Ask the expert?

I've been exchanging emails recently with an angler from Fife called Dan who had been reading my blog and decided to get in touch. Feeling fed up of fishing in the sea in his local area using traditional methods and reeling in relatively small fish using fairly heavy tackle he has been exploring light rock fishing or LRF. For the avoidance of doubt this is the presentation of ultra light lures using a variety of methods and balanced ultra light tackle to target various species in saltwater. I was flattered when he said he wanted to ask an expert some questions but an expert in LRF I am not, by any stretch of the imagination. I was however happy to try and help him out and increase my circle of fishing friends in the process so I arranged to meet up with Dan last week and taking advantage in a drop in the wind we headed down to Dunbar Harbour for low water.

First off we started off drop shotting Gulp! and Isome in the old harbour for flounders but this didn't produce any bites. At this point I should say that both these products are examples of a hybrid of lure and bait because whilst they both take the form of an artificial soft plastic they both also contain active ingredients that fish can identify as belonging to something edible. This makes them incredibly effective and really they require little skill to achieve immediate results. Elitist, lure only anglers who use these hybrid products please take note, you might as well be using ragworm! Personally, being an angler who enjoys fishing with bait, lures and everything in between this doesn't bother me at all and I've caught lots of fish using both. On reflection though using these hybrid products does become the easy option when "lure" fishing and perhaps to the detriment of exploring other methods using wholly artificial lures.

As the flounders weren't around I suggested we headed over the back of the harbour to try and catch a few mini species in the rockpools. After explaining to Dan the types of features to look for in a rockpool that might hold some aggressive little fish we set about exploring to find some. The first thing I caught was a small hermit crab, one of several that stirred from their static positions and scurried across to attack my piece of Gulp!. Dan was quite surprised by the way everything in the rockpools, including the hermit crabs, reacted as soon as my chunk of Gulp! was dropped in even if I just let it sit on the bottom motionless.

The rockpools I searched soon produced a few gung-ho long spined sea scorpions.They charge out of their hiding places and attack with lots of aggression.

Dan was soon happily exploring on his own catching a few small spiky fish too.

After an hour or so, catching about ten long spined sea scorpions between us, we then headed further down the coast to St Abbs to try and catch some coalfish after dark using on the drop (OTD) methods. We probably could have stayed at Dunbar but usually down at St Abbs the fish are more numerous, occasionally bigger and there are usually far less seals too. Both armed with solid tipped rods we had a chat about the benefits of using them for fishing OTD. I started of with a mini Savage Gear Sandeel paddletail, casting it out and flicking the bail arm over as soon as it hit the water. I kept tension in the line, simply allowing it to fall back towards me in an arc. Fishing like this as well as feeling for positive bites you also have to watch your rod tip and line because some takes are not so obvious. If a fish takes your lure and swims upward or towards you the only sign might be a release in tension, the line going slack or even a subtle change in the slight bend in your rod tip as it straightens a little. Basically when fishing this particular OTD style I find that less is more and usually select a lure whose action works even at slow retrieve rates. Metals are also a great choice of lure for OTD fishing as again they have a nice action as they fall through the water attracting fish to investigate and strike. On this particular occasion however I found them to be not as effective as the paddletails. Again it didn't take long for Dan to try a few lures, make a few adjustments and start catching coalfish too. Over the next few hours we carried on messing about and must have caught about a hundred small coalfish between us by the time the wind picked up and our wet hands started to become unbearably cold.

These ravenous little buggers provide a good opportunity to practice fishing on the drop with both small soft plastics on jigheads and small metals too.

I really enjoyed the session and Dan said he felt he had learned from it too. It was nice to have helped another angler to get more from their fishing. I've lost count of the number of times in the past I've benefited from the advice of other anglers so it was good to share some of what I've learned for a change. It also made me realise that whilst Gulp! and Isome are highly effective fish catchers, other choices of lure when fished with the right technique can also produce fish if you are willing to put in some effort and on that front perhaps I am a bit of a lazy bugger. Anyway, going forward I think Dan and I will be meeting up again as his genuine interest in learning about the different approaches that LRF encompasses has kind of rekindled my own desire to try different methods within that particular subset of lure fishing. Gulp! and Isome are very effective weapons to have in your fish catching armoury but hopefully when we head out again we can both ditch them most of time, do some fishing with proper lures and broaden our LRF horizons a little further in the process.

