Weekly round up 5 : Flounder and Trout

It's been a busy couple of weeks but I managed a couple of sessions after work trying for brownies. One had been eluding me in a particular pool and it took three sessions to catch him. At just under a pound he wasn't the biggest fish in the river but he was certainly one of the most satisfying.

This Brownie gave me the run around but it couldn't resist a Xesta Stick Star in glitter pink!

The weekend took an age to come but eventually I found myself at the sea with the intention of harbour hopping down the coast looking for flounders. Now the humble flounder is one of my prize summer species, aggressive in taking lures and hard fighters, especially when they get over a couple of pounds. With my PB flounder on LRF gear standing at 3lb and with the opportunity to best that fish you can hopefully see why I am so intent on fishing for them.

Armed with my LRF gear I stalked around the first harbour. Low water meant that fishing was limited to the main channel at the harbour. I worked a dropshot rig around, bouncing gulp sandworm across the sea bed but to no avail. I gave it about half an hour before deciding to head further down the coast.

After a 20 minute drive I arrived at the next harbour. An onshore wind had quite a swell going but the harbour was fairly sheltered and the water was crystal clear. For the weekend the harbour was actually fairly quiet. With the large swell preventing the dive boats going out it gave me some space to hunt flatties.

Using my dropshotted gulp sandworm mounted on a #8 hook suspended a foot off the bottom I cast and worked the lure across the sandy patches in the harbour. It was very quiet for the first half hour and the surprising lack of coalfish had me scratching my head. I would normally expect the harbour to be teaming with the wee brutes but they were conspicuous by their absence.

I soldiered on with the lure and as the tide began to flood in earnest I felt a couple of soft plucks at the lure and struck into the first flattie of the session. The flattie once hooked raced towards me before making a couple of spirited dives under the rod tip. I swung the fish in and was really happy to see a fat 28cm flounder of around the pound mark. I grabbed a couple of photos and dropped the fish back with a grin on my face.

He is not as happy as me!

28cm Flounder

I quickly re-rigged another gulp sandworm and went straight back to working the sea bed. With one flattie under the belt I was expecting they would really switch on to feed as the tide was flooding. This wasn't quite the case though as I had to wait another half an hour for the next fish. During this time I was joined by another group of anglers with a collection of rods and handlines. They were using bait and set up a multitude of rods all around the harbour mouth. This limited my flattie hunting somewhat, so I concentrated my casting further into the harbour.

I was working the lure quite fast along the sea bed when I was hit suddenly by a good fish. One savage bite and the fish had hooked itself, the fish ran towards me and I had to reel to keep up. It was a good fish and it was a struggle to get it up through the water column. The fish fought hard and clever, every time it came up to the top it would porpoise on the surface a bit before trying to dive into the kelp band that ran along the edge of the harbour walls. As I let the rod wear the fish down I had a bit of a dilemma as to how to land it. I could climb down the ladder and land the fish by hand, which would involve a one handed climb back up with the rod in my teeth, or I could attempt to swing it in. In the end I went with the grunt and lift approach and, despite the alarming curve in the rod, the fish made it to my eager hands. It was a beautiful fish, all be it a bit spawned out, and was my biggest flounder this year going 38cm on the ruler and weighing 2lb - a proper Scottish specimen. The beastly flattie had gathered quite a crowd of anglers and tourists and rather nicely one of them offered to take a trophy shot before I released him. I dropped the fish back and felt genuinely elated. It was such a dramatic take and fight and I will remember that fish for a long while.

38cm flounder!

This makes me a very happy angler!

I carried on fishing and by this stage the other anglers were really taking an interest in what I was doing. They found it difficult to believe it wasn't a fluke (so to speak). I was busy explaining the technique to them whilst working the lure when I was hit by another nice flattie of about a pound which put a good bend in the rod before it was swung in. How's that for a perfect demonstration!

The final flounder of the session

This long spined scorpion also made an appearance.

