Loch Long/Eilean Donan Castle - Aug-Sept 2013

View from the mark to Eilean Donan Castle

My job affords me little windows of opportunity to fish up and down the country and one of the best is opposite the village of Dornie on the shore/bank of Loch Long.

Fishing from the jetty where the old ferry used to dock gives a splendid view back east towards Eilean Donan castle, reputedly the most photographed castle in the world and Loch Duich beyond.

Eilean Donan castle sits at the junction of three sea loch's. Arriving from the north is Loch Long which meets Loch Duich coming from the east. The inner sea to the west of this 'junction' is Loch Alsh.

Being sea loch's, as the tide recedes, Loch Long flows like a river under the Dornie Bridge and on into Loch Alsh. At other times of the tide it can be fairly stable.

Endearingly up for it - Long Spined Sea Scorpion

I've heard that the locals are well versed in when to catch migratory Salmon or Sea Trout, but my ambitions don't reach that far just yet.

With my sessions limited to short 20-30 minute bursts, I've been travelling light with jigheads and Isome.

My first success was with some small Coalfish and a Pollock. These fish seem to be prevalent wherever you fish on the coast.

The water has been very clear so watching the lure on the retrieve always pays off. But there are large clumps of weed that require a bit of navigating at times, especially if the current is dragging.

Dornie Bridge - Eilean Donan just out of shot to the right

I often explore close in, in the slack water, sight fishing between the weed and bouncing the small piece of Isome over any clear patches of sea bed. Often there is enough interest from various small fish, but too often intent on bashing the lure rather than biting it.

On one of these occasions I was dangling the Isome down the wall of the jetty seeing if anything was patrolling when a typically aggressive Long Spined Sea Scorpion attacked with gusto. So using basic tactics in a fairly short time this mark provides a variety of species, albeit on the small side, but with loads of potential for the odd bigger surprise.

Fishing aside, an absolutely fantastic spot to pass some time!!!
 

Loch Portree - Aug/Sept 2014

The Black Cuillins , Loch Portree and Portree Harbour

Spending a lot of time on Skye since July, my base has been it's capital, Portree. This has allowed me to begin exploring around the shore and harbour and I'm seldom disappointed.

Like so many places on Skye, Loch Portree, basically the sea in the bay area where Portree is located, can be almost amusingly picturesque. The harbour front itself is classic picture postcard material whilst the views south to the Cuillin mountains, east towards Ben Tianavaig and beyond to the adjacent island of Raasay, or north past the black Rock where Bonnie Prince Charlie is said to have fled from government troops, up towards the imposing cliffs of Scorrybreac, make it an absolutely outstanding place to lose some time before nightfall.

My first Portree Pollock

These have been the most numerous of my sessions on Skye. I've been treated to the sight of a White Tailed Eagle soaring high above me and often spotted the odd seal hanging around the fish cages towards the sound of Raasay. Out in Loch Portree the youths from the sailing club are often out practicing in the conducive conditions. I think it gives a real insight into how past generations on Skye utilised this, like so many other sheltered sea lochs around the 'Winged Isle', to hone their sea faring skills in much the same way in the old Birlinns that frequented these waters in times gone by.

A quick mention here for the other wildlife you find in abundance, namely, the Midgie. In the absence of any wind, for any session to last more than a couple of casts you will absolutely need a midgie net.

Come back in a couple of years

My first few sessions involved hurling a jighead as far as possible (3.5g, so quite small) and jigging some Isome back at varying depths and speeds. Interest was frequent and I'd take some small Pollock and Coalfish in between the wee blighters nicking my lure.

The first few sessions were at the higher end of the tide. The Black Rock on the cornere of the sea loch is said to be a good mark, but is only accessible at low tide. For my first visit out there, I'd have to wait.