Tight lines, Scott.

A swell time.

Hoping to get another fix of powerful pollock action I went down to St Abbs Head on Sunday with workmates Stewart and Adil. It was overcast but dry and we arrived to find a light swell running. Not ideal conditions for catching pollock but we were still keen to try. With Stewart and Adil sharing a rod and taking turns to fish we starting off fishing Savage Gear Sandeels, one of my favourite lures for pollock. Searching the water we had no luck locating fish and lost a couple of lures to the kelpy bottom before I switched to an HTO Shore Jig, replacing the assist hook with a treble.

Adil and I fish whilst Stewart watches for rogue waves.

Casting out, a few Guillemots near where the lure entered the water disappeared. Reeling quickly to get it away from them I felt a few of them attacking it before the inevitable happened and one of them got itself  hooked. It would have been a real struggle to land it but with my line wrapped around its wing I eventually got it close enough for Adil to try and scoop it up with my telescopic landing net. However when we eventually got the bird into it and Adil tried to lift the net up from the water there was an almighty crack as the handle snapped. The two pieces still barely joined together Adil managed to grab the top section and handed it to me. A towel was then used to keep the bird calm and under control whilst I quickly untangled it and set it free. My 4m landing net now down to under 1m I knew we might struggle to land a big pollock but we'd just have to worry about that if it happened.

The tide now flooding and taking care not to cast too close to any more guillemots I caught a few coalfish when I changed from a straight retrieve to a bit of jigging, ripping the lure up before lowering my rod tip slowly to feel for bites as it dropped back down again. Adil switched to a metal too and soon hooked a coalfish. His celebrations were premature however as when he got it to the surface it managed to throw the lure and the tension in his rod tip propelled it up into him narrowly avoiding his "tackle". Quite lucky not to be injured Stewart and I found this near miss quite hilarious. Once he stopped laughing Stewart then had a turn fishing and soon caught a few coalfish. After I had caught a dozen or so I decided to try using the assist hooks but this resulted in hardly any hookups so I put the treble back on.

Coalfish will attack lures "on the drop". Jigging metals is therefore an effective way to catch them.

Adil taking the second rod again finally hooked and landed his first coalfish of the session and then I hooked a fish at range that put up a fairly good fight. I thought it was a small pollock at first but it turned out to be a big mackerel that was quickly dispatched so Adil could have it for his dinner. By now it was early afternoon and still keen to find some pollock we decided to climb back up and go and try another spot.

Adil and Stewart take their time climbing back up the rocks.

Soon back up on the cliff tops a short walk along past the lighthouse and we were soon making our way down to the second mark. A walk down a fairly gently sloping grass bank followed by a short climb down the rocks took us to it and we were soon perched on a rocky ledge above the water. We tried a few different lures but there seemed to be even less fish here with only a few coalfish being caught and the loss of the only two metals I had with me that were fitted with treble hooks meant that catching them became more difficult.

Fishing away it was soon Adil's turn to get a laugh at our expense when, despite being fairly high up above the water, Stewart and I managed to get a bit of a soaking when waves broke on the rocks below us and the spray from them came up and caught us both out.

Drying out and with soft plastics on jigheads being fished on both rods it had gone quiet for a while when my pearl white Reins Rockvibe Shad was taken by a big pollock fairly close in. It immediately headed for the kelp below, stripping line from my almost locked up drag two times and managing to get into the thick weed beneath me. Applying pressure it had just started to come up through the weed when it thrashed violently and everything went slack. I reeled in to find the fish had thrown the hook leaving a torn and mangled lure hanging from my jighead. Pretty gutted to have lost a nice fish at my feet but hopeful that more might start biting we soldiered on but that was the last action of the session and as early evening arrived we called it a day.

The view to the east from our rocky ledge. More ground begging to be explored.

