Some video from yesterdays trip

I managed to convert these today, looks warmer than it was!

It's simple, just dont blank

It would have been easy to better our last trip here earlier in the year, catch a fish, simple.


The morning was looking like another duck egg till Stewart caught a jack. The Perch had applied their cloaking device and it’s wasn’t looking good after numerous moves, stops and changes of lures.

I lost what I think was a decent Perch with the fish coming off just before I could see any colour. Stewart stuck to his trusty copper & silver spoon when we had a double he took the fish below and I had and 10 oz Perch on a Savage Gear diving prey….





I got some good video of this but HD takes crazy to time to load up on here, anyone got any ideas?

Davy was next up taking this fish on bait.

  I then hooked a fish jigging and I was hopeful it was my target of a decent Perch but it turned out to be a jack of about pound and a half.

After another move I connected with a Pike, fought & played, unhooked, say cheese time but the fish seemed to have rubbed itself with butter and after a kick and a flick it went back in the loch much to the guy’s amusement.

As we made our way back down the loch Davy got snagged and as the boat was positioned to free the lure I took the opportunity to sneak this one out. The reason I’m smiling as much below is the fish made a double break for freedom having applied the same butter as its pal I was just able to hold on to it.

Meteor storms, steady fishing and bad pictures

The seasons are changing with yesterday being the last day of official summertime it felt like it last night with clear skies, northerly wind and temperatures down to 2 degrees on my way home.


The fish were in the mood shortly after I started just after LT. I had changed hook patterns and used some super glue and positioned the hook further down the SP which helped hook up rates and converted the offers I had into fish. I didn’t do much wading last night and took some pictures but for some bizarre reason the all ended up like this? I think it was the change in temp and condensation in the camera, didn't pick up on this when I viewed them on the screen.

Nice enough fish and I added a stray Pollack.

The highlight of the night was a light on the horizon which grew brighter, got closer and seemed to pass over me from east to west disappearing over the western horizon and followed by a sonic boom. As it was directly above me I counted eight main parts to it followed by a smattering of smaller particles. It moved almost in slow motion and was bright enough to have the effect of putting every bird on the beach up in the air, amazing.

Bison breathable stocking foot waders

Excellent for mannequins ,Heron's or if you're old enough to remember The Goodies dummies

After reading that most seemed happy with these for the money I purchased a pair in May. The pair pictured on the bin are the 3^rd pair since May under warranty. My ex used to say, if you buy cheap you buy twice. Of course she was correct in this case anyway. My last pair were Bass Pro cheapos and lasted two years. The first pair of Bison’s lasted about a month before they started to leak around the seams on the crotch and right leg. The second pair leaked on the seam on the right and left leg around the knee area after about 4 trips. The third pair leaked 20 minutes into the first session, only a small leak but got worse again on the seam below the knee on both legs.

You don’t get much for £75 but thought I might have got May-Sept out of one pair. The fit I got was generous to accommodate layers and movement. It’s been pointed out to me that there just not articulated enough around key areas and I have to agree. According to the supplier I’m the only one with this issue….

So, if you stand like a Heron next to a stream once or twice a month these might be for you. If you’re an active angler I wouldn’t bother, not in my experience anyway. I can’t be bothered with discussion postage or diesel so a new pair from Scierra ordered today.I hope i have better luck with them.

Like night & day

Friday evening I managed to blank and wrapped it about 8.45 after a long day I decided that I would stay fresh for Saturday. The morning came and went, no Bass but a few Pollack. It was overcast with some wind and not a bad tide so tried the drop on two marks nothing.

I contemplated heading home about tea time as anywhere I went seemed barren. Having bumped into a couple of TLF members in the morning and afternoon they had one fish for their efforts…

Anyway, I had a word with myself and got booted up. Fished a banker mark, devoid of life. I thought about Sunday’s forecast which looked brutal and decided to get on with it.

I missed a fish before the first just under 2 pounds and then had a very busy hour before being washed off the mark including what felt like a close but no cigar moment.

The vague hint of the red light filter,banned this after the flash as well and nearly ended up on my arse in the drink

Still trying to work out if I was too rough or took too much time but the fish got the upper hand and the hook came out. The no light rule was applied as after a flash going off in waste deep water I felt the fishing might come on and it did with a cracking hour that made up for the rest of the trip with the best fish going 3’ish. For me this year the fish caught at night totally magnify the experience on all fronts, focus, slower pace and the anticipation of a take. When it happens it can vary from nothing to the drag peeling off line or the fish munching its way up the SP. Yes its unsociable, potential dangerous but I like it.

