Seat with a view

No van or fishing this weekend, we climbed a local hill for the sunset on Friday night and chilled out over the weekend. Even up there with the sun going down, I was angling with the Mrs. I think we'll be be on a ferry shortly. Just about where the sun went down, I would imagine they'll be decent winter Pollack waiting.

Making the most of the weather

 We had a nice van day on the beach on Saturday, followed by an excellent BBQ as we watched the sun go down.  I guess it was too much to ask that the aurora showed this far south, as it did in some areas of Scotland over the weekend.  We did have a look, but the warmth of the van was way too tempting.  This was the first time I’ve used the Propex gas heating in anger and we were glad to have it. 

Jamie joined me on Sunday morning and after waving goodbye to my wife and dog on the beach, we set off in mirror calm conditions. The sun was low and blinding, the fishing was initially rock hard. There weren’t many signs of life, but I picked up a couple of bass and a little pollack. After suggesting a move Jamie was way out in front and I got on the radio to say I had two bass back to back when trolling, he turned tail and joined me.  Over the next few hours, I picked up bass and pollack on a regular basis. What I found interesting was how the results were much better in terms of how I was able to set the kayak up on the drift. The direction of the breeze meant that I could drift across the direction of flow and cast up tide.  This isn’t always possible, but it made a big difference presenting the lures like this and resulted in over a dozen bass.  

It was nice to pick up a few better pollack as well.

As usual with pollack, there's always the one that gets away.  The fish kelped me but I took my time and held the kayak as stationary as I could and fed it some line. It managed to swim free and just as I was getting it moving again, the hook pulled!

All in, another good days fishing and a weekend with great weather for September. We know this wont last. When there's the odd break in October, I'll be rinsing it any opportunity I get.  The next six months will be tough.

Talking Pollacks!

 

                                  The less you talk Pollacks the better....

Gear Review

I thought I would share my views on a few items that I’m currently using.  These have made life a little easier both on and off the water on my trips. These have been bought by me, not given to me, this kit works for me, it might for you.

On my last boat, the Hobie Outback, initially I ran a Lowrance 5HDI with one Hobie 12V 9AH battery. This equated to one average days usage on the water.  When I swapped this out for a Lowrance 7Ti, I had to carry two of these batteries. They were heavy and despite the connections being waterproofed to a point, the salt does everything in eventually. The old battery was mounted in the rear hatch, off the waterline and out of way.  Eventually I had to replace the pigtails and over time, the batteries degrade with use as well as cold weather.  When I moved to the Hobie Revolution 16, I had a look at the options on Lithium based batteries, there were lots of options going down the DIY route. There were no options available retail, at that time, in the UK, circa January 2019.  As such I opted for the FPV 12.5 17AH as I didn’t fancy risking my DIY skills, lithium batteries and water. The advice from the guys at FPV was good, the delivery from Australia was decent. 

The battery which you see in the bottom right is waterproof (heard that before?)  The weak point that I could see was the rubber washer connecting the female cable to the battery block, this looked over tightened to me, even marginally crushed. If it were to fail, other than the connections corroding, this would be where.  As such, I decided to encase the battery, connections and fuse in a Lock & Click box.  I drilled a hole, installed a gland and even kept the FPV inline fuse inside the box.  It might well be overkill, but if you’ve every driven 3 hours to a new venue to fish for two days and had kit like this fail, you’ll understand. The connections have a rubber o ring to provide a seal, if you were to install it without a watertight box. It's rated IP67 when connected, just make sure not to over tighten the connections. The weight saving versus SLA batteries is huge, this is just over a pound, against about 6 pounds on the old battery. Every ounce counts when I'm hauling out at the end of a session on some of the trickier launching spots. I also purchased caps for the connections, these keep all the components clean and out of harms way. All in, it should now be bomb proof and it has been so far. In terms of usage, it’s been faultless. The 7Ti is a thirsty unit but I can get two average days usage from this, without playing with the brightness settings to conserve power.

