First session of 2013

Following a couple of weeks with no fishing and lots of family time, it was time to get back out there and start 2013 as we mean to go on. I picked up Scott and we headed down into East Lothian in the hope of targeting some mullet again, as well as having a search about to see what else was lurking about. I had my GraphiteLeader Corto Ex for this and Scott had his "Beast Tamer"! After a brief drive we arrived to find the sea calm but with a cold and strong offshore wind. With the tide in the last hour of the ebb we decided to forgo the mullet until later and had a look around the rock pools and low water hidey holes. We were both keen to get this years species hunt underway and our first target was one of our favourite fish, the common blenny. I went with a #10 1/16oz Decoy Rocket jighead with a Gulp! 1" Fish Fry in red and Scott went with a chunk of Isome on a #12 hook and split shot rig.

The blennys were in a feisty mood and soon had us in fits of laughter watching them dash out from under the boulders to fight each other to get at the lure. We caught a handful each and then moved over the reef to look for long spined sea scorpions.

Scott gets the first fish of 2013!

I quickly follow suit.

Rather pleasingly they were also easy to find and Scott was in first with an unusual grey and pink specimen.

This long spined sea scorpion had some lovely pink hues.

A beauty and the "Beast Tamer"

He then moved off to go and add a goby or two to this years species count. I managed to find a sea scorpion too, while bouncing the lure alongside a large boulder it wasted no time dashing out and seizing the lure. It was a nice dark red one and I popped it back after a couple of photos.

Caught to order, this long spined sea scorpion was exactly where I expected it to be!

I love the variety in colouration of sea scorpions and their attitude too!

I then went over to the "goby hole" to find Scott had caught a common goby and was busy hunting for two spotted gobys.

Scotts first common goby of 2013

I joined him after quickly rigging up one of Scott's #26 hooks to 1lb nylon New Zealand dropper style on my jighead. This was rigged with a tiny chunk of Gulp! Sandworm and it wasn't long before a little two spotted goby was hooked and landed! Scott followed suit shortly after I got mine before moving off to explore the rock pools.

Another species for my 2013 tally!

Scotts first two spotted goby of 2013

It took a little longer for me to get a common goby as they were being quite shy, but eventually one plucked up the courage to grab the lure and he was quickly landed and checked off the list!

My forth species in about an hour. Not bad going!

With the tide still too low for the resident mullet I went off in search of bass. I rigged up my go to lure; 4.5" Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner mounted on a 10.5g #2/0 football jig head. I worked the reef for a couple of hours but there was nothing doing at all. The cold offshore wind was getting stronger and when I rejoined Scott we tried putting out some bread to tempt the mullet. This ended up very quickly heading out to sea with the wind and was quickly out of casting range. The mullet were just not about and if they were they weren't interested in our wind assisted bread mix! With the light dimming we decided to call it a day and Scott finally left the blennys alone after racking up fifty of them while I had been chasing bass.

All in all a great little session and I love the fact that we were able to grab four species and have fun doing so in the depths of winter. I cant wait to get out again!

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.

LRF : Flounder hunt.

On Monday, as we had the afternoon free, we decided to head down the coast to Dunbar to see if we could target some flounders in the harbour. They have been noticeably absent from the harbour over the winter and with Scott catching a plaice at North Berwick harbour recently we hoped they may be back in Dunbar harbour as well.

It was very hot in Edinburgh and not a cloud in the sky. This changed on the way down the A1 however and by the time we got to Dunbar it was cloudy with a chilly easterly wind. Not so much fun in the sun more like fun in the fog! We arrived at low tide and armed with our LRF gear we headed to the sandy areas of the harbour. Scott had rigged up a small silver spinner with a single #6 Aberdeen hook which he then tipped with a red Isome. I went with my tried and trusted combo of the 2.3gm  #8 Ecogear Shirasu Fine jighead and small pink Power Isome.

Technique is straight forward enough, cast out and allow the lure to drop and hit the sea bed. Then slowly retrieve allowing the lure to crawl enticingly along the sand. Add in the odd pause and twitch and it's usually a recipe that proves irresistible to flounders. Within a couple of casts we could see small flounders chasing the lures and nipping at the Isomes. Try as we might we just couldn't get them to attack in their normal fashion and they were being very picky. We worked around the harbour and after about 45mins I saw the familiar dark shape of a sea scorpion rise up from the sea bed and nail my Isome! He was quickly lifted up, photographed and returned and it was great to see our first harbour sea scorpion in months.

