Returning the favour.

Now and then, a fellow angler who has found this blog, or my Instagram account, gets in touch looking for more detailed information on some of the fishing spots I post about or to ask me where I would recommend they go to catch a certain species. I’ve been helped many times over the years by other anglers who have been very generous with their advice and knowledge, so I like to do the same whenever I can. Species hunter Ben contacted me last year about haddock fishing off the north coast of Scotland, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. When he told me he and a friend were coming up to Scotland from Pembrokeshire for a few days and had based some of their mark choices on my blog posts, I decided to go and meet up with them. The weather was pretty terrible while he was up here with his friend Nev, but their final day trip to Lochaline saw a slight improvement in the conditions and I got up early to make the long drive up there to fish with them. Four hours later, I arrived at the first spot. 

Logs on the logging pier in Lochaline. I found two species hunters fishing behind them in the corner. 

When I joined them, they were each had a mackerel bait out in the incredibly deep water directly in front of the pier and were fishing for mini species down the side of the pier with ragworm baited sabiki rigs while they waited for bites on their heavier gear. Both of them are taking part in species hunting competitions and were up in Scotland hoping to add to their already very impressive totals. Ben’s main target for the session was a spurdog, whilst Nev was hoping to catch a leopard spotted goby. I fished small pieces of ragworm down the side of the pier, keen to catch a quintet of UK wrasse species. I managed four of the five quite quickly, but a cuckoo wrasse proved elusive, and I didn’t catch one until later on in the day, completing the set. 

With their lovely pastel shades markings, rock cook or small mouthed wrasse were present in large numbers.

I caught lots of them in Norway recently, but this was my first Scottish cuckoo wrasse of the year.

My four hundred and fifty seventh* goldsinny wrasse of the year! *Estimated, but it feels like I've caught that many. This particular specimen had lovely golden markings on it.

While I was fishing away, chatting to Ben and Nev about fishing, species hunting and various fish species we’d all caught over the years, they both added a couple of species to their competition tallies. Ben caught a coalfish and shortly afterwards a small spurdog, and Nev caught a Connemara clingfish followed later on by a leopard spotted goby. Later in the afternoon we decided to change venue and headed around to the stone pier near the ferry terminal in the village. From this spot, Nev wanted to target a couple of small goby species and Ben was keen to try for a sea trout. Whilst Ben fished metals, Nev and I baited tanago hooks with tiny pieces of ragworm and caught a few painted goby and two spotted goby with relative ease. 

I’m not taking part in any species hunting competitions, but it was still nice to get another species ticked off for 2024 with this two spotted goby.

Having quickly caught our two target goby species, we headed further north up the shoreline, passing Europe’s only underground sand mining facility, to reach the village’s small marina. Nev and I targeted tiny fish with tanago hooks whilst Ben continued casting metals around hoping to tempt a sea trout. 

Ben fishes from the marina pontoons with small metals, hoping to catch a sea trout.

It didn’t take any of us long to catch fish. Nev and I very quickly pulled out several sand goby, whilst Ben began to supply some of the marina’s boat owners with freshly caught mackerel. 

One of several sand goby that we caught. 

Nev was over the moon to catch a sand goby as it was another addition to his competition tally. We carried on searching the sandy bottom and caught a few more species. There were lots of tiny poor cod around, and I also caught a couple of tiny grey gurnard.  

Perfection in miniature and incredibly adorable into the bargain!

The last time I visited this spot I thought I saw one of the UK’s two smaller clingfish species, so I was scanning the bottom trying to spot one of those. When I saw a small dark fish sitting motionless, I spent some time trying to catch it. It didn’t seem interested at first, moving around a few centimetres at a time before settling in a new position. Borrowing a bright pink cheburashka weight from Nev I was able to more accurately lower a tiny piece of ragworm right in front of the fish and after a while it took the hook into its mouth. Quickly lifting the fish up, I was slightly disappointed to discover it was in fact a tiny short spined sea scorpion. 

