The end is in sight!

The end of the year is creeping up now and species hunting in particular is getting very difficult. With temperatures starting to plummet, many of the species that have spent the summer around the coastal waters of Britain are now moving off to deeper, more bait rich ground. There are however a few fish I haven't yet landed that are still targetable. To give myself a good chance of bagging a couple of these, I went up to Scotland again, firstly to the Aberdeen area where I would attempt to catch a ling and then to Loch Etive where I'd have a dabble for a spurdog.

So first stop was visiting my mate Ad in
Aberdeen for a long weekend. The promise of good sized cod and a reasonable chance of ling was to good to refuse, so off I went on a 5 hour car drive north, arriving just in time for an evening session. After a quick stretch of the legs and some of Ad's home cooked cod green curry, we were off to the mark. Baiting up with large combinations of macky, black lug, squid and crab it wasn't too long before we had a few taps, whatever it was though was not large enough to inhale the 6/0 hooks we were using. It was a good while before I had my first proper bite which resulted in my first Scottish cod of the trip, unfortunately only a small one at around 1.5lb. The next cast produced another small codling and Ad got off the mark as well. The session came to an end shortly after though when the swell picked up and we had to get off the mark quickly to avoid getting cut off. Over the following few days we tried for the bigger cod again and also ventured up to Peterhead South breakwater, the mark where I'd be targeting a ling. The highlight of these few sessions was a very big tadpole fish for Ad weighing 15.5oz, a species he'd never caught before and only the second one I have seen. The ling proved to be elusive for the duration but I won't give up on catching one just yet.

The long weekend was over before i knew it and a trip down to Edinburgh ensued where I'd be meeting up with good friend and mini-species legend, Scott Hutchison. After a night of rig making and research, the 5am alarm bells rang and we were both up and on our journey to Loch Etive, where we had booked a boat for the day through http://www.sea-fishing-loch-etive.co.uk/. The aim of the trip was for us both to tick off a new species for the year, myself desperate to get a spurdog and Scott wanting a thornback ray. We arrived in Taynuillt for first light with this scene to greet us and after a chat with the boat owner Doug Bannatyne, we were on our way to our first mark. As expected, the depth in Etive is incredible, even within casting distance from the shore we were in over 100ft of water. We tied up to a buoy and dropped down, as line kept peeling off the spool we were both wondering when we would find bottom but at 185ft we were down there. For 30 minutes the bigger baited hokkai's remained actionless so a change of plan was needed. I tackled up my plugging rod with a one-up one-down rig blinged up with plenty of lumi-beads. A 4oz bomb was all that was needed to hold bottom and in no time at all I had my first fish on. After pumping it up from the depths up came a small thorny, a good way to get off the mark. Next drop
and it was species number 2 for the day,  a lovely grey gurnard and probably the biggest one I've caught to date. Scott had now joined me with the lighter rod and it became a quite productive few hours, the majority of fish being pouting, poor cod or whiting. After a quick spot at another spot during which  I boated another 3 thornies, we decided to go and try a drift by the quarry, it was fruitless. Time was flying by and we were starting to get a little agitated by the constant hoards of manky parasite ridden whiting and poor cod. With just an hour left we headed back to the slipway where we launched just to try and see if Scott could get his thornback. After 20 minutes of nothing I suggested steaming out to the middle of Airds Bay just to see how deep it was. At over 200ft it was the deepest spot we'd fished on the day and I decided to drop down my bigger hokkai baited rig again and leave it. With a

Spurdog : Species 68

 few minutes left Scott landed a bigger whiting and began preparing the engine for motoring back to shore. Whilst he was though, I noticed a few knocks on my rod..... I left it to develop before striking and setting the hooks, fish on. After playing it up for what seemed like forever, we eventually caught sight of it and it was the species i'd come for, a spurdog. Scott quickly grabbed the net and slipped it under my fish, I'd done it, scraped one at the last possible chance and I cannot describe how happy as well as relieved I was. With that came the end of our trip and it was back to Edinburgh.

The morning of my last day in Scotland dawned and due to a drop in the wind, it gave us a chance to get down to Torness once more to try for one of the 2-spot gobies. Both Scott and Jake have had plenty of these little beauties on there previous visits so confidence was high even though it was bloody freezing. Scott kindly donated me one of his mini-fish special hooks, a size 26 tied on 0.5lb fluoro and it was go time. We both scanned the pools for the mini's and within a few seconds I had my first fish, a common goby. Then I noticed a small flounder so informed Scott and left him to try and catch it. Sure enough he did and it brought with it the first sign of a 2-spot. Out from underneath a boulder shot two of them, very interested in my power isome but not willing to take it properly. After trying for ages I nearly gave up but Scott decided to see if he could find me some bait. How he found a ragworm I'll never know but he did within minutes and so on went a slither of fresh worm. Straight away the mini's went for it and in seconds I had what we'd come for, a two-spot goby and my 69th species of the year.