I doubt this wee one was even 3 inches

One evening was spent fishing my Isome into the clear waters of the harbour front itself. Actually being able to see the fish reacting to your offerings is extremely informative. Whilst hoping for a flattie of some sort, instead I was again amongst small coalies and Pollock. Or so I thought. One evening whilst out with Hutch at Cove harbour, he brought ashore a bay cod no more than six inches, making me realise that one of the comedically small Pollock I thought I'd caught at Portree harbour, was actually my first ever cod!!!!

Echoing the sentiments of the great species hunter himself, the sheer frequency of small Coalfiish and Pollock that seem to be almost everywhere you try in the sea around the coast can only be a good sign for the future.

Gully to the right

Back round between the Black Rock and Scorrybreac I variously observed the clarity of the sea under normal conditions right through to the dark colouration after heavy rain when the peat stained spate rivers that are abundant on Skye empty into the sea. On the much more frequent clear water days, the sea bed can be seen to alternate between weed covered rocks and sandy bottoms. Some tantalising gullies dissect the three or four outcrops where fishing is most possible. Pollock and Coalfish up to 8 or 9 inches have been the staple round here.

Gully to the left

Grey Gurnard

However, on my second last visit, finally the tide was low in the evening and I was able to scurry over the sea weed covered rocks and onto the Black Rock itself. I quickly discovered that the optimum place for bites was on the sand just outside the fringe of weed that skirts the rocks. Here I hooked my second baby cod, then a wee coalie, before something altogether different chomped my Isome and was brought to the surface. Confused I took a quick pic in the fading light and fired it off to Hutch asking "Whats this?". "A Grey Gurnard" came the reply from the walking fish encyclopedia, "they're usually red" he followed up. I was stoked, a brand new species. Grey, red or fluorescent purple, didn't matter to me.

In discussion with Hutch, he advised that the amount of missed bites I was reporting might be negated with a drop shot tactic instead of the jighead. The next night I was back with a drop shot set up and a better camera. First fish was a wee Pollock making that four fish, four different species in a row from the Black Rock. Then I tempted another Grey Gurnard, getting a much better snap for posterity. More Coalies and Pollock followed. Whilst the drop shot was hooking more fish, my rod and especially reel were making actual bite detection less successful than it should be. The LRF would make its way to Skye with me the next time.

Baby Cod (or Whiting?)

And so it did. I arrived to find relatively high high tides over 5 metres and began covering the sandy bottoms north of the Black Rock (inaccessible). Every tap and take was felt, but with every assault on my hook, I was losing Isome and was quickly going to run out. More Coalies and Pollock to about 8 inches continued to oblige, but I endeavoured to source some prawns instead for the following night.

Getting (a bit) bigger - Pollock

Encouragingly, but frustratingly, I also witnessed a Salmon leaping clear a bit further out. I know they do show in the sea around Skye awaiting the rivers filling up and it is extremely tantalising to know they are there. But I wouldnt like to hook something that big with that much space to swim around in on the LRF. So the next night I was back with prawns for the LRF and my spinning rod for distance casting with a lure. While a Salmon is still an outside chance, the lure I'd use was the sand eel I'd been advised were good by the gent in Dunvegan's tackle shop, and that the other guy had been catching decent Pollock on at Neist Point.

Coalfish/Coalie/Saithe

I began with the prawns and was inundated with interest feeling every tap and take. Every fish landed was a Coalfish and they all measured as good as 12 inches. A distinctly different demographic with these fish giving a great fight on the light tackle. I also chucked the lure out on the other rod, but despite a few follows and half hearted takes by smaller Coalies or Pollock, that elusive larger specimen failed to materialise.

May-June 2013 Update - Various Locations

The reef at Torness at low tide

The lack of blogs has coincided with a new job but that doesn't mean I've not been wetting a line whenever I've had the chance. Rather than update loads of trips individually through a hazy memory into individual blogs, I'm going to roll them all into this one blog and provide details where I can recall them. Here goes.





St Abbs Harbour - 18/05

After some success with Pollock I was keen to return to the Harbour, but the weather wasn't playing ball.

