Slugging it out!

With Scott away on a west of Scotland fishing trip I hooked up with our friend Naz and popped down to our favourite bass mark in East Lothian. It was only to be a very quick session as 2 hours was all I had but I was determined to make the most of it. As is becoming the norm, the weather was horrible, the seemingly never ending spate of easterly winds had got the sea up which made finding a safe space to fish very hard! I had decided to continue with the Slug-Go approach that had proved fruitful on the last session. So I rigged up a 4.5" Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner on a 10.5g  #2/0 Football jighead from AGM Discount fishing.

Naz was using a 4" Berkley Powerbait sandeel in white and he set off to explore the beach side of the reef. I decided to fish in the strong currents and gullies on the opposite side of the reef. I started working the lure with my standard retrieve, casting slightly up current and allowing the lure to fall through the water, a couple of twitches up and let it fall whilst retrieving slowly. It wasn't long before I had an explosive bite and a small bass tore off into the surf! It always surprises me how hard the little bass fight using the strong current and a rough sea and this fish was no exception. Soon it was tired though and I landed it with the help of a wave. It was quickly unhooked, photographed and released back to the sea leaving me pleased that the Slug-Gos were doing their job.

My first bass of the session taken on a 4.5" Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner

I continued with the same approach and a few minutes later another small bass took a fancy to the Slug-Go and nailed it beneath my feet! Brilliant! It was quickly landed and released and was about the same size as the first at about 1lb -1.5lb. Naz had seen my rod bent into the fish and had made his way over to me. He had been fishing the ebbing tide over the reef but it was proving too shallow and he had lost a couple of lures. He put on an old white sandeel lure that we had found on a previous trip, it was also the lure that had caught his first bass. Armed with his lucky lure he started fishing alongside me. A couple of minutes later I had another small bass and while I was releasing it Naz gave a shout. Fish on! Naz was into a bass and again it was putting up a good scrap. It was soon landed by a grinning Naz and I did the honours with a trophy shot!

Naz with his second ever bass taken on his lucky white sandeel.

I left Naz to unhook and release the bass and quickly got back to fishing. This time I was trying to get the lure deeper allowing it to trundle along the seabed with the tide. I was hoping to find a bigger fish working deeper than the schoolies and it wasn't long before I was in again! Not the bigger fish I was after but a bass is a bass! Quick snap and back to the brine it went.

My fourth bass of the session couldn't resist the Slug-Go!

I continued to use the deeper, minimalist retrieve and before we had to leave caught and released a further three small bass. All in all it was an excellent couple of hours spent and for Naz and I to both catch in the rough conditions was very good indeed. The Slug-Gos again showed how deadly they can be so I will be continuing to play with them in the hope of a larger bass.

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Rainy day, dream away...

The sun beat down as I wrestled another giant Perch from the loch. I laughed the fishing was so easy! The blue sky and happy warmth quickly disappeared with the sound of my alarm and I awoke to find the rain hammering down. No river fishing for us today then!

We decided to head down to our favourite bass mark, even though we knew fishing would be hard with a strong onshore wind. Indeed when we arrived it was raining sideways and the strong gusty north easterly wind had really put a big surf up. A very low spring tide meant we could approach the mark with relative ease. The sea however was very rough and the wind was challenging to fish against.

Whilst Scott went mini species hunting I decided to try and target bass. I geared up with my 9'6" Wright and Mcgill S-curve spinning rod, Shimano Aernos 3000 reel loaded with 20lb Sunline momentum 4x4. On the business end it was on with an 8.5g Berkley Powerbait Sandeel in white. I began to work away round the reef casting between the breaking surf and into the churned up water. Lots of suspended weed kept clogging up the lure and the wind kept blowing the line in a big bow, which meant I kept losing contact with the lure. It kept raining.

Scott meanwhile was having fun in the rockpools and gullies catching mini species.

Another long spined sea scorpion for Scott.

As I continued to hunt bass, Scott continued to catch a few more blennies and sea scorpions on his LRF setup before switching to his bass gear.

Another large male blenny falls to Scott's Power Isome.

After about 45 minutes whilst working the lure I felt a knock then a pull but with the wind constantly bowing the line I couldn't react quickly enough. I cast low again and stopped the line the instant the lure touched water. This gave me a straighter line and I began to retrieve slowly whilst giving a couple of twitches every six foot or so. Sure enough as the lure travelled in to the strike zone it was seized by a fish that tore off into the surf. After a spirited fight and a tricky landing my biggest bass of the year arrived!

The Berkley Powerbait Sandeel claims another bass.

Quite a lean fish but measured at 44cm and after a couple of pictures was released none the worse for meeting me.

Silver with delicate pastel blue highlights to the fins, a rainy day dream.