The other anglers changed their rigs to smaller hooks and began to cast around where I was fishing pushing me further off my flattie grounds. I was still on a high from the last fish so I didn't mind too much and I was genuinely pleased when one manged to hook a wee flattie. This however turned to disappointment when I came over to see it; the fish was so deeply hooked and I watched with horror as the angler pulled on his snood to free the hook. He pulled so much that he snapped the line before delving in its mouth with the forceps to retrieve his wee spoon, leaving the hook embedded somewhere in its gut. He did release the fish but it soured my fishing and I had a chat with him to try and educate him on how flounders actually feed. I made the point that if he wanted to return the fish then he must hold his rod and feel for the bites, then strike quickly to avoid deep hooking.

After this I popped down the coast to sea trout town and racked up another 1/2 dozen or so sea trout on mini metals before calling it a day and heading back.

All in all it was a great week, big flounder, trout and sea trout, pure distilled LRF fun!

I managed to put together another short film of the flounder session so have a wee look if you are interested.

Tackle used:

Rod :GraphiteLeader Corto EX 7'9" 0.5-8gram Tubular tipped.

Reel :Shimano Technium 3000

Line :Duel Hardcore X4 PE0.6

Leader :8lb Greylon  Fluorocarbon.

Thanks for reading!

Tight Lines

Jake

Weekly round up #4 : LRF bass, HRF Pollock.

Last week saw me heading to the coast armed with my LRF gear hoping to find some silver spikey fish. The weather has been problematic for fishing this mark but a combination of flat calm and a rising tide filled me with hope. I worked the reef firstly with my HRF gear, bottom bouncing sluggos around but apart from one or two knocks the fish were fairly unresponsive. As the tide flooded the reef I switched to my LRF gear as I could run a light metal jig over the top of the reef. I went with a 7gram Xesta After Burner and began casting around with a jerky retrieve. I covered the gulleys and newly flooded rock pools with the mini metal and it really didn't take long before I was hit by a feisty wee bass. I enjoyed the feel of a bass on the line and quickly landed, unhooked and photographed the fish before releasing it back.

Not big but the first bass of the year is always special

I carried on with the same approach and about 20 minutes later I was hit again, this time by a slightly bigger bass. Whilst the bass wasn't very big it was caught at range so I got to enjoy the fight for a wee bit longer than its previous shoal mate. Again it was unhooked and quickly photographed before being released back.

Bass on LRF gear = Fun!

The only other fish on the session came in the form of another sea trout, a species that seem addicted to Xesta after burners! Even though I have caught a silly amount of them already this season I still really enjoy catching sea trout in the sea and after a couple of pics I released him back to the reef.

Yet another sea trout falls for a Xesta After Burner mini jig

Next session saw me head out to fish the harbours from low to mid tide before hitting the rocks at Eyemouth. Conditions at the harbour weren't great, the water was very cloudy from the recent rains and a strong gusting wind meandered around the harbour, seemingly unable to decide which direction to blow. The wind made using light jigheads too problematic so I went with my trusty Dropshot rig. A size 8 Owner mini offset hook was tied, via a palomar knot, about halfway up a 3ft Fluorocarbon leader and a 7 gram dropshot weight was clipped onto the end of the line. I rigged a 3" tail section of gulp sandworm and began to cast about the harbour's sandy patches. With a slow retrieve I let the weight trundle along the seabed puffing up little clouds of sand and a constant shaking of the rod caused the lure to wriggle and writhe, what flattie could resist?

The answer the to that question was all of them! After an hour or so of fishing I had felt no evidence of feeding flounder, although there were plenty of wee coalies and after catching half a dozen I continued my way down the coast.

At Eyemouth I met up with Ritchie and we headed off down to a new mark which Ritchie had been fishing. The mark is situated really close to Ritchie's house and after a short walk and a scramble down the rocks we were there. Ritchie had managed some red cod from here the last time he fished it and we were hoping for more of the same. The mark we were fishing is a big kelp forest which gives way to clean sand about 50 yards out, prime pollock and cod territory, so with this in mind it was out with the slug-gos and HRF gear. We began to fish the mark; I concentrated on casting to beyond the kelp bed then bouncing the slug back over the top of the kelp. As the tide began to flood in earnest the bites began to come and I was into some nice pollock, the biggest being about 3.5lb. Keeping the powerful pollock from diving back into the kelp is always a challenge and certainly adds a bit more spice to the fight. Over the session I managed 3 and Ritchie had a few coalies but, as so often happens to me, the cod were not about. Again on this session I had problems with the video camera with the battery running out as I arrived at the mark. This went totally unnoticed by me and I preceded to get some "great shots " of the fish going back before discovering that they didn't exist when I got home!

