As of yet I have no definite plans for my next trip, the weather is at this point making life a bit tricky. But I am hoping to head out at the weekend. Not only that, since returning here I am feeling positively adventurous and want to try out a few spots I haven’t been to before. I will keep you nice people updated about whether I’ll make it this weekend.

As always I wish you all tight lines and happy angling!

My spinners. Yup I will be the first to admit that I can be a bit dizzy sometimes. Yesterday I forgot to bring my sunblock, which resulted in me looking a bit like a brick. Yes brick…wasn’t a spelling mistake, keep it clean folks ; ) . I was brown to start with, now i have a red tint to it…so I look like a brick.

But back to the fishing. When I got to Tingwall, I went to my usual spot, set up and started fishing. After about five casts I noticed that a few birds were creating a bit of a racket, and flying a touch to close to my head for comfort. Putting my brain in gear, I realised they were nesting close by and didn’t take too kindly to my presence. So I packed up and found a quiet place.

Quiet it was, but also useless. The water was too shallow as the trout would be lying in about six feet of water. Don’t I sound clever. Truth is I was happily fishing that spot for hours on end until a local kindly told me and pointed me in the right direction. A proud moment indeed. But he was right, no sooner had I arrived at his hot spot, when the fish started biting. I caught one very nice looking , but very small brownie, and lost another two. But still I was happy.

Then at 1745 it was time to head down to Hellister to try and tempt something beside trout. When I got there I noticed two things. LOADS of weed and very little water. The loch normally is hardly affected by tide, but yesterday it was very low. Oh well never mind I thought and set up. First cast produced nothing but weed. The second was a bit better, weed and a crab. Getting a bit fishy now I thought to myself, and cast out again.

This time my rod rattled enough to re-assure me it wasn’t a crab. So I started reeling in what I was hoping would be a good fish. What I got instead was an eel. Now don’t get me wrong I was pleased, I haven’t caught one of those little blighters since I was twelve. But they do have two serious drawbacks. Firstly they are without a doubt the slimiest creation ever, and second they turn your rig into a tangled slimey mess.

Having not planned on encountering an eel I had no designated rag with which to grab it with, so my handrag was used. The eel itself wasn’t huge, and after untangling it from the rig, itself and me, I sent it on it’s way. So I rebaited and cast out again, but nothing for another half hour. Then my rod bounced again. I was hoping, praying it would not be another eel…but it was. Size wise it could have been the first ones twin, so untangle, wipe down, sent on it’s way.

Rod out once more, the bait had just settled when it yet again sprang into life. By now I could spot an eel take a mile away, and was already cursing softly under my breath. But then I felt the weight, this one was definetely bigger than the last ones. I do like a smoked eel. So having gotten in on land I decided that I would keep this one to add to my “Fish 2 be smoked” collection.

By this time it was almost time to pack up and head home, so I packed one rod up and cast the other one out. Which didn’t hang around for too long before it did a wee jig. It didn’t look like an eel bite, so I was looking forward to seeing what I had aquired. Well it wasn’t the most exciting fish, but still it was a nice looking flounder. And since I am a bit short on flounders for my smoker it went into the bag. After that I decided to call it a day, a good day I would say.

Well I hope you enjoyed my wee story. As always I wish you tight lines and happy angling.

The main reason why I went was to catch some mackerel. Yes I know, most of you think of them as bait, but I actually enjoy targeting  these little critters. Pound for pound they fight as hard as any fish. And I did hope to maybe use one of the excess fish as bait and see what else was swimming about.

So on my second day there, the first having been spent in the pub saying hello to old friends, I set off into the hills to a mark that I had fished a couple of years ago with good results. It does involve some yomping across the hills and glens but I was determined to have barbecued mackerel for my tea. As it turns out the midge were determined to have me for their tea, and the fish were determined not to be anywhere near me.

After several hours all I had to show for having trundled around the countryside were severel thousand midge bites and half a ton of weed. And the prospect of once again being a walking dinner buffet for ticks and midge. So as a reward I thought I’d stop off at the pub. Speaking to folk there that I know go mackerel fishing almost religiously, I asked if they had any yet. The reply was heartening, yes they had seen them. Way out , outside the mouth of the loch.

So I had a day off from fishing, partly due to giving the fish time to come into the loch, partly because I had the hangover from hell.

The next day I took a little trip down the pier to see if I could see any movement. But alas nothing stirred. Okay back to base and try to come up with an alternative plan. So the mackerel hadn’t arrived, but I was convinced there were other fish about. And just to prove my point, a nice looking sea trout rose to take a midge ten metres away from me. The words salt, wound, into and rub came to mind. So I decided to go and dig myself some nice lugworm the day after.