Driech personified

It was raining when I arrived, requiring me to take shelter in some old outbuilding whose door opened when I was trying to keep dry.

Once the rain stopped, the wind made things difficult. An explore all round the harbour bore nothing and I cut the session short.

But not before discovering a seemingly abandoned gulls nest.



Loch Lubnaig/Falkirk Wheel - 23/05

Keen to give Lubnaig a shot I headed up for an evening session.

There are two permits for opposing banks and I opted for the western side which is looked after by the Forestry Commission. Knowing there are Perch as well as brownies and Char I decided on the spinning rod which was just as well as the wind was a little too stiff for casting flies.

I covered a fair amount from the southern tip upwards but didn't find a thing. In the face of the incessant wind I decided to cut my losses and head off home.

The Falkirk Wheel - we're not all trams and parliament shambles

Not content with one blank in the evening, on the way back I decided to have a quick thrash in the basin at the Falkirk wheel. Nowt.


Union Canal - 24/05

Heading out with all my kit but not quite knowing where I'd end up, I finally alighted at the Union Canal just to the west of Edinburgh at a spot known as Wilkies Basin.

Nice day for it, but no fish

I've heard of Pike being taken in here and had an offer once from a wee jack, but otherwise it's really living up to the tag 'looks better than it fishes'.

As usual I fished the entire stretch but couldn't find a fish. But I'm sure it'll get another visit at some point.


St Abbs Harbour - 30/05

In much better conditions I gave St Abbs harbour another go.

A bit more like it

The Coalies are as good as bankers here with a chance of all sorts of other fish like Pollock, flatties, Wrasse and many more no doubt.

I was in straight away at the harbour entrance and quickly hauled three small Coalfish up next to me.

Sample Pollock

The action tailed off though as the returned fish passed on the message there was a predator about so I began to explore around the outside walls of the harbour. This involves standing even higher and more precariously around the outer wall. I soon found another couple of willing coalies as I progressed around before trying the harbour mouth again from the opposite wall but still no more luck there. On the way back I hooked another wee coalie at the same spot as before making it 6 small Coalfis for the evening.


Dunbar Harbour - 11/06

There is a corner in Dunbar that I've been reliably informed held flatfish from 2 or 4 different species.

First ever flattie

I arrived at Dunbar intent on breaking my duck with these weirdly formed fish and found conditions to be excellent. I could see all the way to the bottom on a rising tide and began twitching some Isome along the bottom.

Second ever flattie

Soon I felt a little tremble and was into a fish which turned out to be a Flounder. I followed this up 10 minutes later with another and growing in confidence I almost immediately felt another bite. Expecting another flattie I was amused to find I'd connected with an aggressive wee Long Spined Sea Scorpion with two tone markings. He went back to patrol the deep and quite soon I lifted out my third Flounder.

Peculiar fellies

There were to be no more though so I decided to explore around the other side of Dunbar Castle to see what if anything it offered. I drove round to West Barns and started following the Biel burn for the mile or so until it joins the sea.

Likes his Ska

There were scores of small trout about, but nothing to get overly excited about.

Flounder number 3, come in, your time is up

Unless you're a Heron. I followed the stream all the way down to the sea and suspect it will be good for flatties or finnock in the right conditions.

Fish munching machine at work

Torness/Dunbar Harbour - 17/06

Spoiling for some Blenny action I went down to the outlfow at Torness and found I had the place to myself at low tide. I explored the whole reef but only located the odd fish in a couple of pools and couldn't get any to take my Isome.

The quickest Blenny in the pool

By the time I reached the breakwater another guy with standard Bass gear had appeared. As I lobbed my Isome down the hole next to the rock he was on, some Blenny action finally began. About 3 or 4 very decent Blennies came charging out with about double that number of small ones all looking to take my bait. Thinking a biggie had it, I struck and pulled out a little booger. Releasing him into another pool, I was back in the same spot.

