When the fishing gets tough...

The Friday before last I headed down south with my mate Martin for a long weekend of lure fishing targeting freshwater predators, but primarily a favourite of ours, the zander. We also wanted to meet up with some fellow anglers at the Gloucester and Sharpness Zander Bumble on the Sunday. This was organised by local angler Kev Pugh. On the way down to Gloucester though we broke the drive up with a stop at Kingsdown Flash in Abram to spend the afternoon drowning maggots. This water apparently holds a good head of bitterling, a fairly recent addition to my "Most Wanted" species list. Being fairly early in the year I wasn't confident about catching one but was keen to try anyway and if nothing else it was a good opportunity to have a look at the venue for a return in the summer. 

As I've said, I knew it would probably be tough trying to catch a bitterling but I thought we'd perhaps catch a few roach or perch in the process. Action however was non existent apart from a few carp splashing about on the surface, getting ready to spawn. Bites just didn't materialise and after about two hours of patiently staring at my float and feeding a few pinkies I spotted something hanging from a nearby branch and took my eye of the waggler to go and investigate. It turned out to be a bright red artificial maggot but when I turned back to return to my seatbox I did so just in time to see my rod heading towards the water! Luckily I managed to grab it and had a fish on. It felt like a small carp or tench but sadly it came off after about thirty seconds. Sods law but at least I'd had a bite. Another hour or so passed with no more bites though so we decided to move. This did not improve our fortunes so we moved again one last time. This saw Martin being broken off by a fish after his attention was distracted by a carp surfacing nearby. A fish had grabbed his bait and shot off, he didn't see his float go, the first he knew about it was the the fish nearly wrenching the rod from his hand before his very light hooklength went. Probably a carp we suspected. Soon afterwards Martin's float slowly went under and he quickly landed the first predator of the trip.

Martin's monster perch. 

For those with poor eyesight. 

He then caught a roach slightly bigger than the perch, I had two tiny fish throw the hook on me fishing in the margin and resigned myself to ending the session on a blank, packing up and trudging back to the car. I didn't see what they were and Martin wound me up by suggested they were bitterling. The swine! Anyway, it was a fairly disappointing start to the trip and we both hoped things would be more productive during the weekend's predator sessions.

Fairly early on Saturday morning we headed to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. Bumble organiser Kev had suggested a spot for us to try when on the phone to Martin the night before and that's where we started. Fishing soft plastics on drop shot rigs we slowly worked our way along the canal but after about four hours my efforts had attracted no interest whatsoever and Martin had only had a couple of knocks. We had been told beforehand that the venue could be a notoriously tough place to fish but the lack of activity was very frustrating. We were both glad when Kev called, we headed off to meet him and we decided to head north to the Grand Union Canal to fish for the afternoon where Martin and I had fished before with some success.

A short drive later and we were at Kev's chosen stretch, one he had a few fish from recently. Martin was first to get his lure in the water and hooked a fish almost straight away but soon lost it, much to his digust. A good sign we all thought though but it didn't prove to be the case as the fishing was very tough. After quite a while Kev finally had some interest and hooked a zander. It was carefully netted by Martin and Kev was quite pleased with it and informed us it was probably a new PB, a fact quickly confirmed by his scales.

At 2lb 6oz it was indeed a new PB zander for a rather pleased Kev. 

Again encouraged by some action we soldiered on but the canal seemed to be pretty devoid of active fish. After a while I had tried numerous lures and had also switched to bottom bouncing a weedless jighead all with no reward whatsoever. After a short break and a sit down to set up a drop shot rig I decided to stick with this method and fished with one lure, a Daiwa D'Fin. We then doubled back and by the time we had passed the starting point light was starting to fade and Martin had headed a fair distance off ahead, obviously desperate to find some fish. I have to be honest and say I had almost resigned myself to another blank by this point and was chatting away to Kev about drop shotting. As we chatted he pulled his lure back out from some branches on the far bank he had cast into and a fish grabbed his lure as it dropped into the water about half way across the canal. Unfortunately it wasn't on long and spat the hook when it came to the surface. On my next cast I felt a very aggressive take and soon brought the culprit to the canal's edge. I wasn't going to mess around trying to get the net out so I quickly lifted it out to hand. It was a fairly small zander but I didn't care, it was an enormous relief to finally get a fish!