The magic cast

My long time bud Simon was on the phone today. It seems he parked the mountain bike and dusted down a rod and took his sons Euan and Lewis to a small tributary of the Nith recently. He spotted a nice overhang and after a few casts upstream with a Toby he connected with this nice Salmon. The boys seem delighted with the catch and Simon affirmed his 100 % catch rate from his sessions this year…..


I guess from an experience like this you just never know, they might get the bug and become a better fisherman than their dad ;-)

I’ll be down soon with a nice bottle of Barolo.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit – but just take your hands out your pockets when you fall over son, it’s been too long.

Return of the tramps tan & a couple of Pike

30 mph winds, bright sunshine great day for the topping up the hands, head and neck. I'm off to Crete soon and it’s going to be patch work quilt material, anyway, the fishing. I found a corner with the wind off my back as I was feeling lazy.  Water level worse than yesterday, yes even higher. I tried a new spot. Fishing buddy Scott Hutcheson had sent me a package with some Relax Kopyto shads. This was much appreciated as tackle losses were heavy yesterday and also set the trend for today as fishing these deep is not without its risks in the flooded boulder fields I was fishing. I was also left with some £ shop wire traces Jamie thankfully donated yesterday, the wire was fine but the clips and swivels were woeful but better than nothing.

First up a Perch but couldn’t be bothered getting the camera out. Then along came a Pike….

This one was a thrash and jump merchant

Lost shortly afterwards like everything else in my bag

I covered a lot of ground with nothing to show for my efforts and then I got snagged about 20 yards out…but then, the snag shook its head and stayed deep zipping off on a number of nice runs this fish was as fit as a fiddle, not wasting any energy on jumps it left some nice tail patterns in the black water. I was keen to see what had put a proper bend in my HPR and looked for a better spot to land the fish, not before it got its head down for a few more runs.

Green, red chartreuse shad

I had my camera on a lanyard and my Bass bag in my pocket, gave it a swing in the bag and it went 7.9 and was sent on its way.

I lost a Perch but moved along the bank trying some more SP’s on 10g heads losing nearly everything in my bag. The weedless heads 3.5-5g were no use, too much wind and not enough feel, nothing on spoons and I even tried an X rap so it was time for  home and a beer.

A couple of days of slow fishing

Fished Sunday morning , lost a fish worth having after about 10 minutes in a really rough piece of ground. I then had 5 wind knots and having had 2 this year this was a real treat. I also lost three lures. I had a final rally and was delighted to catch a seagull about 40 yards out on a Patchinko 2 which stayed airborne till  about ten feet out. It was only beak hooked and just a school gull about 3 feet on the ruler and 4 pounds in weight and was safely returned to the sky to fly again.

Breath deeply, forget about the knots, the lost fish, lures and the gull...

Sunday night 2 hours of a rising tide in darkness completley ruined by six goons taking pictures of the moon and flashing headlights in the general area I intended to fish. I left them to their general bawbagary and headed home.... a waste of one of the best tides of the month. I could have moved but was'nt in the mood. Having had very few blanks this year sometimes you just need to take your medicine.

On Monday Jamie joined me for a Perch session and we started fishing about 2pm. The water level had gone up by about 20 ft and seemed to have totaly changed the holding areas. Jamie had a Pike and I had a Pike and around ten Perch but they were all pretty small. What I did notice is that without using SP's I would have struggled to get any Perch as they were hard on the bottom at nearly full range. Hope they take the plug out soon to get it back to a better level.

Ouch!

Stewart  sent me this picture. He was fishing with fellow club member Davy this week when the trip was cut short with a trip to A&E

Davy let a Pike slip out of his grip when unhooking the fish.... Stewart was unhappy to have the trip cut short as the fish were just starting to come on.  It's just bad angling, how could  you be so selfish  Davy ??

But serioulsy, its easily done. Spot the dodgy crimp tut tut!

SW early Sunday morning

With the weather due to break on Monday with what looks like a particularly snotty forecast Jamie and I decided to fish Sunday early o’clock. This was a wee bit of struggle for me after fishing Saturday morning.

This fish took the SP confidently as it dropped into the water @ around 2am. There was a rock just behind me that made the self-timer picture easy enough.

It was a calm night and we both caught fish but wrapped it up at 5am with a strengthening northerly wind. By this point no amounts of Red Bull were working for me so we got the head down till 8am after a drive to mark B.

