Markle magic!

On Saturday I had a job in Dunbar delivering some furniture, as always I managed to fit my LRF gear in the van and I hoped to have a fish around the harbour once the job was done. Sure enough after the job I had plenty of time for a fish and rigged up a dropshot rig comprising of a 7g weight, #12 offset worm hook rigged with a section of Gulp! Sandworm. I fished around the harbour in all our usual haunts but it was devoid of any fish. It was not unexpected as the harbour goes really quiet over the winter but still a bit disappointing. I needed to catch something so I decided to pop into Markle Fisheries on my way back into Edinburgh. I know Markle very well as it's my go to fishery for trout on the fly, however on this occasion I would be fishing the Kin Loch using my LRF gear. I popped into speak to John, the fishery owner, to just double check that this would be OK by the rules. He was fine with this so I paid for my permit and hurried down to the loch.

Markle is a very well run fishery and is clean and litter free so I was really disappointed to see a lurid blue crisp bag stuck in the willows where I was intended to fish. I was muttering about irresponsible anglers when the "crisp bag" suddenly sprouted wings and flew off in a flash of iridescent blue and red. Doh! I really want to get some nice photos of kingfishers and that was a chance missed but it was brilliant to see such an iconic bird happy and well at my favourite fishery! As the rod was already set up with a tail section of gulp sandworm I decided to start with this and see how the trout reacted. I followed the wind and chose to fish the end of the loch where the wind was blowing onshore. My first cast was along the shore about ten feet out and I began to twitch and shake the rod causing the lure to shiver and writhe. I then hopped the lead back along the bottom a couple of feet then paused and began shaking the rod tip again. I had worked the lure back about twelve feet when I felt a couple of plucks at the lure before the soft tip arched over as the fish grabbed the lure and made off with it. A flick of the wrist set the hook and I was into my first rainbow of the day. The fish took off making some strong darting runs and the marvellous progressive playing action of the rod came into effect, softly curving when the fish darted away soaking up its power without having to give line. The fish was quickly subdued and as it came towards me I managed to get a few shots of it breaking the surface before it was landed. Brilliant! A first cast fish always leaves me grinning like an idiot and it was a nicely conditioned rainbow of about 1.5lb .

The first rainbow of the session makes an appearance.

I love the colours on this fish as it breaks through the dark winter water.

A freezing winters day prize, a rainbow of about 1.5lbs.

Next cast, again the same happened, another fish seized the lure and began to tear about sending the rod into that satisfying bend as it was played towards me. This one was a bit bigger at 2lbs and again was a great conditioned fish. Annoyingly I had not charged the battery on my camera and I could only get some pics of it in the water before the battery ran out.

This rainbow was a bit bigger at 2lb and again in great condition.

I fished on for another twenty minutes and had a further five fish up to 2lb and they were all great fun to catch on my LRF gear. The final fish I caught made me rue not charging my battery as it went aerial and made some really high jumps as it was being played in.

Still it was an eventful short session and a real eye opener as far as drop shotting for trout goes. I had no idea it would be so successful and I had felt that it lacked finesse, the trout thought otherwise though and gave me some excellent sport. I will have to go back to Markle soon and next time with a fully charged battery, the kingfisher and leaping trout await!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Local burn revisited.

Late last week Jake and I headed back to the small burn he fished last Monday armed with our LRF gear for a short session of upstream lure fishing for the resident trout. I also took along my brook rod as I thought I may get the opportunity to do a spot of fly fishing, or should I say practice my casting. We parked the car, climbed down the bank and entered the burn. We began working our way up the river and Jake having fished it the day before very kindly allowed me to fish most of the pools and runs, offering advice as we went. With little sign of any trout though, me constantly getting my jighead caught in the rocks and then spooking the fish as I moved upstream to free it, I was glad when we then approached a nice weir pool.

After sneaking up to it, seeing plenty of small fish rising and having a few casts towards them with the lures but with no reward, we decided it was time to try my fly rod. I've not been fly fishing for long at all and my casting isn't very good yet. Trying to keep low so as not to spook the fish I kept catching my fly on the vegetation behind me. Jake offered some advice and after a while I finally managed to get a fish to show some interest, slashing at the nymph under the surface. Casting practice continued with Jake removing the fly from the long grass behind me once or twice before I finally got it where the fish were. I then worked on stripping line at the right speed to keep the nymph moving through the current and must have cracked it when a small trout took my fly and was hooked. I was very pleased and was so grateful to Jake for his great tuition!

My second small fish on a weighted nymph in a week.

Jake then had a go with my brook rod and it didn't take him long at all to get himself a small trout. A little escapee rainbow trout from the fish farm further down stream. My turn again and after some more hit and miss casting I hooked a second small trout. Quickly retrieved and landed, it was another small rainbow trout. I was over the moon and found the whole thing quite hilarious as I've never seen rainbow trout so small before.

My 9th freshwater species on lures of 2012.

We carried on for a while longer before heading back down stream. Jake fished as he went but had no luck so we headed home. A fun couple of hours and I'm looking forward to future trips there and hopefully hooking a bigger trout on my brook rod soon.