My first of the year, but not the species I thought I’d been trying to catch!

Ben had come over to see what we’d been catching before returning to the pontoons to target sea trout again. Just before we all called it a day, Nev managed to catch a juvenile short spined sea scorpion too, which was also an addition to his species hunt tally. By this point, light was beginning to fade, and we called it a day. With a ferry to catch as well as an overnight closure of the road through Glencoe and a detour increasing my journey time home, I said farewell to Ben and Nev and hit the road. It was great meeting up with them both, and I wish them success with their future species hunting. I might not be too long until Ben and I meet up again for another spot of species hunting, he’s invited me down to Pembrokeshire to try and catch my first ever UK grey triggerfish. Fingers crossed the right conditions for them materialise! 

Tight lines, Scott.

Who wants to fish forever?

Last month my mate Lee came up from Wales for a week long holiday. After chilling out for a couple of days in Edinburgh we set off to the Highlands on a four day tour of some of my favourite fishing spots. Our first stop was Lochaline's West Pier where Lee was hoping to catch a few species he'd never caught before. I was slightly worried that with it being quite late in the year the fishing wouldn't be as good as it is in the summer but it didn't take us long to start catching a few colourful mini species.

Lee fishes from the right hand side of the pier. Down the sides it's not too deep.

Lee's first fish of the trip. A leopard spotted goby.

More funky little fish followed.

Two of the species on Lee's new species hitlist were members of the wrasse family, the cuckoo and the rock cook. I was a bit worried that due to the time of year the resident wrasse might prove elusive but again my fears were soon dismissed. After a few more gobies and small coalfish we began catching a few wrasse and after a few goldsinny Lee caught his first ever cuckoo wrasse which was followed by several more as the session progressed.

Goldsinny were by far the most prevalent wrasse and some of them were particularly nicely coloured.

I also hooked a nice chunky ballan which was great fun on my ultra light tackle. It almost made it under the pier where it would have certainly broken me off but luckily I managed to bully it back out into open water at the last second.

One of Lee's cuckoo wrasse. He also caught one on a little metal jig which was pretty cool. All the cuckoo wrasse we caught were females which Lee was a little disappointed about.

Having had a lot of fun with the mini species all afternoon for the last couple of hours of the session I gave the light game a rest and fished a bait rod. Big baits were cast out into the incredible depth of water directly out in front of the pier and eventually produced a dogfish and a thornback ray. We fished into darkness with Lee amusing himself with lots of poor cod. An hour or so after dark we packed up and headed up to our digs to freshen up before visiting the village pub for some food and a pint.

Double sandeel wrapped in squid caught this. It is a deadly bait combination for rays.

A lovely sunset over the Sound of Mull.

On day two we drove up to Applecross, a place I've not visited for a couple of years which quite frankly is too long not to visit what is a truely magical place. On the way we passed the iconic Eilean Donan Castle. I've passed it several times now on my way to Applecross or Skye but it was Lee's first time seeing it and he was blown away by its stunning beauty.

 Back in the car and some Queen went on as we headed to Applecross.

The Bealach na Bà is the highest road in the UK. It's great fun driving up over it and some of the views it affords are breathtaking.

After dumping some of our gear in the wooden hut we'd be staying in that night we headed north to Fearnmore to fish from the rocks there. We started off targeting large pollock on light tackle but things were slow so we switched to our light game gear and caught lots of cuckoo wrasse and small pollock. As light faded the poor cod started feeding hard too.

I fish down the side at close range. That's where most of our fish came from.

This nice colourful cuckoo wrasse caught by Lee was the highlight of the session. He was chuffed to catch his first male.

On our drive back to the village the journey came to an abrupt halt when we encountered a highland cow that stubbornly stood its ground in the middle of the single track road. Lee jumped out of the car to get a few photos and eventually it slowly moved to the side and let us past.

It wasn't for moving at first.