A great fish for a fight, this one weighed 3.5lb

Hard fighting fish always put a smile on my face!

He does not look quite as happy as me though!

Despite that I still had a not bad snapshot of the week's fishing in video format so I managed to put together a short film.

Tackle used:

HRF tackle

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 7'9" 0.5-8gram Tubular tipped.

Reel :Shimano Technium 3000

Line :Duel Hardcore X4 PE0.6

Leader :4lb Scierra C-thru Fluorocarbon.

It's been a great week and the return of the bass signals the start of our summer species returning and its very exciting to think that the fishing is going to improve week on week, I can't wait to get out again!

Tight Lines

Jake

Video Roundup #2 : Flounder, Sea Trout and Brownies.

Another week and the fishing is really starting to pick up now. First session of the week saw me back at the coast with the intention of LRF flounder and bass. Conditions were pretty good, nice and calm with a slowly flooding tide and I rigged up a dropshot rig with a section of Gulp! sandworm. It probably only took about 10 minutes before I was into my first fish. It was a strange soft take and then the fish ran towards me making it hard to be sure I had even hooked it! When it did break the surface I was relieved to see a hand-sized flounder. I made the schoolboy error of thinking there would be better fish about so I decided to not take pictures and let the video tell the tale. A foolish move on my part as there were no more flounders biting and after an hour I headed off to the bass mark. This too proved fruitless and after a couple of hours I headed further down the coast to hook up with Ritchie and hopefully beat the blank by hitting the sea trout again. Never in a million years would I have thought that sea trout would be a blank-saving choice but sure enough they were there in numbers and we had some ridiculous sport with them. This time to confound things the video camera's battery had run out and I went back to good old stills for the sea trout, balancing both types of media is hard to do, especially when in full-fevered fishing mode!

This "finnock" took a 5gram Xesta After Burner...

and this one took a Ecogearaqua Katsu Aji Straight mounted on a Xesta Starhead Slowdown 1 gram jighead...

as did this one...

River to Sea tungsten 2.5gram trout spoon did for this one.

As the week ground on I had limited time to fish and when I was presented with a spare hour before tea I grabbed it and bolted to the river. One of the many joys of light rock fishing tackle is the ability to just grab my rod and lures and I can be fishing the moment I reach the water. As I only had an hour I decided to fish three pools and rather brilliantly I managed a trout from each of the pools before heading home for tea. Yet again I messed up with the camera stupidly leaving the memory card at home and  again I had to rely on the Veho MUVI action cam to capture the action. I am still finding it difficult to focus on filming , taking photos and fishing but barring silly mistakes I am getting the hang of it!

I have put together a short film compilation of the weeks fishing, I hope you enjoy watching (it can be viewed in 1080p).

Tackle used -

Rod: GraphiteLeader Corto EX 7'9" 0.5-8gram Tubular tipped.

Reel: Shimano Technium 3000

Line: Pontoon Exteer braid PE. 1

Leader: 6lb Greylon Fluorocarbon

Tight Lines

Jake

Jake's School of Fish.

Over the past couple of months I have had the pleasure of teaching my friend's twin boys how to fish. The boys had got a couple of LRF starter sets from Art of Fishing and were keen to use them. So after showing them how to set up their rods and reels we headed off to Dunbar harbour to try them out.

The weather whilst dry was overcast with a strong onshore wind. This made fishing the main harbour with light jigheads nigh on impossible as the wind would catch the line and blow the jig heads about uncontrollably. I went through to the old harbour as this offered some protection from the strongly gusting wind and after a discussion about safety we tackled up. The boys each had a Ecogear pocket in kit so we rigged a 2.5g shirasu fine jighead on each of their rods and rigged a small section of gulp sandworm.

Whenever I teach someone to fish from scratch it's imperative that they actually catch a fish as this shows them what it's all about and sows the seeds of confidence for future trips. With this in mind I was confident that the local hoards of coalfish would oblige. We started by simply opening the bail arm and dropping the lure down the wall a rod length out. Once the lure touches the sea bed a couple of turns of the reel handle hops it off the bottom and a few twitches of the rod tip gets the lure working.

