Rainy day, dream away...

The sun beat down as I wrestled another giant Perch from the loch. I laughed the fishing was so easy! The blue sky and happy warmth quickly disappeared with the sound of my alarm and I awoke to find the rain hammering down. No river fishing for us today then!

We decided to head down to our favourite bass mark, even though we knew fishing would be hard with a strong onshore wind. Indeed when we arrived it was raining sideways and the strong gusty north easterly wind had really put a big surf up. A very low spring tide meant we could approach the mark with relative ease. The sea however was very rough and the wind was challenging to fish against.

Whilst Scott went mini species hunting I decided to try and target bass. I geared up with my 9'6" Wright and Mcgill S-curve spinning rod, Shimano Aernos 3000 reel loaded with 20lb Sunline momentum 4x4. On the business end it was on with an 8.5g Berkley Powerbait Sandeel in white. I began to work away round the reef casting between the breaking surf and into the churned up water. Lots of suspended weed kept clogging up the lure and the wind kept blowing the line in a big bow, which meant I kept losing contact with the lure. It kept raining.

Scott meanwhile was having fun in the rockpools and gullies catching mini species.

Another long spined sea scorpion for Scott.

As I continued to hunt bass, Scott continued to catch a few more blennies and sea scorpions on his LRF setup before switching to his bass gear.

Another large male blenny falls to Scott's Power Isome.

After about 45 minutes whilst working the lure I felt a knock then a pull but with the wind constantly bowing the line I couldn't react quickly enough. I cast low again and stopped the line the instant the lure touched water. This gave me a straighter line and I began to retrieve slowly whilst giving a couple of twitches every six foot or so. Sure enough as the lure travelled in to the strike zone it was seized by a fish that tore off into the surf. After a spirited fight and a tricky landing my biggest bass of the year arrived!

The Berkley Powerbait Sandeel claims another bass.

Quite a lean fish but measured at 44cm and after a couple of pictures was released none the worse for meeting me.

Silver with delicate pastel blue highlights to the fins, a rainy day dream.

At 44cm this is my biggest bass this year

It continued to rain. Another couple of hours went by as we searched the reef before the constant rain and bitter east wind made us call time and we headed back to the car. All in all an enjoyable session even if it was very wet and very cold .The wind should switch round to a westerly later in the week, which should lead to calmer conditions and we hope to capitalise on that when it happens!

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.

Union Canal : Pike hunt.

On Tuesday Scott had an encounter with a beast of a pike in the canal and after a brief fight lost her.

He estimated it to be approaching a double and although gutted he took solace in the fact we knew where she was hanging out!

So on Wednesday when we had a couple of hours free we decided to head out to see if she was still about. It was a couple of miles up the canal from where we normally fish and after a bit of crosstown traffic arrived at the stretch.

We were both using heavier gear, I was using my Wright and McGill 9' S-Curve Medium drifter, Shimano Aernos 3000 loaded with 20lb Sunline Momentum 4x4. On the Business end I was torn between using a Popper or a savage gear 4play, in the end I opted for the 4 play in dirty Roach rigged on a 7g 2/0 decoy ball jighead. Scott was using his Abu Garcia Blue Max baitcasting outfit and went with the same lure as me.

We started fishing up the canal and my main retrieve technique is to jig the minnow up with a couple of twitches then let it fall whilst retrieving slowly.

We had travelled about 500 metres up the canal when I was hit by a big fish. I was casting around an overhanging tree on the far bank and as I was lifting the lure to recast everything went solid! There was a brief feeling of pressure then slackness as my lure pinged out of her mouth. Cursing my lack of concentration I recast and brought the lure back towards her lie. Again she seized the lure ,I struck and pulled the lure right out of her mouth!

Doh!

First too slow and now too quick. The next cast saw her come up after the lure, spy me, then shoot off in a big flash of green. From the brief glimpse I saw of her and the feel of her attacks it was a big fish. Possibly approaching a double and maybe the same fish Scott had lost the evening before.

We walked another 1/4 of a mile and I had a couple of fish attack the lure but didn't hook up. It was soon time to turn back just as we got to the van we decided to have a wee fish in the stretch below where we started. The canal narrowed under a bridge and this gave the perfect vantage point to cast along the edge of the reeds. I cast then began the jigged retrieve. The lure had travelled about 6' when it was pounced on by a feisty wee jack. Not big maybe a couple of pounds but very welcome all the same and was our first pike from the canal for a couple of months.

The only fish of the day. Lovely markings.

We fished on for another 10 minutes but then had to call time and head back to the van.

It was an interesting quick session even though Scott blanked and I lost the fish. It was very nice to see some bigger Pike inhabiting the canal and we hope to find out how big soon.

Tight Lines, Schogsky.