On the way back up we passed this rock covered in Guillemots. Casting metals near them whilst they are on the water is asking for trouble!

It had been a good days' fishing and we'd all had a right good laugh too. The lack of pollock and losing the only one biting was disappointing but the swell and cloud cover meant conditions weren't ideal so it was good that we all caught something. None of us work on a Sunday so I'm sure we'll be back over the coming months to try again for some hard fighting pollock.

Tight lines, Scott.

Less is more.

My workmate Stewart was off on holiday last week and wanted to go fishing. The weather looked poor at several places around the country and after much deliberation we decided to head to Skye to target pollock on lures and do a bit of bait fishing. An early start last Tuesday morning saw us arrive in Elgol at about 11:00. Parking the car it started raining so the waterproofs went on and travelling light we headed south along the cliff tops to find a place to fish.

Elgol slipway.

We weren't the only two up on the cliff.

Like much of the island the ground was covered in grasses and heather with a few small streams flowing through it making it quite boggy in places. After a while we reached a bog that was difficult to cross so we climbed down to the rocky shore and made our way along it. The rain had made some of the rocks quite slippy but before long we reached a flat barnacle covered rock platform that was a natural dead end due to the sheer cliffs to the left of it. The water looked nice and deep in front of it so we got our rods set up and as this was Stewart's first time fishing with lures I gave him a few pointers. I told him to keep tension in the line at all times to stay in contact with lure as it dropped through the water so he would feel any bites. Once down deep I told him to reel very slowly to give his Savage Gear Sandeel a nice subtle action and to add a few pauses to let the lure sink again as this is often what can trigger pollock to attack. Basically I told him that "less is more" sometimes. This advice was obviously taken in and soon did the trick with Stewart getting off to a great start catching a couple of cracking pollock.

Stewart was a bit nervous about handling the fish as he didn't want to drop them. I held this one up for him so he could take a "selfie".

Shortly afterwards I got my first pollock of the trip and after switching to a HTO Shore Jig to get a bit more distance followed it with a small coalfish. Stewart stuck with his trusty Real Pearl Savage Gear Sandeel and got another pollock and after switching back to one too and casting along to the left in front of the cliffs I had another nice fish.

I'm really enjoying targeting pollock at the moment. Can you tell?

Stewart was happy to admire his fish without handling them. Not a bad thing really and perhaps a practice I should adopt more often.

I really like my rubberised net. This smaller fish fit OK but I could really use a bigger one for the bigger pollock.

As the tide flooded it went quiet for a while then it forced us to leave our comfortable flat rocky platform. By now it was almost time to think about heading to Portree to book into our hostel. However, we soon realised that the route we had taken to reach the mark had been covered by the incoming tide.

Another escape route required.

After scouting around for a bit I managed to find what was a fairly tricky climb up to the top of the cliff. Taking our time we eventually made it up the rock face and through some insect infested heather to safety. This mark is obviously one to fish on the ebb and into the flood unless you are prepared to get stranded for a few hours or are willing to do some climbing as we did.

Looking down from the cliffs above the rock platform we had been fishing from is almost cut off by the tide.

Before heading back to the car we quickly explored a bit further along the cliffs. The water below looked very deep and yet again I found myself wishing I owned a kayak. If I do end up getting one the waters around Skye will be right up there on my list of places to use it once I am suitably experienced.

The deep water in front of these cliffs looks great for a day afloat.

With no real path back along the cliffs we followed those made by wandering livestock, successfully negotiated the large bog and soon back in the car headed off to Portree. After booking into the hostel and having a hot meal we then headed off to Carbost Pier near the Talisker Whiskey Distillery on the shore of Loch Harport. By now the rain had stopped and it was a fairly nice night.

The Talisker Whiskey Distilery. The only single malt producer on the island.