A most welcome little fish. Maybe the same one Kev had just lost.

Martin then came back to meet us and I told him my good news. Sadly Martin had nothing similar to report. We fished our way back to the car but the only things our hooks found were a few branches and there was no further contact with the resident fish.

On Sunday morning we headed to the meeting point for the bumble. It was good to meet up with some people I've met before and also introduce myself to some people who I've chatted to on forums but hadn't met in person. After we had our fill of bacon and sausage rolls we all jumped into our cars and headed to a stretch of canal south of Gloucester. Given our experiences of the day before I think Martin and I had quite low expectations. It was however a beautiful day and the stretch of canal we were on was out of town and much nicer as a result. A much wider section too so at least there was a lot of water to cover and hopefully it would have a few fish in it. I decided to stick with one lure all day and fished it on a drop shot rig about 15cm up from the lead.

Martin enjoys the sun. 

My lure for the day. The one that caught me my only fish of the trip so far, the Daiwa D'Fin. 

After a while Martin hooked a fish after getting a few bumps. It was a small fiesty jack and taking no chances I netted it for him. A good start to the day and he was no doubt pleased to get off the mark after blanking the day before.

Jack goes back. 

We worked our way along the towpath chatting to other anglers as we went. It was good to hear that a few fish had been caught including a single zander. Unfortunately Martin and I were struggling again and just before lunchtime made the decision to start our journey back up the road. We headed along the canal and found Kev and thanked him for his hospitality and apologised for not being able to stay all day. Back in the car we headed north and decided to break up the drive by popping into Warwick to fish the Grand Union Canal for an hour or so.

We headed to a spot we've had success at before but unfortunately British Waterways had been along and  had removed all the overhanging trees from the far bank that had provided some excellent cover for predators to hide in. With nothing happening we went for a wander along the canal and soon spotted a few moored boats. Martin cast into a long gap between two and hooked a nice fish. Net duty for me again and after a spirited fight from the fish a nice looking zander was on the unhooking mat. It turned out to be Martin's best Zander to date at 60cm, probably around 5lb.

A nice fish and a new PB for Martin. 

We carried on fishing for a bit longer but it was soon time to hit the road again and I was dissapointed to end the trip with a second blank.

So we had experienced some very tough and at times quite frustrating fishing too. Probably the toughest fishing trip I've ever been on with a lot of effort put in for very little reward. Driving up the road I was just glad to have caught the small zander late on Staurday so that I didn't end the entire trip fishless! Great company as always though and it was great to see Kev and Martin get new PB zander. I think next year I'll try and get down for the bumble, stay for the whole day and the post event meal too.  Don't think I can wait a year for another zander though so Martin and I may try and get another zander fix later in the year. Hopefully next time it won't be so tough to find some!

Tight lines, Scott.

A zander! A zander! My kingdom for a zander!

Last year at about this time I fished Rutland Water with my mate Martin and despite some pretty miserable conditions we both managed to catch our first zander. We were keen to have another go for them this year and had planned to head down south again to Grafham Water this time to have a couple of days out in a boat fishing for them with lures. The weather forecast a few days before we left predicted wind speeds into double figures so we changed our plans and decided to head to Warwickshire to fish the Lure Angler Canal Club's stretch of the Grand Union Canal instead. We met up in Carlisle on Monday evening and drove down the M6 arriving at our hotel after a few hours where we sorted out our gear for an early start.

Tuesday morning and over breakfast we discussed our plan of attack on the ten mile section of canal our day ticket covered. I suggested we start at one end and tossed a coin to decide which. Tails it was and off we went. Soon at the canal we started working our way along the towpath. It took us quite a while to locate any fish. Whilst quite cold it was quite a sunny day and perhaps not ideal conditions. The canal is quite shallow and is very coloured too so we elected to use some Mike's Scent in herring and trout flavours on our lures. Yummy. Apart from moored boats though the section we were on had very little structure so we spent more time fishing around locks when we reached them. It was from just below one that I caught the first fish of the day, a small perch. 

Greedy little bugger swallowed a 3" Daiwa D-Fin whole!

