That time of year again

For the past few years at roughly the same time of year I've found myself looking at the satellite sea temperature model for the Irish Sea. So being the 1 st of April here it is and as usual at this time of year I wish the nice orange colour was extending up the east coast from Wexford in Ireland around the Isle of Man and up and into Luce Bay but its not, so I'm off to dry my eye's and deal with it...

As you can see the gulf stream water has to circulate Ireland and sort of meet up. As much as I like Ireland it would handy at the moment if it was located about 500 miles north. Here is the 24th of April last year for comparison, still a long way to go till June and 11 c

Start of the nonsense

First mini species of the year. Having gone down to get some water for my ragworm I couldn't help having a quick dangle to see if there were any Goldsinny or Corkwing Wrasse around yet. The tide had just started to come in but on my visit today there was nothing around except these little chaps ( Common Blenny). Species 4 for the year, said I wouldn't do this again this year :) only42 more to get to beat 2011!

Loch Ken

I had a day trying for Pike and Perch aboard Stuart's boat on Loch Ken yesterday. Its the first time Stuart's managed to skunk out on this venue. Despite it looking warm it was actually pretty cold with a brisk northerly wind and the spawning season possibly cooling down the predators appetite. That was the excuse that we agreed on at the end of the day as you do... the other being it was my fault being a newbie here.

Stuart in desperation deployed " the ultimate one" as you can see its quite a lure but this too failed to provoke a response. The only interest that we had was a Signal Crayfish which took a ledgered Mackerel bait that Davy was fishing. These things appear to be a menace of plague proportions introduced to the Loch they are an invasive species originally from the USA. It seems unlikely that the proposed commercial fishery that might address the problem will be agreed. Greed would get in the way over common sense and set a precedent that would see other people follow suit and introduce the Crayfish as a potential revenue stream.

Sea Trout out'nabout

Managed the first ST of the year tonight with a quick session heading south on the way home from work tonight. The fish showed itself and predictably ( for a ST in the sea anyway) took the lure first time when I managed to eventually put a cast on its nose after snagging the lure and then wrapping the line around the tip at the end of the previous cast. Having made a meal of covering it I thought it would have been long gone. Will put the pic up Thursday as I cant find my cable tonight, looked about a pound and half.

I'm looking forward to making the most of my estuary ticket for the Tay this year. Roll on May when that particular sytem should really get going for lures

Loch Etive Club match 24th

Enjoyed my day out as the weather was fine but the fishing patchy. The attendance dropped a little but Jamie and John were joint 1 st with 7 and 4 fish respectively and I was 3rd with 6 fish. I was missing one decent fish to bump me up....

Species caught were, Spurdog, Thornies, Cod , Whiting and Gurnard

Here is a link to the report and another blog I administrate for my club.

http://ayrseaanglingclub.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00Z&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00Z&max-results=18

Football or fishing.....asked again

Having asked this question before ....

Today football is the winner for 75% of the my hometown of Kilmarnock where good days are few and far between football can be life , community and history. With industry down the pan unemployment high and hope is something that rhymes with dope and programmes like "The Scheme" promoting the bad side of Killie its good to see a wee town on top

Celtic 0 Kimarnock 1

League Cup Champs!

A women in waders that can actually catch fish

http://www.whatacatch.net/show_about_kathryn.asp

Holiday + cruise channel on Sky fishing got a wee bit more intersting

Kathryn Maroun my new best fishing buddy

Butter fingers

The form book was not torn up today with no new pictures for the blog...

I am however getting closer and actually put my hands on two fish today getting wet up to my elbows in the process. I fished a dropping tide for Sea Trout and hooked two fish within a couple of minutes of each other. I tend not to carry a net so with both the fish beached I got between the fish and the sea on each occasion only for them to wriggle unbelievably in about an inch of water and shake the hooks out. The fish were just short of a pound each I guess and their tactics at wrestling were spot on Fish 2 - Martin 0 amateur hour on the beach for me as they both slipped out my hands heading seaward from whence they came. Good laugh just the same but the nets going next time.

Chasing ghosts

I had a wander in the moonlight last night, nice night to be out. After two hours of flogging the water chasing ghosts it was time to head home. Its been a lean start to 2012. Nobody said it was easy....3 sessions 2 blanks and a close but no cigar for my efforts.

Club prize giving

There will have been a few sore heads this morning, my own included....

The species trophy I picked up for 2011 is a beauty and the picture here does not do it justice. Its made of Dingwall scalloped edged glass engraved with a variety of species of fish. It made the time I spent catching the 45 Scottish saltwater species worth it. This was a new trophy sponsored by Willie Kennedy Plumbers. For last year it was combined for boat and shore for 2012 it will be the shore only as Willie has donated another and we will run a shore and boat award for this in the year ahead. The silverware was the shore championship and the shield was for the pairs which I won with Jamie.

Top night was had by all. Lynne did here normally good version of Bobby Brown - My Prerogative on the karaoke which was a total disaster. I did my own version of Coldplays -Yellow which was apparently confirmed as OK but it was the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning( never a good sign)

Lynne also bid £65 for a signed Ayr Utd so that her brother Brian a massive Killie fan could set fire to it. Just as well she was outbid as we were in the Ally McLeod suite at Ayr Utd when this was being spoken about. Brian was also with us so it was a close call.

The river....

From around the age of 8 the river Irvine was where I spent a lot of my time on my own throwing Mepps and flies( in hindsight) to the mostly elusive Brown Trout in the Hurlford and Kilmarnock stretches of my local river. The recent trip to the Tay while a completely different animal in terms of scale brought back a few memories of how therapeutic it can be. The repetition of casting and watching a lure swinging around in the current can be hypnotic and when things go your way it gets smashed wide open as the rod in your hand jolts in to life......

