The first Pike and Perch of 2013

After Lynne had a last minute change of plans at the weekend it left a slot for me to catch up with Stewart on a trip to Loch Ken for the first time this year. There was a strong easterly breeze forecast for most of the day but nothing that would cause us too much of a problem.

The tactics were to trawl with a selection of plastics and metals. Stewart was off the mark quickly hooking a fish shortly after we started. I’d noticed a fish boil just under the surface as we passed it and almost straight away Stewart got hit but after a moment or so the fish came off.

Stewart saw most of the action with another couple of small Pike and apart from me getting a few hits on a Fox Spinner blade and shad combo I had to wait till late afternoon before I hooked up.




 

I then had 3 fish in 20 minutes. We discussed how this can sometimes happen where the fish just seemingly appear to switch on. While it was certainly a bright day the sun was far from going down but the slight change of light appeared to make the difference.

I’ll get one of these Loch Ken monster Perch yet. This was my first trip of the year for them. It would have been really lucky to get one, on balance I certainly wouldn’t have deserved it or in other words literally earned my stripes. Bait and switch or bait and wait with plenty of groundbait going in and waiting it out would probably do the trick. With the first frost not far away I might need to wait till next year to set my stall to get a 3 pound plus fish…. but I will get it ;0)

Thanks for the day out Stewart.

And then it happened

Friday night was bright so bright you could see individual stones and weed in the water at midnight. I’d lost a substantial fish at 10.30 in really odd circumstances after the gentlest of takes  I could barely keep up with it as it ran towards me and then held solid and started to take line and run parallel to the beach but then the hooks pulled for some reason? Very strange that one. I picked up a couple of school Bass and called it a night as I had an early start.
In the morning the plan was to throw some SP’s into a mark which is thick with kelp but has sand just out of casting range. I was enjoying doing this as with the surf rolling over the kelp and boulders I watched the wave’s turnover it was easy to imagine a nice fish making its way along the shore. It felt like the right plan as the Wave Worms couldn’t have been fishing any better to be honest. As the tide started to rise I had 3 offers from small fish, one was a Bass as it splashed on the surface and the other two maybe Wrasse or a Pollack so with no solid hooks ups it was time for a move. The best part of 5 hours later I still had nothing for my efforts despite things looking pretty much spot on. I was thinking of bed for a few hours when I lifted into a slight bump on the lure as it dropped.

The fish took a white weedless & weightless Wave Worm. The Seaguar 20 pound fluro looks like tow rope in the picture

  Happy lad! It gave a proper account of itself with a couple of twitchy moments at the water’s edge before I got my hands on it. I checked the camera lens was clear, set the timer, knocked out what I thought was one picture but there were two for some reason. A quick measure and back she went. After that I pretty much packed up and went for a pint, what else was there to do? I checked the B.A.S.S length to weight when I got to my digs and had a look on the web. Either it’s out a bit or I’m out with my measure by a couple of cm.  I called it 71cm to fork which by the looks of the LTW made it around 9 pounds, it's not that. Not too bothered about exacts, it’s the biggest Bass I’ve caught and the priority was to get it back with me having a picture. I wasn’t tempted to swing a fish of this size or  any other fish that’s being returned from a lip grip for a weight, no time for that to be honest and I’ve not had digital scales and a bag with me for wee while. So I would say 8 pounds for me to beat in the future.

After a couple or celebratory early afternoon beers the intention was to get some sleep before Callum picked me up for the night shift, no chance as I’d had big Bass caffeine. The next challenge was to try and get Callum a Bass on the fly at night. The fishing on the whole was not great and it didn’t exactly go by the numbers but he managed the fish below so I was delighted for him.

Check the fins in the flash light

 

Some light entertainment

I took a break from Bass fishing on Saturday to make the most of a lull in the weather and forecasted storms and rain heading our way over the week ahead.  The fishing was nonstop really with countless small Coalfish, Mackerel and of course a couple of Sea Trout which were the main target. With the rivers likely to be in spate shortly most of but not all of these fish will be heading up a burn or river very soon. This was just the change in scenery I needed. I fished on till 10.30pm with the intention of catching a fish or two in darkness. I've a lot to learn on this front as despite hearing and seeing fish I drew a blank despite adapting to a method I was sure would work at night. Its also the first time I've came across a seal actively hunting in darkness despite having a lot of night sessions under my belt. I'm not sure who got the biggest fright.

This one came home for my supper on Sunday, the first one I've taken this year.

