Luring the Lady

Throughout the stormy weather I have been looking for alternative places to fish, as the sea locally has been in no fit state for lure fishing and I fancied something different. The salmon season had opened on the Tay and its tributaries many of which allow the use of spinning gear. This was pretty much all the encouragement I needed add to that the presence of Grayling and I was really keen to get up there and give it a bash.

Now I have spent a lot of time thinking about grayling in terms of them being a viable winter lure fishing target and although I have caught many by fly and bait I have never had one on a lure. This is mainly because of local restrictions on "spinning" on the nearby rivers as they are salmon and trout waters too.My feeling was that if I wanted to fish for grayling then I would have to buy a salmon permit in order to avoid any problems.

This has always proved problematic for me in the past as my perception of the prices of salmon tickets would be that I would need a second mortgage to go. However after a bit of research I found that not to be the case .I found a ticket for the river Ericht, which is a tributary of the river Tay.

 I set off the next day in strong winds and scattered sleet showers. After just over an hours drive I reached the river having purchased my permit on route for a princely £20..

Tackle wise I was using my HRF gear for the Salmon and my LRF gear for the grayling.

My HRF gear comprises

Rod : Shimano Yasei Red Drop Shot 2.7M

Reel :Shimano 3000

Line :Sunline Super PE 20lb

Leader :16lb Greylon Fluorocarbon

and my LRF gear comprises.

Rod :GraphiteLeader Corto EX

Reel :Shimano Technium 3000

Line :Pontoon Exteer braid PE 1

Leader :6lb Greylon Fluorocarbon

The lure of choice for the Salmon was a Megabass Vision 110 in Champagne Kinkuro  a good stable lure when the river was running high. I had set my expectations on low as it was very early in the season and I had never fished the river before.

I walked and fished for about a mile stretch on the river,swapping between vibe lures and the Vision 110, but to no avail. I saw no fish moving and the horrible gusting freezing wind was slowly beating me into submission.

I decided to switch tactics and turn my attention to my my favoured target , the grayling.

I had been messing about with different rigs for them and came up with a Czech nymph style rig incorporating a fly as well as a soft lure.

This is the style of rig I came up with for the grayling.

Borrowing from the Czech nymph approach I gently flicked the lure upstream. Then keeping the rod at  about 45 degrees i retrieved line at the same pace as the flow. This enabled me to keep a tight line to the lure so I could feel it bumbling along the river bed. As the river brought the lure past me the current caught the line and lifted the lure off up the river bed. Once it did this I stepped one step upstream and recast. Using these techniques I shuffled my way upstream working the lures and the fly on the dropper.

 It had been about 40 minutes when, as I was feeling the lure rumbling along the bottom , I suddenly felt nothing.

An instinctive flick of the wrist set the hook on a small fish. The little fish hung in the current doing that horrible "S" shape which is so adept at throwing the hook. As It came closer I could see it was silver and as I quickly swung it to hand I was elated to find it was indeed a wee grayling!

Tiny but lovely, my first lure caught grayling!

 

Target achieved!

Brilliant!

It was extra satisfying to get my target on the first go with a new technique on a new venue. I was surprised that the little grayling had taken the lure, ( a Berkley Gulp 1" fish fry mounted on a 1.4gram- #10 Ecogear Shirasu Fine jighead ),I was convinced it would nail the fly first.

Pleased as punch to defy the foul weather by catching I grabbed a couple of pics of the wee "Lady of the stream" and gently slipped the fish back

By this stage the cruel wind and the wintery showers had worn me into submission and so I decided to call it a day. Ever since that trip my mind has been buzzing with possibilities and by combining fly techniques I feel sure the grayling and I will have some fun together this year.

Tight Lines

Jake

Too little time, two little fish.

During the last week or so I have managed to get out for a couple of very short sessions on the Water of Leith. Using my LRF gear I have been hitting some of last years productive pools. There are fish present but they seem to be very small compared to last year however it bodes well for the future as there does seem to be a lot of these small trout about!

