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

A brownback beats the blues

As The weekend rolled up I had made plans with Ritchie to head down to his yard at Eyemouth and try some of the nearby rock marks. We knew it was still quite early to be hitting the mark but with a good spring tide and the ebb coinciding with evening it gave us our best chance of some winter fish.

With cod, pollock and coalfish the target I decided to take my HRF gear and my LRF gear.

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 7'10" 0.5-8gram Tubular tipped.

Reel :Shimano Technium 3000

Line :Pontoon Exteer braid PE. 1

Leader :6lb Greylon Fluorocarbon

Tactics wise I decided to go with a drop shot set up on my heavier gear which is something I rarely do as I tend to go with a jighead/soft lure approach for most of my pollocking. I had been really impressed with the wriggly nature of the ZMan finnesse Shadz, which look really good on a dropshot rig and as I had them in a classic cod colour (white) I was pretty confident no self respecting codling could resist!

I picked Ritchie up and we made our way down the rocks to the lovingly called "Dollop" which has been the home of some memorable big pollock catches in the past. While relatively easy to get to it does involve a climb up and over some large pinnacles of rock. Whilst I lumbered over them clad in my breathable waders a flailing buttock caught on a chunk of rock. I decided that brute force was the way out of this minor predicament and strode free from the snaggy chunk to be rewarded with a sad little "scroinch" noise. Hey presto I had made my waders considerably more breathable with a handy six inch tear at the said buttock area.

Cursing my foolish approach and newly installed bum flap I made my way down to find Ritchie, with his trousers in tact busting out some LRF moves.

We were fishing a deep kelp fringed channel between two wee islands and had planned to move onto one of the islands when the tide dropped enough for us to do so. I began to fish the shoreside entrance to the channel casting into it and working the lure back along the kelp fringes. My retrieve was very slow with lots of pauses allowing the lure to act weightless , tiny twitches and shakes of the rod make it wriggle and writhe.

After about 10 Minutes Ritchie had caught a wee coalie on a 2.5g jighead and Tict Lizard tail. I continued to avoid the temptation to break out the LRF gear and concentrated on working the channel in the hope of a bigger fish.

After about 45 minutes I managed to snag up and lost my end tackle, not really a problem as this is par for the course on this mark. I quickly tied up another dropshot rig using the rather clever Savage Gear Inline dropshot hooks ,16lb Fluorocarbon leader and 14gram dropshot weight. While rummaging through my tackle bag I stumbled across an unopened packet of XL Isome in peach colour. I thought I would rig one up as they were the closest to hand  and recast along side the seaward edge of the gulley.

As I slowly worked the lure back I felt a tap followed by a sensation of weightlessness, I dropped the rod tip momentarily before striking into the fish. The fish instantly swam towards me and I had to reel like crazy to catch up with it, then as I applied some power it made a crash dive towards a ledge of rock. It was pretty obvious to me from the fight that it was a pollock and it was soon confirmed as the fish wallowed on the surface allowing me to land it with the help of a wave. Although not a monster it was a decent size around 2.5 - 3lb and one of the earliest pollock we had caught from this mark.

An early pollock for this mark, could the winter be over?

The first pollock of 2014 fell to dropshotted XL Isome

After a couple of pictures we released the fish and got on with searching the gulley again. By now the tide had dropped enough to allow Ritchie to scarmble on to the Dollop itself. I rigged up another Z-Man Finnesse Shadz and continued to work the channel.

Not long after Ritchie gave a shout and I watched him play and land a nice size coalie , quickly following it up with another couple of fish. I didn't need any more encouragement and made my way over to the dollop whereupon I lost yet another dropshot rig.

Ritchie shows off a fat coalie from a distance.

 I decided to change over to my LRF gear as it was already set up , all be it with a grayling rig! This consisted of a 6ft leader with a single dropper I rigged a 5g Xesta After Burner on the "point" and kept the size14 pink shrimp fly on the dropper.