At 44cm this is my biggest bass this year

It continued to rain. Another couple of hours went by as we searched the reef before the constant rain and bitter east wind made us call time and we headed back to the car. All in all an enjoyable session even if it was very wet and very cold .The wind should switch round to a westerly later in the week, which should lead to calmer conditions and we hope to capitalise on that when it happens!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Silver Surfer.

On Monday, as we had an afternoon to spare, Scott and I headed down the coast to our favourite bass mark. We arrived a couple of hours after low tide and although the sea was not as rough as Saturday, there was still a bit of a swell running. We started by exploring the southern side of the reef, fishing the flooding margins with our LRF tackle. The aim was to see what other species besides blennies were in residence on this side of the reef. It wasn't long before we were both into blennies and long spined sea scorpions!

A long spined sea scorpion. One of a few mini species we caught.

Scott also spotted a long slender fish that swam quickly under a large flat rock. At first he thought it was a butterfish but upon lifting the rock to see what it was it swam out and took refuge under his boot. I wrestled the small beast from underneath and we discovered it was a small conger eel!

Where are your parents hiding?

We kept fishing, waiting for the tide to flood over the reef as this would offer our best hope of bass. As we worked our way across the reef we bumped into another angler. We quickly struck up a conversation and to our surprise he knew what we were doing! As we talked about light rock fishing he began to show us pictures of various species of fish he had caught locally and it was not long before we had exchanged numbers with the promise of fishing together in the future.

By this time the tide was about right to have a crack at the bass. I rigged up my bass rod with a 8.5g Berkley Powerbait Sandeel in white and carefully made my way onto the reef. The sea was quite rough and meant I wouldn't have long before it became unfishable.

I had to keep my wits about me!

After about 5 minutes of wave dodging and working the eel a fish nailed the lure in the surf. It proceeded to give a spirited fight and tried to use the receding waves to it's advantage to escape. So much so I was surprised at how small he was when I landed him. Only around a pound but very welcome all the same.

Small but certainly gave a good account of itself in the surf.

After I released the fish I headed back into the surf and a couple of minutes later got hit by another small bass! The fish was quickly landed and a couple of snaps were taken before she was released back to the surf.

My second bass. Hooked in the scissors. About the same size as the first.

Scott spotted these lures and they've now taken 4 fish in two sessions. Nice weight for casting on light gear too.

Bass caught on white eel lure shocker!

Meanwhile Scott had worked the beach side of the reef to no avail and had made his way onto the rocks across from me. Not having brought his chest waders made it very hard to fish the mark in its rough state and although he tried we quickly ran out of time and had to leave.

All in all a very productive couple of hours and it has increased our knowledge of the reef and its residents. A night session may be required to try and tempt some slightly larger conger eels out from their hiding places!

Tight Lines, Schogsky.

Three amigos ride again.

Jake, Naz and I headed down the A1 yesterday for a little tour of a few of our East Lothian marks. Once on the road, Jake put on the music of a band he was once a part of and Naz recognised it. After some discussion, Jake and Naz realised that they had met before via the Edinburgh music scene many years ago and had a few friends in common as a result. After a bit of "those were the days" reminiscing we arrived at our first mark, the mouth of the Biel Burn at the eastern end of Belhaven Beach. No fish were to be found though apart from a white eel lure found by Naz. 

A nice find. Killer bass lure.

We jumped back in the car and headed along to Dunbar harbour but after a bit of vertical jigging down the edges with no bites we decided to move again. Despite a bit of a swell running and an inshore wind we decided to head to Torness Power Station outflow and try for bass. As is customary we spent 10 minutes quickly catching a few blennies on the way over the rocks.

Ever obliging greedy little buggers!

Then a quick change of end gear and we were soon working our white eels over the reef in amongst the breaking waves and foaming brine. Naz was first into a fish. His first bass in fact, weighing about 2lb, he was over the moon.

Naz's first ever bass!

Caught on guess what?

Shortly afterwards Jake hooked and landed one and I followed suit almost immediately. Both our fish about 1lb. 

Jake's Bass.

Bass Bros.

 

We continued to fish but I headed along on to the beach, Naz headed to try the outflow and Jake continued to fish over the reef.

Jake works his lure over the reef in search of more bass.

No action for a while so after a few more blennies we opted to move again and drove further down the coast to Eyemouth. No sign of any fish inside the harbour there. Jake and I did get some interest from three sea trout in the channel where the river flows into it but no sooner than they had appeared they vanished again. We then did a spot of rock hopping at the back of the harbour but again no sign of any fish apart from one small sea scorpion that I hooked briefly before he gave me the slip and shot off back down the edge of the gully to the crevice he came from.

This will be full of pollock soon hopefully!

The lack of fish at most marks is disappointing but we can't complain really. We all landed a bass and the blennies were a laugh as always. However we can't wait for the summer and the variety of species that come with it to arrive.

Tight lines, Hutch.