At low tide (funnily enough) I set off to aquire some lugworm. Spade in hand I walked the short journey to the beach and dug my bait. With a nice tub full of these black monsters, I returned to the cottage. Next dilemma was where to try them out. Back where I went the first time or try someplace else? I decided to give somewhere else a chance. Yet another expedition into tick and midge country, just to find the shore line I had picked was rather…ehm…inaccessible. Bloody deer fences!

So yomp back to the cottage and think again. Robert the Bruce had nothing on me! It was now fairly late in the day and I hadn’t even gotten my line wet yet. Out of desperation I went to the pier, baited up my worms and chucked one out. No fish seemed to like them, but the crabs were very grateful. On the way back to base I walked past the pub. You can never walk past it without somebody asking how you got on. This time it was the man who dives for scallops for the pub. He kindly told me that he hasn’t seen a fish down there for about a decade.

This fishing holiday turned quickly into a pub holiday. Not what I had in mind. SO the next day was taken off again, to give these blasted mackerel time to arrive.

Then I remembered…I still had those worms. And I didn’t want to have gotten my blisters digging for them for nothing. So once more I strode off into the countryside, to try and catch my dinner and get shot off the remainder of my worms. I found a nice little beach, assembled my rod and let a nice juicy bunch of worms go flying. And….NOTHING! Some good clumps of weed and some happy crabs, but no fish. Quietly sobbing to myself I went home. On the way home I managed to trap a nerve in my back, this truly was turning into the best holiday ever.

Staggering home I realised that I was now unable to cast, since even just breathing in deeply was painful. And with my holiday quickly drawing to an end all I could hope for was that either my back would sort itself out quickly…or that the bloody fish wouldn’t show up. I would not be happy being crippled and the waters teeming with fish.

As it turns out, my back didn’t sort itself out quickly AND the fish never came. So now I am wondering if I might not be better of knitting. But I know that can never be me, until the bitter end I shall be a fisherman.

So I hope you all caught lots of fish in my absence, and I wish you tight lines and happy angling for the future.

So until I return I wish you all tight lines and happy angling.

I arrived at about 1800hrs, and was faced with a bit of a breeze. So my favourite spot was out of the window. So I picked one with the wind in my back, and got myself all set up and sorted. As well as my homemade rigs I also wanted to try out the blueys I had recieved from Bait and Tckle Centre.

I had read some good things about them, and of course some bad things too. So I decided to make up my own mind. One rod would fish the blueys, the other would be the usual squid and mackerel set up. Both were cast in roughly the same direction and to the same distance. Now to settle down and see what the fish thought of my bait…and rigs.

The first rod to rattle was, drum roll….the one with the bluey on it. But the glory was immediately whipped away from it as the other rod started bouncing almost at the same time. Oh good, two rods with fish on…and only one fisherman. So I picked the rod with the mackerel and squid combo, and started reeling in. 

By the curve in my rod and the fight I was getting, I thought I was into a HUGE fish. As I eventually managed to get my line back, I could see the fish, BOTH of them. I had managed to bag myself a nice double shot of coalies on my homemade 2 hook flapper. RESULT. Quickly taking a picture of the two hooligans I sent them on their way.

Then I retrieved my bluey bait on the other rod. Or rather I retrieved a shiny empty hook. A good sign I reckoned. So both rods quickly re-baited and sent out again. The bluey rod rattled, and I went about hooking whatever there was on it. It seemed like an average coalfish, but I will never know, as it managed to wriggle itself free.

This pattern was to repeat itself for the whole session, the only difference was that the only flatfish I caught went for the mackerel and squid cocktail. But all in all it was fairly evenly matched. So in future I would use blueys again they do catch, but then again so do mackerel and squid. I think it’s more to do with personal choice than catch ratio. 

I have posted some pictures of my catches, but since the majority were coalfish I felt that 8 pictures of fish that looked like they had been cloned, might get a little dull.

As always I wish you all tight lines and happy angling.

And sure enough within an hour of me arriving at the loch, a nasty easterly wind had started sweeping across.Bringing along it’s nasty friend, pouring rain, making my already miserable experience just that little bit worse. Already miserable experience? I hear you ask. Yes, already miserable. Clickimin is a loch no more, but instead a giant weed patch disguised as a loch.

Every cast there were green things hanging off my spinner. To avoid that problem you had to raise your rod right up, and retrieve like Billy’O. And it didn’t look like there were any trout interested in sprinting after my surface popping spinner.

