Fishing. Like a boss.

On Monday I headed west to the old crusher pier situated to the south of Creetown with my mate Ian. He’s an accomplished shore angler who fishes matches regularly. He also happens to be my boss, being the retail manager of the Edinburgh Angling Centre, where I work. Our main target species for the trip was starry smoothhound, a species I've never caught from the shore before, but I was also hopeful that I’d get a common eel too. Ian assured me I’d probably get one of those fairly quickly and he was right! A three hook flapper baited with small crab baits soon did the trick. 

I got a small common eel on my third cast!

Rig wrecking slippery swines. I’m not a fan if I’m honest.

I then turned my attention to fishing a big crab bait on a pulley rig at distance for starry smoothhound. Ian also cast out a pulley rig to target them as well, but he decided to also fish a three hook flapper on a second rod closer in with much smaller baits, to try and catch flounder, possibly bass and no doubt more eels.

Ian brought some top quality fresh peeler crab for us to use.

After watching our rod tips for thirty minutes or so we wound in to change our baits. There was a fair amount of weed in the water, but I got my rig in fairly quickly, Ian’s rig however had picked up a substantial amount of it, and he struggled to get it in. Eventually, once he'd dragged a huge mass of weed in to the side of the pier, he lifted it up by hand. As soon as he began removing the weed however he got a bit of a shock in the shape of a bass!

This silver surprise was hidden under a large amount of weed!

Over the next few hours, Ian caught a few flounder and eel on his second rod and spent a fair amount of time removing weed from his rig! I stuck with fishing just the one rod and sat watching it diligently, waiting for something bigger to hopefully take my pungent bait.

Ian winds in more weed. Occasionally there would be a flounder or an eel too!

A horrible messy tangle of eel and weed.

Just after the tide turned and began to ebb, Ian got a cracking bite on his big bait rod and wound in the first starry smoothhound of the trip. He had predicted their arrival at this stage of the tide and with some moving through the area I was hopeful I'd get one too before too long.

Ian showing me who's boss!

About an hour later, Ian caught his second starry smoothound of the session. We fished on for another two hours or so, but as the tidal flow increased it became very difficult to hold the bottom and I admitted defeat, probably a while after I should have. Ian had caught a lot of fish, species hunting like a boss too, catching all four that the mark usually produces. The solitary common eel I'd caught at the start of our session meant it wasn't a complete blank for me, and I'd added another species to this year's tally so that was something positive at least. On the way back we discussed the fact that spent more time driving than we spent fishing. Crazy really, but if I’d have caught a starry smoothhound I guess I wouldn’t have minded! If I return to the area I think I’d probably stay overnight and have a couple of sessions at the old crusher pier and perhaps head round to the Isle of Whithorn to fish over low water to try and catch a tompot blenny. 

Tight lines, Scott.

Golden opportunity.

Over the last month or so I’ve had quite a few sessions down at Torness Power Station. The main reason for these visits was so that I could make an attempt at catching a gilthead seabream, a species that believe it or not does get caught there on the rare occasion. The first such session sadly was pretty poor, my chosen approach of ledgering small chunks of prawn on light tackle in the outflow only produced a solitary fish but it was a nice chunky corkwing wrasse, so despite the lack of any other action I left reasonably happy.

The inlet area of the power station produces large corkwing wrasse but this was my first one from the outflow area.

Another session, this time at the power station's inlet area, fishing light game metals for mackerel, produced a bonus large sandeel. Lacking the prominent dark spots on either side of its snout that the greater sandeel has and having a noticeably dark chin I suspect that it may have been a Corbin's sandeel.

Dark chins matter. Especially as they are a key distinguishing feature of the Corbin's sandeel.

I’m still not 100% sure about the identity of this large sandeel and having purchased a rather old species identification book I'm still doing further research into the differences between the greater sandeel and Corbin’s sandeel, so I can hopefully reach a conclusion. In hindsight, I perhaps should have kept the fish for further, more detailed examination, but instead opted to take lots of photos so those will have to do.