On the first session I managed to land one and lose another on a pink Glittery Ecogear Grassminnow, mounted on a 1.4g #10 Ecogear Shirasu Fine jighead.

Tiny but fun, especially when you can only fish for  about thirty minutes!

The next quick raid on the river resulted in two lost and one landed, again on the same lure, and thoroughly good fun for another session only lasting half an hour or so!

A little bit bigger than the first one, it couldn't resist my Grass Minnow either!

Although the fish are not big they are quite active at least and I suppose it will just be a question of searching till I eventually find some bigger ones!

Tight Lines, Schogsky.

Second time lucky!

The day after my Oban visit I was still thinking about sea trout, especially since there had been some overnight rain as I was sure this would encourage more sea trout to head up the Water of Leith. My wife had sensed me twitching and fretting at the window and she took pity on me granting me 45 minutes of child free time before tea. With shameless speed I bolted out the door LRF gear in hand and headed down to the river.

When I arrived at my chosen two pools the river was running higher and was carrying some colour, in short it looked great. I rigged up a pink Ecogear Grass Minnow size SS on a 1.4g #10 Shirasu Fine
jighead and began to work the pools. In what seems to be a familiar pattern the first pool yielded nothing. I stalked my way to the second pool and kneeling down began to cast and work the lure across the little river. Every couple of casts I would shuffle a couple of feet down stream to work the lure through the whole pool.

I had got towards the tail end of the pool and was watching the lure making its way up the margins when a trout flew out of nowhere and attacked it! It hit it once and I struck, this caused the lure to jerk forward and settle on the bottom at which point the trout pounced and snatched the lure from the river bed. I struck and set the hooks and it instantly kited back into the current. It gave a classic trout fight, thrashing and cavorting on the surface before kiting back out into the current. Soon I had it in my net and as far as I can tell it's another Water of Leith sea trout.

Sea trout from the Water of Leith.

Such a pretty fish!

Even with the slight tail damage the fish was in excellent condition.

This one appears to have been in the river some time as it's quite coloured and its lower tail fin was slightly damaged  possibly from lying in the low water. Brilliant! I took a few snaps then released the fish, hopefully to get on with populating the water with its progeny. I headed back home thoroughly pleased with what 45 minutes in the right place at the right time can yield!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Silver suprise!

Last week Scott and I managed to get together for a quick fish on the Water of Leith. The plan was for Scott to fish up the river until he got to my house then we would explore further upstream. As I lazed in my house waiting for him to arrive I got a text from Scott saying he had just lost a big fish that he thought was a sea trout. He was using a Gulp 1" Minnow mounted on a Decoy Rocket jighead when the fish struck and it ended up bending the hook out with two massive head shakes. I had to pop down to see, he showed me the jig head and it was absolutely destroyed, it must have been a strong fish!

We scrapped the plan for a recce up river and concentrated on the area where Scott had hooked his fish. He had seen another smaller trout with the big fish but try as we might we just couldn't tempt them again. The next day I had an hour free so I grabbed my gear and headed back to the same pool. I rigged up a super small Ecogear Grass Minnow in pink glitter on a 1.4g Shirasu fine jighead and began to work my way down the pools. The first stretch I fished yielded absolutely nothing, a bit disappointing as this is where Scott's fish was. Oh well, I continued to work my way downstream flicking the lure across current and allowing it to swing around below me before twitching it back upstream.

After about forty minutes I finally had a bite and hooked into a feisty little trout, with a loose drag and some gentle side strain I quickly guided it into my net and there lay what could be my first sea trout of 2013! At just 25cm it was only a small one (a finnock?) and I think it was probably one of the ones that Scott had spied the day before. It may just be a silvery coloured brownie however the only way to truly establish whether it is an immature sea trout that has over wintered in the river is by testing the scales for strontium! Either way it's a salmo trutta. With a grin from ear to ear I grabbed the camera and took a few shots before releasing the fish which shot off like a bullet downstream!