The mini metal punched through the freshening breeze allowing me to get good distance on the cast. When the lure touches down I allow it to sink  before jigging it back with a slow retrieve. It only took a few casts before I was hit at range by what felt like a good fish. It felt heavy but fought very strangely it was easy enough to play it back to me but it kept getting lighter and heavier and felt altogether weird. As the fish came into view it quickly became apparent as to why it felt so weird, it was a double shot of decent coalies, with the bigger fish having taken the tiniest fly, typical.

Double shot on my jig/fly rig,the larger fish having taken the smallest fly.

I grabbed a couple of shots and released the fish but with the light fading fast this was to be my last fish of the session.

All in all we were really pleased to be getting in amongst the fish at this time of year as it can be so hit and miss and it was unusual to get the pollock so early in the year on this mark.I hope the pattern continues and the pollock are back in residence as its been a tough old winter without them!

Tight Lines

Jake

Ritchie's Fishio Therapy

After my bout of perch fever I decided it was time to hit the coast again and in doing so also call in on my mate Ritchie Bewsey. Ritchie recently broke his foot and had been stuck in his house for a month without any fishing. As our summer is so short it has been maddening for him to be unable to fish during peak season so it was only right for me to pick him up and head out to some easy access harbour fishing. LRF was called for and I picked him up then dropped him close to the harbour mouth and while he set off on his crutches I went and parked the car and got my gear together. By the time I got back to Ritchie he had already caught a few small coalies and I quickly joined in the fun! I had a few on a dropshot rig then decided to try some new vertical jigging spoons I had got a hold of. The spoons are designed for vertical jigging under ice and they were deadly, with coalfish flinging themselves at them. The spoons are weighted towards the hook and get down quickly with a nice flutter as they're jigged back up.

I was surprised at how savagely the coalies attacked the jigging spoon.

I found it easy to keep it close to the bottom and after a stream of coalies I saw a flounder chasing along the bottom to intercept it. I kept the lure fluttering close to the sea bed and the flounder drew ever nearer. However, a small fish darted out of the kelp and nailed the spoon before the flattie could get near enough. This was quickly hoisted out to my hands and it turned out to be possibly the smallest codling I have ever caught! The codling although tiny was a new species for 2013 and was very cute and brightly coloured so that put a big grin on my face.

My first codling of 2013, tiny but very welcome.

Ritchie meanwhile had been working a jighead/Isome combo, bouncing it across the sandy patches and he managed to hook and land a nice sized flounder. Inspired by Ritchie's success I wasted no time in rigging up a dropshot rig again with some Gulp! Sandworm and I too began to cast out and work it back over the sandy patches. My technique is simple, cast then allow the weight to hit the seabed, then I retrieve very slowly while constantly giving the rod little jerks. Results were instant and I felt a couple of plucks at the lure before a nice chunky flounder grabbed hold. Flounders always put a nice bend in my LRF rod especially as you have to get them up off the bottom, they also invariably take a couple of dives when they hit the surface as well and provide a lot of fun on my light gear.

Ritchie was first in to the flounders.

I bagged one soon after.

I landed the fish and took a couple of pics before releasing it, quickly recasting to my flounder gully. I was staring down into the water as I retrieved when I noticed the unmistakable chubby shape of a wrasse lurking in the kelp. I quickly retrieved the rig shouting over to Ritchie to tell him the wrasse were here and dropped the rig right under the rod tip in front of the fish. Keeping the lead hard on the bottom a few tiny twitches of the rod caused the lure to wriggle about and this drew the wrasse out of his kelpy lair. I watched the fish come out to investigate, it circled the lure and gave a couple of sharp plucks at the red Isome before grabbing it and turning back to the weed. I struck then had to raise the rod above my head to stop the fish from getting into the kelp. It didn't take long to get it into the dropnet after its initial dive and soon it was on the mat getting its photo taken. I was really chuffed as I love catching wrasse on lures and to see it all happen was a real treat. I quickly released the fish and dropped my Isome back down in the same area.

