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.