Yes! The first sea trout of 2013 graces my net, or is it a brownie?

 Urban trout, brilliant!

Ecogear Grass Minnow SS proved irresistible to this trout.

Back you go...

...thanks for the shower!

Job done and time up as I only had an hour to spare, I would have to leave my pursuit of the bigger trout for another day. Its not every day when you can decide you want to go and catch a trout, head out for an hour and catch one so I was one immensely happy angler.

I will have to get more of the little pink glittery grass minnows though as the trout love them so much they have destroyed my supply!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Note: due to conflicting opinions on whether this is a sea trout or not I have edited the post. I still believe it is a finnock that has overwintered in the river. But without the strontium test I will never be sure, still it was fun to catch though!

Trout Fever!

After months of waiting the trout season on the Water of Leith is finally open again, needless to say I have been out chasing brownies since the first day! As I've had very little time I've had to take every opportunity to see how the river is faring and over the past week I have had three decent sessions.

On day one of the season I nipped down to fish a couple of pools that had proved productive last year. I geared up with my LRF kit comprising of 7'10" Graphiteleader Corto EX rod, Shimano Technium 3000SFC reel, 6lb Sunline Super PE and a 6lb fluorocarbon leader. I rigged a 1.5g Shirasu jighead with a pink EcoGear Grass Minnow SS and began to fish the pools down the river. I began firstly by casting up stream and twitching the lure back towards me a little faster than the current, then I cast across stream and allowed the lure to swing round in the current before twitching it back up towards me. I worked my way down the pool but it was devoid of life. I approached the next pool scrambling down a wall and crouched quietly behind a willow and I flicked the lure slightly upstream. As the lure made its way back across current towards me I saw a gold flash and watched a nice trout chasing behind the lure. Just as the lure came into the margins he grabbed it, I struck and pulled it out his mouth!

I let the pool rest for five minutes and rigged up the small pink grass minnow on the jig head, cursing my over eagerness and hoping for a second chance at the trout. Keeping things stealthy I knelt and cast across the burn and worked the lure across current. I worked my way down the pool and after a few casts saw a gold flash then another followed by the electric shock of the bite as the trout grabbed the lure. I set the hook and the trout thrashed on the surface before kiting off in to the current, I began lightly playing the fish and fumbling for my camera. I have recently been messing about with taking pictures whilst playing a fish one handed, however I really should have been concentrating a bit more on landing the fish as the fish took advantage of my lack of concentration and threw the hook!

Fish on! The trout kites back into the main current.

Almost ready to land...

Or not as the case may be! Note the taught line...

Doh! note the lack of line in the picture...

I was pretty annoyed with myself as I knew I could have landed the fish if I hadn't have been busy taking photos, lesson learnt! I managed to get out again a couple of days later and decided to fish further upstream. I would only have a couple of hours so I decided I would just hit a few of the pools I knew from last year. I arrived at the first pool to find it beautifully sun dappled and running nice and clear, it looked perfect.

Springtime on The Water of Leith,

Using the same lure and jig head I began to work the lure across and downstream from me. I had got  a quarter of the way down the pool before I saw the wonderful gold flash and felt a sharp bite as the trout slashed at the lure nearly tearing it off without getting hooked. I quickly re rigged another grass minnow and flicked it back across. As the lure swung around in the current the take was instant and solid, whallop! A flick of the wrist set the hook and the trout hung in the current thrashing on the surface. To combat this sneaky trout trick I have the drag set really loose and I drop the rod tip and apply pressure from the side with the rod tip virtually touching the water. The fish then fights deeper as it's not being dragged to the surface. The trout made a few darting runs upstream but soon he was in my net, (see I told you I had learnt my lesson!).

First brownie of 2013, Ecogear Shirasu fine jighead and pink Grass Minnow put this fish in the net.

36cm.

I have waited months to get back on the brownies and no wonder, stunning fish!