The first wrasse of the session and my first from St Abbs this year.

Ritchie had joined me and as we worked our lures along the edges of the kelp we could see a couple of nice wrasse weaving in and out of the weed. While we were watching the wrasse we saw a huge wrasse come out of the kelp to investigate our lures, before turning away. The fish must have been around the 4lb mark and the sighting caused us to double our efforts. Ritchie was next in when a wrasse grabbed his lure on the drop. The fish was quickly landed and Ritchie was soon proudly displaying his first ballan wrasse of 2013, the perfect tonic for his broken foot!

Ritchie followed suit and landed his first wrasse of 2013.

We released the fish and I swapped lures to a natural coloured Gulp! Sandworm. This soon did the job as I felt the electric pecks on the lure of a wrasse before I struck into a much better fish. This did its best to get back into the kelp but I quickly bullied it up and soon was holding another fine wrasse.

The next wrasse was much beefier.

He got purdy lips.

It went quiet for a while and we turned our attention back to the flatties with both of us bagging a few more as well as a stream of scorpions, coalies and codling. I was concentrating on the wrasse again when Ritchie gave a shout and I looked over to see his rod absolutely buckled into a fish. The fish stayed deep and it started stripping line. Ritchie Couldn't get it up off the bottom at all and when the fish decided to head out to sea, ripping line off the drag in powerful bursts there was nothing Ritchie could do to stop the hook pulling. We weren't sure if it was the big wrasse we had seen earlier as it didn't behave how we would have expected, choosing to fight close to the bottom in open water instead of bolting for the kelp.

Scorpions abound at St Abbs.

A new "personal worst " this has to be the smallest codling I have ever caught.

No wonder I'm grinning this coalie nearly took the rod out of my hand such was the ferocity of its take.

One of the many fat flounders that were caught

Another wrasse falls for the Gulp sandworm!

Little red rock piglet!

We were disappointed but it both spurred us on again to see if we could get some more wrasse. Ritchie did indeed manage another small wrasse as did I and my last fish turned out to be the fattest of the day and gave me a nice scrap on my light gear.

Brilliant, this chunky wrasse was the last wrasse of the session.

Ritchie also bagged this pretty pollock.

Ritchie displays another sea scorpion.

We had to go after four hours fishing as Ritchie's leg was starting to play up a bit and the tide was getting pretty low. On the way back we talked of the one that got away and we could not decide if it was the beast of a wrasse or some other denizen of the deep. There was only one way to find out, we would have to come back and try to hook it again!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Back home, back to business!

After the Cornish Lure Festival I had a couple of days of no fishing before I had to get out again! My youngest son Isaac had been asking to go fishing so we headed off to the Water of Leith to try and find some minnows for his fish tank. I rigged up a #16 hook to nylon, 1g split shot and rigged up a small section of pink Isome. We messed about for half an hour and soon we had three fat minnows swimming around in his jam jar. These were quickly taken home and put into Isaac's fish tank where they are now doing very well indeed. It was a lovely way to spend an hour but it didn't quite cure my fishing desire!

An Isome caught Water of Leith minnow.

That's ma boy!

I completed my fatherly duties for the afternoon and I had a couple of hours before the kids bedtime, just enough time to fish the high tide at Corkwing corner. It didn't take long to get down to the mark and I quickly rigged up my LRF gear with a dropshot rig, #8 offset worm hook tied via a palomar knot and a 7g dropshot weight clipped on a foot from the hook. This was rigged with a small section of bloody Gulp! Sandworm and dropped straight down beneath my feet. I started to twitch and shake the lure and very soon I could see some fish swimming over the white rock below me. As I watched I could see some pretty big pollock cruising around as well as some smaller fish that I hoped were wrasse. I kept gently twitching the lure and noticed the silhouette of a fish approach the lure. It made a couple of electric pecks at the lure alerting me to the fact it was a wrasse, before it grabbed it and tried to get into the kelp beds. I struck and quickly manged to steer it away from them and as it rose up through the clear water my heart skipped a beat, if it was a corkwing it was huge! I quickly swung the fish up and it quickly became apparent that it was a small ballan, not the target species but a lovely fish none the less.