Speaking of power, this All Powers 372wh portable power supply has been great in my van.  It’s got AC sockets, 3 USB, 1 USBC ,2 DC outputs and a 12v cigarette socket. If you have a mobile that supports wireless charging it also does this.  It’s simple to use and while it's not switched on in the image here, it displays how much power you’re drawing and how much battery time you have left in use. It’s a lightweight and compact unit, check the detailed spec online. It’s been great for powering our phones, iPad and recharging things like headlight batteries or topping up the FPV battery. I went for this rather than another battery and split charger for the van for a few reasons. I could probably stretch a 5-day trip in the van, off grid, before it would need charging. I’ve done 3 so far and it’s been spot on. Add a solar panel and some Scottish sunshine and you’ll be good to go longer.  It has it’s limits in terms of what it will power, but it does what I need it do, so far at least. There are detailed reviews online, check them out if you’re in the market for power for camping and the like.

As far as coolers go, this is loud. At least we like the colour! I was in the market for a passive cool box after discounting installing a fridge and anything powered by gas.  Icey-Tek have a good reputation and after spending some time researching the options, I went for this. On unpacking the box, the first thing I noticed is that it’s incredibly sturdy, especially in comparison to the rubbish I’ve used in the past for bait or going to the beach for the day. It’s also heavy and has lots of insulation, I went for the 40L. This might go someway to the claims Icey-Tek make about keeping contents cool for ten days. In practical use, I would doubt it. When you factor in opening and closing and the variable volume of contents and the human factor, it would be a stretch. That said, I left 3 beers with some food in the van as a test, day 5 and I was so pleased I had 2 of the beers. It passed the test.  It has a drain plug on each side if you use ice. I got two of their large gel packs as this keeps the contents dry, throw in some ice on extended trips and you’ll be sorted. It closes with two heavy duty rubber toggles, if you keep these unfastened when not in use it will extend their life, they won’t stretch over time. I also added a cushion, so it doubles as spare seat inside the van or outside. In terms of capacity, they supply these from 25L to a huge 1100L commercial option. I’m really pleased with it. Just mind how you lift it when it’s full, less bottles might help of course….

Getting a 16ft 30+kg kayak on top of roof bars 7ft off the ground when you’re 5ft 8, presents a challenge. I can do it without the Rhino Side Loader, but somewhere shortly down the line, I would damage the van or myself. After a few shots at it I’ve got it working well. I add a towel on the roof, just about the side door, to protect the paint, then lift the front of the boat up on to the bar.  From there, I take the end of the boat, climb the step and push the lot across the bars. They’ll be a mistake made somewhere, probably the steps at the end of long day; I just need to take my time. To be fair I couldn’t consider some of the other loading options. The boat was overweight for two of them and the other looks like you’re carrying a selection of angle iron attached to the roof. It’s well made, has a few fitting options specific to different fittings at the roof bar end.  In terms if this, it looks like it would fit most roof bars but it’s worth checking.  It hooks around my Yakima Whispbars snug enough that it wont budge.  The support poll adjusts to height and it all packs away in the travel pack provided.  If you use it properly, it will help load a boat on to any vehicle if you need some assistance.

 

August round up, it ended with an explosion!

Since my last post I’ve had four sessions from my kayak, two of these were in the mini heatwave we had mid- month. I sweltered on 12th on my shore session and it wasn’t much cooler on 14^th and 15^th which made it a challenge.  One of the things I’ve wanted to do is chill out a little more, see some sun rises and some sunsets rather than driving two hours and then start my sessions. The van has been great for that.

Anger management!