Shortly afterwards Martin briefly hooked a small zander that threw the hook whilst he got his net. Encouraged to have found a couple of fish we carried on working our way along a long and pretty featureless stretch for a mile or so and it became quite apparent that we were really struggling to locate any more fish. After a while we decided to fish back along towards the car and head somewhere else. With no sign of any fish on the way once back at the car I had a quick look on Google Maps and found a spot with a few locks that we could park next to and off we went. 

By now the light was beginning to fade which we both agreed could work in our favour. Sure enough I hooked and landed another perch on my first cast. A good start. We headed along towards the first lock, Martin hooked a fish and called along to tell me it was a zander. I ran along the towpath and netted it for him. We carried on slowly working our way along when I thought I had snagged on something on the bottom and began slowly lifting it up. I was quite surprised to see it was a zander! Bizarrely it didn't move at all and it was a bit like a submarine surfacing. As it got near the surface I wasn't sure if it was hooked but as soon as I put a bit more pressure on it spat the lure out of its mouth and swam off. I called to Martin and he came along to where I was. We had a few more casts around the area and Martin soon hooked his second zander of the day. 

A nice fish and it was about the same size as the one I'd just "lost". No way of telling if it was the same one though.

We both thought we'd see a bit more action but despite fishing on into darkness no more fish were caught. 

The next day the weather forecast was for rain and wind. We headed to a spot a mile or two from the other end of the stretch we were permitted to fish. After a few casts I hooked a big perch but it managed to throw the hook whilst Martin came over with the net. A couple of casts later I caught a smaller one and then we decided to start working our way along the canal in search of some zander. After a while the skies opened and it started raining hailstones. We took shelter under a bridge for a bit until it went off again. Martin switched to a Savage Gear Dying Minnow and the resident perch seemed to like it.

The colouration of the resident perch matches their murky home rather well. 

After that it went fairly quiet and we reached a large open area with a lot of boats. Whilst I focused on this area Martin went along the canal to fish around a bridge. It wasn't long before he called me along to say he had just hooked and lost another zander so I joined him there. This area seemed to hold a lot more fish, we both had a few perch and then I hooked a zander which annoyingly managed to throw the hook again. At this point I had a horrible feeling that I wasn't going to land one as we had planned to turn back when we reached the bridge. However, the stretch after it looked quite good being rather shady with a fair amount of overhanging and partially submerged trees on the opposite bank so we started fishing it. It turned out to be a good decision as it was easily the most productive stretch we had discovered so far and soon a few perch were caught. Martin then caught a zander and I finally hooked and landed three zander in fairly quick succession on a 8cm Savage Gear Soft 4-Play fished very slowly on a drop shot rig.

Fangtastic.

My third zander was a lovely fish in almost perfect condition. For such a streamlined fish with all those huge fins you'd think they would fight hard but they don't unfortunately which is quite odd.

I hooked a forth, larger zander which came off, Martin caught a few more perch, then the sky opened up again and we got a bit of a soaking. This also signalled the end of the action too so we called it a day and headed back to the car to head back up the road. We both really like zander, they are lovely looking fish and we really wish there were some up here. Sadly there isn't though but such is our fondness for them we're tempted to return to fish for them again over the winter at some point! It was great catching up with Martin again, I really enjoy fishing with him, and whilst it was tough finding fish at times, for our first attempt at zander from a canal I think we did ok, despite losing as many as we landed. I'm hoping to meet up with Martin again before the year is out to try and catch some spurdogs from either Loch Etive or Loch Sunart. Something else to look forward to!

Tight lines, Scott.

Esox elusive.

As my few trips to target pike this year have sadly resulted in not much action and only one pike hooked, that I managed to lose due to not having a net handy, I fancied getting the growing green stripey monkey off of my back. A quick text to see if my mate Jake was free and an hour or so later we hit the road. Arriving at the Forth & Clyde Canal a short drive later we were soon fishing and both decided to test out some Gulp! Alive Swimming Eels that Jake had procured recently.

Like most Gulp! lures these stink but have a fantastic swimming action. Surely the pike wouldn't be able to resist?