PB, 6 inch Blenny

Again there was plenty of action. This time I managed to hook one of the bigger ones, probably not the biggest, but a full 6 inches long. Definitely a new PB. After a few near misses, the bigger specimens seemed to have grown a bit more suspicious and showed themselves a lot less.

The wee ones were beasting my Isome, although in time they too became more suspicious and I had to be more patient. I rebaited with a new piece of Isome and chucked the old shredded piece into the same hole, watching as it slowly sank. An inch or two off the bottom it provoked a renewed frenzy and a little bulb went on in my head.

With the weight of the jighead, my bait was plummeting to the bottom and taking them a wee while to work themselves up to the take. So I  lowered my hook into the water as if it was slowly sinking and it was met just off the bottom by a frenzied Blenny mob. I ended with 6 Blennies before it was time to head up the road to Dunbar where I was meeting a few mates later after their work for a session in the harbour.

Bonus Flounder

Arriving first I was able to pull another flounder out of 'flattie corner' and also lose a flatfish that was about the size of a limpet. Then a choir turned up and began singing Moon River. Can't say that happens too often whilst fishing.

Jolly entertaining

I then went to the rocks outside the harbour mouth to see what was about. Immediately I hooked into something half decent and was delighted to find a Coalfish measuring 14 inches. Another of the same size quickly followed, then another smaller one.

Example Pollock

After the initial success, the big ones seemed to move away, but I still managed to catch and release 7 in total. One last hopeful attempt was made on flattie corner without success as I happily toddled back to the car and headed home.

Rock in the sea with birds on it

6 Blennies, 1 Flounder and 7 Coalies.


Eliburn 26/06

First Rudd for a while

My first visit to Eliburn for about 3 months came about after H requested an evening session to use up some leftover maggots. Notoriously difficult to raise in the AM, this suited me fine. We arrived to find nobody else fishing and quickly set up at my favourite peg.

In no time we were under assault from the Perca Perca. On occasion the Perch Army would let a maggot slip through their cordon and we'd snaffle another species. I caught a couple of Roach, an Ide and a bonus Rudd, first one for a couple of years, with the rest of my 15 or so fish being Perch. Hutch motored off into the distance with over 50 fish, around 40 of whom were the stripy anger merchants.

Ducklings providing some fun

An excellent wee session, but once again, as Hutch mentions in his blog of the day, we were left scratching our heads at the blank experienced by 3 boys on the opposite bank. To reiterate, we were under assault by the Perch. I fail to see how it would be possible to blank in there in those conditions short of using a ships anchor as a hook. And even then...Genuinely perplexing.

28/04/2013 - St Abb's Head

The name 'Pouting' was already taken

Choosing where to fish this year has been as much about scanning the weather forecasts to pick the least wet/windy/cold venue as anything else. On Sunday the opportunity arose for me to head out for the day. The forecast predicted wind towards 20mph in most places and a fair smattering of rain. Dunbar/Torness appeared to be about the best bet. Low tide was just before 11am and high around 5pm. Although probably a bit early in the season still, the only way to find out is to get a line wet.

En route, as the car was buffeted by side winds and various showers, I had the idea to go a little bit further and checked out weather, tides etc at St Abb's Head. All looked as conducive to a good day as anywhere and my decision was made.

Stayed still just about long enough to be pictured

I arrived bang on low tide. No water had yet made its way into the small south middle part of the harbour where I hoped to see some flatties later. Elsewhere, where I could make out the bottom I was unable to see anything fishy. The water was a bit cloudier than my previous visit making fish spotting tougher.

I decided to explore the rock pools. There were plenty but mostly quite shallow or containing too much weed. Nothing showed an interest, indeed, I only saw fish in one rock pool, possibly small gobies or blennies which scattered as I approached.

A nicer part of the day

With the tide starting to come in again I made my way round the harbour. The wind was making it difficult, catching my line from the height in the harbour wall I was fishing from, creating drag. I moved again next to the Lifeboat station. Still nothing to get me excited.

