Loch Etive RNLI Species Hunt & a tale of two Cluggies

After a hellish club match two weeks ago won by a Cluggie (also known as Short Spined Sea Scorpion in Scotland) I headed back up there on the 19th with Gordon and his daughter Sarah on Tickety Boo. The weather was better and having the flexiblity of the boat this time would put us on some fish. It was a slow start but I made some headway with a small Thornback and a Cod within the first hour or so. We stuck mainly to the margins around the buoys, mussel beds and empty Salmon nets. Gordon, Sarah and myself picked up a number of Pouting more Cod, LSD and then headed out to the deeper water hoping for a Spur or two which we got fairly quickly. The weather came on a bit with the rain and wind increasing and it was time for a move. We went back to the margins where Gordon and Sarah added a few Whiting while I tried casting into the margins with a lure on a spinning rod looking for a small Pollack. In the end up we finished up where we started next to Scott on Scary Mary adding Grey Gurnard and lots of small Coalies and a solitary but crucial Cluggie! I missed out on a Whiting for my own count but the boat ran out a winner on the day. 15 boats and 3 Kayaks took part raising a few quid for the RNLI. Sarah tied with Kyle on Scott's boat for best junior. The ragworm I had got the day before fished on size 6 hooks or smaller seemed to do the trick on the day. A good day out with some nice Ling to double figures caught as well for those that didnt fancy scratching around. I can still hear Scott's abuse as the crucial King Cluggie made an appearance again, better looking than me on the day to be fair! Thanks to Gordon for having me on board

Careful what you wish for

The conditions have been good this last week with easterlies blowing and good bags of fish being produced. We hoped that this wind direction would continue at the weekend, it did but just too much, 30mph with gusts to 50mph to be precise.

Safety was the first concern for the club match so we switched from our chosen venue to Ferryden. This gave us protection from the howling SE's. It started well with a few fish early on this faded fast and as the tide started to empty the flow grew stronger and the tackle losses also grew in proportion. Not to worry, we all came home safe with a fish or two.

Check Will out in this pic .I'm sure he thinks he's on the cover of FHM lol

Been very quite, Ola 2011!

I fished the Loch Sunart shark tagathon in November, good craic, poor fishing two years back to back for me I'm afraid. I will be giving it a miss this year

I had a shot for Cod on the east coast in December, couple of fish good day out.

Tried again in January in the first club match of the year. Calm and clear conditions with the worst possible wind direction did not fill me with confidence. I managed these fish and added another three to end on eight, second in the match to a six fish bag. I was pretty pleased given it looked like a long and uneventful night lay ahead, you just never know sometimes...

Blankety blank cheque book....

Never caught a Guillemot before, one this weekend and another two weeks ago. Both birds went for my plug. Curios as I have not heard of anyone catching one either, must be starving to be honest. Anyway both safe and sound, probably still looking for their next meal. That aside, no fish on Saturday. I had one nice follow just when I announced to Jamie I was finished for the day and possibly saw another fish near my lure. Not exactly exciting stuff but I enjoyed the chase as ever. Maybe one other shot with lures this month and then it will be a switch in tactics although I’m not sure what that will be yet.

The Gambler

It’s been good this week, Blackberry switched off, no Excel and no clients to speak with. Since Friday I have enjoyed a couple of sessions, caught some fish and got some domestic choirs done and have even taken my mother and mother in law out for lunch…check me!

However cant help thinking that if the weather would have played ball I would be in Wexford with Jim, fishing, talking fishing, thinking fishing, learning fishing and quite possibly catching. I have to say that while I am genuinely disappointed that the trip didn’t happen there is a Kenny Rogers song that sums it up.

Next year….