We thrashed the basin in front of us and cast around the pontoons and moored boats but no bites were forthcoming. After about an hour or so we both scaled down to smaller lures. The water was slightly murky so I went with a Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Firetiger. As we wandered along the canal a bit further we spotted hundreds of tadpoles in the margins and I then switched to an even smaller lure, a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner. This again yielded no results unfortunately. By this point Jake had switched to drops shotting Gulp! Sandworm sections for perch, which normally results in pike being caught but this didn't seem to be having the same effect for a change! Heading all the way back to where we started we were both pretty fed up with the lack of action when Jake finally hooked a fish and after I carried out netting duties a nicely coloured perch was on the bank.

A nice golden hue to this spiky little worm gobbling predator and it had nice bright red fins too.

Encouraged by this we carried on fishing heading in the opposite direction along the canal. I scaled up a bit and went with a 3" Kopyto Shad in Roach like colour. Casting to the pontoons and boats on the far side I slowly worked it back across towards me using a slow steady retrieve keeping it close to the bottom but imparting the odd twitch just to try and hopefully illicit a response form any fish it passed by. Plodding along about a metre at a time I finally felt a couple of sharp little tugs and hooked a fish. It soon broke the surface and I could see it was a small jack. I could also see that it didn't look very well hooked. I didn't apply any real pressure to the fish and called along the canal to Jake who had the net. Unfortunately whilst he came along with it the fish took the opportunity to thrash in front of me and spit the lure out before slowly swimming off. After several of hours of fishing with no action at all I was pretty annoyed to lose a second consecutive pike due to not having a net handy! With only a short time left before we had to leave I went back to my methodical approach, standing on a pontoon and casting to a long section of reeds opposite me and with pretty much my last cast I was rewarded with a second bite at the swimming croc cherry. Being a complete idiot though I suddenly realised that the net was further along the pontoon, a fair bit away from me. I had to quickly decide whether to play the fish along there or chance lifting it up the short distance to my hands. I opted for the later and luckily the fish was well hooked this time and stayed on.

My first pike of 2013. Hard earned to say the least!

We headed home, both quite disappointed with the fishing overall, but at the same time glad to have avoided a blank. I was pleased though to get my first pike of the year and whilst canal jacks are good fun I think perhaps we need to start trying some new stretches to try and locate some bigger specimens to work the Gulp! Alive Swimming Eels past. Maybe a less uniform stretch would be nice with a few more natural holding features. Some lily pads would be great as well because after seeing all the tadpoles I'm keen to try some frog lures soon as well for some surface fun.

Tight lines, Scott.

Big jack, little jack.

Not satisfied with a weekend species hunting in Plymouth, a session at Dunbar harbour on Monday and catching a new PB bass during a superb bass session with my mate Jake early yesterday morning, I visited the Forth & Clyde Canal early yesterday evening for a couple of hours with Lillian for a nice stroll along the towpath lobbing soft lures at the resident pike and perch. After only 20 min I caught a lovely 5lb 3oz pike from the large basin next to the Falkirk Wheel much to the delight of the passing tourists.

After a nice little scrap Lillian netted this for me.

As was unhooking it a few passers by asked me rather stupidly if I had caught it in the canal to which I cheekily replied "No, I brought it with me."! Most people don't realise that the canal holds any fish let alone large predators!

After releasing the fish we headed over a bridge and onto a very long pontoon, working our way along it, fishing in between all the boats that were moored there. A few small jacks had a go at my Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Dirty Roach, much to our amusement, but no bigger pike were seen by the time we reached the end of the pontoon so before walking back along I changed over to a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner to try and tempt any perch that may be around. No joy with that though although a couple of tiny jacks showed an interest and I hooked one that fell off when I was lifting it up. When we got back to the basin at the Falkirk Wheel I spent a final 15 minutes working the lure across some weed beds to try and find some perch. "Last cast." I told Lillian and asked her where I should try. She recommended a gap between two pontoons on the other side so I cast over to the spot. I asked her what kind of retrieve I should try and she told me to "jiggle it a bit"! I did exactly that, not expecting anything to happen but I felt a little tug and my rod tip started nodding. Perch on I thought! As I reeled it in though it quickly came into view and was in fact a tiny jack.

A perfect little end to a superb days fishing! Thanks to my wonderful ghillie!