I had a beer and watched the sun go down and at that point realised I had left my kayak trolley in the garage, super! So the three-day trip was not off to a great start.  My wife met me halfway the next day so I got off to later start than I would have liked but I was fishing for 11am. I found some consistent surface action for the first time this year, the Bass were small but plentiful, even in that weather. I got bored and after a few hours went exploring the coastline, caught lots of Pollack and found the source of all the seals in the area.  This is a rarely fished stretch of the coast and I had a few close calls having them come close to taking fish a few times.  For the shore angler this would be a long walk to find yourself competing with a dozen plus seals.

A cracking cave, when I see these I always wonder if it's been explored or has some history of being used by smugglers. Or, is this the hole through which seals are deposited into the sea down in the SW!

I felt a change was needed and relocated that evening.  I launched at dawn with high hopes of some better fish.  I set up some meticulous drifts along a stretch of coast that normally produces the goods, but it took me an hour to get an offer. I eventually found some fish but they were finicky and in 25ft of water.  I had to finesse to some slimline soft plastics and 7g jig heads to hook them, initially I thought it was mackerel hitting the FBM, but the change converted the knocks into fish. With sun burning a whole in me by mid-morning and a dozen schoolies returned, I didn’t feel the effort was worth it and peddled back.  The small tides, weather and finding two nets strung up in 12ft of water burst my bubble.  I had a look around me, without mentioning the area, this stretch of coastline is having much more pressure applied to it this year. Campers, kayaks and centre console boats and almost 100% from England, left me feeling it’s best avoided till the end of September for my next visit.  The number of fish had been reasonable, but the size was a disappointment over the two days.

My intention was to fish for Perch on the Sunday.  The best part of a bottle of Port put that idea to bed and the next morning I had a lazy day and watched a movie before travelling home. That was a decent enough Sunday morning in the sunshine and nice way to wrap up the trip.

I had another early launch last Thursday, I’ve only fished here once before, mainly as launching and retrieving is a problem. The storm from two days previously had left some lift in the sea. As I paddled the gulley parallel to the shore to avoid the weed and boulders directly in front of me, I must have past over a submerged rock. When the following trough arrived, it deposited me on a large boulder that was now exposed, and yak went over! Thankfully I was quick to bail out before it went over completely.  I was in about 5ft of water, so it was no big deal, but not a great start.  The fishing was pretty good but it only lasted 3 hours as the forecast was an absolute fantasy, from the three sources I use. I checked these again when I was on the water, I was sitting in 1 metre swells and a wind from a different direction?  The fishing was good with decent numbers of Bass and the Pollack were a nuisance to be honest. Knowing what the landing was going to be like and having already taken a dip, I cut my losses.  It’s as well I did to be fair; it was the trickiest I’ve had. I’m pretty sure if I were in my old Outback there would have been problems.  The Revo is easier to control coming on to a beach with some surf.  I’ll be back here but it will take some really settled weather. I’m just glad I didn’t head the 4 miles along the coast that was my intention, the fact I caught fish straight away saved the day.

This brings me to yesterday.  I had a nice evening in the van on Saturday night, a view with a sunrise in the morning, my kayak trolley is in the van and I’m having a coffee looking at the weather apps, cynically thinking, what shit show is on the cards today? 

   Jamie joined me and off we went, into the tide.  It was good to have some company and some chat, the venue can be challenging, we both feel better buddied up here.  We had our arse kicked here in September last year and as we went out, we were both thinking about what was coming down the line, fishing and weather. For once the forecast was actually better than expected. The fishing was just something else.

Decent sized schoolies from the get go.

Waves of Bass, some of these returns lasted about 50-100 yards on a drift. Fish were hitting the surface at points.

As I was landing fish at times there were two or three others coming up with it, the fishing was on fire!

We would drift and cast and then troll back.  At one point the fishing actually went up a gear and we couldn't get back to start the drifts without hooking up. We took a break here and there and chatted about what we could do to sort out a better fish or two, livebait was spoken about be we were not geared up for it.  The bigger lures I had were in the 60g range and were only fit to be trolled on the both the rods I was using.