A few days later I returned to have another go for gilthead seabream. When I arrived at the outflow however there were over half a dozen other anglers already fishing, targetting bass using controller floats and Redgill eels, so I decided to fish from the area directly above the outflow. Ledgering small chunks of prawn I quickly had a take and couldn’t believe my eyes, or luck for that matter, when a reasonably sized gilthead seabream eventually came to the surface after putting a spirited scrap. My heart was pounding as I cautiously played the fish out in the current but my excitement was short-lived as it quickly dawned on me that landing it on the ultra light gear I was using and from my elevated position would prove very difficult especially as I did not have a net with me. My hook set seemed good though and after tiring the fish out I made the decision to try and lift it up. This proved to be a mistake and when the fish thrashed around my braid came into contact with the edge of the overhanging concrete shelf in front of me as a result and parted. To say I was absolutely gutted to lose what would have been my first Scottish gilthead seabream would be a massive understatement. I carried on fishing for a while and caught a few small bass, which ironically I did manage to land, but left the venue kicking myself at my decision to leave home without a net of any kind. It’s not the first time that being without a net has cost me a fish but this time it felt so much worse. The only positive to be taken was that I had discovered that there were indeed gilthead seabream present to be caught and where there is one there are usually more!

Determined to hook another and to land it successfully I dug a large drop net out of the back of my cupboard and returned several times with heavier tackle to try and do so. I tried several types of bait and also gave small live crabs a go, which I quickly discovered to be a very productive method for catching bass.

It turns out bass love small live hardback crabs.

A drop net wasn't the only thing I dug out for use during my sessions. My mate Ross told me that in his experience blow lug and peeler crab had been the best baits for catching gilthead seabream in the UK so several trips to Portobello Beach to dig worms were undertaken in the hope that some top quality freshly dug worms might increase my chances. The following photo of me digging away was taken by a passing female who was out for a walk. Not taken with my permission I might add, I turned around to find she had sneaked up behind me and was crouching down to compose her shot. Once caught she offered to email me the photos she'd taken and assured me she wanted to capture the sight of a large sweaty man bending over for artistic purposes only.

Worth making the effort to reduce the odds even just a little.

Armed with fresh lug worm, raw prawns and some peeler crab, generously given to me by my workmate Gordon from his winter cod supply, I was quietly confident that if I put the time in I'd catch another if the conditions were right. By the end of August however I'd had a few more unsuccessful sessions and was beginning to get concerned that as the end of the summer approached my window of opportunity may close. My mate Nick joined me for a few more sessions at the start of this month but all we caught were bass and, much to our amusement, several thick lipped mullet that after nibbling away at our baits on the bottom eventually hooked themselves. I also took a some bread along with me for one of the sessions and using smaller hooks managed to catch a golden grey mullet on small pieces of freelined flake too.

Another species that has golden markings but not the one I really wanted to catch.

Last Tuesday I was off work and the forecast conditions looked great with mostly clear sunny skies, an offshore wind and reasonably big tides too. The timing of the tides also meant the chance to fish over high water twice as well during daylight, just after sunrise and just before it set again, so I made a full day of it.

The start of a glorious summer day.

My session began just after sunrise but things were very slow to start with. A few hours went by before I eventually got a few bites and caught a couple of small bass in quick succession. After another long lull my rod started registering little knocks, so I wound in to see what it was. It turned out to be a rather ravenous blenny that had tried to eat a lug worm a little longer than itself and had somehow squeezed my chinu hook into its mouth. 

Something greedy going on!

Over low water things went very quiet again and as it was also very hot I put my reel into freespool and tried to take shelter from the midday sun by sitting down in the shadow cast by the railings behind me.

Strangely I had the place all to myself. The rocks to the right of the outflow are normally lined with anglers trying to catch bass.

Once the tide started flooding I was hopeful that I'd catch a few more fish but another couple of hours went by and with not much happening I decided to try swapping out my hook for a smaller one, so I could fish small chunks of raw prawn for a while, after all that's what I'd hooked the gilthead on several weeks ago that I'd failed to land. A short time passed and then I had a very aggressive take that had my rod tip thumping away and line being jerked from my reel. Quickly lifting the rod an engaging the drag it didn’t feel big but when the fish came into view my heart immediately started racing. It was my target species, this one perhaps half the size of the one I'd lost weeks before but after playing it out I still had to land it from my elevated position with no assistance. Decision time! Whilst I did have my large drop net with me I figured trying to get it, lowering it down over the ledge and then manoeuvring it in the current below whilst still holding my rod was perhaps just as risky as simply lifting the fish up. In the end I just went for the lift. I had tied on an extra long rubbing leader so didn't have to worry about braid touching the ledge and my 9ft extra heavy lure rod had the required strength to do the job. It was still nerve racking as I hastily hoisted it up but the fish was soon safely up on the platform with me being unhooked for a quick photo.    

My first ever (successfully landed) Scottish gilthead seabream.