Setting up two bait rods and fishing with lures close in whilst we waited for bites things were very slow until a small shoal of mackerel broke the surface out in front of us. Tying on a metal and casting it towards them as they gave their position away I quickly caught one. By the time I had landed and dispatched it to use as bait though they had moved off out of range again. Reeling in and replacing the frozen bluey baits with fresh mackerel it didn't take too long for one of the rod tips to start going. Stewart had just retired to the car for a nap and returned to see me land a dogfish. I was quite tired too by this point and when some grey clouds started to appear over the hills behind us moving in our direction we hastily packed up and headed back to the hostel to avoid another soaking.

Up just after eight on Wednesday morning the forecast was for a dry day and we headed north to Staffin. After a quick stop for a bacon roll and a hot drink we drove along to its small harbour, parked the car and walked south along the coast to the rocks.

Many roads and paths on Skye cross fields that contain livestock. Look out for large highland bulls!

Being a well known spot to fish doesn't make the rocks at Staffin and the Kilt Rock behind them in the distance any less spectacular.

There were many accessible ledges to choose from so we picked one and carefully climbed down. It was a lovely day and fishing such a dramatic part of the coast into crystal clear deep water was a real pleasure even if our Savage Gear Sandeels weren't tempting any fish. After a while we started moving along the rocks and I decided to switch tactics and fish a large Firetail Jellyworm weedless on a Carolina rig. Casting around and slowly working it close to the bottom and up through the kelp I soon hooked a big fish that had my rod bent over and made a couple of very powerful dives close in against my almost locked up drag. Just when I though I had the fish beaten however everything went suddenly slack. The fish had somehow thrown the hook. I was quite disappointed but had a few more casts with the same lure to try and tempt another one. This wasn't successful though so we moved along the rocks again. After an hour or so we reached an impassible section and climbed up and around it. Before climbing back down again we were passing some tadpole infested shallow ponds when I spotted something out if the corner if my eye that I haven't seen since I was a young boy. Once again my net came in handy.

A newt. Very cool.

Showing it to Stewart before popping it back we climbed back down to the waters edge again. By now the tide had turned and was starting to creep up the rocks. We then reached a very deep kelp lined alcove. The water was so clear you could see right to the bottom which was made up of large round boulders. I decided to tie on a weedless jighead and fished a Daiwa D-Fin shad on it. Hoping to tempt a wrasse a small ballan did appear from the weed to investigate but after a brief inspection shot off into a large crevice and stayed there. By now I was starting to wonder if we would catch any fish and decided to try a 28g TronixPro Casting Jig to get more distance and cover more water. Persisting with this eventually paid off when I had a take quite far out and Stewart netted the first fish of the day.

Finally a Staffin pollock! I was sure as the tide picked up more would follow and at closer range.

Now mid afternoon and the sun directly above us we started working our way back. Stewart being fair skinned was a bit sun burnt and had to periodically seek shelter in the shade. As we reached our starting point I caught a small pollock but any big improvement in our fortunes I thought the rising tide would bring didn't materialise. We decided to head back along towards harbour and as we got closer to it we spotted a nice looking outcrop and decided to fish it for an hour or so with our Savage Gear Sandeels before calling it a day. After a dozen casts or so my lure was aggressively taken on the drop before I started reeling in a good fish. After the obligatory three powerful dives the fish was netted by Stewart whom by this point was rather red and had kind if given up on catching anything.

Another pollock can't resist the Savage Gear Sandeel.

This capture spurred Stewart on a bit I think and he had a final half an hour trying to bust his blank but sadly his efforts went unrewarded. I managed one final small greedy pollock just before we left.

Burnt but not beaten.

Soon back in the car we made a quick stop just outside Staffin to view the Kilt Rock from the other side.

Kilt Rock in the distance with the Mealt Waterfall in the foreground.

We decided to take the slightly longer scenic route home and stopped for fish and chips in Glencoe Village. It was a lovely evening and a nice way to end a great trip. I must say I did have some reservations about going all the way to Skye for such a short trip but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The three sessions were much shorter than I would perhaps have done had I been there for an extended period but we fished three new marks on Skye and caught some nice fish even if the fishing was slow at times. Portree was a great central base of operations and in the future a longer trip might be on the cards to revisit some of the marks I've fished there now and do some more exploration. That being said I wouldn't hesitate to do a short trip again because like working soft plastics for pollock less is indeed sometimes more.