Fantastic, a really cracking wild brownie lean and fin perfect measuring 36cm,what a fine first brown trout of the season. I kept the fish in the net and readied the camera grabbed a few shots before releasing the fish. It went back strongly and I managed to get a load of nice shots of the fish as it headed back into the main current, before disappearing upstream.

As soon as the fish went back I started snapping away.

With the polarised filter on the lens I could see it swim back into the main current

See you next time!

I carried on fishing a few pools further up but there was no further action and my time was up so I headed back. I was elated as it's fantastic to get the trout season underway and although the fishing is very hard at the moment I cant wait to do it again!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

St Abbs : Specimen flounder.

On Sat 15th Scott and I met up with our friend Frazerio who was keen to experiment with some more LRF. The conditions were good with clear skies and sunshine, all be it with a gusty offshore wind. We decided to head down to St Abbs harbour, hoping that the head and cliffs would offer a bit of shelter from the wind.

Never mind the obligatory buddy shot, look at the ground we were about to fish!

When we arrived it was bright and sunny and the tide was just beginning to flood so we grabbed our gear and headed to the mouth of the harbour. LRF flounder was our first target and we geared up with 2.3g #8 Shirasu fine jigheads. I mounted half a 4" gulp sandworm while Scott and Keith both rigged up a section of Power Isome. We began by targeting the sandy patches in between the weeds, Scott started working his lure outside the harbour whilst Keith and I worked inside the harbour. The technique was simply a case of casting the lure over the sand and allowing it to sink on to the seabed, before retrieving ever so slowly, allowing the lure to crawl along the bottom. Rather unbelievably on my second cast I felt a tap followed by the feeling of weight on the line. I struck and was into the first flounder of the session, which tore around a bit before coming to the surface. I quickly managed to land it and get a couple of photos before I released the fish watching it dive quickly back to the bottom to become invisible again amongst the sand.

Flounder on light tackle are great sport, this 30cm one was no exception!

I was really pleased as it was a nice chunky flounder and I had only just started fishing as well! I carried on trying to fish the little sandy patches but it was quite hard to accurately target them due to the gusts of wind coming into the harbour mouth. A short while later I felt some small bites and reeled in a long spined sea scorpion .

This tubby sea corpion fell for a section of gulp sandworm and shirasu jighead combo.

I am always happy to catch scorpions as they are such a cool looking fish! I unhooked it and after a quick picture, released it back to the harbour.

Like kids in a sweet shop , we survey the scene.

Scott meanwhile was getting interest from flounders at the harbour mouth but the wind was making it really difficult to hit the sandy patches and the gusts kept lifting the line, propelling the lure back into the harbour. Keith was also getting little bites from dropping around the sides of the walls but again the wind was bowing the line making it hard to connect. We made the decision to try and escape the effects of the fresh air and a sudden influx of divers and wandered around the harbour trying to find a bit more shelter. We ambled about trying various places until we all met up near the lifeboat station. Keith had spotted a couple of fish that he couldn't identify and was trying to target them. Try as he might he couldn't get them to take. They were chasing it and nipping it but their mouths were too small to get hooked. He called me over to see if I would have any more success in persuading them to bite. I started bouncing my gulp sandworm on the bottom working it on the sandy patches between the weeds and sure enough a long thin fish came out to investigate. I couldn't tell what it was which is a good sign as it looked like it could be a new species! Scott came over to investigate and after watching it attacking the lure then just kind of lying in an S shape besides it we decided it may be a butterfish! Butterfish have tiny mouths so I quickly rigged up a #18 hook to nylon with a piece of  gulp and attached it to the eye of my jighead. The fish had disappeared by the time I had rigged up but I dropped it down and began allowing it to trundle around the bottom in the current. Within minutes I saw the dark shape of a small sea scorpion come rushing out the weeds and pounce on the lure. It was quickly landed and turned out to be a small short spined sea scorpion which seem to be rarer around here than their long spined relatives.

