Never too late

Two sessions last weekend,good weather, some laughs and enough fish to make me realise what I've been missing. No record breakers,but for me,I'll take what I can get at this stage of the year with the lack of rod time. Every one was a winner for me.

My mates got a new pedalo, a 2019 Outback a stark contrast in style to the green arrow.

Jamie with his first fish on the new boat

Lively little fish on my light gear.

I had some great surface action at various points which always brings a smile to my face. Good times.

Getting back to normal

On my last blog post in May I mentioned I had fallen ill when I was afloat. This was the start of shingles/ PHN which saw me off work for two weeks. I’ve only just got back to normal over the last week or so. I had no idea on how painful this could be, my immune system clearly just decided to pack in for a bit. Frankly 2019 from a few angles has been a total shit show so far. Hopefully I can make up some time along the way for what’s left of the year.

While I wasn’t in great shape I managed out on the 22^nd of June for a few hours. I had a couple of small Bass and a few Pollack, great to be afloat again but it was a struggle. Last weekend was the Mull of Galloway kayak species hunt. Having been booked for this since November last year it was cancelled on the Thursday night due to the weekend forecast for high winds. Jamie and I headed down anyway.  We had a couple of pints with Tom on the Friday night. It was a real shame he cancelled it, but he made the decision for the right reasons. Saturday by this point looked spot on so we decided to head to Port Logan. We thought we might be able to tuck in at East Tarbert and get some Tope and Smoothies on the Sunday ducking the strong winds from the SW that were forecast.

It was predictable that we overdid it on Friday night, I was out of practice to be fair. This was the first refreshment I had since the start of May. We launched about 10.30am in calm conditions, for some reason I felt sea sick…. I had never fished here from a kayak before so it was pretty much all a school day.

Me in tight on a gully. The mirage 180 drive was really handy for backing in and out of these.

It was a very different propositions from tearing around at top speed in a boat as I have done on several occasions chasing the various species available. It was not without incident as the thunder and lightning started. This saw Jamie cut his anchor rope and me winding in over the top of a tangle in my anchor line to head for the shore at speed. We took a break for about an hour and half before heading back out. It’s not a nice feeling being as exposed as that on a piece of plastic surrounded by a few rods.

After checking my camera tonight I ended up on 12 species, I think Jamie had around the same. We didn’t go at it hard but had an enjoyable day. Before the event I reckoned you might need 20 species over the two days to be in the hunt. The boat event the week before was won with 28 species and the total number caught by all the boats was 40+, a lot to go at, but you also need some luck.

We were up bright and early on Sunday morning and drove down to East Tarbet checking the conditions on the way down from Sandhead. It was pretty grim and blowing 30mph+ We made the right call to give it a miss, it wouldn’t have been much fun and at best reckless to launch in that spot as it would be unforgiving if any mistakes were made. Never a dull moment, lets see what else the Scottish summer throws at us.

Pushing on

My wife was right, I shouldn’t have gone out today. I was absolutely rinsed at the end of this session. Thanks for your help big guy. I doubt I would have gone out solo today and I wouldn’t have had this smashing fish.

Also the first off the surface  for me this year on old faithful.

The water temperature has risen again, it was consistently over 13c over the course of this trip.More surface fun ahead.

When a mate goes fishing and you're working...

I'll  no doubt send a reply in due course. A nice way to open the account for 2019.

Training Day

A change of location today. I also left the lure gear at home and packed some crab and fish bait with the targets being  tope and smoothies. 

This was to be a proper shakedown bait session on my new rig, plenty of tide and I ended up with four moves lifting and laying the anchor. The winds were supposed to be light and they were, from 11am to 12.30pm. After that I had 3ft waves running down the length of boat till about 3.30pm. I checked the forecast on my phone at the time, 9mph..aye right.  I can’t say it was enjoyable and the fishing wasn’t great, dogs, dabs, cod and two thornbacks. Off the water it would be a nice day but while sitting with my feet over the sides to stabilise things I was cold, two pair of socks, neoprene socks over my drysuit feet, boots and a wet arse. The revo 16 is a much wetter ride than my outback but it's a water sport after all. It’s still cool out there at the minute despite the sunshine. 