Tight lines, Scott.

A very fishy birthday.

Another year older on the 6th and with my girlfriend Lillian working during the day I decided to celebrate by going fishing. Shock, horror! Canvassing a few folk the week running up to it to see who was available and wanted to join me, my mates Naz and Mark said they were and would so when my birthday arrived I picked them up fairly early in the morning. My choice of destination was St Abbs Head and after asking my two fishing pals if they were ok with it we decided to try a new mark that was a bit more tricky to access than the ones I've fished with various people so far this year. Once down the fairly steeply inclined path you reach a point where a step across a narrow but very deep gorge is required. I went over first and then Mark and Naz followed. We all agreed that it looked far worse than it actually was. A sign of our age I think?!

The view to the east along St Abbs Head. So many potential spots to fish. Some will be more difficult to get to though!

Once on the rock we were surprised to find another two anglers already there, tucked away down on a ledge near the water and were slightly concerned when they informed us that they been there for a few hours and had only caught one mackerel. We began fishing anyway, targeting pollock with a variety of lures. After an hour or so with no reward for our efforts and with locating a ballan wrasse in mind I decided to head around to the back of the rock to the channel of deep water that ran along and under the crack we had stepped over.

Looks wrassy. The cormorants nesting on the other side didn't seem to mind me fishing there either.

I had on a 5" Keitech Easy Shiner rigged up on a Texas rig with a #5/0 weedless hook and my first cast resulted in a few distinctive taps which pulled the lure around the hook so I quickly changed to a 10g #2/0 football jighead and put on a slightly smaller 4" Keitech Sexy Impact lure and dropped it down to the same spot. This quick change soon resulted in a nicely bent rod and I had to quickly pressurise the fish away from the thick kelp lining the edge of the rocks beneath me. With the fish soon beaten and on the surface I managed to grab my net and open and extend it with one hand and soon had my first St Abbs Head ballan wrasse unhooked and in my hands. I called to Mark who came and took a photo before having a go for wrasse himself.

My first St Abbs Head ballan wrasse. I hope it's not the last!

Unfortunately I seemed to have caught the only resident wrasse and after a while Mark returned to the open sea to try for pollock again. I decided to stay put, switched to my ultra light gear and fished a section of Isome on a drop shot rig. Searching the gully I was hoping for a special birthday treat. Unusual species like Yarrell's blenny and streaked gurnard have been seen in the area by divers but on this occasion a solitary long spined sea scorpion was my only other gift from the gully.

Obliging as ever.

I then returned to where Naz and Mark were only to find that they weren't there and two new anglers had appeared and were fishing there instead. It was quickly becoming obvious that it is quite a popular spot during the summer months! Walking over to the western side of the rock I soon found them however, they had taken the spot the other two angler had occupied as unknown to me they had left the mark so I climbed down too. It was a bit tight space wise but we managed to fit onto the ledge and fish fairly comfortably. This new spot saw Naz and I catching quite a few mackerel, despite us targeting pollock with larger lures. There must have been large shoals in the bay because I caught several on a Real Pearl Savage Gear Sandeel! For some reason Mark couldn't catch any and I started winding him up a bit. He finally caught one however and I think he was quite relieved.

Mark gets off the mark.

This continued for an hour or so with a few small coalfish with eyes much bigger than their stomachs also being caught on some metal lures and breaking up the steady string of ravenous mackerel. I caught a single pollock before the action dropped off again. After a while we decided to head back up.

Caught close in on a Real Pearl Savage Gear Sandeel. One of my favourite pollock lures. Note the mountain goat over my shoulder!

I lead the way back up.

Mark and Naz take a short break from the climb to catch breath and admire the views.

With a table booked for dinner later that evening with my girlfriend Lillian, my sister and her partner I had to be back in Edinburgh for about 18:00. It was only 15:00 when we got back to the car though so we decided to drop into Dunbar harbour on the way back so I could catch a birthday blenny. Sharing my rod and fishing Isome on a dropshot rig we took it in turns to catch them which was a lot of fun. Mark had never caught one before and was amazed how aggressive they are especially when his started biting him.