There seemed to be some bigger targets in there but there was a lot of competition.  I've never had a session from the yak that's been as relentless, peddling, casting and catching for 6 hours, totally exhausting. Jamie said at one point he'd had enough.  I reminded him that days like this are few and far between.  I was just dialled in, for me, every cast I was expecting a lump and I was like that till we headed in. In the end we didn't get "the" one, but had some nice fish. I had 9 over 50cm, the best was 54cm and most were high 40's and plump.  

The big guy was nearly asleep at the helm on the way back in.

With the numbers, a tremendous days fishing when the kit you use, fish and weather all come together, just a fantastic overall experience.

 

 

Predictably difficult

I’m off for a few days now so looking at the forecast I decided to fish yesterday afternoon into darkness. The calm spell was coming to an end overnight Wednesday into Thursday and I intended to be fishing when that happened.  Despite the tiny tides I thought this would present an opportunity as I’ve done well in the past when after a calm spell of a few days, the wind kicks in.  Possibly one of the hottest afternoons I’ve fished in Scotland at 28c, predictably the fishing was rock hard, but I had a couple of small fish.  As the sun went down, I managed two school Bass on the Autowalker as well as a couple of Mackerel.  If Dimitrios @Lurmaniac looks in, that’s the lure christened!  I switched over to a Dolive when it was dark and had another couple of fish just as the wind picked up and the tide dropped. I was feeling positive that the prospect of a better fish was on the cards. A couple of flashes of lightning put an end to that and my first night session for years ended abruptly just as I was getting into it.  Being on the rocks at night alone, with a rod, didn't feel like the right place to be in those circumstances.  I’ll get a few sessions in somewhere Friday to Sunday on the kayak, not sure on the prospects to be fair but I’ll have a go.  I’ll check the forecast, load the van up and see where it takes me.

Nice weekend

We dodged through the thunder and lightning on Friday night and just before we set up the van it came to an end.  After a bit of a lay in on Saturday morning and two of the finest bacon rolls ever made, I picked up a few fish in a 45 min session.  I wish it was always that easy, the best one might have made just over 2 pounds but a handful of school bass and a mackerel was a nice way to get to lunchtime before breaking camp and moving on.  

Saturday night saw the wife and I eat out together for the first time in 6 months which was nice. It still feels a bit odd to be honest, people are still cagey.  Shortly after we finished we just decided to go back to the van for a few drinks and a movie. The overnight rain was pretty heavy and it kept me awake, there were a few growls and some snoring, the dog made a few noises as well.  Sunday morning arrived and we slung the door open and had a coffee as the sunshine poured in.  The three of us were a bit lazy and we didn't get moving till late morning. Two hours fishing was agreed as a trade off, for what I'm not sure yet but I had pretty much the same result.  I just had to work a little harder to get them in the gin clear water and early afternoon sunshine.  Sink and draw with a FBM in deeper water did the trick.  I also managed my first Bass off the surface, tragic as that is with it being August.  We had a great weekend despite it starting with a burst valve while checking the spare tyre pressure. The to do list for this week includes that and a decent windbreak.

Lucky old boat

It was nice to see Paul getting amongst the fish from my old boat in NE of England.  Nice one, good to see it getting a run out.

Catching on a catch up

It was great to see Sam and as usual, we caught a few fish. My Perch gear took an absolute hammering, lures, weights, jig heads and leader. If there was a snag Sam would find it, good to see you again but let's make the social on a weekend.  Today's been a challenge! 

Slow day on the bay

Being a month late to the party and looking at reports from last week, I wasn't optimistic about catching a Tope. I wish I'd been wrong, we didn't get a run all day.  In fact, the fishing was slow and it was a day of picking up bits and bobs, for Jamie at least. I was left with the bits as he caught  a few species more than me.

An early Smoothound on last years crab, great fun on the 6 pound class rod.

As usual we had a few laughs, most of which were on me as I was having an absolute shitter of a day and wasn't sure what was coming next.  The most positive thing I can say about yesterday was that I didn't end up falling out the boat...