That was all it took and straight away the boys each hooked a coalfish which was hauled out to shouts of jubilation and big grins!

First cast, first fish, ever!

The next couple of hours flew by with a steady stream of wee coalies for the boys who were really enjoying the non-stop action. Together they caught and released over 60 fish between them and with the resident seal making an appearance they were really enjoying their first go at fishing.

Finn and Joe caught fish after fish

A brief pause to check out the local seal.

Sammy made short work of any coalies that were slow to go back.

Bonus flounder, whilst showing the guys how to do it I managed to winkle out this little flattie.

In between helping the boys I also managed to wet a line and using my go to dropshot rig I soon caught a host of coalies and a bonus flounder. The boys were impressed with the flounder and they wanted to catch one too, so we decided to head down the coast to my favourite flounder spot. On the way we grabbed some lunch which for the boys seemed to consist of biscuits and Mountain Dew. By the time we reached St Abbs the "dew" had kicked in and the boys were bouncing madly about garbling nonsense and bickering with each other. However the icy blast of gail force winds soon calmed them down, or at least drowned out there dewed gibbering so I couldn't hear it! Unfortunately the strong swirling wind made it impossible to fish as well as being eye wateringly unpleasant, so we quickly piled back into the motor and headed back to Dunbar.

We only had about 20 minutes of fishing time before we had to go but the boys were straight in again, catching the little coalies. We did a bit of casting practice and while I was helping Joe his brother Finn shouted out " got one, got one!"

I looked round to see Finn's rod buckled over into a fish and watched with horror as he cranked the fish right to the top eye and lifted the flapping flounder out onto the land. The rod stood up amazingly well to this brutal treatment and Finn clutched at a really good flounder. It must have weighed over a pound. Needless to say Finn was really pleased, what a great first flounder! It also gave him bragging rights over his brother which we had to put up with all the way home!

First flounder and biggest fish of the day for Finn.

The next lesson was a few weeks later and I picked the boys up with the instruction of "no Mountain Dew" we set off to try St Abbs .The boys were as keen as mustard to try and catch more flounder and with that in mind we headed to my flounder hotspot. Unfortunately for us a family of anglers had set up right where I wanted to fish. We had a wee chat and they informed us that despite being there for hours they hadn't caught anything.

I couldn't believe it, had the ravening hoards of coalies disappeared? It hardly seemed possible as a couple of weeks before they were shoaling so thickly you couldn't get a lure past them to reach the bottom dwelling flatties. I warned the boys not to expect a fish every cast like the last time as fishing wasn't always as good as their first session.

We all went with the same set up as before, although this time I encouraged the boys to rig up the lure on the jighead themselves and we set about casting around to find the fish. This took me about 30 seconds much to the suprise of the other anglers as my dropshotted Gulp! sandworm was pounced on by a wee coalie. This was unceremoniously hauled out and put back and I quickly followed it up with a couple more whilst Finn and Joe also caught and released their first fish of the session.

From then on the fishing completely dried up and try as we might we couldn't find any actively feeding flounder. A couple of hours passed and the boys were getting pretty demoralised by the lack of fish the wind had got up too, so we decided to call time and head to Dunbar to see if the fishing was any better.

We arrived at the old harbour with the tide quite far into the ebb, which meant we wouldn't have much time to fish before the water levels got too low. I set about casting and searching for the fish whilst the boys practised their casting. It didn't take long to find some wee coalies and I caught and released a couple whilst getting the boys to fish the same area where I was catching.  I encouraged them to fish the area for coalies whilst I moved off trying to work the sea bed for flounders. This paid off after only a few casts as I felt the characteristic plucking of a flounder bite and struck into a beefy flattie which put a good bend in the light action rod. I landed this to much excitement from the boys and they took a couple of glory shots .