After getting freshened up we headed down to the village for an excellent meal and a few drinks in the superb Applecross Inn. Lee also tried a few whiskies before we stumbled back up the hill to the campsite. In the morning we headed back over the pass and drove west over to the island of Skye. We headed to Elgol on the south east coast where we had arranged to meet my mate Dimitrios for a day targeting big pollock on lures. While we waited on him arriving Lee and I had a few casts from Elgol's slipway. Making our way down to it from the car park we were met by a couple of cows that were rooting around in the rotting seaweed and stones on the shore.

Kelp fed beef?

This short impromptu light game session produced a few fish. The first caught was a small coalfish and then I hooked a launce that grabbed my lure just as I was about to lift it out of the water.

A surprise capture really.

As I turned back to have another cast I discovered Lee had opened his account and was guiding a nice flounder up the slipway to land it. Just before Dimitrios arrived I caught a flatfish of my own in the shape of a small plaice.

A nice plump flounder for Lee.

The fourth species of our short fifteen minute session. Not bad going.

We headed south along the boggy cliff top paths to our chosen mark but upon arrival the conditions didn't look great. The wind was stronger than forecast and a slight swell also made fishing tough.

Dimitrios fishes from the rocks but things were slow.

After a while Lee and I switched to light game gear and this saw us catching a few small coalfish and pollock.

Amongst the smaller fish landed was this very nicely marked pollock.

We persevered for a bit longer but eventually the decision was made to cut our losses and head north to Neist Point. When we arrived the conditions on one side of the peninsula looked pretty terrible so we sought shelter on the other side below the lighthouse.

A bit rough.

Neist Point Lighthouse.

After climbing down to our chosen spot it didn't take Dimitrios long to hook a big pollock and I then got into the action myself with a couple of nice pollock of my own. While down closer to the water landing the second one I looked up to see Lee had hooked into a nice fish.

Fish on. A good one too.

It looked like a big fish but when it came to the surface we all got a surprise. From his elevated position Lee thought it was a cod he had caught but I had a better viewpoint and spotted the bright blue fringes on the fins of a large ling! Being down there at the fish landing area already I duly landed the fish for Lee before he climbed down beside me to admire his catch.

A cracking ling from the shore and Lee's first. Caught on a slow jig too which made it an even more special capture. Lee was quite rightly over the moon.

Some set of teeth on it.

A few more nice pollock were landed before we left and while Lee didn't get one as big as the fish Dimitrios and I had caught he wasn't bothered in the slightest having landed the best fish of the session in the shape of his specimen ling.

Some icing on Lee's ling cake. Not that he cared.

In the evening the three of us headed into Portree for another superb meal and a few beers and whiskies before we said goodbye to Dimitrios and headed back to our hotel. The next day before we left Skye Lee and I fished from a long stone pier near Broadford. Lots of coalfish were caught on light game gear and I also caught a lovely big bonus cod that was great fun on my ultra light tackle.

The coalfish weren't being very fussy really but Lee caught loads on "The Dagger", a lure that he designed himself.

This deep red bonus cod gave a great account of itself.

Having had our fill of coalfish and with nothing else beating them to our lures for a while after the cod went back we hit the road again. Soon back on the mainland we headed south to Loch Etive where we fished from Kelly's Pier on its eastern side. The target there was grey gurnard as Lee had never caught a gurnard before. We both quickly caught some from the deep water directly out in front of the end of the pier. Lee also managed to catch a couple of sand gobies, one of his least favourite species, which I found very amusing. A few whiting and poor cod made up the rest of our catch and I also winkled out a few two spotted gobies as well before we ended the final session of the trip.

Another species that Lee had never caught before successfully ticked off.

Lee's caught sand gobies before. He loves them really. No, he doesn't.

Lee has a final cast as the light fades.

So another little jolly was over and it had been great to spend time with Lee, meet up with Dimitios and catch a few fish in good company. It was particularly nice to take Lee to beautiful places where he caught a few new fish and we also enjoyed some great food and drink as well. I think it's safe to say the Scottish Highlands blew Lee away and his ling will take some beating as far as memorable fishes go. Memories weren't the only thing he took away with him either as he took a bottle of whisky as well. Hopefully he'll be back up here soon so we can have another little highland adventure.