More weed than Cheech & Chong

The weather has been true to forecast this week, wish it wasn’t but that’s showbiz! So with this in mind I went back to the same area I fished on Monday, bigger tides and possibly bigger problems with weed but I was optimistic with the incoming tide coinciding with the fading light. Anyway fished the tide down, good news, no weed to speak of. Weapon of choice fresh crab, like McDonalds I went large and didn’t hold back on the baits hoping for a big back end fish to beat my PB. Things looked promising from when on my third cast the rod indicated a solid thump followed by a standard issue slack liner which produced a fish of 3.10. This was followed by a slightly smaller fish about 20 minutes later. With the incoming tide still to come it looked like a promising session lay ahead. Well it came and went with no joy and instead the dreaded weed arrived, not a massive problem but enough to cause me to pull my hair out (if I had any). It was manageable till I got about 20 yards and the gripper, trace and leader knot picked it up like a hoover, lovely. I gave myself to 7.30pm and with the light almost gone I sat watching both rods as I tidied things up when the rod in the left cup displayed a decent bite which developed into a rod stand wrenching pull which sent the whole lot , 2 rods , stand and the bag suspended below it seaward. Having seen this happen before on this mark it’s usually the sign of a decent Bass and once I got a handle of saving the gear and with a slack liner I picked up and felt for what was surely a good fish…nada. I disappointedly wound in one rod and then the other and my reward was a surprise 2 pound cod on the other rod, not really what I was looking for but it was a fish. Makes you wonder how they can do it and not get a 2 x 3/0 pennel rig to stick, maybe a full on line bite in or around the bait and rig but I will never know that’s for sure…

Making the best of my options

It’s been about 5 weeks since my last trip. That wouldn’t have been that big a deal as I should have been in Wexford this week for 6 days Bass fishing. Unfortunately this was quite rightly cancelled due to a horrendous forecast that would have made it pretty difficult to catch anything on lures. Add this to the fact that I had to cancel my trip to Alderney late in October due to work commitments (Wexford was the replacement) left me feeling a little sorry for myself.

So on Monday despite a grim outlook in relation to wind strength and direction I left home at 4.30am. The plan worked, two fish on lures with the best one about 3 pounds and then with a bit of a drive and a change in tactics four fish on fresh crab with the best again 3 pounds and the other three about 2 pounds.

So there you have it, not where I wanted to be but with the time off work I made the best of it. There is little chance of me using lures for the rest of the week but I do have plenty of crab left over. The tides and weather look ok for Wednesday so, will see what that brings.

Here is how not to take a photo, self timer in sunshine oh dear! The fish sat pretty but I failed miserably and this is after trying to change the contrast in Photobucket!

Local session

Spent a couple of hours with my mate on Thursday night, tried locally in an area which has produced a few Bass recently. We picked some broken ground with beaches eithier side. While its true that these fish came in onshore wind conditions on bait there must be a chance on lures ? Anyway we didnt catch anything but it was good to catch up, have a laugh on what was a cracking night, warm and and windless. I dont know how many of these nights we have left this year so it was good to get out. I will try again as it would be nice to get a fish or two only a few miles from home without a four hour round trip.

Super Super Spook in the moonrise

Had a session last night, glorious evening totally still, so still I could hear the lure sloshing through the water as I walked it back toward me. The mark I fished is truly treacherous under foot so much so I had to think twice about fishing it myself. Jamie still has my wading stick so I never moved around much which probably resulted in me only catching one Bass of about 2 pounds. The highlight of the night were the crazy crazy Pollack, stopped counting after fifteen, nothing big with them all being under 2 pounds but man oh man ! Having fished here before I expect a few along with the Bass but I don’t think the latter got a look in last night. What I did get was lots of practice on twitch and move with the Super Spook in chartreuse, truth is the less you moved it the better. The nearest thing I have seen to their antics was a sea lion playing with a ball as they bounced the lure a foot into the air when the didn’t get hooked (which was also lots and lots of times) I found myself standing laughing out loud alone, needed something to make me laugh as its total leg & ankle straight into an air ambulance sort of place. Pictures were a hassle and they one’s I have are pretty crap, no time to take decent pictures for the faaashen

Day 3

Morning broke and we were met with flat calm seas and bright sunshine...superb.Basking sharks everywhere, we saw about 15-20 in a two mile stretch. Three days on a boat had started to do strange things to me by this point.