I was in stitches, we couldn't believe what had just happened and we laughed all the way back to the car!

Tight lines, Scott.

All along the towpath.

I met up with my mate Jake yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours up the Union Canal targeting pike with our favourite soft plastic, the deadly 9.5cm Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Dirty Roach. Both of us elected to lob them with ultra light tackle and fish them using the weightless Savage Gear "Ready to Fish" rigs. 

The weather was overcast and there was the odd light shower but despite this the water was quite clear so I thought it looked promising and hopefully the pike wouldn't be as lethargic as they had been last time when the sun was shining brightly. We worked our way along the towpath and things were very slow with no signs of any activity at all until we reached a point where we had seen a few pike during our last trip. Jake had a follow but like last time the fish seemed a little lethargic, just following behind the lure then stopping and staring at it without actually striking. Jake had a few more casts to try and tempt it but it eventually swam back under the overhanging branches of the tree it had come out from. I had a couple of casts to the other side of the tree and felt what I thought was a snag but then it started to strip some line. Fish on, but it didn't feel quite right and the fight was strange. Only when the pike came into view did we realise it was foul hooked in the underside of its jaw. I played it carefully to the edge so as not to rip the hooks out and damage the fish and Jake chinned it out for me.

At last!

We fished the area for a bit longer but had no further action so we doubled back and started heading towards the car. Again there was no any sign of any fish for a while. We got about half way back to the car when I hooked a second fish at a spot where I'd hooked and lost a big fish several weeks ago. A very subtle take but the pike was hooked in the corner of the mouth this time and put up a spirited little fight before Jake chinned it out and we unhooked it over on the grass.

Slightly bigger second fish. Same happy bloke.

Savage Gear 4 Play in Dirty Roach destroyed I switched over to the Perch colour and we carried on. A bit further along Jake had a follow from a decent perch so he quickly scaled down and rigged up a Gulp! 1" Minnow on a small jighead and tried to tempt it again but unfortunately had no luck doing so. Time was soon up and we headed back to the car. Quite a contrast to all the action we had during our last session on the canal but I was still happy to catch a couple of jacks.

Tight lines, Scott.

The Skye is the limit.

With two consecutive days off work, my girlfriend Lillian (who is also a top fishing guide and promising photographer) said she wanted to go away somewhere nice for a short break. I suggested a trip to Skye but she wasn't keen on the long drive. Leave it to me I said! I got Googling and planned a few stops to break up the journey. We set off on Wed morning and on the way up we stopped about half way there at Loch Lochy. At over 9 miles long it's quite a large body of water. It's free to fish and no permit is required. Like most Scottish waters it contains pike. It also contains brown trout some of which, for whatever reason, decide to develop into the large fish devouring ferox form. Having caught a couple of arctic char recently I fancied a crack at these big nasty ferox trout. Having never fished for them before I thought I could maybe tempt one with a Savage Gear Soft 4 Play in rainbow trout and this would also be good lure for the resident crocs too! After a long but pleasant drive we arrived at the Loch and headed to the north end. Skin-So-Soft liberally applied to deter any airborne pests (it's what the S.A.S. use allegedly!), we headed down to the shore. It was very shallow and the bottom was littered with dead wood. I soon realised that it was a bit too shallow and the dead wood was snagging me up too much so we moved down a bit and started fishing properly into a bit more water.

The view from the top end of Loch Lochy.

A bit further down the Loch. Deeper and a little less debris on the bottom. Just as nice a view!

I start my search for ferox trout.

My setup was my Daiwa Powermesh X-Spin 902MS 10-40g, Daiwa Exceler X-3000 loaded with 20lb Power Pro, 20lb wire trace and a 9.5cm Savage Gear Soft 4Play in rainbow trout on a 7g #2/0 AGM Ultra Ball jighead. I cast out over the dead wood and started working it back, a few jerks, then a pause followed by a slow steady retrieve for a few turns of the handle then I repeated this pattern. After each cast I made my way along the bank a few metres. After about 30 minutes I had my first take pretty close in and the culprit was soon in the net, handled superbly by my trusted ghillie! A nice jack weighing 3lb 3oz.