But as I had some time to kill, and it was still too early for the pub, I stayed. Cast after cast, nothing but green slime. It’s a good job I am so patient, or I might have thrown a wobbler. I was a bit surprised at the lack of visual evidence to prove that there was any fish activity. Even before the wind got up, only one fish rose to have a bash at the hordes of midge and other beasties floating about.

But then all of a sudden, as I was retrieving for the thousandth time, I could see that my spinners trebble was not empty. Result! As I hoisted the ferocious fish out of the water, I wondered…How many guys can honestly claim to have caught a three spined stickle back, on a size threeMepps Comet? The hook was bigger than the fish! So I quickly managed to get the little fellow off my hook and back in the water.

And despite having been impaled on my hook the wee trooper just swam away. Truly an inspiring sight. But other than my PB stickleback, I caught absolutely nothing. Though the midge had a field day with me.

Until next time, tight lines and happy angling.

Griesta:

When I arrived, I could see that weed would be a BIG problem. But I decided to give it a bash anyway, if i could find a relatively weed free spot. Which eventually I did right at the other end from where i arrived. Can’t beat a good bit of exercise. So I sent my spinner flying out, and prepared myself to harvest weed.

But I didn’t I really had found a relatively weed free bit. And by the third cast I was into a fish, which you can admire on my Fish page. This was a good turn up for the books. After that I decided to cast a few more times then move on, I always like to explore a new loch on the first session.

So I walked to the opposite bank, and cast out a few more times. The first thing I noticed was the difference in the water. On this bank it was less weedy but a lot more spores in the water. And visibility. But apparently the trout here had bionic eyes, a quick bite told me that another trout took a fany to my mepps spinner. But unfortunately he didn’t like the taste of metal, and quickly buggered off.

By now there was absolutely no breeze and the midge were trying to eat me alive. And with the strong presence of the wee beasties the trout started to rise. And there were some really good sized ones amongst them. But unfortunately the flies distracted the fish from my hard efforts of spinning. I gave it another hour then moved to the next loch.

Tingwall:

I decided to fish a different spot to my usual location and moved onto the holm. This is ment to be a nice little hotspot, and I could see the fish jumping. I was not too bothered if I caught a fish here, as this was really just a way to kill time before I got picked up. But a fish will always be welcome. A few casts, a few bits of weed…then finally a fish.

He was unfortunately a lot smaller than the one I had already caught at Griesta, so a quick picture was taken (also on the Fish page) and he was sent on his merry way. And I moved down to where the car park was to make pickup easier. All the while I saw good sized trout rising to gorge on the midge.

Which brings me to my realization of the week… I really need to learn to fly fish. I think I could have caught a lot more on the fly. So I’ll add that to my to do list. I hoped you enjoyed my account of my latest expedition. 

As always I wish you all tight lines and happy angling.

Which luckily is only a 5 minute walk. How lucky am I? My rod was already set up, including new line onmy reel after yesterdays disaster. I have learned my lesson! Got to the lochside and started walking til I got to my marker that tells me where the underwater obstructions stop. By this time I had already seen a few trout rise for the abundance of midge.

But as I have learned from previous trips here, there is no point casting at the far side of the loch. It’s quite shallow and the floor is littered with rocks. I have lost untold amount of spinners there. Anyway after about 30 minutes I had a good bite, and struck into the fish. The fight wasn’t sensational, but it did get me in the mood. The fish was rquite small, so i quickly un hooked it and sent it on it’s merry way, after having taken it’s picture of course.

I carried on walking, all the time keeping my eye on the water, lot’s of fish rising. Which is good in a way, but I was starting to think that maybe today metal spinners were off most fishes menu. I needn’t have worried, it didn’t take long for me to get into my second fish. But alas he was even smaller than the first. But strikingly coloured. I didn’t take his photo because he was so small, and I really just wanted to get him back into the water.

By this time I had pretty much walked round most of the loch, and had arrived at another one of my little hotspots. And true to form it didn’t dissapoint, within 10 minutes a good rattle of my rod told me that another trout had opted for the metal spinner instead of the juicy midge. And by the feel of it, it was a good sized fish. Well good sized for Maywick at least.

I managed to convince it to come to the shore so I could unhook it. So I finally got to see what I had caught. Woo hoo! A trout that was bang on minimum size (10 inches), which is a first for me at this loch. But I have my own minimum size limit and it’s more than 10 inches so the wee fella would go back.

Easier said than done though. He must have been starving, the way he had taken my spinner made getting it out quite a task. After which I really just had to get him back into the water, no time for pictures. Which was a shame. But now I know there is at least one good sized fish in there for next season. After that I pretty much just headed home. A good day was had and cups of coffee were calling.

Well as always I wish you all tight lines and happy angling.

Okay having gotten my apology out of the way, let’s get to the reason for my silly title.