The Scotty rocket launchers with slip discs worked great mounted behind the seat, my trolley works better than my old one and the boat is very seaworthy, it really eats up the miles, wind and waves. I didn’t take as much as a breather when I lifted the anchor to head in, that was with a headwind and the nose into the last of the flood. I would have been more relaxed at anchor in the outback but there are positive trade-offs. At one point today I decided to try to catch a dab for a change of bait for tope swapping a crab bait for mackerel strip on my two hook uptide rig. Ten minutes later I hooked what I believe was a tope which straightened the hook! Onwards we go, it’s early days down the SW.

Early start

I took a half day off work on Friday, I thought I might have at least a chance of a fish. After checking my blog I’ve had a few fish around the middle to end of May, nice day, worth a punt.  This fish tapped at the lure 5 times, to be fair I though it was a Pollack plucking at the FBM. I stopped the retrieve about 20ft away and let it swing towards the yak, had this work for me before and it eventually took it confidently. A nice scrap that had me smiling, happy with that I had another fish do the same thing but didn’t convert it.  It’s been a long week at work so only fished for 3 1/2 hours, can’t complain, this is the earliest I’ve caught a Bass in May. That’s the new boat christened with some silver as well…

Nice way to start a weekend.

Sea trials on the Revolution 16

OK, so it was fishing session but also the first time at sea on the Revo. Don't let the comedians tell you any different. The Clyde as we all know is not alive ,but it can be better than it was today, it's March after all. One small Pollack and a Coalie that might have scraped 1.5 pounds between them. What fish there were seemed to be tight on the bottom around four or five rocky outcrops on the shoreline. The biggest problem for me today was the reflected waves, very tricky indeed with the fish being tight to shoreline.

There were a few bigger waves rolling in during the day due to a navel exercise.

If it was as calm as it was when as I drove home I might have been able to pick up a few more with a little precision fishing. 9.5 miles today and a good few hours in the saddle of the new boat. I met a few people on the water today which was nice, lot's of yaks but no yak anglers. I had a decent chat with a guy in a boat that fishes here regularly he wasn't having much joy either. Onwards and upwards.....

It was my first soft beach retrieval today. It was so much easier than the Outback. Some of this is certainly down to not carrying two 12v SLA batteries. So far so good on the FPV battery set up , the weight saving and upgrade on power is making a difference, really pleased with this. 

Launch Day

It was about time I got back on the water , having finished rigging the Revo 16 a few weeks back I opted for Saturday to give it a shake-down. I had booked some digs for Saturday night as Lynne would join me in the afternoon and hit the road at 7am.

The first thing I noticed when I got to loading the Revo on my car was that despite the increase in length ,compared to the Outback, was how much easier it was. This was mainly down to the decrease in width but the slight drop in weight helped also. As I did the cam straps up I had a lot more spare strap to wrap, that got me thinking about stability as I drove to the loch. The first few minutes were a bit edgy, a bit like the first time I launched the Outback. Turning to get something from my crate needed a lot more thought, I could take liberties in my old boat. The turbo fins had a lot more resistance but pushed me along nicely. The Lowrance now being mounted in the centre worked just fine, it was easily reached by dropping a leg over each side, that does means I'll be making less adjustments. Not normally a bad thing but for today, not that handy at all as Perch fishing means a fair amount of sounder time. I checked inside the hull after fifteen minutes, thankfully it was dry so I was good to go.

The water level was high, the fishing was hard and the wind was gusting 15-20mph at times.I only had two small Perch by 1pm. I got a few GPS numbers from my mate Les and went for a look at them. Getting there at 5mph, was pretty cool, something that I could only do for a very short sprint in the Outback. Sadly, there wasn't anything doing. Now I'm not sure why, but when I used to fish here a lot ,the fish seem to have a 3-4pm bite. I had another couple of smallish Perch but the last fish of the day was more like it.

It's nearly that time for this fish and it's mates.