Tight lines, Scott.

Once he popped he couldn't stop.

My mate Dimitrios messaged me recently to say he had unexpectedly been given four consecutive days off work and was up for a little fishing trip. It was short notice but luckily I managed to get the time off work too and a plan was hastily put together to head to Lochaline and then on to Skye, two places we've talked about fishing together when we have met up previously. Last Sunday off we went and on the way to Lochaline we stopped off at Loch Linnhe to fish a couple of his favourite marks near Kentallen. Dimitrios is a lure only angler and although I enjoy fishing with bait too I promised to fish with lures a fair bit as well during the trip and that's how I started off. After hooking a fish and loosing it on my first cast things were a bit slow but we both eventually started getting bites and caught a few fish.

Dimitrios was first to land a fish on a light game metal.

With ling in mind I fished a paddletail on a cheburashka lead close to the bottom. Working this slowly back towards myself saw me landing this small cod.  

Things went quiet again after a while so we moved to a second spot where we caught a few more fish, again on our light game gear using a variety of lure fishing methods.

Angleworm on a drop shot rig will catch most species. This pollock grabbed mine as I reeled my rig in to recast to try another spot. 

This nice female cuckoo wrasse also took a piece of Angleworm. I caught my first two of the year taking my Scottish saltwater tally to thirty five. 

Quite a large female, the markings at the rear of its dorsal fin were very bold. 

My first ever poor cod on a light game metal. I caught a couple on it. 

Early in the evening we arrived in Lochaline and after leaving our stuff at the Dive Centre where we'd be staying we headed down to the stone pier. It quickly became apparent that there were hundreds of coalfish around it and we were soon having lots of fun catching dozens of them. The phrase "a fish a cast" is an exaggeration often used in fishing but on this occasion our lures were being hit repeatedly as soon as they entered the water.

The action was ridiculously frantic and the feisty fish put up a great scrap on our light game tackle.

Fish caught from crystal clear water always seem to have lovely bright livery. 

It was was quite astounding how many fish there were and we could see their flanks flashing as they came up in the water and attacked our metals one after the other with aggressive slashes until one got hooked and tore off. Dimitrios loves coalfish and on light game gear they fight superbly well. He was in his element really and we both had a lot of fun. Eventually however I hooked something at range that fought differently, thumping away it could only be one thing.

This lovely deep red cod somehow managed to muscle its way through the dense shoals of coalfish to take my jig.

As darkness fell Dimitrios started fishing small poppers over a shallow area next to the pier where there was a fair amount of surface activity and had a lot of coalfish taking it off the top. It was soon quite late and as we were both feeling a little tired we eventually called it a night although I think Dimitrios would have stayed out a lot longer! Before heading up to the Dive Centre we quickly popped along to the west pier for a look around only to find it covered in timber which wasn't ideal for our session there the following day.

Up the next morning after breakfast we headed down to the west pier to find the boat had arrived and was being loaded with the timber. A steady procession of trucks bringing more down all day meant that where we could fish was restricted. I began fishing from the rocks next to the pier using raw prawn on scaled down bait rigs and Dimitrios headed off along the rocks to the west to fish lures. Before he got too far he called over to say that he had cast out past the ledge and his reel had emptied of line before his lure got to the bottom. I did tell him it was incredible deep but I think this really brought it home just how deep it was! Fishing in the relatively shallow water next to the pier I initially struggled to get any bites and I wondered if the noise being generated by the trucks loading the boat had scared the fish away. Casting my rig to different spots eventually saw me getting some little taps but I was struggling to connect until I made a quick change of hook size.

Dropping down to rigs with #14 hooks saw bites converted into fish. This goldsinny wrasse was the first fish of the session. 

I love rock cook wrasse and caught a couple of them too.