The session and my trip was over, 2 new species and a cracking week in Scotland once again. Both Ad and Scott had been great hosts and I look forward to fishing with them again soon, maybe sooner than they think.  So that leaves me with just 1 species left to catch, but what will it be? Thoughts at the moment are that Ling would probably be the best to target but if your reading this and can see a species I've yet to catch that you can advise me on then please leave a comment.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Scottish Raid part 3 : Flattie hunting in the harbours

Day 2 on my adventures with Schogsky and Hutch saw me and Scott heading for Dunbar harbour with Jake set to join us later on. Now both Scott and Jake have caught flatties on the lures already this year, so it was great of them to put me on a mark where they knew I had a great chance of catching some on the lures myself. After pulling up in the car park, Scott showed me round the mark and pointed out the hotspots so all was looking good. A size 16 hook armed with isome was the chosen rig and adding a few splitshots above the hook ensured it was tight on the bottom. Scott was soon showing me how its done getting off the mark with a LSScorpion and then showing me how easy it is to get amongst the flatties with a couple of flounder and plaice. It really was stuffed full of little flatties though and at any one time you could have had double figure amounts of them chasing the isome along the mud, quite a sight. I did finally manage one for myself, a small flounder which was shortly followed by a little plaice, 2 more for the lure caught tally, a great

 way to begin the day. As the tide rose the better fish started to move in and Scott landed a few better ones whilst I was aimlessly trying to catch something tiny, which I thought may have been something different. Unfortunately I didn't manage to tempt it so we'll never find out. Then came Jake into the harbour with an intent of getting himself a plaice for his species count. He didn't have to wait long either and after a single flounder he got what he was after. As usually is the case as well, this wouldn't be his only one and I think he went on to land quite a large number of them as well as more flounder. With the bottom now out of visibility we all started trying a few different areas. I found a nice little spot between some weed and dropped down to see if anything was around. Sure enough a small looking fish took interest and after a few missed lunges at my lure, it took aim and pounced on my jigging isome. On bringing it up it was clear it was a scorpion fish but it looked a little different so I called Scott over for a proper identification. He was more certain about what it was and said without doubt it was a short spined which is my 1st ever after the previous one I thought I'd caught turned out to be a long spined. Looking back at the pictures though it is fairly obvious, but at least this capture puts beyond any doubt that I

 have now got a short spined. We all then decided to move into the old harbour where the guys had told me the larger flounders lurk and also a good number of blennies and coalies. With exception to the large flounders though we got plenty of the other species. I lost count of the number of coalies Jake landed and Scott was also pulling in a good number of coalies with blennies thrown in. I must have been doing something different though as I could not for the life of me hook the coalies, the blennies however came in good numbers. As the time rolled on we had a quick look over the back wall of the harbour, but conditions put us off trying there so it was time for a move. Jake had to shoot, so it was back to just me and Scott with St Abbs being our mark of choice. I'd love to say we cleaned up there but it was quite the opposite, for unknown reasons the fish just weren't there and following an hour and a halfs effort we left without a single fish to our names. It is a lovely looking place though and I'd love to have another go when the fish have returned. Well that was it for Day 2 and it was time to head back to Edinburgh and plan our next days fishing.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Lure fishing followed by a successful flounder hunt

19/04/2012 - Various locations in The Menai Straits

With these strong and bitter northerly winds there was only really one place we could head today and that was The Straits. Myself and friend Jon started off by digging a bit of bait and scavenging for any peeler we could find. After our buckets were full enough to supply us with bait for the day it was off to our first mark of the day. I opted to use a pulley rig due to the ground we were fishing, with two size 3/0 hooks and crab for bait. Jon opted for a 2-hook flapper and lug. Casting short was our plan to avoid the current and hopefully get a stray bass that was rumaging for food in the boulders nearby. An hour went by with just a single doggie to my crab bait being the only thing caught, so we decided on a mark change. A short 10 minute drive saw us fishing completely different ground and for this area, lures were our choice of tactic. Weedless SP's and surface lures were the only viable option due to the shallow weedy nature of the ground, so we whacked a lure to suit on and began our lure chucking. To cut a story short, we didn't have a sniff from anything unfortunately, but another bloke that was fishing just along from us had a bass of 2-3lb, so well done that man. Feeling desperate for another fish now, I decided to take Jon to one of my better spots in the hope of a bass or a flattie. Upon

arrival the conditions looked spot on, but from previous expriences, this is usually a bad omen. For a good hour and a half it looked that way as well, but on slack tide we started noticing life in the water. It may only have been little tiny fish (may have been bullheads) but it was a good sign for sure. We decided to have a little walk, looking all the time at the margins for any better sized fish. Sure enough I came across a flounder perched on the mud and called Jon over for a look. Jon stayed to watch the fish as I went to grab my rod but before I even got back to the gear Jon was following me to grab his rod. He said a bigger one had just come from the depths right next to the one I had seen, making us both very excited.  I got back to the spot with my rod, looked down at the water and sure enough there it was, a decent sized flounder. I dipped my rig in and let the tide sweep the size 4 hook with my tiny crab bait round towards its mouth. The take was instant and ferocious to say the least and to have watched it from no more than two metres away was something else. What a cracking fight they give! I had to give it line as it bolted for the deeper channel and was worried for my braid at one point lol, but sure enough after it had swam round in circles for a minute or so, it was exhausted and was ready for beaching. It was a cracker of a fish and is by far the biggest flounder I've had from the straits and my 26th species for the year. It weighed a very respectable 3lb 4oz and measured 49cm just qualifying it for the record list. I must say Jon managed to take a belter of a photo making it look far bigger lol :) 

After this we continued to scout the margins for more flounder for a good half hour but the fish had gone to our disappointment. This was our cue to call it a night so we packed up and headed for the car. Again another pleasant days fishing and even though we only managed a few fish, watching that flounder hit the bait in the way it did will stick in my head for a good while.

Hope you enjoyed the read,

Tight Lines,

Ross