Hopping a Texas rigged Yum crayfish was the only thing I caught with on this trip. I didn't target Perch last year so it was nice to get a few at least.

Overall I was happy with the new boat. I just need to make a few minor adjustments and remember it's not an Outback...

The hound does her version of a Usain Bolt victory salute, she oddly lay like that for 5 mins.

Restored

Rod, reel and lure, replacing the steering wheel, laptop and meetings. Some balance restored, for a few hours at least.

Almost back in business!

My Revo 16 arrived about three weeks ago now, still not been wet, but it won't be long now. The only thing I'm waiting for is an FPV lithium battery to power up the electrickery. It did take a while to get here due to the damage on the hull while in storage, prior to despatch, so a new hull arrived from Holland. This happened with my Hobie Outback as well, spookily enough, the Revo arrived 4 years to the day that I received my last Hobie. This time around I bought from Cornwall Canoes, last time, the Hobie Centre. My latest purchase was price driven as they had a pretty good deal on a brand new 2018 model. The Hobie Centre could not get near the sale price so I went ahead. Not much to chose between them service wise, both retailers were helpful, get in touch if you want my views on both. I have no connection with either, something you need to be aware when it comes to sponsorship and the like.

So why the Revo? Last year I found myself looking to travel longer distances, even with a great summer, dodging the wind at times was a choir. The access to some stretches of coast is very limited, increased range would certainly be an advantage.My 2015 Outback was a great boat . I wish I could have kept it as an option, financially that could not be justified. I wanted something that would enable me to change locations quickly, deal with wind/tide and cover more ground when required. I looked for months for a used Revo with no luck. August came around and the 2019 Outback was launched. I gave it serious thought. It's fair to say it had a few niggles if you were early on the uptake, aren't there always? Cars, phones, everyone has been there when you dive in and buy new tech. I asked myself a few questions. Do I need more weight to portage around ? Do I need to carry more gear with me ? Can I see myself standing? What about the new style rudder and the load assist block ? Or a wider seat for a fat arse? Then of course the price, there won't be any discount for a Scottish bam like me with no connections! It looks great though, maybe another time. It was a no for me. I cooled off on the idea after a good look at it and took a gamble on a Revo. It's certainly is a gamble as I've no idea how I'll get on with it, very different beast to my 2015 Outback. I did however get a lot of advice from a few owners which helped me make the decision. After the sale of the old boat and a couple of eBay sales, it only left me a fishfinder as an outlay to change rigs. Just as well really, I took the first initial big hit 4 years ago starting from scratch. I would not feel as confident splashing out at the minute with the period of potential enlightenment ahead of us over the next few months or more than likely years.....

Anyway, here it is. At 16 feet, it just fits in my garage. Seagrass green, don't suppose it's for everyone,  but I like it.

It's a lot a narrower than my Outback. I'll certainly miss the storage pockets to leave bits and bobs to hand but that should mean I stay more organised, it wont be an option really...

Drilling big holes in expensive chunks of plastic is never fun. I've gone with two Yakattak GT175 I had left over(lock nuts and washers on the back) fitted my old mast mount and tore through the cockpit with a hole saw for my wiring. I'll fit a 3 way Hobie gland when my battery arrives. I went with a RAM 1.5 inch quick  release ball rather than a screwball mount this time. I think as the Lowrance will be up front from now on it should provide a more secure footprint.

There will be various mounting options for the Lowrance , camera or whatever else depending on how I want it set up for any given session. The battery will be mounted  and secured to the sail mast below the centre RAM ball.

When I'm in the boat the 7inch Ti screen will be in reach and clearly visible. I'll have a play around and see what location works best for me.I'll fit one piece of small geartrac forward of the pockets, not sure which side yet and two behind the seat for two Scotty rocket launcher rod holders when I fish with bait. I want to keep the front section  of the boat clear for a few reasons.