Jamie just happened to be next to me when this one hit the lure at range. There was a fair amount of activity from Terns, Sea Trout, Mullet and Bass given it was a smaller tide, hope we catch a break with the weather next weekend.

Connected

I’ve seen some discussion on a few forums recently about this fish versus that fish and reasoning why some people target a specific species. They’re easier, they’re only small fish, and it’s a diddy species essentially calling into question the angler’s ability to catch anything else. While I can sort of see the argument I guess you get extremists in any walk of life. It’s all just fishing to me.....

For me, with the exception of using a fly rod lure fishing provides the most connected feeling making an

inanimate  object animated enough to fool in this case the humble Perch.

 It was a dour morning and the Perch didn’t seem interested in any of the spoons I initially threw at them. The fish above took a Savage Gear 4play on a 10g head bumped on the bottom and then left motionless.

A Pike had a go at a small fish I was retrieving but didn’t seem interested in the 4play so I put on an orange Atom and it took it first cast.

To mix it up a bit I tried the suspending Flatt Shad but only had this fish to show for my efforts, worked hard with two sweeps of the rod tip then left stationary.

The wind had got up a bit so I tried a pink Savage Gear Dying Minnow, don’t think it’s supposed to be used rigged like this but nobody had told the fish. I was able to cast this a little further into the headwind to find some deeper water and it was fish after fish.

The Pike fancied a bit of the pinkie as well.

Teeth, stripes and some silver

The weather forecast for Saturday said bright sunshine and clear skies so I decided to park the Bass for the time being and head off with Stewart for Pike and Perch. Imagine my surprise when we found ourselves in the early morning rain and fog at our chosen venue…..

Anyway the fishing started brightly when I had a nice fish on a Flatt Shad after five minutes, Stewart provided this gem of me below.

Honestly I'm sober

This one but about 15 minutes later I caught another on the same lure.

I worked my way into a weedy corner with a stream running in which was a nice feature when I started to pick up a Perch or two after a switch to an Abu Atom, I call it the cannibal colour for obvious reasons.

Stewart had taken different approach using bait and lures and I could see him further up the bank catching some fish as I moved around from rock to rock.

I made my way back up and took and short break and after a catch up with Stewart switched to a 3.5g Illex Texas jig head and Lunker City Ribster courtesy of a fishing buddy Jake Schogler and on my first cast I pinched this from under Stewart’s nose who managed to get a video clip of the scrap, will post this up at some point.

I  swapped  lures and tried various SP’s and eventually connected with a better Perch on the Atom cast far and retrieved slow and deep.

A great mornings fishing ,with the sun now shining we headed home with Stewart having had the best Pike of the day with a fish of about 8/9 pounds and plenty of Perch.

After dropping Stewart off about 2pm I had a short visit home to say hello to Lynne, get some lunch and have a change of tactics. When I headed off Bass fishing I only took two hard lures and decided to stick to SP’s in the hope of getting a better fish.

As the sun set I was running out of steam to be honest.

This was the first of the fish to hit my white Wave Worm, it gave me a boost but none of the fish were much better than just over 2 pounds.

Wrasse & a barbi...true summer companions

Two days of sunshine on the trot at the weekend…yeah right!  Lynne packed the burgers and I packed a rod and some SP’s.

I like my Wrasse fishing and it’s something I don’t do often enough but my feet are not on firm ground when it comes to using soft plastics on them. Then again it’s just a fish and it’s just another lure how hard can it be? I’ve only tried once before in June so and while I caught Wrasse on bait and then some Pollack on some 3 inch stick worms I didn’t have any joy with Wrasse on the day in question.

To answer my own questions it’s both difficult and pretty easy. I only had a limited time to get a fish. Remember this wasn’t a fishing trip so while Lynne was doing two crosswords I was completing my own puzzle. Long story short after  trying Xlayers, stick worms, D Fins in quick succession I got a couple of tentative offers on a 3 inch Umiushi  on 3.5g finesse jig head so stuck with this.

Looks like a sort of translucent shrimp to me

Less is more and I found that putting the Umiushi   into an area and shaking the rod tip then doing nothing seemed to get a response. If nothing happened, move the lure a bit and try again. After a few missed takes and lures being bitten in half I landed this.

I got another about 1 ¼ about 20 minutes later but had left the camera with Lynne after she rudely

interrupted my train of thought. So a couple of fish in 90 minutes with a few more missed. I could get into this, a bit more to it of course, wish the summers were longer.

Fishing in Ayrshire

Stewart and I have had three trips this year all of which have been to different environments. I've enjoyed them all as it’s nice to get a change of scenery and target species. Both being members of the same club we catch up on the fishing chat on a regular basis.