Back round at the main harbour entrance I bashed on with some light pink Isome on a jighead. I'd noted the layout of the bottom when the tide was low and was now able to bounce the Isome around on the bottom avoiding snags. Before too long, and reasonably unexpectedly I felt a fish take and tightened into something with a bit of potential. While there was some distance and a flowing tide between me and the fish, it gave an excellent account of itself, staying low until I was able to raise it enough to ID it as a Coalfish. The 20ft or so lift from the water to the harbour wall went without a hitch and my day was under way. Measuring 14 inches, and weighing about a pound and a half this was also a new PB.

Slayer of the last four fish

Before too long I had another couple on the bank, the second fish measuring the same, the third a little bit smaller. While I still couldn't see any fish, it appeared there was a shoal rolling about in front of me somewhere.

As things were going well, I decided to alter my tactics a little. I've had a wee shrimpy thing in my bag for ages which I think I found somewhere and decided to give it a go. Almost immediately I was into fish 4, a little under 14 inches and then fish 5, the baby so far at just 13.5 inches. Although I didn't know at the time, the minimum taking size for Coalies is 14 inches. I reckoned they were just too small to take (guessing 16+) and they all went back to get bigger.

During one of the rain showers

Then things died down a little, although not the wind. Weighing things up I decided to head the couple of miles or so down the coast to Eyemouth as the tide was well on the way in.

Very little to report though, on arrival it was very windy. Fishing alone on the end of a windy pier had me thinking of Darwin awards and so I returned to the car and back up the coast to St Abb's and the same spot at the harbour mouth.

Very quickly I connected with another couple of Coalfish, much the same as before, the final one reaching 14.5 inches and raising my recent PB half an inch. Fish 8 was on after that, but for the first time of the day, it came off. Very likely to be another Coalie as the fight was similar, tugging, running and staying low, certainly pretending in the water to be a bigger fish than I suspected. After this, things went quiet and a while later pretty much on high tide, I decided to pack it in.

On the road home I passed Torness. Knowing the tide timing wasn't perfect, I thought it was still worth a try. But a quick half hour or so didn't produce anything and it was time to finish up for good.

23/10/2012 - Torness

A numbers game

Time -
Weather -
Water -
Method -
Total -
Species -

For the second night in a row we headed to Torness. H was still in hot pursuit of a Conger whilst I'm still at the stage I'd be quite happy to get bothered by a crab.

On the way to the mark we were treated to the sight of a Barn Owl hunting on the open ground between the sea and the power station. The last time I was in the Holyrood Park Rangers office getting a permit for Duddingston Loch I'd noticed a pile of postcards which were for people to record owl sightings on and send them off so that relevant ornithologists could do whatever they do with the information. On return I looked up the website and duly reported our sighting. Well worth checking out at http://www.barnowl.co.uk/page24.asp .

With a similar rod approach to the previous evening, I'd topped up my Mackerel bait with some squid this time (Both H & J are like a combination of walking tackle & bait shops) whilst H scaled down from full-on Mackerel flappers to slightly less ambitious sized Mackerel baits.

I'd also purchased some small bell bite indicators which meant the requirement to keep a close eye on the bait rods for movement was much less of an issue. As we began lobbing our lures about hoping for another 6lb Pollock, one of H's rods immediately began tinkling.

More prepared than the previous evening, H had brought a drop net and before long I helped him land another surprise (not a Conger or Cod anyway) in the form of a Lesser Spotted Dogfish (photos through link at end of report).

Whilst that was the sum of all catches on the bait rods, I was in hot pursuit of the shoal of Coalfish that could often be seen passing in pursuit of a shoal of sand eels. Using a dropshot/Isome combo I was having some success whilst for once H couldn't quite get the hang of it. With my Coalfish record haul standing at 6 I powered on until I reached double figures taking my total for both evenings to 11. A quick totting up of H's total's made the final score 12-11 to him although two of them were a muckle Pollock and a doggie. Still, better to catch something rather than nothing. I suspect we'll be back in pursuit of Cod 7 Conger soon enough.