A plump long spined sea scorpion all puffed up and defiant.

Our first Dunbar harbour scorpion for a while, we are very pleased to see them back! It doesn't look quite so happy to see us!

Scott had switched over to a section of red Gulp! Sandworm on an 3.5g #6 AGM finesse jighead and quickly caught our second harbour long spined sea scorpion. Brilliant! One of our favourite summer haunts seems to be coming back to life!

Scott charms another sea scorpion from the depths.

With the tide flooding the flounders had began to move further towards the old harbour so we decided to go there to see if we could find them. The water was very clear in the old harbour and we could see our lures working across the muddy bottom. Scott was working his lures near to the wall when we saw a large blenny appear out of the mud and grab Scotts lure. Annoyingly though, it dropped off as it was being swung in. Still no sign of the flounders so we continued teasing the blennys that were lurking along the wall. I landed three and Scott had one too then he decided to head to the rockpools at the back of the harbour hoping to catch something there.

An old harbour blenny in a surprisingly regal pose!

Scott's old harbour blenny fell for Gulp! 1" Minnow in chartreuse.

I opted to stay in the old harbour and keep a look out for flatties whilst annoying the blennys. I had changed lure to a Gulp! 1" fish fry mounted on an 2.2g Crazyg wave HD jig head. As I was bouncing it along past the bottom of a ladder I saw a large dark coloured flounder swimming towards the ladder and settle in the mud about 8ft out from me. It was a big fish for the harbour and with shaking hands I cast beyond it and began a slow twitchy retrieve along the bottom. The lure got within about 8ft of the flounder when it rose out of the mud and glided over to the lure. It circled around behind the lure as it crawled along then in a puff of mud pounced, only to miss the lure. I just kept the slow retrieve going and the flounder seeing the lure escaping made sure this time with a flash of its white mouth engulfed the lure. I struck and felt the satisfying thump as the hook hit and held. The fish rose up shaking his head, whilst my murmered pleadings begged the hook to hold, then bolted off towards the boats taking line and putting a good bend in my rod. I turned it fearing for the fine hook and then it "yo-yoed" towards me constantly coming up then diving for the bottom. Soon it was beneath my feet and wallowing on the surface. So far so good, the next trick was to lift and swing the fish in. Fearing for my little rod and the small hook I pointed the rod at the fish tightened the drag a bit then in one movement lifted the rod and swung the fish up the nine foot wall to my hands. Success! The biggest flounder yet from Dunbar harbour and a really chunky thick set fish over a pound. I popped round the back to show Scott and after a couple of shots quickly took it back up to the harbour and released it, watching as it swam quickly back under the boats.

Success! The flounders are back and this one is my biggest yet from Dunbar harbour.

My first flounder of 2012. A very pleasing fish indeed!

Scott meanwhile had managed another long spined sea scorpion but we had run out of time and so we called it a day and headed back. A very good short session showing us that the mini species and flounders are back in the harbour, a real sign that summer is just about upon us. Flounder were an almost certain catch there last summer, I cant wait to find out if they will be as obliging this year!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Golden Brown.

On Friday whilst Scott was away terrorising the Dumfries and Galloway pike and perch populations I was delivering antiques in Berwick upon Tweed. Knowing that this would lead me past our favourite bass mark I also brought my fishing gear with me. As I travelled south along the A1 I could see the sea was really rough and if you can see the waves from distance it would probably be too  rough to fish. Never the less I parked up near the reef and made my way down with my bass gear and LRF kit. Even before I could see the mark I could hear the waves and sure enough when I got there it became apparent that I wouldn't be able to fish it for bass, such was its rough state.

So it was out with the LRF kit and I rigged up a Crazyg Wave HD jig head with a Berkley Gulp 1" fry. Because it was so rough fishing for the blennys was challenging. The blennys only had a couple of seconds to hunt in between waves flooding in and receding. In that tiny moment of calm they would quickly dash out and seize the lure , then head back under a boulder. Ah well I consoled myself with catching nine blennys from the flooding rock pools before heading off to finish my delivery job.

 A dark blenny with white lips tells me this one's a male.

Nom, nom, nom!

