Edinburgh : Street Piking

On Monday Scott and I found ourselves in the vicinity of the Union Canal due to a job we were doing. With the work over by 11.00 and having had the foresight to bring our tackle, we headed to the canal for a short session. I went with my LRF kit, my 7'9" Graphiteleader Corto Ex rod, Shimano Technium 3000SFC reel spooled with Sunline Super PE 0.6 braid and Scott went with a heavier setup of his 9' Daiwa Powermesh X-Spin rod, Daiwa Exceler X-3000 reel spooled with 20lb Power Pro braid.

When we got to the canal we were surprised to see the water was crystal clear! This is very unusual as the canal is normally a pretty murky place and is constantly stirred up by the barges that travel along it. The clear water and bright sunshine meant we could see all the features we normally fish over such as tangles of mountain bikes, traffic cones, shopping trolleys and the odd lamp post!

We both went with the same lure, a Savage Gear 9.5cm Soft 4Play in Dirty Roach, but with 2 different approaches. Scott rigged his with an AGM 7g #2/0 Ultra Ball jighead and I rigged mine weightless on the Savage Gear "ready to fish " single treble hook rig. We began working our lures along the canal and it was great to see them working in the clear water. The lures are so life like that small roach were following the lure about trying to shoal up with it! It wasn't long before Scott spotted a Jack lazily following his lure across the canal. It stopped following and hung motionless in the middle of the canal, Scott made another cast bringing the lure right past it with a slow twitched retrieve but the pike just turned and looked at it before swimming slowly back to the reeds. Frustrating but exiting to be able to see the pikes reactions to the lure! A few minutes later, while searching the far bank with my lure a jack suddenly fired out from the reeds and seized the lure. He shook his head and instantly spat the lure out then went and sulked in the weeds. I consoled myself with the fact that at least this pike had played ball and continued to fish on.

As we both worked our way down the canal we kept getting follows from pike but they were very lethargic and the bright clear conditions were not helping even though it made it pleasant to fish in! 12 pike follows later and half a mile down the canal a young guy approached me saying he could see a wee jack sitting in a reed bed. He showed me where it was and left me to get on with it. The jack was very small, so I rigged up Berkley gulp 1" minnow on a Ecogear 2.3g #8 Shirasu Fine jighead. I cast over him and brought the lure past him with a twitchy slow retrieve. In a flash he seized it, I set the hook and he tried to dive back into the weed bed but being tiny I just reeled him in! Unfortunately the little pike had other ideas and just as I was about to lift him out launched into a little tail walk and threw the hooks!

Meanwhile Scott had been experimenting with some other lures and had manged to get a couple of jacks to attack but with the same results as me, no hook ups. I decided to stick with the micro lures and see if the small perch we had passed were interested. Scott pointed out yet another tiny jack lurking right in close to the reeds. Needing no encouragement I jigged the little lure in front of his face and he totally nailed it! I quickly lifted him out of the water and held possibly the smallest pike I have ever caught!

This micro pike is my new personal worst!

Oh well at least the blank was off! A few minutes later a wee perch fell for the minnow, my first ever perch from the Union Canal! Brilliant! I have a real soft spot for perch no matter how small.

My first Union Canal perch, perfection in miniature.

Another ten minutes later I had another slightly larger jack on the Gulp! 1" Minnow who gave a spirited little fight on my light gear before he was unhooked, photographed and released.

This jack couldn't resist a Berkley Gulp! 1" Minnow!

As we approached our starting point I changed lures and went back to the soft 4 play to try and tempt the first fish I saw again. I had just cast my lure beneath an over hanging tree on the far bank and given a couple of twitches when an unseen pike shot out at speed and grabbed the lure! This time he was well hooked and tore off heading for the reeds. It was a better fish and put a nice bend in my rod. The reel played its part too, with the smooth drag giving line as he darted for cover. After a couple of runs and some impressive tail walking he was soon landed, photographed and returned.

This pike though small put up a great fight on the LRF gear.

It was a bigger pike about 2.5lb which was enormous fun on my light gear! The pike had torn the Soft 4Play off its mount and it was no where to be seen, so I reached into my back pocket for my little lure box. It wasn't there! I checked my other pockets with that horrible cold realisation that my little treasure trove was no longer in my possession! I quickly ran back along the canal to where I remembered last having it but sadly I couldn't find it. In all likelihood someone had found it and taken it! It was a blow to lose some of my lures and I had a few that I'd owned for years in the box. I doubt whoever found it would appreciate what they had.

Oh well It was still an enjoyable few hours and although someone had made off with some of my lures and Scott had blanked it was still good to experience the clear water action of the canal. It beats working all day that's for sure!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Loch Lubnaig : Char quest continues!

Jake and I had a job to finish yesterday that gave us the opportunity to visit Loch Lubnaig again. Jake's not the type to ever admit defeat and he has a score to settle with the resident arctic char population who have been tormenting him recently.

We arrived and headed straight to the spot where I caught two of them last time we fished it. Same tactics were employed, ultra light gear and pink Jackson Cymos which the fish  in the loch love. After a while with no action at all we decided to head up the loch towards a weedy spot where Jake caught a few perch last time with the intention of return to the starting point later. We reached the area and started working the lures through the weed beds. I quickly became annoyed having to pull the lure through the weed and weed off the lure so I switched to a weedless Decoy Violence jighead and a 2.5" Lunker City Fin-S shad in Watermelon Candy Shad.