A birthday blenny!

Catching blennies on ultra light gear is great fun!

I then had a go at catching flounders and manged two before handing the rod to Naz who managed to catch one as well one his first cast. Mark was next and after a short time he soon had the technique sorted too and was getting a few bites before finally hooking a small but perfectly formed specimen.

One of four little flounders I caught.

Mark thinks this was his first flounder in about fifteen years.

Mark has fished off the back of the harbour for pollock in the past but has never fished inside the harbour before and as he lives in nearby Haddington he said he'd definitely be back for a few short sessions to try and catch some of the bigger ones whilst his partner does the shopping! A thoroughly enjoyable morning and afternoon's fishing over we headed off.

Later that evening I was treated to an amazing seafood dinner at Ondine on George IV Bridge. Quite an apt way to celebrate turning thirty six I thought given the amount of time I spend around the sea. Whilst the shellfish platter I had for my main course was superb, my starter of bass ceviche was the highlight of the evening and is a dish that I may even try to make myself in the future.

Delicious!

Grand fruits of the sea. Yum.

Chocolate truffle and a cappuccino were a nice end to a lovely meal.

All full up and with me feeling rather tired we stopped off for a drink on the way home but after one pear cider I was falling asleep, another sign of getting older I suppose!

Tight lines, Scott.

Catching up.

I met up with my mate Naz on Tues for the first time in a while. We headed down to fish a low water mark in East Lothian near North Berwick but despite the conditions looking great and the mark looking like it would produce a few fish we both struggled. After several hours exploring and trying a few different approaches to target various species all we had caught were a small coalfish each from the above the kelp directly under our feet and a small long spined sea scorpion I winkled from a rockpool so we opted to head to the rocks near Dunbar to see if a new location would improve our fortunes.

A short drive later we were on a large rocky shelf again and whilst it was quite a similar mark, the key difference was the water at the new one was a little deeper and indeed things were looking good when I hooked a small pollock on my first cast only to helplessly watch as it managed to throw the Savage Gear Sandeel at my feet before diving into the kelp below. It would be a while before anymore action and I had tried a few different lures and Naz had too as well as lost a few on the bottom before I hooked and landed a small pollock on a Savage Gear Phsyco Sprat that I was jigging quite aggressively fairly close in just beyond the kelp on the rock ledges just infront of me. This was quickly followed by a second larger pollock which Naz helped me land before taking a photo of before it went back.

This feisty pollock put a nice bend in my Nories Rough Surf 88.

On a bit of a roll now I quickly landed a third pollock and then hooked another nice fish a bit further out which I could tell was a codling when it started thumping away at the end of my line instead of diving. Soon landed, Naz stopped fishing again to take a photo of me with my catch. 

I was very pleased to catch this nice codling. The first time I've caught one on a metal.

After one more small pollock though the action stopped just as suddenly as it had started and with the tide flooding we decided to try fishing off the rocks at the back of Dunbar Harbour. This only thing this resulted in sadly was a few more lost lures though so we decided to have a quick mess about in the harbour with my ultra light gear at "blenny corner" and "shellfish falls". I managed to catch two blennies and a small flounder on some drop shotted Isome and a quick change to a section of Isome on a jighead saw Naz catch his first blenny before our hunger got the better of us and we called it a day.

Hooked. Naz catches his first blenny.

Unhooked. Naz is bitten by his first blenny.

So pretty tired after a long day's fishing we headed home, stopping briefly on the way for some tasty haddock and chips. A nice fishy way to end a days fishing. It was good to catch up with Naz again and hopefully we can meet up again soon for another fishing trip.

Tight lines, Scott.

A load of pollocks.

I headed up to the beautiful Scottish Highlands on Sat for a two day fishing trip. Destination Applecross. I go up there in Aug every year for a week with two friends, Alan and Mark, but we fancied meeting up for a spot of fishing and a weekend up there seemed the natural choice as Alan lives up in Aberdeen. Also we thought it would be interesting to see how it fishes at this time of year. Mark picked me up at 6am and we reached Inverness just after 9am, met Alan, grabbed a "big breakfast" at Woody's Truck Stop Cafe, then made the final leg of the trip including the breathtaking drive over "The Pass".