H's account of the session and some better photos accessible here.

22/10/2012 - Torness

Time -
Weather -
Water -
Method -
Total -
Species -

H informed me he had three evening sessions in a row planned over at Torness in a bid to break his Conger duck and I was welcome to tag along. We would be fishing at the same spot I'd seen a Cod landed a day or two before so I was more than happy to exponentially increase my very limited sea/bait knowledge.

En route we stopped into Dunbar Harbour to wet our lines and hopefully see the as yet unidentified fish I'd watched on previous outings allowing Hutch to get a proper ID on them.

The shrimp boats were not long in and unloading, creating a bit of a hubbub. As well as plenty of scavenging gulls there were 5 seals in the harbour helping themselves to any unwanted catch.

Before long H was howking out Coalfish, banking 4 in no time whilst I could only explore the infinite variety of ways of missing fish. A bit frustrated it wasn't long before I had him back in the motor and heading to the intended destination.

I was set up with a pennel rig and a Mackerel bait on one rod whilst I'd use a variety of lures on my second rod. H set himself up with two bait rods using Mackerel flappers in a bid to entice a Conger. He also had a lure rod to keep active in between bait takes.

Very soon H was into a fish which turned into a Pollock I estimated at about 6-6.5lb (later weighed in at 5lb 12oz). We were quite high above the water level, but fortunately the fish tired quite soon and muggins was able to scramble down the rocks and lift it out as the waves threatened to sook it down the side of the breakwater blocks. An incredible and very unexpected start to the evening. He followed this up with another slightly above average (for here) Pollock and another couple a bit smaller to finish with 8 fish in total. Despite doing little wrong and even taking his rod and fishing from the same spot as him, I couldn't connect with even a piece of seaweed before eventually coaxing a small Coalfish ashore to avoid the granny.

The bait rods failed to do their job but we did have a couple of taps, H (typically) getting the biggest tickle but finding nothing on the end when he struck.

Whilst I didn't exactly have a great session myself, I was still pleased for H and delighted to see such a braw Pollock making the journey more than worthwhile.

H's account of this session and the one that followed can be viewed here.

20/10/2012 - Torness & Dunbar Harbour

View towards Torness Outflow

Time - 1600-2130
Weather - Lovely
Water - High tide at 1830
Method - Isome jigged & various lures
Total - 5
Species - Coalfish

A free afternoon transpired out of nowhere and I soon decided on a spot of sea fishing. My recent sortie in Dunbar Harbour had intrigued me with a couple of unidentified fish whilst the attendance of small Coalfish would nicely stave off a blank.

A quick text to inform H & J of my intentions with the offer of a lift met with the almost perfect response that they were already at the Torness Outflow if I wanted to join them for a pop at some Bass.

I parked at Skateraw and ignorantly made my way to the Inflow. A quick exchange of texts put me on the right course and I continued along the shore past Torness. A couple of guys were fishing next to the promontory at the power station and reported a Ballan Wrasse on the first cast and nothing since.

On arrival at the outflow there were a good dozen or so anglers having a go. J had already taken a few Bass whilst H had been distracted as usual by the rock pools and their various inhabitants. I set up a rod for each with a small weight and a barbless size 16 with some Isome for the rock pools and a borrowed lure and jighead from J to target a maiden Bass. As they were leaving at 1630 I was left to it against the incoming high tide. It wasn't too long before I snagged the Bass rig and lost it (after a couple of near misses, snags not fish). I had another go with a similar set up using my own tackle but with no success.

The tide was flooding more of the rock pools now and I had a wee explore around them. H had told me they were hoaching with blennies as well as loads of other tiddlers whilst also educating me in the difference between small fish and their equally sized prawns. I found a nice run with the current running gently through it where almost a swarm of little fish congregated in an attempt to get my size 18 in their gob. Only one managed to do so but was off as soon as I lifted it out of the water. Their identities remain unknown.