Still no action so we decided to head a bit further along the bank to a spot we've never tried before. The water was a bit deeper here and immediately in front of us to bottom was a fairly clean boulder field but a bit further out was a large weed bed. We started working along this and as Jake was retrieving his lure it was hit very close in by a perch, just in front of him. His drag was set lightly so the little perch started stripping line much to our amusement. He was enjoying this little scrap and I jokingly told him to tightened up before it spooled him! After a quick photo it was returned to grow bigger.

This cheeky perch gave Jake an epic battle.

 
Jake then caught another two in quick succession. Again both of them taking the lure very close in, probably following it in from the weeds before striking.

Another stripey fish falls to the pink Jackson Cymo.

Jake makes it a hat trick of perch.

Meanwhile I was not getting any attention on my Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner on a 3.5g #4 AGM Finesse jighead so I decided to start heading back to where we started to try for trout and arctic char whilst Jake happily continued targeting perch.

I got back to where we started and carried on with the soft plastics retrieving them very slowly with a few pauses and twitches. After quite a while I was beginning to think I was going to blank when I felt a little jolt and hooked a small perch quite close in just beyond the drop off. This was my first perch from Loch Lubnaig so I was quite pleased.

My first Loch Lubnaig perch! Due to the absence of pike the loch holds some huge perch, or so we've been told.

At this point Jake came back around to rejoin me and asked what I had caught. I told him it was a char..., pausing briefly to wind him up before adding, ...ming little perch. Luckily he saw the funny side.

Then as we we were fishing we heard a low pitched drone. Over the horizon came a bomber. Flying very low it flew over our heads before heading up the loch and north up the glen. Obviously on a radar avoidance training exercise. An awesome sight indeed!

The bomber approaches.

With Jake's focus now switched back to targeting arctic char, he waded out a bit and began working along the bank. This time in the opposite direction down the loch. I headed past him, and very quietly past the group of relaxing highland cow bulls that live in the field next to the loch, to some rocks a bit further along next to the road.

Highland cow bulls including a jet black one. Just looks weird!

I climbed up onto them to survey the area. It looked it may hold a few perch. Fairly deep and a few weeds but instead of large beds they were a bit more spaced out, perfect I thought! I started working my lure through the gaps very slowly. Moving along the rocks exploring the gaps in the weeds. Again as the lure was close in I hooked a perch. It was very small, yet had managed to get most of the lure into it's greedy little mouth! It took me a bit longer to unhook it so I put it straight back without taking a photo. A few cast later I caught another, slightly bigger perch.

With no pink vibe lures wizzing by to distract them, the perch were loving the Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner.

Lovely fins.Some odd scars on it though. Perhaps from a monster Lubnaig perch!

Meanwhile Jake had also caught another two perch, a small brown trout and had also hooked another two brown trout that had thrown the hooks but alas the arctic char were not playing ball again.

Another nice perch for Jake.

Tell your cousins that Jake will be back for them!

Looks like another, perhaps longer visit will be on the cards soon. I know what Jake will be targeting, I on the other hand may take some "heavier" lure gear and throw some larger soft plastics to try and tempt out a bigger perch!

Tight lines, Hutch.

Slugging it out!

With Scott away on a west of Scotland fishing trip I hooked up with our friend Naz and popped down to our favourite bass mark in East Lothian. It was only to be a very quick session as 2 hours was all I had but I was determined to make the most of it. As is becoming the norm, the weather was horrible, the seemingly never ending spate of easterly winds had got the sea up which made finding a safe space to fish very hard! I had decided to continue with the Slug-Go approach that had proved fruitful on the last session. So I rigged up a 4.5" Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner on a 10.5g  #2/0 Football jighead from AGM Discount fishing.

Naz was using a 4" Berkley Powerbait sandeel in white and he set off to explore the beach side of the reef. I decided to fish in the strong currents and gullies on the opposite side of the reef. I started working the lure with my standard retrieve, casting slightly up current and allowing the lure to fall through the water, a couple of twitches up and let it fall whilst retrieving slowly. It wasn't long before I had an explosive bite and a small bass tore off into the surf! It always surprises me how hard the little bass fight using the strong current and a rough sea and this fish was no exception. Soon it was tired though and I landed it with the help of a wave. It was quickly unhooked, photographed and released back to the sea leaving me pleased that the Slug-Gos were doing their job.

My first bass of the session taken on a 4.5" Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner

I continued with the same approach and a few minutes later another small bass took a fancy to the Slug-Go and nailed it beneath my feet! Brilliant! It was quickly landed and released and was about the same size as the first at about 1lb -1.5lb. Naz had seen my rod bent into the fish and had made his way over to me. He had been fishing the ebbing tide over the reef but it was proving too shallow and he had lost a couple of lures. He put on an old white sandeel lure that we had found on a previous trip, it was also the lure that had caught his first bass. Armed with his lucky lure he started fishing alongside me. A couple of minutes later I had another small bass and while I was releasing it Naz gave a shout. Fish on! Naz was into a bass and again it was putting up a good scrap. It was soon landed by a grinning Naz and I did the honours with a trophy shot!

Naz with his second ever bass taken on his lucky white sandeel.

I left Naz to unhook and release the bass and quickly got back to fishing. This time I was trying to get the lure deeper allowing it to trundle along the seabed with the tide. I was hoping to find a bigger fish working deeper than the schoolies and it wasn't long before I was in again! Not the bigger fish I was after but a bass is a bass! Quick snap and back to the brine it went.

My fourth bass of the session couldn't resist the Slug-Go!

I continued to use the deeper, minimalist retrieve and before we had to leave caught and released a further three small bass. All in all it was an excellent couple of hours spent and for Naz and I to both catch in the rough conditions was very good indeed. The Slug-Gos again showed how deadly they can be so I will be continuing to play with them in the hope of a larger bass.

Tight lines, Schogsky.