks watching, just on the off chance as you do. Eventually and with some luck I got my fly in the right place but it came loose. I then thought I saw a Bass follow my fly up a rock ledge just as the wave was breaking.

I'll be moving my videos from Vimeo to YouTube over the course of the winter,might even manage to create a few more before spring kicks in.

Not much to report

In terms of fishing, it’s been the quietest autumn/early winter period I’ve had for a while. Having managed a few odd sessions here and there the results have been patchy with the exception of my last trip, today, a nice surprise with more activity that I expected. With the mindset of getting some exercise rather than the possibility of decent action I was telling myself I should have gone Pike fishing even before I had wet a lure.

I had a crack at Bass again in October, good tide and a nice day to be afloat but this part of the coast either needs darkness or the start of a building sea to produce I think. Really not enough tide to interest the Bass, seemed very sterile, a few small Pollack and a couple of school Bass from a tidal crease a few hundred yards off a point.I wont be hurrying back to this area on the kayak, in daylight.

2012/2013 look to have been good years for Bass survival. Lots of these fish around wide spread, first year for a long time as I recall it.

So being into November I booked a couple of days off, more for a break than much else. I checked the sea temps and tide tables and it looked good. The minute I got afloat the sea temp was a country mile out, 26% to be precise. Not just inshore but offshore a little bit as well. Despite this I hooked a small Bass that shook itself free and had some Coalfish, Launce and Mackerel, but I have to say it was a tough day covering a lot of ground looking for signs to life.

The following day wasn’t much better. I opted to fish for Perch, the loch water level was way up and the temperature way down. Despite having some bait with me I didn’t catch a thing with it. I had four Perch of an almost identical size on one lure, fished one way. If I could have found much to target I would have ground out a better result. The truth is ,I think I was lucky to catch what I did. I managed to plot a few features for my pre-spawn sessions next year. Till then, for my freshwater escapades I think I’ll stick with Pike next time out.

Someone’s been feeding this Swan. It was almost like a dog begging for food. It was sat at eye level for a while making clicking noises. I’ve no idea what’s bad for a Swans digestion so declined it’s advances for my Snickers bar and pasta, didn’t feed it any worms either. Being encouraged to be around angler’s gear isn’t really a good idea for such a tremendous bird.

So today we had decent weather. I had plenty I could be doing but opted to take a chance and drift some reefs locally. As I said at the start of this report, my expectations were low but I had a pleasant surprise. Some fantastic sport for mid-November in Ayrshire, couldn’t really ask for much more from here at this time of year.