Yesterday I was fishing at Clickimin loch. Now when I first came here, I really liked the loch as it’s only a 5 min walk from the town. So when I have things to do in the town, I can just go fish when I’m done. And the fish in that loch are delicious. As it has access to the sea there are small shrimp like critters in it, which makes the trout a nice shade of pink on the inside.

But as I am sure I have mentioned before, it does weed up quickly. And after my trip yesterday I think it’s safe to say that it won’t be much longer til it becomes unfishable again. I arrived at the loch at just gone 1030 hrs, and quickly set up my rod. I decided to trawl my way round the loch to a little hotspot I have discovered.

The first half of the loch was hard work, every second cast I had to peel weed of my spinner. I hate doing that. Once I reached the middle of the loch it became a bit less weedy, but still not great. By this time I could feel my spirit sink, not so much because I hadn’t had a bite yet but just because I was starting to have a bad feeling about the venue.

Anyways an hour and a half later I had arrived at my little hotspot, and was doing my usual half clockface casts. I was there for maybe half an hour when finally a fish exploded into my spinner. Yes I said exploded. It happened maybe 5 metres from the shore and all I  could see was a flash of silver and purple. I was a bit stunned for a second but still managed to tighten my line and strike into the fish.

So far so good, then disaster struck. There must have been a hair line cut in my line. Because as the fish jumped I heard a frightening and disgusting sound…my line gave. I stood rooted to the spot for maybe 5 minutes. This may sound pathetic but I had a hard job not to burst out crying. From what I had seen of the fish it was the biggest I had caught all season.

So once I had got my need to blubber under control, I quickly set up again, new spinner on and off I went. Result? NOTHING! Not a bite or nibble for the rest of the session. And I walked right round the loch, desperate to catch at least one fish to ease the pain. Oh well, next time.

But an important lesson was learned: Check your line before you go out, when you get there and every other cast. I wouldn’t want what happened to me to happen to anybody.

So until next time tight (and in working order) lines and happy angling.

It was quite a pleasant evening, I arrived at Hellister loch shortly after 1800hrs. It was still bright day light and in my experience this loch fishes best when your ledgering at dusk and when it’s dark. So i decided to kill some time and have a wee bash at spinning it. have never tried it there before but had been told it can produce quite well when spinning from the south east corner.

Well it didn’t produce for me that day, and after an hour i decided to make my way to where I was going to set up proper. Which was over towards the nort west corner, which meant a shortish yomp through the bog that surrounds this loch. As it was still quite bright I was in no hurry to get there, and enjoyed the view on the way.

Once there I set up at a leisurely pace. For this trip I had decided to use both the Espirit and the Beastmaster and give them a bit of a side by side comparisson. By the time the rods were rigged and baited up dusk was just starting to kick in.

The Espirit was cast in the direction of the little hut on the south end of the loch and the Beastmaster straight out from where I was stood. Casting wise I felt that I could abuse the Espirit a little bit more as it seems to have a stiffer tip. But both rods pretty much achieved the same sort of distance. There was a bit of a northerly breeze which caught my rods and made them bob. Again the Espirit was less affected due to it’s stiffer tip.

After about half an hour there was the first knock of the session, and it was on my Beastmaster. The rod showed the bite superbly, and there was no question whether it was a fish or the wind. So I started to reel in until I felt the fish, then struck into it. If the bite hadn’t already told me who had taken a shine to my bait  then the way the fish was fighting definitely did…Coalfish.

The rod really handled the fish well, and I felt in charge at all times. So a short scrap later i beached a pretty little Coalfish at around the pound mark. Good start I thought. But was dismayed to see the fish had the hook lodged in it’s gills and was bleeding heavily. I removed the hook and got the fish back to the water as fast as I could. I must have spent half an hour trying to get the wee fella to swim away. Unfortunately he never did and is now resting in my freezer.

having rebaited both rods out they went again, pretty much into the same direction. And….nothing. The sun was by now starting to sink over the hills opposite me and it was deathly quiet. But the colours of the sky were stunning and distracted me from the fact that I hadn’t caught a fish in a while.

But then once again my Beastmaster rattled. Another Coalfish thought that my mackerel and squid cocktail looked to good to be passed by. Once again the Beastmaster lived up to it’s name and mastered the fish. Okay so the fish was no beast but he put up a good fight. Again another fish at around one pound. I took a quick picture and then let him swim off to grow into something bigger.

Although no monster fish were caught, I am glad to have caught some fish that were a bit bigger than my recent efforts with the trout. Which I will have another bash at tomorrow at Clickimin loch, so wish me luck.

As always tight lines and happy angling.