Tight lines, Hutch.

East Lothian : Fresh and Salt.

I had the afternoon free last Monday so I decided to head down the coast in search of bass. As I was driving I decided to pop into a small burn I used to fish when I was a kid. When I arrived it was a lot smaller than I remembered! The water was crystal clear, the sun was high and it was nice and warm which made fishing very pleasant. I began by wading in and casting up stream, with the rod tip held high I retrieved the lure just a bit faster than the current with a twitchy retrieve. The lure of choice was a Berkley Gulp! 1" Fish Fry in red, mounted on a 1.4g #10 Shirasu fine jighead. Stealth tactics were a necessity keeping low against the bank, I worked the pool above me. After a few casts I had a little bite and then a little trout began leaping madly about! As I brought the fish towards me it looked a little different, quite silver with darker bars down its flanks and by the time I brought its cavorting under control I realised it was a little rainbow. My smallest ever and it looked really pretty in the warm summer sun. I held the fish in one hand and began to fumble around looking for my camera, randomly patting parts of my body. After about a minutes worth of frankly pathetic searching the fish, by now fully recovered, gave a little head shake and gleefully threw the hooks! I watched the fish speed away downstream, at least I had found my camera all be it too late in this case.

No more bites from the pool up stream I began to work the pool down stream. Casting down and across the current I allowed the lure to swing back around below me, allowing me to retrieve it alongside an overhanging tree. As I twitched the lure passed the tree another little trout dashed out from the shadows and seized the lure. Again after much head shaking the little trout was brought to hand. Another tiny rainbow and this time I was ready with my camera, or not as it turned out! I made my way to the bank, holding the leader and keeping the fish in the water, looking for a shallow spot to take a photo. I got to the margins and instantly forgot which pocket my camera was in. Thus began more fevered, one handed fumbling as I searched. The trout sensing an idiot was in control took its chance, threw the hooks and disappeared. With my photographic plans foiled, I made sure my camera was to hand and began to fish a small culvert where a even smaller stream joined the burn. I got within about 6' of the flow and crouched behind some reeds and began just flicking the lure upstream. The technique was very similar to fishing Czech nymphs for grayling. Just bouncing the lure downstream along the bottom with the current, hardly reeling and just letting the rod control the lure. Second pass through a little brownie grabbed it and was quickly landed and this time photographed!

Finally a fish got photographed!

I carried on working my way upstream hoping for another rainbow. A few pools later I felt the tiniest of fish on the lure and reeled in to find a minnow had foul hooked itself!

Kamikaze minnow.

I must have gone half a mile up the river before I had another fish. I had cast upstream, the lure landing just below some rapids at the head of the pool. A couple of turns on the handle and I saw a golden flash in the water and felt a trout take hold of the lure. I gave a little flick of the wrist to set the hook and the trout went instantly airborne and with a frantic head shake threw the hook. I recast to the same spot and the lure was seized the instant it hit the water. The rod hooped over as the fish stayed deep and shot into the main channel easily stripping line from my lightly set drag. I manged to play the fish towards me where I caught sight of it kiting through the water. A beautifully marked brownie and a good sized one too. I played the fish downstream to where I could beach it all the time marvelling at the sight of it in the clear water. Heart thumping and hands shaking I manged to beach it and there before me lay my biggest brownie this year!

Nicely marked wild brown trout.

Recovering in the shallows.

Released, it swam strongly back up into the main channel.

Now I was really buzzing and decided to head back down towards the car, hoping to pick up another rainbow. I came to a pool where I could see a fish rising. Here the river narrowed to about 12' and a bank side bush overhung it. I began to stalk the trout slowly edging my way down until I was crouched in the river under the bush. With my rod poking out from the branches I lobbed the lure 6' away from me to where the fish was rising. As soon as the lure had plopped into the water the fish was on it and after a brief tussle it was landed.

Another lovely fish.

Marvelling at its very green colouration and feeling immensely satisfied at my stalking approach the fish was released and I headed back to the car to head off bassing! A brief drive later and I was at the mark, which as it turned out was incredibly rough! An onshore wind and an ebbing tide had really got a big swell up and lots of smashed weed and kelp was suspended in the water. I rigged up a Lunker City Ribster in Arkansas Shiner on a 10.5g Lunker City football jighead. Fishing was downright dangerous at times with big waves breaking up onto the reef. This meant I couldn't really fish my usual points so I began to move around the reef. The weed was really proving to be a pain with every couple of casts picking up the floating weed. I had been fishing for about an hour when I finally had a bite. This took me a bit by surprise as it was only about 10 yards out and I had all but given up hope! The fish made a bee line for deeper water and tried to head out with the surf. It gave a good scrap but was soon landed.

A nice little bass.

Reward for my perseverance.

Mission accomplished I decided not to bother trying for anymore as it was just too rough, so with the promise to myself that I would be back when it calms, I headed home grinning like a Cheshire cat! 

Tight lines, Schogsky.