Short spined sea scorpions are much harder to come by than Long spined scorpions at St Abbs.

Scott had been targeting what he thought was a goby of some sort, we could see it chasing after his lure and eventually he managed to hook it. It was not the new species we had hoped and it turned out to be a darkly marked common blenny.

Not a new species, but it did make a fine comedy moustache!

Keith had also managed to winkle out another long spined sea scorpion. At this point I was re-rigging and when I returned to my position on the wall a movement caught my eye. A huge slab of a flounder cruised into view and settled right in front of me! My eyes bulged and my legs turned to jelly the fish was easily a new PB and lay just yards from me gleaming greenly against the sand. I began to babble incoherently, stuttering to get the words out to tell Scott and Keith. I madly fumbled at the jig head clumsily trying to free it from the hook to nylon and with shaking hands cast over the fish. I could see the lure crawling across the bottom towards the fish, I watched as it went right past the fish without it batting an eyelid, I cursed as the next cast tangled with Scott's line. I kept at it casting over and around the fish who would occasionally turn and watch the lure before moving forward a couple of feet and resettling. This went on for fifteen minutes or so before Scott and Keith elected to head off to try for wrasse. I couldn't let this fish get the better of me, it was huge! I kept following the fish but it stated to move into the harbour all the time ignoring my lure. Just then a couple of fishing boats came in to berth and the water got really stirred up. The big flounder had moved into the stirred up water and I lost sight of it. I guessed roughly where I last saw it and began fan casting around that area. After a couple of casts I felt a weight on the line but far from being the tentative taps from the flounder it turned out to be a little crab. I quickly reeled the crab in trying to save my precious gulp sandworm .When out of the murk rose a big green shadow and a pair of white lips snatched the crab off my lure, I watched the pair of them sink back down the crab feebly waving its claws at me as it disappeared into the flounders mouth. I kept working the lure around the area and five minutes later I had a single strong bite and the rod slammed over into the fish as it headed for the sand. I let the soft playing action of the rod do the work and just held the fish, it came off the bottom and wallowed around on front of me. It was a very gentle fight and the fish would slowly swim around shaking its head occasionally without panicking, all the time coming closer to me. I shouted over to Scott and Keith and Keith stopped fishing and made his way round to help me land it. As I waited for Keith my heart was in my mouth, it was definitely a new PB but was only attached by a very fine wire #8 hook as it continued to lumber gently around the harbour. Keith managed to put the net together and go down the ladder a bit in order to net the fish . I was truly stoked, I was totally focused on catching this fish and had manged to do it! The fish looked huge in the net and when measured came in at 45cm and weighed 2lb 8oz. A truly satisfying experience. I got a few shots of my new PB before releasing it back to the harbour.

My new PB flounder fills the net!

Gulp! Sandworm mounted on a 2.3g #8 Shirasu fine jighead, deadly!

At 45cm and weighing in at 2lb 8oz this is the biggest flounder I have ever caught.

Last shot before release, I will remember this fish for a very long time!

I took a break while Keith tried his hand at some of the other flounder that were lurking about but after twenty minutes we decided to try for wrasse off the back of the harbour. Fishing went quite slow for the rest of the afternoon. Keith manged to get into a few coalies before landing a good sized pollack on the LRF gear which turned out to be a new PB for him. Our friend Ritchie also made an appearance and managed to catch his first St Abbs wrasse. This turned out to be a really big corkwing but we didn't get to weigh it before Ritchie released it. I managed to pick up a few coalies and a nice pollack but the wrasse couldn't be tempted by my offerings.

Vast shoals of these coalfish kept coming into the harbour, the shoal is partly visible in this photo.

This pollock of about a pound was my final fish of the session.

Scott had worked the entire back of the harbour and apart from a few pollack half heatedly nibbling at his lure had had no further action. All in all it turned into a great session for me and it was a great experience to catch such a quality new personal best flounder on my favourite light gear. I look forward to trying to beat it again!

Tight lines, Schogsky.