On Saturday I was still frustrated by not being able to fish properly the day before so when my wife suggested I go for a quick fish I jumped at the chance! I only had an hour so I grabbed my LRF kit and headed down to the Water of Leith. The beauty of the LRF kit is its so easy to pick up and put in the car it really is a case of "grab and go", thus making it easy to make the most of quick fishing missions. I headed down to the "cooker pool" and used the same set up that I had been using on the Blennys. I have found in the peat stained water that red lures do very well and always seem to tempt an attack. This pool is fished from a high wall above the river and seems to fish best with a twitched retrieve up stream. I started at the head of the pool, cast across current and allowed the lure to swing around below me whilst giving little twitches and a slow retrieve. Each cast I make I step down the pool in a step, cast , retrieve pattern. On the fifth cast as I was halfway down the pool I saw a good trout come out from behind a discarded cooker and nail the lure! The Rod hooped into the fish and he was on! He tried to use the fast current to his full advantage and tried to get under a ledge below my feet. I turned him and the rod soaked up his little darting runs and he was soon tired enough to "swing" in. This involved almost pointing the rod at the fish whilst gaining as much line as possible, then in one move lift and swing the fish in. Brilliant! Another fine wild brownie about 3/4 of a lb.

A lovely Water of Leith brown trout.

Lovely markings with vivid red spots.

He was soon returned and swam off fit and healthy to lurk behind his cooker again. Mission accomplished and frustration washed away by the trout I headed back home. Cant wait for the sea to calm enough to fish but while I wait its fantastic to get sport right in the middle of Edinburgh.

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Scorpion Hunt.

Saturday, and whilst Scott had headed up north this weekend I was joined by a friend from down south. Jamie and I have had many adventures in pursuit of big carp but he has never tried the joys of LRF. After I had shown him the gear and a few pics of what we had been up to whilst out doing LRF, he was dead set on catching a Long Spined Sea Scorpion and of course being a gracious host I was only too happy to oblige and guide him for the day.

We headed down the coast to our Blenny hot spot with the idea of a bit of Bass fishing as well. When we got to the mark the sea was very rough indeed and was in no state to fish our usual reef for the Bass. Oh well, undistracted by silver we turned our attention to the blennys!

I rigged up with a 2.2g Crazyg HD jig head and an ever reliable Gulp! 1" Fish Fry. We began to fish some pools that were just beginning to flood with the tide. The technique is very simple; just a simple vertical jigging motion allowing the jig head to tap on the rock floor of the pool a few times, then pause for a couple of seconds and repeat till a Blenny attacks.

We found some likely looking boulders and jigged right up against them, bouncing the lure in front of the gap beneath the boulder. A couple of seconds later a blenny shot out, grabbed the lure and was promptly landed. Next it was Jamie's turn and a few seconds later he winkled out his first Blenny!

Jamie's first Blenny.

We continued catching more Blennys and then decided to go after some Scorpions, so we headed across the rocks to the shallows where the tide was flooding. We started fishing, again targeting large boulders, bouncing the lure in front of cracks and hiding holes. Jamie was first in when a small dark scorpion popped out of his lair and nailed the lure.

Giiiiizmo.

He was over the moon. "They look like gremlins!" he pronounced in his reet Yorkshire drawl. He's not wrong!

My turn next and targeting the same boulder I had a jig to see if there was anyone else at home. Indeed there was! Within seconds a plump Long Spined Sea Scorpion pounced on the lure. This one was rather pretty, with coral pink markings along his flanks. These proved to be exceptionally good camouflage as the pictures show.

In the water.

Ridiculously well camouflaged out of water too!

We had time to catch a couple more before the weather worsened and we called it a day. It was great to find where the Scorpions were on the reef as it has an amazing population of Blennies. It may hold some other species too and I hope to find out soon exactly which ones.

Tight Lines, Schogsky.

Ye olde street fishing.

Scott and I had a few hours to spare on Tuesday afternoon so we grabbed the opportunity and our rods and headed off to fish the Water of Leith. We had received some interesting new jig heads from the far east called "Crazyg Wave HD" made by Ocean Ruler and we were keen to see how they performed. We were joined by Scott's mate Naz who is also a keen angler and has spent a lot of time fishing in and around Edinburgh. We started off in Leith but the flood prevention works had turned the water into mud so we elected to head up stream and began fishing again at Stockbridge and worked our way further up a really beautiful stretch of the river with many nice pools and fast flowing runs ending up on the section of the river that runs through the idyllic Dean Village.

Dean Village. A little hamlet tucked away in the middle of town.