As for the blog and Bass fishing? I’ve taken a couple of posts down and taken the blog off line as I don’t believe anything positive would’ve come from them at that point. It would though be fair to say that I put a different value on my Bass fishing than some, that’s just how I see it and more on that at some point in the future. The fishing’s been far from easy but with handful of fish and some nice ones at that it’s been worth pursuing.

No country for old Bass anglers

I spent some time in Wales last week with Matt. This was my first visit to Wales fishing on what is a rough and tough Pembrokeshire coast.  

The plan was for me was to get some fishing done before meeting up with friends in the Midlands. Plans were made the forecast was good and the drive was a long one.

When I arrived Matt had the burgers on the barbi and this Soulpad tent which was to me home for the next few days was good to go. It was spacious, comfortable and the inflatable bed was already sorted out as after the long drive I don’t think I had the puff to deal with it.

After a couple of beers it was off to bed for a 4am start. When we got back for breakfast Matt introduced me to Laver seaweed picked fresh from the shore we fished that morning. This was fried with butter and seasoned and I have to say, really nice and a very different accompaniment to the sausage and egg.

Matt has some really nice spots to fish. The conditions in general were good with lots of movement in the sea which was running clear and green with a nice white fizzy look to it that sharpens you up the minute you get close to it.

A Weslh Bass in action

The tactics were mainly SP’s and my Wave Worm Bamboo Stiks fished weedless and weightless seemed to work well fished in the rocky gully’s, white water and current. It’s a nice way to fish picking your moments to cast between breaking waves and basically keeping in touch with the lure while imparting a few taps and a little movement.

Not the biggest Bass when they wanted it the takes were solid and these Welsh fish tore around in the white water putting a smile on my face and a bend in the rod. Nice fishing.

Me perched at sunset

As happens Matt and I have the same camera. We lost various picture to water on the lense.When you're in the water with the waves an auto close shutter might be an improvement for the Lumix.

 The bamboo stik again

A Wrasse on SG slug

 

Half man half seal?

The bald eagle with one from a nice run you can see in the background

 

On our last afternoon the conditions weren’t great so we had a crack for Mullet, what a laugh. We eventually brought the fish on the feed and had a lot of chances ending up with one each. We could have had a few more and big fish at that. I had my first thin lip and Matt had thick lip. It was nice way to end the trip.

Matt's fish which was a little porker

My Mullet making a break for it

I like what Matt’s doing in Wales have a look Here He worked his socks (in his case a wetsuit) off to find the fish and we caught each session and I ended up with a dozen Bass on my visit. I’ll remember the fish below for a while, it’s not allways about big fish or lots of fish but sometimes  just that one moment, attention to detail, something shared then put into action, good memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Journey

jour·ney (jûr n )

n. pl.jour·neys

1.

a. The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip.

b. A distance to be traveled or the time required for a trip:

2. A process or course likened to traveling; a passage

 

 

I count myself lucky in a lot of ways when it comes to my fishing.  Over the last 15 years I’ve visited and fished in some great places. When I started out free lining  for Mackerel in Troon harbour as a kid I could only  dream of wetting a line in some far flung places for the huge fish that I might have saw in the pages of publications such as the Angling Times or Sea Angler back then. Equally, sleeping in a bus shelter waiting for the first bus home after fishing all night for Codling is a long way from getting dragged around like a rag doll 30 miles out in the Pacific attached to a Sailfish, great memories just the same of people and places, fish caught and of course fish lost across the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans the Caribbean and up in the Arctic.  I took getting spooled by an estimated 1000+ pound Blue Marlin pretty well for instance, the skipper took it worse than me I’d  had a good week, 5 Blues to 550+ pounds and a bonus Big Eye Tuna of 220 pounds, what’s to get upset about? I was lucky in Portugal landing a Mako on my own travel rod in the last 5 minutes of a tourist boat trip, lucky catching two GT’s on a canoe on a “day off” from the main trip, lucky beating a seal to my PB Mullet, it’s a borderline obsession you see.

Total bedlam

These days I’m happy closer to home catching Bass. At times chasing what might be described as the right fish seems a bit like me assuming the role of Captain Ahab and the Bass being Moby Dick ,as it stands today I’ve still got both legs and I’ve not had a boat wrecked so things are fine. I met an angler recently who got the fish he was after in June this year, he was 67 and yet again, recently it was reported on a forum that someone got the fish of a lifetime on his first attempt, it’s an odd thing this fishing and it can do strange things to your head if you let it but that’s the challenge and the uncertainty I guess. All I can do is learn, keep fishing and make the cast. The train might get into the station on the next trip or I may need to sit back and enjoy the view for a while, either way I’m still lucky.

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!