A nice flounder always puts a grin on my face and I had two in quick succession

Whilst I released the fish the boys got back on with excitedly fishing, however their excitement and over-keenness soon resulted in a healthy wind knot for Finn. I did my best to sort it out whilst Joe steadily fished on he was keeping calm and methodical with his approach, doing his best to cast and work the lure. I advised Finn to copy his brother and not rush with his casting and I began to search for more flounder. I was working the channel that leads out the harbour when again I felt the bite of a flounder and struck into another nice one. After a good wee tussle I landed a nice flounder of about a pound which I quickly released and recast to the same area. This resulted in another flattie again around the pound mark!

Another flounder for me, love it , love it ,love it!

This flurry of flounder had sent the boys into overdrive and again Finn suffered the mother of all wind knots which stopped him from fishing and me too as I had to try and untangle it for him. Joe meanwhile had been watching where I was casting and how I was working the lure and he began to cast accurately to the flattie hotspot.

I was busy untangling when I heard Joe say "I'm getting bites". I told him to just keep reeling slowly and if he felt weight on the line, strike. I had barely got the words out when he gave a little strike and his wee rod hooped over as a big fish tore around on the end of his line. It was actually stripping line off his wee reel during the fight and he worked the fish to the edge of the wall like a true pro. As the fish rose up we could see it was a really good flattie and the size of it had us all babbling with excitement. It was a bit tricky to land but I had seen the punishment Finn's rod had taken with his flattie so I went for bust and swung the fish up the wall with the rod. The rod was in one piece as the fish touched the deck and we all gave a resounding cheer. This was the biggest flattie I had seen this year and was really, really fat. It must have weighed around the 2lb mark, what a first flounder for Joe!

Now that's a flounder!

An excellent first flattie for Joe, it must have been 2lbs.

It had been a tough old session but this really was the perfect end and I felt really happy for Joe as he cradled his first flounder for the camera. A few pics were taken then we released the flattie watching as it scooted away across the sea bed. After this we packed up and headed back with Joe having the bragging rights this time and rightly so! This was to be our last session of the year as the boys were due to head back up to Skye, however they would be doing so with the ability and confidence to fish by them selves.

I can't wait to see how they get on!

Tight Lines

Jake.

James and the giant perch

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jamie came up to visit from Wakefield, he had brought his lure fishing gear and was very keen to get out and give it a blast.Jamie and I have fished some far flung places, Cyprus for largemouth Bass, Spain for carp and around Yorkshire for various coarse species. He was quite keen to go light rock fishing and I was more than happy to oblige!

His visit also  coincided with my newest purchase, an 8' car toppable dinghy and I was itching to get out and see how it performed. Our plan for the weekend was to head down to St Abbs on the Friday to play in the harbour then head to the perch loch on Saturday for the perch and the new boat test.

we headed to St Abbs and I lent Jamie my Cormoran ULF rod  as it was more sensitive than his heavier spinning rod.We rigged up simple dropshot rigs #8 hook tied via a palomar knot on 8lb fluro and clipped on a 7g weight 30cm from the hook.Gulp sandworm was the lure of choice and as soon as the lure hit the water it was swarmed on by wee coalies. Ritchie had also joined us and we  caught coalie after coalie with the odd codling thrown in for good measure. Jamie was really enjoying himself, he had never experienced the non stop action of a coalie swarm with every cast producing a fish. With Jamie in coalie land Ritchie and I tried our best to target flounders but getting a lure past the coalies was nigh on impossible! In fact Ritchie had fished the past 3 days in various areas around St Abbs and hadn't been able to escape the ravening hoards.

We moved around trying to find other species but it wasn't until near the end of the session we finally manged to bag a couple of flounders each. We were working our lure over the shallow sandy areas and we saw the flounders chasing the lures. It was really tricky to catch them as the coalies kept diving in and intercepting the lure, it was only through sheer persistence that we eventually caught a couple of flatties each. Flounders are one of my favourite species to catch so I was really chuffed we manged to grab a couple, Jamie had never caught a flatfish before so he was doubly pleased to have a new species and on a lure too!

A happy angler, Jamie shows off his first flattie

We really had to work at avoiding the coalfish to get the flounder

One of the two flounder I managed to tempt

Although the session had been fun, I was heavily distracted by the prospect of trying my new boat. At last Saturday morning came and Jamie and I loaded the car up with tackle, life jackets, food and popped the boat on the roof.