I rigged up with a red Gulp 1" fish Fry on a 1.4g Crazyg Wave HD jig head and we began exploring the pools. As they are designed to, we noticed that the jig heads gave the lures a little more "wiggle " than conventional jig heads, especially in a current. We fished up the river hopping from pool to pool and it wasn't long before I was into a fish. I was working the lure across current with little twitches and just as it began to swing around a trout seized the lure. He gave a surprisingly good account for himself in the strong flow but was soon brought to hand. This brown trout had a slightly deformed mouth but never the less apart from the usual wear and tear on it's fins an otherwise very healthy looking fish.

Our first stockie from the Water of Leith.

Bit of a David Coulthard look about him.

I slipped him back and he swam off upstream in a huff! Naz led us upstream to a large weir which looked very nice indeed. 

Simply stunning and right in the heart of Edinburgh.

An absolute pleasure fishing here.

Naz has had some good fish from this weir pool in the past and we were keen to try it! We couldn't access much of it due to the high water level so after 15 Minutes of trying we headed up stream. Seeing the water hammering down the weir got us talking about whether sea trout could scale it. We were still discussing this as we were crossing a bridge overlooking the pool above the weir. The pool looked so inviting we had to have a shot. We were high up above the water but we are used to fishing from heights due to our harbour fishing experiences. I stuck with my lure choice and Scott rigged up with a red 2" Ecogear Strawtail on an AGM 2g #6 finesse jig head combo. I fished up stream and Scott took the down stream stretch. My lure had barely touched the water when I heard Naz say "Brownie!". Scott was in! Then off! A big brown trout had grabbed the lure but thrown the hook in a flash of gold. Scott cast again and began working the lure very slowly up stream whilst constantly twitching the lure.The great thing about being so high above the river was that we could see the lure working. We could also see a flash of silver followed by Scott's rod hooping over. Fish on and question answered as another Water of Leith sea trout fell to Scott's rod!

Amazing, Scott's second sea trout in as many weeks!

Scott and myself had both caught and it was Naz who was in next. Although not really the intended species as he wrestled a pair of chest waders up the bridge!

Heaviest catch of the day.

They were a bit damaged, possibly from ascending the weir on their way to spawn, but otherwise in quite good condition. That was the last action for the day but a successful little recce further up river and it's somewhere we must visit again soon.

Tight Lines, Schogsky.

Sunshine on Leith

Time is at a premium for me at the moment, so in a brief lull between work and more work I found myself with half an hour to spare. Luckily I had my LRF kit in the van so I headed to the Water of Leith. Yesterday while Scott broke his brown trout duck I didn't even manage a bite. I was a bit disappointed as even though I only fished for an hour conditions looked perfect. Today I was determined to winkle out another fish.

I only had time to fish one pool so headed to the spot that was fishing well for Scott the day before. I decided to rig up with a 2.3g #8 Shirasu Fine jighead and a Gulp! 1" Fish Fry in red. This particular pool can't really be approached from downstream so keeping low I crept into position at the head of the pool. I began by casting across stream and slowly reeling whilst twitching the lure across the current. After a couple of casts I moved down stream a yard and repeated the same pattern. On the fifth cast I saw a flash of gold in the sunlight and the tip of the rod hooped over. Fish on! I quickly landed another fine Brown trout and feeling immensely satisfied I released her back into the pool.

Dappled in sunlight with gunmetal hues. Marvelous!

Another beautiful Water of Leith brown trout falls to a lure.

I sat back and took in the sun dappled water and watched a kingfisher fly past before returning back to the van. A perfect 20 minutes. As I headed back I started to whistle this tune...

Who would of thought we could find such peaceful, natural fishing in the centre of Edinburgh? 

Thanks Water of Leith, I'm sorry I doubted you!

Tight Lines, Schogsky.

East Lothian Easter Monday meet up.

Jake and I headed down to Torness Power Station outflow yesterday. Jake's friend Paul joined us and we were meeting up with Paul's mate Richie down there and also three fellow The Lure Forum members, Martin who had travelled across country from Ayrshire and Richie and Jase who had come up all the way from Sunderland.

Richie and Jase were first to arrive on the rocks and when we arrived they reported that fishing had been very slow. So much so that they had done a spot of rockpooling and not for fish!

Whilst waiting for the bass to turn up the David Attenborough came out in Jase and Richie took this nice photo of a sea urchin, uncovered by the spring tide.

I had a quick crack at the bass and setup with an 8g bombarda and a Kiddy Sidewinder Brill Bait. Meanwhile Jake did a spot of LRF in a kelp filled gully connected to the sea. It wasn't long before he was into a fish.

Jake manages to catch something other than a blenny or bass at Torness Power Station outflow. Lovely brown, orange and yellow colouration on this long spined sea scorpion.