Once the fish was returned I did a bit of celebratory fist pumping and shouting having successfully added another species to my lifetime Scottish tally. I fished on for a while but having accomplished my goal I ended up leaving earlier than I had originally planned. All the time and effort I'd put into the sessions had been worth it in the end. It was great to capture one of these in Scottish waters and I only know two other anglers who have done the same so it was a really special capture. As sea temperatures continue to rise it's predicted that this species will move further north so who knows, they may become a much more common catch for us anglers north of the border.

Tight lines, Scott.

Back on track.

After talking about it a few times last year but failing to actually organise it, my mate Martin and I headed down to Drummore on Sunday armed with some crab to spend a day out in local skipper Spike's boat "Go West" targeting starry smoothhounds. As well as fishing with Martin again, which I always enjoy, it was a great opportunity for me to add a few species to my fifty saltwater species from around Scotland challenge tally.

I think Spike's boat should be called "Go South West".  It's all relative though I suppose. 

Gear loaded aboard we were soon drifting over a drop off not far from the shore to catch some fresh mackerel for bait. There were plenty of small ones around a small bait box soon had enough in it to keep us going for most of the day and off we went to drop anchor. Both of us fished two rods, one with a ledgered half mackerel bait for larger sharks like tope, bull huss and thornback rays and a second for smoothhounds and other smaller species. Martin's half mackerel bait must have landed right next to a thornback ray as it took the bait almost as soon as it hit the bottom. After putting that back and casting out a fresh bait he fished a one up one down rig on his second rod with both hooks baited with crab to try and tempt a starry smoothhound. I went with a three up rig and baited my hooks with mackerel strips to try and catch some gurnards. Inevitably we both caught a few lesser spotted dogfish before we eventually caught what we were targeting.

My first dogfish of the year gets a kiss. 

A nice smoothhound eventually beat the dogfish to Martin's crab baits. 

I added a second species to this year's tally with a grey gurnard in nice condition. 

We both caught a few more dogfish and after a few more grey gurnard I switched to a crab bait on a running ledger which eventually saw me catch my first ever starry smoothhound.

My first new species of the trip. 

A few more dogfish later Martin and I both landed a couple of nice sharks at the same time.

A nice thornback ray for me, a fourth species added to this year's tally and yet another smoothhound for Martin. 

Shortly afterwards I caught a smaller ray. When it came into view though I could tell from its markings that it wasn't a thornback and got a bit excited. Quickly lifting it into the boat my suspicions were confirmed and I had struck lucky with a spotted ray. 

Quite a rare capture. Spike told us he'd only ever seen two or three boated. I was extremely happy to catch my second new species of the trip and add a fifth to this year's tally. 

With no tope or bull huss showing interest in our bigger baits we upped anchor and tried a few drifts fishing with smaller hooks to see what else might turn up. This saw us catching some whiting and a few more mackerel. Dropping anchor at a second mark didn't  see anything else being caught except a succession of whiting and dogfish. Slightly disappointed not to catch any tope or bull huss it had still been a good day and when we got back< to Drummore we discovered that none of the other boats had caught any tope either. After loading up our cars and saying goodbye to Martin he headed up the road but I headed north to Stranraer where I'd be staying the next two nights. I had Monday and Tuesday off of work and my species hunting in Dumfries & Galloway wasn't over just yet.

Tight lines, Scott.

What goes down must come up.

I popped down to St Abbs Head last Wednesday and did a bit more exploring. It was a glorious day so I decided to have a walk along the clifftop and spotted what looked like a nice mark down below that looked fairly easy to access so I had a wander down.

Another new mark?

Sure enough getting down was quite easy and once there I found an elevated position on the rocks to fish from. The water around the mark was very deep and I think this spot will be great for a spot of lure fishing for pollock and wrasse in the summer.

Clear blue sky and the sun shining brightly over the next set of cliffs to the east.

Fishing was quite slow and I tried a few different baits starting off with crab before switching to mackerel and black lug/squid cocktails but when I did get a bite it was a very aggessive one with the culprit smashing a strip of mackerel fished on the top hook of my one up one down rig. It turned out to be a greedy little codling.

A nice reward.

It was such a nice day that I was quite happy just sitting there with my rod in my hands, feeling for bites with my eyes closed, enjoying the warm sun beating down on my face. No more bites came but I wasn't too bothered to be honest it was just so nice being down there. Sadly my enjoyment of the day came to an end when I had to make the climb back up. It's the only down side to descending the cliffs to the various marks at St Abbs Head but on such a nice day it was a small price to pay for such a relaxing session.