My new toy on the roof and ready to rock

 The journey up was an anxious one as I was constantly worrying about the boat being secure, however apart from it singing like a boiling kettle as we went over 40mph it remained securely strapped to the roof bars.We stopped off at the fishing tackle shop and got our permits and the key to the slipway . At the loch we quickly got the boat to the water and stowed our tackle and supplies before setting off on its first fishing trip. The loch was flat calm with the clear water as smooth as glass and with the warm sun out it really was the perfect day to fish. I had no engine or fishfinder so it was under oar power that we headed off to my normal shore spots for the perch.It took about 1/2 an hour to row into the rocky bay that usually throws up perch from the shore and we anchored about 60 meters offshore. We both still had the same dropshot rigs on from our flounder foray at St Abbs only instead of gulp sandworm we rigged up some lake fork live baby minnows.

Fishing without the aid of a fishfinder/sonar meant I had to locate the fish through a combination of knowledge of fishing it from the shore and instinctive water craft. The tactics once we had reached the rocky bay was to anchor up, then make long casts 360degrees around the boat.We then slowly worked the lures back giving the rod little twitches and pauses. Once we had completed our circle of casts with no bites we upped anchor and moved further up the bay. it was on our third anchor that Jamie started getting a couple of wee taps and a couple of casts later he managed to bag the first perch. He was really pleased to get the first fish and doubly satisfied as it was taken on a new technique he had learned the day before. I did the necessary glory shot and after we released the fish I got back to fishing. It only took a couple of casts and I was into the perch too and while not a big fish it still provided much fun on the LRF gear.

We managed another 2 or 3 fish from the area before bites dried up and we upped anchor and rowed another fifty meters along the bay.

Jamie unhooks his first perch of the session

Lake fork Live baby shad does it again

My first perch of the session

See ya!

Again we went with the same tactics, anchoring the casting right around the boat till we got interest in the lures. It didn't take long and soon we were both into perch again. I managed a couple of better ones close to the pound mark and Jamie had a couple as well. Again when the action dried up we moved up the bay another 50meters or so and repeated the process. Jamie was in first and as he was playing in his fish I had a couple of taps and struck into a better fish. As I played the fish up through the clear water I noticed another fish following it up which turned away as I reached out with the net to land the perch. I unhooked my fish and took a couple of pics as it had a really golden colour especially around its mouth.

Super stripey with a golden sheen, what a lovely combination

It had a really yellow mouth

 I quickly released the fish and flicked the lure out around 12 feet away from the boat , I let it hit the bottom then I began to shake the rod tip a bit whilst giving tiny twitches. Pretty much straight away I felt a tap then the line went slack as the fish grabbed the lure and swam towards me.A flick of the wrist set the hook and the rod went into its fighting curve as the fish powered off stripping some line off a lightly set drag. As I played the fish back towards me I was aware it was a good fish and as it rose up through the water I got my first look at it, a PB for sure! The fish made another couple of spirited dives and these were nerve wrecking  but eventually the fish was wallowing on the surface and we quickly slipped the net under it.

What a fish! A brilliantly coloured, pristine conditioned, fin perfect beast of a wild perch. Jamie and I couldn't believe the size of it, we grabbed some snaps of the outlandish fish and popped it into the net to recover whilst I hunted for my scales. The scales however were conspicuous only by there absence leaving me only able to estimate its weight. We measured the fish which came in at 40cm and I guessed its weight at  between 2.5 and 3lbs. In the end I put it at 2lbs 9oz which was an under estimate but it was an ounce over my previous personal best which had stood for 18 years or so!

My new personal best perch

What an awesome fish

Gorgeous!

The obligatory ruler shot, 40cm of wild loch perch

Out of all the fish I have caught over the years this one is very special to me,awesome.

I released the fish in a state of happy delirium, my new boat on its first fishing mission had broken my long lasting perch PB, I couldn't have been happier!

We fished on for another couple of hours which yielded plenty more perch of around the half to three quarter pound mark before it was time to begin the long row back to the slipway.

Eventually we got back and unloaded the boat before popping it on the roof bars and heading back to town with arms that now felt like boiled noodles!

What a day, both of us had done our PB's and the boat had performed brilliantly and to cap it with such a beast of a perch had made the whole session truly one to remember.