I went for the same unit as before, it's now discontinued so I managed  a good discount over RRP

With turbo fins of course,  the jury is out for me on the 180 drive, looks like more to break, lets hope I'm wrong.How much I will use reverse? Really handy when drifting on to a feature, trade off,? Fragility and longevity ? I've also got the Berley Pro  Totalscan transducer cover and the visor for the Ti. I had both before, I might give the visor a miss this time around.

The super comfy Vantage CT seat. I don't see too many naps for me sitting in this boat, I might get wet very quickly. I'll certainly miss sitting in the sunshine  snoring like I did a few times in the past.

Lets hope next blog post has some fish in it. Waiting for a parcel from Australia is shite by the way!

Something missing in my life

Hopefully not for too much longer. Delivery is now next week, apparently. I spent today bleeding radiators and tinkering with the boiler and on Sunday I'm lifting tiles. Living the dream....

Paul arrived last Saturday and headed back to the NE of England with my old boat. I'm sure it will get him on the fish, we might even meet up for a session. I was sad to see it go but it means I can balance things on the domestic front without any guilt. I've moved a few other bits on and the only thing the new boat will set me back is a new fishfinder and two Scotty rocket launchers. When I bought my Outback I placed an order with Yakattack in the USA, some of which was never used.I don't need much thankfully.The rest I've collected along the way so that's made the transition to a new boat much easier than starting from scratch, that was sore, especially in the Hobie world, no getting away from that. My Outback however was the best fishing tool I've bought, without question.







boat

Back in time

The last time I was here was around 30 years ago. The target then as it was yesterday was the  Conger Eel. Back then my efforts  resulted in a a monster, still my best to date. I fed the crabs for five hours and might have another crack on the 1st of January if the forecast looks good. It would be nice to start the tenth year of my blog with a nice fish or two. I'm pretty sure they'll still be here, lets see...

Was it a fluke?

After yesterdays trip the boat was left on the roof and the kit in the car, straight in the shower and a quick change before the family arrived for a pre Christmas dinner. I even had 5 mins spare for a glass of  Malbec. I watched my intake but hit the road later than I would have liked with the boat covered in a thick layer of frost, destination Jurassic Pollack reef. 

The ride out was bumpier than I anticipated given the conditions on shore. I had a spin around checking the finder and it wasn't looking good. Back in November there had been a lot of solid marks in the 25-40ft depth range, thick yellow and orange lines rising off the bottom that normally mean success is on the cards. Today the returns were narrow yellow lines hugging the bottom super tight. On standard sonar view they were not visible but the down-scan view using the Lowrance FishReveal feature showed me there was something to go at. After about an hour drifting and casting I decided  to troll. As much as I don't really like doing it, some days it's the way to go and so it proved today. I started picking up fish on a regular basis, Pollack with some Coalies in the mix, nothing big but decent enough sport. Top lure for the day was the Bass Assassin Sea Shad in chartreuse, they just seem to love that thin wrist on the tail. I took four fish for the table before heading home to wrap some presents. I'll try here again at some point, maybe my first session here was a fluke? One of things that keeps us coming back I guess.

Pollack thumb, a sign of a busy couple of days afloat!

All work....

Not much play.When the weathers been right I've been too busy keeping myself in a job. I headed out today and rigged up under a full moon before pushing off. It was a relief to get afloat again, been weeks since I felt a rod bend.

A dozen or so nice Pollack, good fishing on mild December morning.Paddle tails, fast, fast, fast! 

I managed one session before today in a lull in the weather, one of those rare bright, yet overcast days. The sea was like liquid chrome and it looked like a day more associated with summer. I decided to try a mark from way back. If I can get up on time on Christmas Eve morning I'll head back there. I had  9  fish and caught what are my two biggest Pollack, nose to tail, the width of the Outback, really big and also a real surprise. The video footage has been well played in my downtime, one of the highlights of the year that's staying off the blog  for a while before the spot has drones on it and features on someones commercial YouTube channel being sold as the latest adventure.

I've got a new boat arriving in January. This Revolution 16 was supposed to be with me a few weeks back but the hull was damaged in storage, just behind the drive well in the picture above. It would certainly make tomorrow's  trip faster and give me more fishing time.Who doesn't need more fishing time?