Codling (not mine)

With the tide almost at its peak and not much space to manoeuvre between the hungry Bass hunters I decided to head back up and have a pop at the Inflow prior to heading to Dunbar Harbour for an evening session. I spoke to the two Anglers at the promontory again who'd had no further success. However as I was there one of their rods started tinkling (they had bell bite indicators attached). The nephew struck and was immediately snagged. However a couple of lusty pulls freed his gear and the fish was still on. It turned out to be a Codling (see pic) taken on a strip of Mackerel.

I left them and had a stab at both sides of the Inflow, as often without success and headed back to the car and onto Dunbar Harbour hoping to investigate these mystery fish from my previous visit.

The bridge in the harbour was still up meaning it would be the town side again, but this was fine. I headed for the harbour mouth and tried Isome along the bottom and a lure on my second rod. With nothing doing I was able to get moving along the harbour wall in pursuit of my mystery fish. While there wasn't a repeat of my 'Wrasse attack', there were plenty of wee Coalies about and the drop/lift method was invoking chases and flashes at the Isome, but few actual takes. Soon enough I had one on the dock. A prawn boat came in and began the process of chucking away it's unwanted take to the waiting seals. Soon a couple of small flatties appeared dozily swimming about in the surface. H informs me these are often thrown back by the prawn boats, hence their surface bewilderment. As before, they didn't show any interest in the Isome.

I was delighted to see the re-appearance of my viparous blenny/gurnard/squid/monster of the deep unidentified fish. Watching the way it propelled itself, although I'm sure it was a fish, J's seemingly leftfield suggestion that it might be a squid was quite startling. It didn't seem to use it's thin tapering tail at all using it's large pectoral fins at the bulkier head end to slowly glide its way around much like you see squid doing.

Although the short film footage isn't great (from a harbour wall at night), I think it gives at least a decent impression of the style of the fish. I've attached it at the end of this post.

As time progressed I fished round towards the drawbridge again finding some interest here and there from small Coalies with most attention coming at the drawbridge wall.

Once the tide turned and there was a visible flow out of the old harbour a massive shoal of small coalies (as it turned out) appeared seemingly chomping their way through any edible detritus exiting through the channel. Lifting and dropping a small shad lure through them provoked loads of interest and I ultimately managed to bank 5 for a personal Coalfish record tally.

07/10/2012 - Torness & Dunbar Harbour

Work of art or Carbuncle?

Time - 1500-2030
Weather - Clear blue skies, slight breeze, temp dropped in evening
Water - A bit of a chop, a bit cloudy
Method - Isome & spoon
Total - 5
Species - Long Spined Sea Scorpion (3), Coalfish (2)

After a week that saw me catch my smallest and biggest rod caught fish, the latter seemingly loosening a newly fitted end eye on one of my spinning rods, then breaking my other spinning rod on Friday, I had a wee rake in my 'rod corner' and decided to press into action a small telescopic rod I'd never used.

Beautiful or just pug ugly?

Straiton Pond was my first consideration, but my leftover maggots didn't look in the best of shape, so I decided to head to the coast where I was recently introduced to LRF rock pool fishing by H using Isome as bait.

Copying a scaling down technique that H uses, instead of using a jighead hook, the only ones I have just now are quite big, I simply tied on a barbless size 16 and attached a weight right at the end of the line. With hardly any casting involved, this allows you to drop the Isome exactly where you want to and makes it easier to 'walk' the worm about in the rock pools as the smaller hook is less likely to snag.

Looking up the coast towards Dunbar

Still without my shades it was difficult to get a good view into some of the spots. Initially all I could see were some really tiny fish, some may even have been prawns, but it wasn't long before the angry little fish appeared. The first one took at the end of my range of vision in a cloudy crevice pool, but left me in no doubt when it basically went off on a run. With my duck broken I was delighted and continued to extract another couple of fish before the incoming tide made things less friendly.