These days Stewart does some guiding locally and further afield.

http://www.ayrshirefishingguide.co.uk/

I don’t think Stewart would mind me describing him as having a traditional approach to his fishing and he certainly knows when and where. So if it’s Salmon in Perthshire or Perch in Dumfriesshire or indeed something different give him a call.

A busy week

Bass in the SW, reasonable at some points & tough at others over 4 days. Wont be commenting on Bass numbers on this blog for a few reasons from now on....

The big fish are hard to come by this year, apparently...but there are a few. Just avoiding me again for the time being. I had a look at two 7 pound +  on Tuesday via a forum caught on Monday.

Nice camo!


I also had a trip with Stewart Clark this week AKA Mr Perch. He certainly knows some of these SW Perch & Pike marks. He knew I wanted a big Perch so when the fishing picked up he gave me a call.

Go large or up the road!

This is a Deps Bumble Shad. I got these for use in rough weedy ground where there are a lot of small Pollack and the theory larger Bass looking for them as prey. It has an 11/0 Owner Weedless in it. At 25g and sinking it works nicely at a slow pace. I have two nail weights in the belly to keep it stable.

Its also me new fav Perch lure! 2.4 oz

This jack took a Sebile Flatt Shad

It was good to get a break from Bass fishing, thanks Stewart!

Night 2

As much as I appreciate catching and not blanking it was more small Bass last night. Jamie had two school Bass on a pink& purple Komomo 2 fished across a shallow and weedy point on what was a really blustery night. They didn’t fancy the same lure in black magma so not a good start for me and had started to think about blanking. This unusual for me but put it down to being tired from Friday night. We fished on at the first mark till the lights went out and then moved to another spot to fish the remainder of the drop.


I switched to the controller and SP which is a stone wall imitation of a butter fish or I guess possibly a Blenny, given the terrain we fish in a certain prey item for a Bass. It’s a proven catcher here and worked on dead slow retrieve. I was optimistic after picking up a couple of better fish on Friday night but in truth the tide times and heights were against us. I did manage 4 small Bass and Jamie added another to his tally on a Sluggo. No pictures for the blog, only so much I’m motivated to do at night with a 1 1/2 Bass. We hit the road just before dawn and I checked the forecast ahead of our trip next week. I think I had better dust down the beach gear and check my frozen crab as things are not too clever. I can see me picking some weed out of leader knots and digging some worms for the first couple days.

Red Bull & Marlbro Nights

Another dark session last night which started badly. I had some issues knotting my Sunline after three attempts out came the spare spool with Power Pro. Nothing wrong with the braid but can’t say the same for my eyes, certainly at night anyway.


I started off with a Bombarda and Pearl Skaliwag which had been doctored two tone with a black marker to make it blurple a nice mixture of black and purple. First cast I just getting my eyes adjusted and looking for the controller which was still about 20 ft away when I had a solid take, 1.15am. A good start, not a really small fish but not what I was after and with a quick picture just up the beach the fish was back on its way.

This was followed by another about 30 minutes later. The fish got hung up in weed and the headlight had to go on, wading stick bounced off a couple of rocks and I realised I was making too much commotion between this and flashes going off earlier. I then stumbled along the rocks in darkness and gave myself the comfort of my red light for the last few feet.

I had changed my offering for something bigger, a 200mm SP( lets call it x) but the hook was too heavy for the shallow and weedy terrain and it found every bit of bladderwrack there was. Another change of SP and I had an instant return. This fish didn’t just take the lure it ran with from the get go tearing through the weed. How good does Power Pro sound leaving the reel at speed going up through the guides? Strong fish, after a quick visit to the weighing bag, 3 pounds on the nose.

 I checked my drag but found it to be surprisingly tight. The fish had just given a super account of itself with 3 terrific runs before wrapping the leader around some weed stalks. More wading, more commotion, not good but decided to use the camera this time. I sat for 10 minutes to rest the area and had another cast, smash!  This one didn’t go as hard as the other but yet again hung itself up in the weed so in I went again, 3 pounds 4oz .

The Yamaga was outstanding and extra length a great help not least to keep wading to a bare minimum and getting over the weed /taking zone at the end of retrieve. It was pleasure to use and while not really what it was designed for it took to it well.

I only fished for 4 hours this morning and the last hour was a non-event, too much wading and noise but it was good to get some slightly better fish. I think I learnt a few handy things for the future.

Out again tonight, better get some more Red Bull.