I stayed put at the pier but as ever Dimitrios headed off to explore.

The action was noticeable slower than during my previous visits to the pier but I patiently fished away catching a few more fish. I was hoping to catch a rock goby to add to this year's Scottish saltwater species tally but it was another goby species that I caught a couple of in fairly quick succession that did just that.

Not the goby I was expected but this leopard spotted goby saw another species added to this year's tally regardless so I was happy enough. 

The mini species kept coming at fairly constant intervals and when I caught a few cuckoo wrasse my thoughts turned to the possibility of completing the wrasse grand slam by catching a corkwing and a ballan. I had no luck on that front and really I'd have preferred a rock goby but one of those failed to turn up too. Most of the fish I did catch were colourful specimens however including a short spined sea scorpion and a rather large Yarrell's blenny, another very funky little fish.

 This short spined sea scorpion was perhaps the most colourful I've ever caught. Unlike there long spined relative, whose colouration can vary a lot, these are normally all a fairly drab brown.

A rather large and particularly plump Yarrell's blenny. 

By the time Dimitrios made his way back along it was late afternoon and after returning to the Dive Centre for something to eat we decided to head west to try somewhere new. Arriving our chosen mark it looked very promising and Dimitrios soon caught a few coalfish, cod and pollock. I opted to fish large mackerel baits using a fairly heavy bait setup. This only produced a couple of knocks although I did catch a nice pollock when it took my half mackerel fillet as I reeled it in over the kelp. After a while Dimitrios started to struggle as well so we headed back to Lochaline and had a couple of hours fun as light faded catching dozens of coalfish again with Dimitrios putting his small popper to good use before we called it a night.

Up early last Tuesday morning we made the drive up to Portree on Skye. On the way we stopped just before Eilean Donan Castle to break the journey up. Purely by accident when we started fishing it was low water so we were able to fish light game gear in the slack water.

Over an hour or so we both caught a few fish from Loch Duich. Quite a nice backdrop for some more rod bending fun with light game methods.

It didn't take too long for us to arrive in Portree and before heading to the hostel to check in we headed around the bay to the Black Rock to fish for a couple of hours. The incoming tide soon forced us back onto the shoreline however and heading north to some slightly deeper water the fishing was difficult due to a fairly strong northerly wind. My mate Keith, who stays in Portree regularly while working as a tour coach driver and guide, caught a common dragonet there recently so we persevered. The ground was clean and sandy out past the kelp lining the rocks we were fishing from and after catching a few small cod I caught a dab.

The colourful hotels of Portree Harbour from the opposite side of the bay.

A nice dab from the clean sandy sea floor. I'm sure in better conditions and armed with some quality ragworm a common dragonet would be a very probable catch. 

After popping into the hostel to leave our overnight bags we weren't sure where to head in the evening given the building wind strength and direction. We both wanted to fish light lure gear for big pollock but with most of the marks I knew of being on the north of the island I was struggling to select a place to fish that wouldn't be unfishable due to the wind and accompanying swell. After speaking to the Portree tackle shop owner we weren't really that much further forward as the only two spots he suggested involved parking the car and making quite a long trek to get to them. In the end we made the short drive north to Staffin to see just how bad the conditions actually were.

Unfortunately the conditions were even worse than I thought they would be.

Rather frustrated we had a quick look at a map and decided to head for Uig to try fishing from the ferry pier. Fishing there was very poor though and after a while we headed back to Portree where I had an hour fishing off the end of the harbour. This produced a procession of small cod, poor cod and coalfish. It had been a very frustrating first day on Skye really and so we decided to get a few drinks and head back to the hostel for an early night. Just before we left I caught a tiny grey gurnard which made me smile.

Gurnards are cool fish. This little one was the highlight of a rather poor day's fishing.