I think I'll try and get back up in March chasing the state of mind that got me hooked in the first place.

Tay day Salmon

The lads from the club had a day on the Tay on Friday. Stuart organised this with gillie Colin, good day plenty of laughs along the way as usual.I got into a fish within minutes of starting pictures taken by Eddie as I was playing the fish. Unfortunately when Colin put the fish in to the net it slipped back out and left a hook in the net and the fish was gone. This resulted in some lighthearted abuse from me as well as some incoming from the rest of the guys in our party directed at yours truly.Rodney managed this super fish a 12 pound spring Salmon. The method ?? A Decoy Bachi jig head he borrowed from me used with a black and red firetail jelly Pollack lure.....

Coast to Coast today

Went to an east coast hot spot today to try for the first Bass of the year. It was -3.5 in my driveway and the NW that was forecast seemed to be on plan for later today. Anyway when I arrived the wind was there as well as 4-5ft swell and lots of dirty water. I tried a couple of lipless vibration baits which were probably the only option...no joy. I met some decent lads who were down to target Bass on the fly. We had a chat exchanged some banter and headed off our separate ways... nice to meet you, will check your blog out.

I then headed  off somewhere north  for for two hours at new mark Rodney put me onto after gaining some knowledge from an old timer who is no longer with us. Neither of us had fished it to date but I think that may well change . No doubt its a decent prospect as I had two follows where I had to sweep the rod left to keep the lure working before both fish turned away and these were better than decent fish at that. I also had two separate boils at my lure as well as seeing a fish splash. It was only 40 minutes away and given this was about 1pm today in bright conditions I think you will see some posts with some nice ST caught from it soon.

South Uist

If you fancy something different or can cast a fly check out South Uist. The cost of travelling by ferry has come down somewhat due to RET- road equivalent tariff.

There is some super Seat Trout, Brown Trout and Salmon to be had. The sea angling is just about not done at all. I used to spend my summers up here as a kid and have had holidays up there all too infrequently where I scratched at the surface of the potential. The east coast is deep and the west coast has some fantastic sandy beaches which now hold Bass. There is a cracking tidal race on Benbecula where my cousin Ian and I caught Tope from the shore. Its just really interesting water which screams Bass to me nowadays. Unfortunately the last time I was up there in January was for my aunt Audrey's funeral . She will be sadly missed by us all and I have a lot of good memories of her doing her best to look after both me and Ian as she constantly tried to make sure we were fed watered and washed as we tore about the local beaches an lochs without a care in the world... good times.

If you have your head on and can deal with the weather and environment you will get your rewards.

John Kennedy & Ian Kennedy South Uist- Google them if you want to catch Sea Trout, Salmon and some special Brown Trout fishing. I have included a link from a visiting angler that I just came across.

http://www.fish-wild.co.uk/articles/features/1201-eight-days-in-south-uist

Ian pictured above didn't catch the fish above but did ghillie it... be warned if he has a rod in his hand and you take a break he has the annoying knack of catching fish like this. Good angler and good tier of flies and with the exception of his father probably knows as much as there is to know about the loch fishing up there.

Soft plastic nonsense

This is one good reason to have breathalyser software on your Paypal

Over the last few months I've been buying a few bits and bobs here and there so when May/June comes the spending will be done and the fishing can begin in earnest. I just hadn't realised that so much had been lying around in a variety of small packages in the tackle emporium that is " the garage" Wide gape hooks, weighted jig heads, Wave Worms, Hart Absolute's and the Xlayers, Illex Gambits and Nitros from last year to make up the numbers. To be fair most are pretty cheap which is just as well.

The good news is I've not bought any more hard lures and wont be...don't need them. I will be back out next weekend if the weather's right I will hopefully have something to post.

Only one team in Ayrshire

Had a day out at the League Cup semi final yesterday and there was some banter to be had with some of my Ayr sea angling club mates.

It took an extra time goal to beat the "Honest Men" The pictures got worse as the day went on so sorry about the blurred images of the female contingent of our party of merry supporters. It was probably how the actually appeared to me at the time....out of focus and furry around the edges

Welcome to 2012!

Not much been happening fishing wise so my blog has been neglected. I missed the last club match of 2011 as a result of day surgery on the 28th of December but don't think I missed much due to the weather.

Feeling a little stir crazy so will be out an about within the next two weeks. My blog is now into its 4th year and in 2011 had over 4500 hits and strangely I thought a good number of these from some far flung places...worldwide!

I don't foresee as many posts in the coming year as I had over 90 fishing sessions/days last year and as it stands I don't see that number being repeated this year.

So thank you to all those that have shown an interest in the blog and all the best for 2012

Cheers

Martin

Dog eat dog in the marine world

What a picture this is from Marlin Magazine's selection of the best pictures of the year...awesome

Hurricane Bawbag

Thursday....what a day, apart from being a great day for kite flying..... Scotland

1.Only country in the world to name a hurricane after human genitally

2.Religious war... during and after football games ?

3.The Krankies ?

4. Nicola Sturgeon's hairdo , seriously WTF ???

SW club match

Cant say I had much notion for the match but with the bait sorted and not getting out last weekend off I went. Shane and I arrived to be met with a decent sea running and nice chocolate brown water. Ten anglers started the match and were spread out across two points on quite a wide area. I opted to fish the inside of one of the points with a nice bay, decent stance and a rising tide. As it happens it proved to be a mistake but at the end of the day I took the easy option to fish with the wind as opposed to against it and it worked against me. Eight fish, 1 Flounder, 1 Coalie and 6 Whiting. Willie won the match with a cracking catch of 42 assorted fish and there were ten decent Cod caught including Stuart's fish which took the sweep money at a nice 4.13oz