Like a lot of pike it had a few battle scars on its tail.

We continued working our way along the bank. I spotted a nice bay with a nice drop off about 12ft out and a little stream flowing into the loch that would provide a food source for smaller fish that in turn would hopefully provide a food source for something toothy!

Looked like a good spot that may hold pike.

I cast out and started working the lure back. I felt a couple of nudges as I neared the drop off and as the lure passed over the top of it a large pike came up, smashed the lure and started veering of to my left stripping line. I love that noise! Lillian sprang into action and readied the net whilst I tightened up the drag a few clicks and started to bully the fish a bit. At this point it did a spot of tail walking, an awesome sight, Lillian got a fright though! After stripping a bit more line with a second spirited run I had it coming towards the net but as I drew it near it made one final burst before finally being netted. A nice fish, I though it may be a double and upon weighing it I was correct.

10lb 8oz and a new PB.

She was quickly unhooked, weighed, photographed and gently put back. Slowly sulking off before a powerful stoke of her tail took her back down over the drop off into the depths again.

Nice to meet you.

Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Rainbow Trout. My new favourite colour!

Absolutely buzzing we continued to walk along the bank and then after a while we turned around and headed back up towards the car. When I reached the point where I caught the first fish I hooked another and to my surprise it was the same one!

Memory only slightly better than a goldfish obviously! Here's his good side.

We walked back up to the starting point and jumped back in the car and headed onward to Skye. On the way we passed Eilean Donan Castle built on a small island at the north end of Loch Duich.

Eilean Donan Castle. It was used as a location in the film "Highlander".

Another 2 hours drive and we arrived in Portree and checked into the Pink Guest House situated right on the Quayside.

Can you tell which one is the Pink Guest House?

After a quick nap we popped out and had a lovely seafood dinner in The Lower Deck just along the quay from our accommodation. The seafood stew was amazing and the highland ale was rather nice too!

Now it was ultra light time! I quickly grabbed the gear from the car. Headed along the quay side, threaded half a medium pink Isome onto a 2.3g #6 Shirasu Fine jighead and dropped it down the side of the wall. It wasn't long before a sea scorpion bolted out and had a chomp. Not hooked though just holding on and this happened a few times so I halved the lure and doubled it up on the jighead. Next drop I hooked one.

Nice little long spined sea scorpion.

I started to slowly work my way along the wall and soon caught a second sea scorpion. To my delight this one was a short spined sea scorpion. My first one of 2012.

Another species added to my 2012 tally!

A very distinctive throat membrane is a good way to identify them. Short spines is another!

Very happy with this I carried on hoping to maybe catch a goby or some other mini species but all I caught was another three long spined sea scorpions. The last one I caught had some very unusual marking on it's underside.

Brown and Yellow body are quite nice on this fish.

Very bright yellow underbelly with vivid markings on the fins.

I've never seen one like this before. Quite stunning and one of the reasons I love this species, no two are alike.

As light faded and the gentle breeze dropped off the dreaded Scottish midgie began appearing. Just as they did I spotted a larger fish moving from under one patch of weed to under another and had a few casts in its direction but the swarms of midgies were beginning to irritate me already so I retired for the evening!

Early rise yesterday morning to make the drive up to Neist Point, a place that's been on my fishing mark bucket list since I first saw incredible shots of it on the World Sea Fishing forum. Looked out of the window though to be confronted with grey skies and light rain, not ideal for a session on a rock mark! I checked the forecast at breakfast and it predicted the rain would clear later in the morning, however the weather in this part of the world is notoriously difficult to predict! Jumped in the car and drove northwest across the island along some single track roads and dodging the sheep on the way. Had to laugh at this lamb's choice of vantage point!

Rampoline.

We arrived at the Neist Point car park and got the gear together and began the walk down. Having read about it on other fishing reports I was expecting a brutal climb but the path was very good and we were down at the lighthouse in only 20 min.

Neist Point from the top.

 

We had a quick look around and worked out how to get down to the side of the small bay beneath the lighthouse. The climb down was relatively easy and I was soon ready to start fishing. 

The first spot we fished from beneath the lighthouse.