After a few ciders and beers we headed off to bed. As it was peak season we were in different rooms though. Soon in my bed in a shared twelve person dorm I was asleep pretty quickly but was woken up at 01:00 by a drunken idiot who put the light on to find his bed. After pointing it out to him he got into it fully clothed including his boots, proceeded to pass out and started snoring very loudly. I struggled to get any decent sleep after that and at about 03:30 I decided to just get up and go fishing. I headed back to the shore to the north of the Black Rocks to try for a common dragonet again. Things were slow however and the wind whilst not as strong as the day before still made things difficult. After catching a few small cod, coalfish and another solitary grey gurnard I headed back to the hostel to pick up Dimitrios so we could drive down to Elgol on the south west coast of the island. On the way it was still quite overcast but when we arrived a bit of blue sky was showing through the grey clouds to the south where we were heading.

The view of the Cullins to the north west is normally quite spectacular. Unless of course they are partially hidden by clouds and rain.

There are various rock platforms that can be fished along the shoreline when the tide is out but we headed to the deeper water at the far end.

After making our way along the network of cliff top paths, made by the livestock that roam them, we climbed down onto a large comfortable platform and were soon fishing away. Working soft plastics near the bottom Dimitrios was first into a fish.

Dimitrios' rod bends into a pollock.

I was struggling to get any bites on my paddletail so I changed approach which improved my fortunes almost straight away. After that the action was still sporadic but we both caught a few more fish.

Switching to a metal jig got the pollock biting as I let the lure flutter down through the water column by lowering my rod tip to try and maintain a near vertical fall.

Things soon went fairly quiet again though so I decided to do my best goat impersonation and headed along to explore the cliffs to our left.

With more deep water to try along the bottom of the cliffs I decided to climb along them. A bit risky but extreme caution was exercised.

Perched on a little ledge along from Dimitrios I started fishing.

Don't look down. No room for an error when placing feet.

Don't look up. Some of the overhanging slabs of rock above my head looked a bit loose. 

Fishing away, all the time mindful of where I was putting my feet, I soon hooked a nice fish that made it into the kelp and managed to dislodge my assist hook. Shorty afterwards though I hooked a second fish a bit further out that felt even bigger that had my rod buckled over and line peeling from my reel. I managed to keep it away from the kelp though and after a few more dives and a bit more scrambling a lovely big bronze pollock was landed. My cliff side antics had been worthwhile and I headed back along to the safety of the large rock platform so I could get a photo with my fish.

The look on my face says it all. A lovely fish and the reason we wanted to fish on Skye.

Dimitrios had a go fishing at the end of a newly accessible rock skeer that had been exposed by the receding tide before then having a go fishing from the narrow ledges of the cliffs. He soon returned with a nice fish of his own. 

Dimitrios fishes the point as the clouds begin to break up revealing the impressive Cullins.

Another lovely big bronze pollock. This one took a lightly weighted soft plastic on the drop.

Before we left I decided to fish a bait on the bottom to see what else I could catch. I quickly tied up a one hook paternoster and kicked a limpet off the rocks to put on my hook. My rig was only on the bottom for a few seconds when the shellfish bait was taken aggressively and I was soon reeling up the culprit. 

A nice little deep red and pink mottled ballan wrasse.

With a long drive home via Glasgow to make we decided to head back to Elgol shortly afterwards and loaded up the car. The journey back was pretty nice as the sun finally decided to put in an appearance lighting up some stunning scenery. To break up the drive we had another short stop at Loch Duich again. The tide was flooding though and whilst I tried to fish baits on the bottom in search of a ling the strong currents pulled my rigs into snags and after losing a couple I had a quick nap in the car while Dimitrios fished on for a bit. It had been a great trip even if the weather had been pretty poor and fishing had been tough at times as a result. I had added a couple more species to this years tally and I think Dimitrios loved catching so many coalfish using poppers, not something you get the chance to do often really. I'm looking forward to meeting up with him again in the future and I don't think it's the last time we'll fish Skye together. Hopefully next time we do the weather will be kinder and allow us to fish some of the marks on its northern shores, perhaps trying some new, not so well known ones in search of double figure pollock.

Tight lines, Scott.