We contemplated staying out to fish the start of the flood but decided against it. About an hour after this picture was taken  the wind picked up and it was a sea of white caps from the NW.  I hope I'm on better form on Tuesday, back to freshwater and hopefully some Perch with my mate Sam.

Back on the Revo

At long last we were back afloat. Our chosen venue is always a challenge and given we were not match fit it was a tiring day. We battled against what is a heavy flow of water, even on yesterday’s tides, for most of the day. The fishing was a little disappointing and I averaged about a fish an hour, it was a long day. It was the kind of day for me that every fish felt like a fluke and I was working out nothing as I was going about it, if that makes sense?  There was hardly any sign of baitfish and nothing happened that would lift our hopes too much that things would switch on. We also gave the surrounding area a good look over as well. It was interesting to note a spot with 5 seals lined up feeding near the shore over the top of the tide. I’ve not had shore session with lures at night for a while, this area is most definitely worth a look.

My intention was to target Tope the next day, the weather window to do this comfortably was about 4am to about 9am. It was hard to leave the van after Saturday’s effort, so I made my mind up and had a few beers, a chat with a couple of anglers I had met, and a lazy Sunday morning on the beach. It was just nice to wake up to a view when I opened my van door.

Hitting the road

We thought we would be on the road by Easter but then the world had  the handbrake firmly applied. Over the last three days we reconnected with old friends, got lucky with the weather and visited a beer garden that had just opened.  It was an enjoyable and long awaited start to van adventures. Life's just got a little better.

Walkabout

I was feeling motivated yesterday, walking, climbing and casting in new areas.  I’m actually aching today and opted to have a solpadol  with my breakfast.  It was an interesting day where I had decent numbers of fish at points then didn’t have a touch for 3 hours straight. The highlight of the day were 4 fish caught sink and draw in about 30ft of water, unusual for me. The only lure they were interested in at that point was a khaki FBM which had seen better days.  Funny how the fish appear to know you don’t have a spare.

A good Friday

Despite just being back at work on Monday I took a half day, it was a good call.  I'm loving fishing weightless at the moment. My old Century HPR is just a great rod for this type of approach, it's a joy to use.

Nothing off the top yet which is odd. I tried the Autowalker, casts well, love the action and I did lose a fish on it. I also had my first Bass on the FBM this year, pictured below.

I managed to hang the lure up and I didn't expect to get it back. When it came free I cranked it in as fast I could to check the leader and this little fish wolfed it. A further 2 Bass and a stray Coalie  followed in 6 casts retrieved at top speed., whatever works I suppose...

Shambles

For business, for the economy, for outdoor pursuits. I said at the start of this our FM would never walk any of this forward, despite her statements it would be considered. As we move into phase 1.5 the virtual borders continue. I'm classed as a tourist in my own country if I wish to travel responsibly more than 5 miles. It's increasingly difficult to understand where the guidance which is riddled with contradiction comes from.  Some good work has been done and I feel for those that still have to shield, but Sturgeon is moving at a snails pace. A lot of it makes no sense and the little smirks  where we are fed the odd crumb of freedom is sickening to watch.

Thankfully I'm back at work, my employer is not based in Scotland, just as well really.

Ambush anti climax

A dour session to be fair, but I managed to find some fish where I expected them to be as the tide dropped. I’ve tracked baitfish and bass from my kayak at this spot and set up an ambush from the shore. I caught three in about 10 mins, then nothing for the next 2 hours. I expected the last couple of hours to be reasonable as the fish passed through but hey ho, that’s fishing. The DoLive quietly flicked into their path did the trick. The rest of session I had been tramping over boulders without a touch, kayak time soon, hopefully for some Tope.