I asked my fishing guide for some lure advice and she picked out the real pearl Savage Gear Sandeel. Great choice I thought! Casting into the bay I let it get down and then started a sink and draw retrieve. After about 15 min a pollock shot up and grabbed the lure and bolted off to the right towards some kelp. It wasn't hooked though and the lure came out of its mouth. I kept working over the same area and a few casts later I hooked my first pollock of the session. Soon afterwards I caught another smaller pollock but then it went a bit quiet so we did a spot of exploring, found another nice spot and climbed down.

2lb 5oz Neist Point pollock. Lovely start.

Second pollock landed. Listening to your fishing guide pays off.

Slightly further around the peninsula. The weather has brightened up nicely!

At this point a boat arrived and they caught a few pollock before moving off again. I decided to try a Slug-Go as I've never caught on one despite numerous attempts. Today would be no different though! I really must pick Jake's brains on how he fishes them as he loves them and catches loads of fish on them. Next I tried a 4" white Reins Bubbling Shad. One small fish followed this lure up at the end of one retrieve. Not a pollock but I couldn't positively ID it. Perhaps it was a mackerel. With no further action we decided to move again and this time to swap over to the ultra light gear and see if there were any mini species around. We headed over towards the old loading dock on the Moonen Bay side of the peninsula.

I thought this old loading dock would hold some mini species.

On the way over I spotted a nice rockpool and I couldn't resist dropping a section of Gulp! Sandworm in. No sooner had it hit the bottom than out came a sea scorpion and nailed it! Lifted him up and it was another of the long spined variety. We reached the old loading dock but to my surprise there was not much happening there so we clambered along rocks until we reached a nice deep gully. I dropped down an IMA Trilobite. Out came a small wrasse from the weeds and had a look at the lure. A few little jigs soon had it tapping away until it was hooked. I lifted it up hoping for a corkwing or a goldsinny but instead it was a nice brown and orange ballan wrasse.

Cute little ballan wrasse.

We continued to rockhop around the bay and I spotted another nice rockpool and dropped in the IMA Trilobite. Two small fish shot out. I could make out a custard tip on the dorsal fin of one of them so I knew they were rock gobies. I quickly tied on a tiny #18 hook and put on a tiny chunk of a Gulp! Fish Fry. Letting it slowly sink down the little goby darted out again. Wham! I quickly swung it up to my hand. 

Who said punk was dead?

Another species checked off the list for this years hunt! I tried to catch the other one but a large crab appeared and kept grabbing at the lure so I went back to exploring the gullies in search of more wrasse.

This great looking gully surprisingly produced no fish.

Then we came to a nice little deep bay and I thought I'd have a go for a pollock or two on my ultra light gear and started off by rigged up a 2" Ecogear Strawtail. No luck with that so I switched to half a large pink Isome. Casting over to the other side of the bay and letting it sink right down then working it back very slowly with a few little twitches, I soon had a few plucks and hooked a nice little pollock just over 1lb.

Not a big fish but the Diaflash has a nice bent in it. Great fun!

Next cast I hooked another bigger fish. Maybe 2lb. Must have been barely hooked though. After a dive for the kelp at my feet I got it up again only to see it thrash on the surface and shake the hook free. Oh well, catch and release in action! Again on the next cast I hooked another! About the same size as the first but this one had nice golden honeycomb markings on its flanks.

Nice markings on this young pollock.

By now time had come to make the walk back up to the car and again having read others reports of a gruelling trudge with several breaks required we were surprised when we did it in about 25 min. I guess others must have taken far too much tackle with them! The joys of light gear! On the way up I spotted this area which I'll be exploring the next time I visit.

Looks fishy.

So we set off home and stopped at Glengarry Castle Hotel on the way for a nice meal and to break up the journey a bit. Then we stopped at the Commando Memorial and took in the stunning views of Ben Nevis and the Grampian mountains before making the final 135 mile leg of our journey home.

"United We Conquer"

The Grampian mountains. What a view. The commandos used to train in the area.

Wow! What a trip! Some awesome scenery and beautiful places to fish. Great to get a new PB pike and a double at that! Two new species for my 2012 tally and some great great pollock action on my standard spinning and ultra light gear! An absolutely superb little break and a trip I'll be making again that's for sure.

Tight lines, Scott.