Not the corkwing I was after but a great fish none the less.

I quickly took a photo, unhooked it and released the fish before rigging another section of Gulp! and dropping it back down again. As the rig dropped down through the clear water a big pollock came up and intercepted my dropshot lead, grabbing it with a sharp tug before spitting it out! My heart was in my mouth and it came back for a second go at the gulp before turning lazily away. To be honest I was slightly relieved as it was a good size and due to my high vantage point it would have been a real pain to land. I carried on dropshotting my corkwing hotspot but I could see there were another couple of big pollock patrolling the area. I thought there wouldn't be much chance of the little corkwings being about as they would probably be keeping a low profile with the big pollock on the feed. I quickly rigged up a Lunker City Swimmin Ribster on a #2/0 10g football jighead, cast out and began to work the lure back with a jigged retrieve. Pretty much straight away a pollock rose up and grabbed the lure, but when I struck I pulled the lure right out of its mouth! I should have waited till I felt the fish but I got over excited. I tried again and it made a couple of half hearted attempts but I couldn't persuade it to take a second time. I decided to spend the last half hour looking for mackerel so I rigged up a 12g Savage Gear Fat Pencil Prey and began casting out and working it back towards me using a sink and draw retrieve. It didn't take long to hit and soon there was a nice big mackerel charging about on the end of my line.

First mackerel this year!

This was to be eaten for tea so it was promptly dispatched and I carried on fishing. I managed to hook and lose another before I hooked a half decent coalie. This was landed and returned and then it was time to head back.

It was a fun couple of hours but slightly disappointing to find the mark populated with big pollock, the ballan wrasse was a nice find though and I hope to get back soon to see if those big corkwings have returned!

The next day I had some time in the morning so I popped down the coast hoping for a crack at the bass. I was at the mark by 08:30 and for once I had it to myself, the conditions looked good with a slight swell running and a slowly flooding tide. I rigged up a Lunker City Ribster in Arkansas Shiner on a #2/0 10g jighead and began working the lure in the channel. Things were very slow for the first hour and it was hard to work the lure back without it picking up loads of suspended weed. As the tide began to flood stronger the weed began to clear and I was soon into a small bass which took the lure very close in. A brief fight and it was quickly landed, photographed and released and I quickly followed it up with another around the 40cm mark.

First bass of the session fell to a Lunker City Ribster...

...as did the second!

The fishing went quiet again for another hour and I swapped rods to my shimano Yasei dropshot rod as I was keen to experiment with it to see how sensitive it was. While my savage gear dropshot is definitely more sensitive I could still feel the lure working as I bounced it back along the sea bed. I was then joined by another angler who on his first cast manged to hook my lure, both of us got annoyed and we argued over whose fault it was. After a while we resolved our differences and had a chat about the fishing, John said he had found one of my lost Slug-Gos complete with jighead, he had tried using it but hadn't had any joy so he gave it back to me which was a nice gesture. I rigged it up and cast it out while saying to john that my biggest bass had fallen to a Slug-Go here. I then got a tip wrap and had to put the rod down while I released the line from the tip ring and when it was freed I picked up the rod and a bass grabbed the lure. This accidental dead sticking of the lure had done the business and a nice bass of 45cm was landed after a good fight. This fish was taken for the table and with that I called it a day and said cheerio to John and headed back to town.

A long lost reclaimed Slug-Go worked its magic on this 45cm bass.

The fishing may have been quite slow to start with but it was great to get some bass again, I just wish they had made an appearance during the Cornish Lure Festival!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

St Abbs : Before and after the storm.