Perch fever is back and I hope to get an engine for the boat for the next session, one that I am really looking forward too!

Tight Lines

Schogsky

Slimey surprise.

With Scott away to the mull of Galloway on a boat trip, I headed down to St Abbs again hoping to find the resident wrasse. I had had a couple of brief forays there after my PB wrasse session but the wrasse hadn't been around, although the coalies, codling, flounders and scorpions had been in abundance. Ritchie had had his cast removed so I picked up the newly footed Ritchie and we headed down to the harbour hoping to fish the ebb. The tide was a neap which wasn't ideal for targeting the wrasse but the joys of LRF meant there were plenty of other fish to target. I rigged my LRF gear with a simple dropshot rig, I rigged the #8 hook with a gulp sandworm and clipped a lead on a mere 2" from the hook. This presentation keeps the lure very close to the bottom and it would seem the wrasse like this set up.

The Coalfish were everywhere!

The coalies were everywhere as usual and I was soon into double figures while searching the fringes of the kelp. While I was working the lure I had noticed some dark shapes moving through the kelp, wrasse! I concentrated my efforts where the fish had been and it wasn't long before I was into a proper fish. As soon as it was hooked the fish tried to dive between a rope and the wall. I managed to turn it and  then let the rod soak up its dives for cover. It soon tired and I guided it into the waiting dropnet, bingo first wrasse of the session, target achieved!

Another fine Scottish ballan wrasse

I released the fish and began to target the flatties which was quite hard as the scorpions were really on the feed and we had loads of them! Ritchie was busy hunting for wrasse when I noticed a cod carcass moving about in the clear water. The carcass was jerking and twitching as three eels writhed around it. There were two dark ones and a pale big one, I presumed that the pale one was a small conger. I cast over the top of the carcass and gently twitched the lure over where they were feeding, I saw a dark eel snake up and grab the lure. I struck and quickly got it up off the bottom whereby the eel hit reverse and hung snaking in the water. A bit more pressure and it was quickly swung up into my eager hands. Brilliant, a common eel on a lure for the second year in a row and sight fished too! After wrestling with the eel to get a photo I released it back to the harbour.

For the second year in a row I managed to bag a common eel on a lure.

It wouldn't behave for its photograph though!

I tried back for the conger but it had spooked when the eel had been hooked. We kept seeing it though and soon I manged to get a lure in front of it. I was twitching the rod gently causing the sandworm to flutter invitingly above the fish. I saw the eel slowly come up off the bottom and approach the lure. My heart was in my mouth as it got closer suddenly a small scorpion tore on front of the eel, gobbled up the lure and dived back into the kelp. Argggh, to make matters worse the wee thing would not open its little mouth and was biting down on the hook shank. It must have taken at least a couple of minutes before it actually opened its gob for long enough to unhook it and by the time I dropped the fish back the eel had disappeared.

The tide had dropped quite considerably so I moved back to some deeper water. Fishing right alongside the kelp a felt a couple of electric taps instantly recognisable as wrasse bites. I let the tapping develop and when I noticed the line move I struck and manged to bully another lovely wrasse out from its kelpy lair.

I love catching wrasse on LRF gear, even a modest size fish puts up a great fight.

I love the colours too!

We then concentrated on some more flatties and had a few, one out of the kelp itself! Ritchie manged to get a wee pollock and another nice wee wrasse from the kelp before bagging a really fat flounder that must of weighed well over a pound .

St Abbs produces some great flounders!

Wrasse and flounder in the same session, brilliant!

Ritchie displays one of the many flounder he  had caught.

A jig head and large Isome lured this handsome flounder

I have never seen as many codling as this year, winter should be fun!

My last flounder of the session.

That signalled the end of the session as I had to get back for the kids tea time, so we packed up and headed back. Both of us were really chuffed the action had been constant and the bonus eel added extra excitement. Not only had we managed to catch wrasse and flatties but we had sight fished the majority of fish, which just made the whole experience even more intense. It won't be long now before the wrasse become dormant for the winter, however with the vast amount of tiny codling about I can only surmise that winter may well provide a lot of sport with them. Here's hoping!

Tight lines, Schogsky.