Test drive time

Three years in and I'm thinking of a change of ride. My Outback's served me well, changed my fishing completely and I've done pretty much all of the things I had set out to do with it. Over the last couple of weeks I've started thinking about next year and how that might pan out. It has to be said that the rekindling of my interest in bass fishing has something to do with me considering a change. Time for a test drive of a Revolution 16. I'll probably be in for a shock going from rock solid platform like an Outback, to what on the face of it, looks like an edgier boat. I don't suppose the perfect do it all fishing kayak exists and I might argue for and against for both. For me opening up areas of coast that don't get much or any fishing pressure is tempting. Not that Scotland is exactly shoulder to shoulder fishing, even at the worst of times. Having the ability to do some of the trips I want to do should be possibly made easier with more range and speed. I'll have a look anyway, failing that I'll just dodge on with my red barge for 2019.

The 16 is the middle boat, flanked here by a couple of Revo 11's and a 13. Also pictured is an orange Hobie Sport. My Outback is the same kind of shape as the sport but about 3 feet longer.

Signing out with some silver

It's been a short season for me but that's my bass fishing done and dusted till May next year. I was out on the water in the lull after storm Callum and blanked with only mackerel to show for four hours fishing. I tried an area that I wasn't that confident about in the first place. Essentially the only spot I could find some water that wasn't manky! 

 I had six hours on the water today, the air temperature was -5 when I packed the car, sea temperature outwith the shallow fringes was 10-11.5c. I struggled to find the fish. I then had two in three casts on a white FBM, both on the drop. Still fish to be had ,but it's now making less sense to me now with four hour round trips, short days and dropping water temperatures.

These fish were little heavy chunks, they seem to have filled out over the last month or so.

Sandy, if at first you don't succeed...

A few months back Sandy mentioned he fancied catching a common skate. The biggest fish he's caught before was a fine 28 pound salmon. Over few conversations a plan was hatched to have an attempt at smashing this, pulling a few back muscles and working up a sweat! I had warned him it wasn't for everyone, possibly me included these day, but we pushed on regardless with the idea and booked a trip with the guys at Seadog Charters out of Ardfern.

I met Sandy at 6am sharp and we set off on the long drive arriving with enough time for a bacon roll and a coffee before pushing off at 9am. This was last Tuesday, and as you know, if you live in Scotland, it's been a tad windy lately with next to no sign of giving it a rest for the foreseeable. In all honesty I knew it would be a real challenge dealing with it, getting to the deeper water, and that was before we started thinking about the fish. We anchored up in a spot at about 50 metres that the guys have had a few fish before, not the best spot, but workable with a chance of a fish. I think the size of the baits surprised Sandy as the lads baited up with a couple of mackerel and large octupus. We dropped the baits and got to waiting, laving a few laughs and enjoying the weather....

With four big baits out and about three hours gone and nothing doing, we opted to drop a single rod with a smaller bait down to see what was around. It had hardly touched the bottom when it was taken. This produced a Thornback for me. Sandy was up next, think he had a dogfish and then a Thornback, then it was just dogfish from there on in. I was kind of hoping that a few Spurdogs might have made an appearance to break things up a bit. The guys mentioned they were in the deeper water in numbers. I can imagine with 1-4 pounds of lead on and with the constant re-baiting, it might be a chore with the big rods at times. It got to the last knockings when Sandy lifted into something on the small rod. Now anyone who's done this type of fishing will know how Skate have an uncanny knack of landing on the smallest baits and lightest rods. To be fair, I thought this was exactly what had happened and I was thinking, here we go for two hours! Sadly it turned out to be the mother of all tangles. With 4 huge baits and 8 pounds of lead we could have been forgiven for thinking we were in. Given how rough it was I secretly think Sandy was actually relieved. So unfortunately, no Skate on this trip but we've agreed to have another crack at it in the spring. The pain will stay deferred for another day!