Over "The Pass" we go once more.

Looking back from the halfway point towards Loch Carron.

We arrived at the campsite at just after midday, quickly set up our tents, loaded all our gear into Alan's car and drove twenty miles north to Fearnmore to fish Loch Torridon from a rock peninsula surrounded by deep water.

Fearnmore rocks await.

 Deep water and kelp screams pollock.

Lovely view to the west up Loch Torridon.

We all set up our bait rods and then started fishing with lures. I had two lure setups with me, my Daiwa Powermesh 902MS and Exceler X3000 spooled with 20lb Power Pro for lobbing soft plastics and metals and my Nories Rockfish Bottom Ultra Light and Daiwa Steez 2500 spooled with 6lb Sunline Rickfish for a spot of ultra light fun. I started with the ultra light setup and a Tiny Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner on a 3.5g #6 AGM finesse jighead. Working the lure across the kelp beds from the rocks above I was standing on. After a while I heard Mark shouting "I'm in!" and headed over the rocks to see what he had caught. A coalfish just short of 1lb was the answer.

Mark is first off the mark at this mark.

He was a very happy man as he had caught the fish on a silver spoon that he would later tell me was one of his many home made lures. I don't have a photo of this lure as unfortunately he lent it to Alan who lost it a bit later before I could take a photo of it. I continued fishing ultra light but after a while with no sign of any fish I decided to switch to my other setup so I could cast a heavier lure out a bit further and work it a bit deeper. I tied on a 23g Savage Gear Sandeel in Sandeel and began working the area, letting it drop to the bottom and then retrieving it steadily but very slowly. After a few casts I felt the tell tale pluck of a pollock and kept winding. Another pluck. Bang! Fish on! My elevated position made it relatively easy to bully the fish up away from any snags and it was quickly landed with the assistance of Alan with a net. Quickly photographed and weighed it was returned. Over the next hour I caught another three. All of them were 2.5-3lb.

1st pollock of the day.

Savage Gear Sandeel claims it's second victim.

Another pollock.

White bodies took a couple of the fish.

Then the action stopped so I decided to switch back to my ultra light gear again and try a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Magic Shad on a 3.5g #2 AGM finesse jighead to see if there were any wrasse around. Jigging vertically above the kelp to imitate a dying fish I suddenly saw the large silver flash of a pollock as it took my lure from below and my rod bent over as the fish dived back down to its kelpy lair. It managed to take some line but I quickly tightened up the drag whilst raising the rod up preventing it getting there. The rod was bent double but I felt in total control at all times. I got him up to the surface and I could see he was my biggest pollock of the day. I'd say he was about 4lb. At this point I was quite high up above the water so I started to make my way along to a point where it could be netted but when I got about half way there he thrashed violently on the surface and threw the hook. Gutted as I would have liked a photo of it next to the Nories. Still, I was pleased that the rod had been subjected to a good test and had passed with flying colours. No more action for anyone so we headed back to Applecross to get a shower and head down to the Inn for dinner and a few drinks.

Early start yesterday saw us return to Fearnmore again and the weather was lovely. The drive north presented us with stunning views to the west of Raasay and Skye.

Breathtaking! Some lucky bugger sees it everyday from that house!

Fishing was very slow with no interest in the bait rods again and only one fish being caught in the morning. My Savage Gear Sandeel claiming another pollock.

Lovely clean fish.

Why the sad face? You'll be going back soon.

After a few hours with no action in the afternoon we decided to call it a day. We packed up all the gear and set up the camera for a group shot. From left to right are Alan, Mark and myself.

Two fisherman and Bobby Bald. (Sorry Alan!)

We made the walk back up to the cars and drove off just as the weather deteriorated and it started raining heavily. We headed back to Inverness and Mark and I said goodbye to Alan who had failed to catch anything and was planning to buy a few packs of Savage Gear Sandeels to hopefully ensure he doesn't suffer the same fate come August!

Tight lines, Scott.