18 Bass from three sessions and apart from two, they could have been the same fish, we can but try.

Dimitrios kindly sent my two new lures to try. These were designed by a mate of his from Cyprus, no doubt they look the part. The Autowalker at 115mm and just over 20g should cast like a bullet. They look to have Decoy hooks and being through wired, up to the job. I’ve not had a fish from the surface yet this year but I’ll give them a run out on my next session and report back. There's been some nice Bass caught on these having had a look on YouTube.

Hot hot hot!

Jamie and I had our first joint session of the year yesterday. We travelled in two vehicles for obvious reasons and chatted on the phone about where we could have been today, but that will come soon enough. One thing I pointed out was at the minute, this area was on top of the highest water temperature for ten years for this day in June. Probably not too surprising given we’ve had the sunniest May on record and possibly explained what happened later in our session. After Saturday I was dressed for the weather, wide brimmed hat and sun mitts that I usually wear when I’m abroad, it was just great to be back out again.

After a couple of blank hours Jamie opened his account with his first fish of the year, a nice little Bass of about 1.5 pounds as a breeze picked up putting some movement on the water. Until that point there had been no seals, birds and the sea was oily calm with no signs of life.  What happened next was unusual, for about an hour, on every other cast, I had Garfish follow and nip a variety of lures. Some were big, some were small and in between them I caught a few school bass. Jamie who was 30 yards away didn’t see one, bizarre given what was happening in front of me. I caught one here 6 years ago on a Mag Popper and I was wishing I had a small sea trout metal with me. I’m certain I would have landed a few yesterday. There’s no doubt we have them in Scottish waters, but I’ve never come across so many before. Maybe it was the unseasonal weather we’ve been having?

I picked my way through some small Bass here and there, the DoLive’s which were effective on Saturday were redundant yesterday. As we moved, I changed to the Wexford Worm AKA the Wave Bamboo Stick and picked up two better fish around 2.5 pounds from two gulleys as Jamie watched while taking a break. It’s a great way to fish just rolling these around, nice on a warm afternoon, minimum effort then “dink” fish on! It was good fun with the fish taking some line as they tore down the gully with my rod high to keep the line away from the rock ledges. We called it a day shortly after that, another super day where you appreciate freedom even more.

Unlocked!

Me smiling again, with not a beer in site as well. 

A magnificent day back on the shoreline, fantastic weather and some Bass caught weightless and weedless on a DoLive. It was such a nice way to fish today I eventually just stuck with that, working the gulleys, breaking waves and any tide I could find. It’s good to be back! Let’s hope the worst is behind us and we can move on with our lives in general as well as fishing.

Nearly June and the first fish of the year. I was certainly pleased to see it.

The chunkiest of the day, this one and three of his little pals came out a classic gully scenario. I had a little spell where if I managed to line the cast up and drift it along on the correct line I knew I was getting a hit.

Hello!

For anyone who still occasionally looks in on Tide Lines I’m still alive! Like lots of people I’m furloughed at the minute and facing the same uncertainties as most of us. I’m doing alright and hope you are as well.

This is the first time I’ve logged on to my blog since November last year, it’s also the longest lay off I’ve had from fishing that I can remember. Not that it’s been too far away from my thoughts. The ideas and plans that I started to think about around September last year have kind of came to fruition. It is also fair to say that executing them completely is on the back burner till further notice.

I looked for a van for around five months and went from considering a VW Caddy Maxi to T5 during the process. The change was mainly driven to accommodate weekends away, not just for myself, but also my wife and our dog. I eventually bought my T5 in January and have been getting it set up since. The money pit is now ready to hit the road. Being able to make the most of the better spells of weather and do long weekends trips or longer should add another dimension to my fishing. If it all goes wrong in the year ahead, I’ve always got somewhere to live…

My gear is ready and so am I, lets see what Sturgeon says in the weeks ahead. The fish have had a decent break, as have I, game on sometime soon. I’ll leave you with a quote from The Old Man and the Sea. If you’ve read it, you’ll see the link to the name of my boat.

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”

If you’re struggling things will get better, if you need help, talk to someone.