Still dodging the autumn storms

A small weather window opened up, and at a weekend for a change. I got my gear ready on Thursday night as I knew to make the most of it I would have to be on the road early Saturday morning. My intention was to put eleven hours in to make the most of the opportunity. Unfortunately I had to cut this session short as I felt the start of an ocular migraine coming on. Not had one for a while now and the timing was bad. Nobody would want to be on a kayak with one of those. I sat in the car for an hour or so till I felt I was able to drive home. Having looked at the weather for the next week it's disappointing to only have had half the time I wanted on the water.

Anyway, I'll keep pushing on if I can , weather permitting. The numbers of fish is encouraging but 50+cm Bass are few and far between, for me at least. 82 Bass now on lures since the start of July and just more than a hand full over that size. I'm maybe doing something wrong? I'll be doing a few exploratory night sessions next season for sure. I just need to be out there more in all probability, think that was session twelve yesterday, not a lot in the scheme of things by comparison to the hardcore guys.

Ducking for cover

As Mick Jagger once sang, you can't always get what you want, so were afloat again anyway. Hiding from a raging sea and high winds about the only place we could fish ,targeting bass again was the MOG. Jamie and I were both keen to get a few more fish before the season comes to an end, mainly due to the weather than the lack of Bass from here on in till November.

It was a nice day under the cliffs

We picked up some small Pollack before I caught a Bass in the middle of a tide rip, hooked in the root of the tail on a FBM, a first for me, being weedless that took some doing I would imagine.

I had two a little bigger, the others were like this, typical school bass that are around at the minute.

I had just got off the radio to tell Jamie to hold fire heading to where I was at, he was paddling to my area and the tide was drifting me along at 2mph, against the wind ! I had a confused sea and it looked like it was getting worse by the second. It didn't come to much and he eventually made his way to me. He was probably motivated by the fact I had got on the radio while playing a cracking fish I hooked while trolling back to start my drift. I turned the kayak to face it and saw it throwing water about on the surface about 50 yards back, lots of heads shakes. When I got close to it it went deep and had solid weight and made a few nice runs. It was at the point I reached for the net and said to myself that this is a great way to hit the number 70 that the hook came out. I used most of the four letter words I know and set off on the up tide journey to meet Jamie who was positioning himself to start. I got myself fish 70 about 10 mins later, the fifth of the day, but the one one that unbuttoned itself was still a sore point.

So a short session, had worse days, we both caught Bass, we would rather have been somewhere else though. Still, great to be out again, but the camera gremlins are back, some real issues on the timer I just cant work out.

Skinning Up

The last of the Mag Poppers/Duel Aile Mags? I'm sure there are a few tucked away in tackle boxes and garages, here is my stash. Discontinued about 4 years ago they changed hands for daft money(still do) Great lure that just inspires confidence for me when it comes to surface work. These will do me till for a long time, being surface lures they are rarely lost. They were made in three sizes 90mm, 105mm and 125mm. The favoured one on the UK Bass scene being the 105mm/18g, probably in HAJ, above, the fourth one down.

I picked up a couple more at a sensible price last week, mainly due to them being the least favoured colours. Personally I like white having painted a couple, to be fair I was happy with that, but thought I could try Jigskinz on the others. You can see a video of how this is done HERE

It's easy enough, cut to size for length, hole for the hook hanger, job done. I did cock one up, a new one at that. The face of this lure is where the magic happens, when I was trimming the face end I cracked/gouged the edge of one. If you need to do this make sure your craft blade is sharp! I'll try and repair it a little but I'm not too hopeful it will last. They do crack eventually and when water gets in the weight transfer system stops working, they then cast like crap. It casts best with a longish drop and a snap cast. Anyway, will see how the Jigskinz wear and report back. I bought these from the Lure Lounge, Mackerel, Cigar Minnow and Mullet. I really like the over size eye, one thing I've done in the past is take a sharpie on the ones I've painted and make the eye at least twice as big. Does it make a difference? Not sure, but on the pause they have a wee while to look at the lure if they're not convinced. I would like to have seen a bone pearl skin or a few other patterns, the full range might become available over here in the UK at some point.

I left two as they were, they might get a coat of white paint in the future.