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!