Over the past two weeks I have been down to St Abbs a couple of times to meet up with our friend Ritchie. We have been meeting up and fishing around the harbour in the hope of wrasse but also enjoying some good flounder fishing too. On the first session I arrived before Ritchie and tackled up my LRF kit with dropshot rig, comprising of a #8 offset worm hook, 6lb flurocarbon leader and 7g dropshot lead. I rigged it with a section of red Gulp! Sandworm and began casting around the harbour mouth. There were large shoals of coalfish milling around and it took no time at all before they were eagerly attacking the lure. I enjoyed myself catching the little blighters and had racked up a fair few before a much heavier fish attacked the lure. This turned out to be a good sized flounder which did its best to try to dive into the weed before I had it on the surface. It weighed well over a pound and I didn't want to swing it up the wall with the rod as it was too heavy for it. I elected to handline it up but rather annoyingly it gave a head shake when halfway up and came off. Ritchie arrived soon after and we tried working our lures through the kelp and over sandy patches, but after a couple of hours of ceaseless coalies we decided to move further into the harbour.

The ever obliging coalfish were present in numbers!

The fishing was very slow inside the harbour but it was Ritchie who eventually got a follow off a good flattie. We were both quite excited by the sighting and we began to work the surrounding area using 2g #8 jigheads with a medium red Power Isome on mine and Ritchie was using a natural coloured Gulp! Sandworm. A couple of casts later I felt some taps at the Isome followed by the familiar feeling of a flounder seizing the lure and heading for the sand. I raised the rod and kept it from off the bottom and had to reel fast as it sped towards me and after a couple of attempts to dive into the weed I managed to land another nice flounder. It was quickly unhooked and I manged to get one picture before my camera decided it didn't have enough power! 

Another fine St Abbs flounder and another fat one!

After releasing the fish we made our way over to the back wall to try for wrasse. I went back to my red Isome on a dropshot rig and Ritchie stuck with the jighead/Sandworm combo. It only took a couple of minutes of fishing before we were both into fish, this time it was a double hook up of pollock! Both quickly landed, photographed and returned. We fished on but the wrasse were not about and soon I had to head back to Edinburgh, although Ritchie did manage to get a couple more flounder after I left.

I love the colouration of this pollock!

A week later I went back down to St Abbs to meet Richie and fish the bay north of the harbour. As we got to the shoreline it quickly became apparent that the big storm that blew up had really devastated all the kelp with big piles of it strewn about the beach. The sea was pretty cloudy and grey too and a really gusty offshore wind made fishing light very hard. We worked our way around the bay trying various methods but there was no sign of wrasse and hardly any kelp left to fish in for them. Ritchie as always was pretty quickly into a nice chunky coalie which must have been pushing 1.5lbs It put a good bend in his Troutizmo rod and a smile on his face. That turned out to be the only fish for the next hour so I decided to go long and broke out my 9'6 15-42g Major Craft Crostage rod with a 30g Nordic Herring type mini pirk. With the wind gusting behind me casting far was not a problem and I was enjoying hitting casts of 80 to 100 meters. This turned out to be where the mackerel were shoaling and we were soon enjoying catching them! I took 4 for dinner and swapped over to a Lunker City Ribster mounted on a 10.5g jighead in order to try for pollock. This however only yielded a few more mackerel and then the fishing slowed completely. As we had spent four hours at the bay we then decided to fish the last couple of hours at the harbour, hoping to find some flounder. Again the water was cloudy and the fishing very slow, I manged one nice flounder within about twenty minutes of fishing, on a dropshotted red Gulp! Sandworm but that was to be my lot for the day.

It took a while, but in the end this flounder fell for drop shotted Gulp! Sandworm.

Ritchie also managed to winkle one out but it took a good hour and a half and they just didn't seem to be around in the same numbers. All in all they were a fun couple of sessions with some good sized flounder caught and released and dinner in the form of mackerel thrown in for good measure! I know the flounder will move out of the harbours for winter, but I hope they leave it late as I will miss them when they've gone.

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.