First fish of the day

I decided to have a pop at the Wrasse J has been somewhat obsessed by recently. Still a virgin with this species it was a bit hit and hope as I threw out the same rig I'd used for the rock pools with a couple of extra weights attached. Due to the swell of the tide the line loosens and tightens quite a lot aided by my light set-up which wouldn't be too stationary on the bottom. A couple of times I thought I'd been tapped, but it was too difficult to say for sure whether it was fish or simply the current.

And another

With nothing doing I had a few chucks with a spoon to try and tempt any Mackerel or suchlike, but met no success. As it neared 6pm (high tide around 7pm) I decided to head up to Dunbar Harbour for the last half hour of light to see if I could connect with one of the many flatties I've been reliably informed come into the harbour.

The drawbridge was up stopping me being able to get to the outer side of the harbour so I began right there casting out the Isome and slowly retrieving it to try and entice anything on the bottom.

Just about a perfect day

With no success I opted to go round to the harbour mouth. There was a fishing boat recently in and the crew were dealing with whatever they'd caught. Not long after getting to the harbour mouth, another boat returned and this continued until half a dozen boats were back in the dock. One boat which appeared to be shelling the prawns they'd caught and discarding the shells into the harbour had two or three seals in attendance. Also, since the harbour was 'working', it meant there were a few decent lights on which allowed me to continue for a while longer if required.

At the harbour mouth I began as I'd ended at the drawbridge, casting out the Isome and bringing it slowly back along the bottom to try and find a flatfish. I  began lifting and dropping along the wall when what I expected were wee Coalfish being the culprits I began to feel some interest. They seemed to be taking more on the lift and after a while honing the speed and height and suchlike I managed to bank my first Coalie of the session. In between trying to get another one or two I was distracted by a wee flatfish swimming around the surface obviously feeding on something. I couldn't provoke any interest and when one of my casts proved too accurate it dove down and I didn't see it again. At least there were some about.

Dunbar Harbour at sunset

After a while I began working back around the harbour wall. Just before the 'main' side of the harbour there was a covering of seaweed floating at the high tide mark which provided a canopy that looked perfect for fish to hide beneath. As I dropped the Isome into the water it was immediately hit by a fish of around 12 inches or so that darted from under the weed. I struck, missed and it darted under the seaweed again. With my limited knowledge of the fishes of the sea, I strongly suspected it to be a pretty decent Wrasse. It was bigger than the standard harbour Coalfish and behaved quite differently. As you'd expect I kept at it tempting it out for a tap or a look a few more times, but frustratingly couldn't connect to discover it's identity. Whilst it began by taking as the Isome hit the water, or on the drop, it also had a couple of goes on the lift, and, as the rig left the water altogether. Coalies seem to be most likely to bite only on the lift (using a lift and drop method). This plus my visual id still makes me tend to think it was indeed a Wrasse of some sort, however my much more experienced sounding boards (Schogsky & Hutch) are quite understandably doubtful. And the way a Wrasse is normally felt to bite doesn't quite correlate with my visual experience. All very intriguing.

Continuing into the corner there were Coalies showing an interest using the lift and drop method at a depth out of sight. I clocked another couple of flatties swimming about in the surface steadfastly refusing to show even a flicker of interest in my Isome. I also watched another fish in the surface whose identity is beyond my knowledge. Viewed only from above it roughly resembled the shape of a sea scorpion, around 4-5 inches in length and with most of its bulk at its head, tapering off into a thin tail. It's means of propulsion wasn't its tail, but two large pectoral fins fanning out and easing it through the water in a smooth and constant fashion. After trying to describe this to J & H, the former suggested a gurnard or even a squid whilst H suspected a Viviparous Blenny. I presently have absolutely no idea.

I continued back around the harbour dropping the Isome and drop/lifting it. Every now and again I'd find a hotspot of Coalies and induce plenty of taps, but they seem just a little reluctant to actually hook themselves. I need either bigger or smaller hooks, but will hone my approach in time.