Isn't he cute?

The bass were clearly not around and whilst the rest of the group carried on in the hope they would arrive I disappeared with "The Beast Tamer" in search of a blenny that would steal Jake's Scottish Record crown.

There is a rod in my hand honest!

I spotted a couple of large specimens in one fairly small rockpool and after a bit of vertical jigging one grabbed the Gulp! 1" Fish Fry and was quickly plucked from his salty residence!

"The Beast Tamer" strikes again.

Jake just happened to be on the move at this point, so I called him over so I could weigh my specimen blenny on his electronic mini species scales. Luckily for Jake whilst mine was slightly longer than his record breaker, mines wasn't quite as plump so his title was still safe, for the time being!

At 18.5cm this is a lunker as far as blennies go!

Are you lookin' at me?

I carried on in search of the prize winning fish but couldn't locate one anywhere near the proportions required. I caught 20 in the process. This also gave me the opportunity to test my new Nories rod and whilst I could feel the tiny bites I prefer the extra sensitivity my Diaflash offers for this style of close range vertical jigging. Some of the smaller blennies were particularly aggressive.

This one had a bit of an attitude. Vicious little bugger!

At this point I headed back down to see if any bass were in and at long range some activity could be seen with some surface disturbance and a couple of seals patrolling in the distance we hoped that the shoal would be moving within casting range soon.

Martin retrieves his lure. Note the beautiful Scottish weather.

Martin was first into a fish. Taken at long range this would signal the start of some further action for the others.

Martin lands the first bass of the day.

Richie's rod bends into a bass.

Richie took this bass on a Yokozuna Flamingo deep diving plug.

Richie's latest hard lure does the business.

The classic white eel and controller float setup took a few bass.

I got into the action too. After trying a few small hard lures I switched to a soft one. A few casts into the outflow and using a steady retrieve with a few little jerks it wasn't too long before I hooked a schoolie.

Savage Gear Sandeel Slug on a 6g 2/0 jighead was nailed by this bass.

Only a puppy but lovely all the same.

Again the Nories coped easily. I'm starting to realise that the real quality in this rod is in the way it handles fish once hooked. It really is a joy the way it absorbs the headshakes and feels so smooth during the fight, although like Jake's Graphiteleader Corto EX, we'd still like to test them on something a bit bigger that will fight dirty! With this in mind myself, Jake, Paul and Richie decided it was time to head down to the cliffs at Eyemouth to target Pollock and Coalfish. Richie fishes the area quite frequently and has had pollock to 8.5lb so we were hoping to give our light gear a real workout.

Quick group shot before some of us headed down to Eyemouth.

The first mark we fished is known locally as "The Cannons" this is because it is directly below two large cannons that are on top of the cliff.

Two large cannons facing seawards give the mark below it's name.

After a following the narrow winding path round the side of the cliff, passing under an overhang and hopping over some rocks we arrived on a large flat platform.

"The Cannons". Nice deep water with lots of kelp. Perfect for pollock and wrasse.

The view to the north west towards St Abbs Head.

We tried a variety of lures and worked our way around the area, Jake even tried a spot of LRF down the edges and in some shallower water with some light jigheads and Power Isome but sadly none of us caught anything. We decided to try at another mark and made the climb back up to the cliff top.

The path required to access the mark is narrow and dangerous and not for the faint hearted. Richie and Paul lead the way.

I hold up this huge boulder so Jake can make his escape!

Don't look down!

Once on the cliff top again we made our way round towards the next peninsula, a much more rocky affair, the tip of which is cut off as the tide floods and is known locally as "Hairy Ness".

"The Cannons" from a distance.

We began our descent to the mark. Just as dangerous as the last but for completely different reasons. Instead of being faced with the risk of falling a great distance should we lose our footing we had to do a fair bit of scrambling over rocks to reach the mark with the prospect of hard, jaggy landing should we slip. Again not for the faint hearted. Taking time and care was the order of the day. Not a mark to try and access in bad weather or when a swell is running.

The climb down the the second mark. "Hairy Ness" is the furthest point.

"Hairy Ness" cut off by the tide.

We only fished here for about 30 minutes but unfortunately we drew a blank again. A real shame as it looked just as promising as the first mark. Richie was understandably disappointed too as he regularly catches pollock and coalfish from both marks. We'll certainly be returning to these marks in the months to come.

All in all a great day was had by everyone and it was good to meet up with friends and make a few new ones.

Tight lines, Hutch.