Tight lines, Scott.

Sh-- Sharks!

I love sharks. Sharks are awesome. At the end of last year I tried to meet up with my mate Martin several times to fish Loch Etive for spurdogs. Each time the agreed date arrived our plans were scuppered by some truly awful weather. Sunday must have been the fifth or sixth time we'd arranged such a session and finally the weather cut us some slack. After picking Martin up in Glasgow we drove up there and were soon at the quarry in Bonawe on the western side of the loch. Martin led the way to a rocky outcrop and we were soon getting set up. We set ourselves a little challenge of catching a shark hat trick of a spurdog, a thornback ray and a dogfish and decided to fish a variety of baits on single hook pulley rigs. I was using a fairly soft rod, a fixed spool reel loaded with 50lb braid and circle hooks whilst Martin was using a shorter stiffer rod teamed up with a multiplier loaded with 18lb mono and a more traditional hook pattern. The water in front of us was very deep but there was a weedy ledge to negotiate when reeling in. It didn't take long for Martin to get a few bites and whilst I was struggling to get my lead to hold bottom and constantly trying to tighten up he hooked a fish.

Martin gets the first fish of the day. A nice cod taken on a strip of rainbow trout.

After losing a rig due to the current pulling it into a snag I moved a few yards to an area where I could cast a little easier. As a result I was getting a bit more distance and a few knocks too. First good bite and I lifted the rod, reeling into a fish. It was hard work trying to quickly get it up over the ledge and I was regretting my choice of tackle if I'm honest.

Reeling like a madman. Sweaty work in several layers and a floatation suit jacket!

A nice thornback ray. Double sandeel proving a tempting snack.

Martin then opened his shark account with a small spurdog before I got my second fish and second shark species of the day, a dogfish.

Martin's spurdog.

I don't care what anyone says, dogfish are cool.

Another spurdog for Martin and a few dogfish too left him just needing a thornback ray to complete the day's shark challenge. We fished on but were both struggling to get gear and fish back up over the ledge. As the tide dropped the black rocks being exposed in front of us were making things difficult too if we had to go down onto them to try and free out gear or return fish. Martin's Vibram soled boots made it particularly treacherous for him. It wasn't too long before I hooked my third fish of the day.

Three fish. Three species of shark. Hat trick completed!

Before the sun set we decided to move to another spot that was more comfortable and easier to fish in the dark. Whilst the water we were fishing into wasn't as deep there was no big ledge to contend with, there was also a bit less tide running and it didn't take long for us to start catching fish again. I had a second spurdog followed by a cod. Martin set up a second rod and after a string of dogfish taking his crab baits he got a cod too followed by a thornback ray.

Shark hat trick completed by Martin.

It then went quiet for a while and as I watched my rod tip I suddenly noticed how clear the sky was and how many stars were visible. Enjoying the view and using an app on my phone to see what constellations I was looking at I also picked out one "star" that was very bright which turned out to be Jupiter. I pointed it out to Martin who was trying to spot an owl which had broken the silence. It sounded like it was very close by and eventually it gave its position away when it turned its head and its eyes caught the light from Martin's headtorch.  A couple more fish were caught before we called it a night, my last one being a tiny thornback ray and Martin ended the session with an equally tiny dogfish.

This little thornback ray was only about ten inches across. Still managed to gobble a pretty big mackerel and squid cocktail though!

The smallest dogfish Martin's ever caught. Note the small parasites on its eye. A lot of fish in Loch Etive have these unfortunately.

All in all it was a good days fishing although I think next time I fish Loch Etive I'll be taking heavier gear and 8oz leads instead of 6oz ones to make holding bottom and retrieving gear and fish easier. On the plus side the circle hooks are proving effective with all bar one of my fish nicely hooked. I'm going to start debarbing them to ease unhooking though. The weather was actually quite nice too being very mild for the time of year and dry most of the day with only a couple of showers in the early afternoon. Martin commented that it was the driest day's fishing he's ever had there.  I always enjoy fishing with Martin and I'm looking forward to meeting up with him regularly throughout the year if possible. We've discussed a few things including him joining me to try and catch a ruffe from Loch Lomond and I'd like to go and target smoothhounds, a species of shark I've never caught before, from the shore down the south west coast of Scotland with him in the summer as well. We're also planning a few days fishing afloat and no doubt we'll squeeze in our annual Zander pilgrimage at some point too so lots to look forward to.

Tight lines, Scott.