Evening day 2

A light refreshment, some food and a Tope for me in 8 meters of water at our anchorage, what a laugh

Day 2

Day 2

Off by Arran and Pladda on Friday night to put our head down in Campbeltown. A few pints then off in the morning for Islay at dawn. We got the balloon floats ready and off we went.

Long distance Porgie trip Day 1

Had a great weekend with Stu and Willie on Reel Deal which is their Rodman 1040(nice btw). We fished the North Channel between Ireland and Islay for Porgies. No joy on the Porbeagles but we saw large whales jumping clear of the water,smaller species of whales and more basking sharks than I have ever seen in one area. There was some amazing currents and whirlpools due to the tide flowing hard over reefs and pinnacles, flat calms seas, good banter and some tope here and there as well as some Pollack and Whiting thrown in, tip top.

Porbeagles ?

I got a phone call at 8.30am on Thursday. Fancy weekend fishing for Porgies? Eh, yes when do we leave? Being in Aberdeen at the time I came back home last night and hurriedly got myself organised. We leave tonight, 2 ½ days living on my mates Rodman, should be interesting. I will hopefully have a few tales to tell…..

Heads of Ayr last Monday

After a few nice Bass were caught of Prestwick beach last week I thought I would try a session locally for a few hours mid week. Jamie and I headed to a rock mark I had not fished for 15 years. With a rising tide into darkness I guessed we might have a reasonable chance of a Bass. Kelp, broken ground and patches of sand meant my memory had not failed me and with a few gannets working the area we had a chance. Early in the session we both had fish hit the popper hard, we both saw the fish but they were to far out to ID correctly. I gave it a 50/50 chance of being Bass. An hour or so later and with the tide well on the rise we started to pick up some fish, not Bass but some nice Coalies and I had a solitary Mackerel. The blank was off and the Bass just might have been in the area at the start of the session. Jamie did better than me opting to throw some metal at the fish; I stuck with the Maria Chase hoping any passing Bass might prefer this offering. The fact is with fish to 6 pounds caught locally this place should produce the odd Bass, maybe next time

I had a late afternoon session on Sunday at a new mark I had walked by and fished close to before. Difficult little area which was shallow,had tide, onshore wind and stacks of bladder rack to deal with. Four of us fished and I was lucky to have three of the four fish caught. Between us we lost a few more fish and had a number of takes. My fish came on the Feedshallow x 2 and Mag Popper x1

Schools Out

I saved a blank today late on in this early morning session. After last night I just needed to catch. It took me three hours before I managed to get on a run of schoolie Bass. I appreciated these all the same and managed 5 in an hour all on a pingusi patternZonk fished at a distance which was as far as I could cast it wind assisted about 50 yards I guess. The fished seemed to be patrolling a strip of sand between two beds of kelp which run parallel to the shore, not breaking any records here but I seem to have made the right call this time. The same conditions last year brought roughly the same result… break in case of emergency!

Passive Bass

Friday night again.... it was a nice night for this weeks Friday night Saturday morning session, overcast, rising tide, bait in the water. Highlight of the night was a fish which looked like to me to be about 4-5 pounds following the Z Claw on a number of casts, tight behind it in a flat calm breaking the surface but not aggressively, just having a real good look at the target, not seen this happen before in such a manner. Anyway, blanked on Bass but I did have some fun on a Frosty surface lure that’s a stone dead look alike for a large sand eel or small launce, 6 Mackerel late on, the last one I caught was about to 11.30pm in a place the Bass should have been !

Back 2 Back Bass sessions

I fished last night and again this morning after five hours sleep in the car. I had five fish almost identical in size miles apart from two separate areas. I weighed one of these, 2 pounds 4 oz. I had my chances to probably double the numbers of fish I caught but the Bass were intent in trying to drown the surface lure and not eat it. I enjoyed both sessions but I fished hard for what I caught. Where are the bigger fish? I hope to find them soon. They do exist here but the reality is its not Wexford or Brittany… it’s the SW of Scotland. Maybe the next session will throw one up. Marie Chase BW in green eel and a Z Claw in mullet did the damage.