Bait gathering in style

Well after an aborted attempt a couple of weeks ago due to the weather Gordon invited me out on his boat to fill up the freezer with mackerel for bait and maybe a cod or two.

Zooming over to Anstruther harbour after work I met Gordon and we were soon on the way. After a few fruitless drifts to see if there were any coddies about Gordon took us out to deeper water to get some mackies. They were still about in large numbers taking only 2 seconds to drop the hooks down to have them filled. Only 5 mins or so and there were about 60 mackies aboard. 120 nice fillets for bait to be frozen down.

Gordon then moved back to ground that he thought should hold as cod or two despite the small tides. Not the busiest trip bar the mackies but no blank for either of us. A wee suicidal coalie for Gordon and a 2lb odd codling for me.

Light fading we made our way back to Anstruther. Nice couple of hours blethering with Gordon and heading home with a cool box full of bait which I bagged up in to hand session sized portions. Thanks again to Gordon.

Sea scorpions ago-go

I decided on a wee trip over to Anstruther harbour yesterday with the LRF gear to see what was about. I think I got the last parking space in the town as I arrived to find some sort of gala day setting up and the red pier carpark closed. As I'd gone at lowtide I went as planned to the rocks over the back of the harbour. Even over low there was a reasonable amount of water in which to work in. Proven style of choice was dropshot rig with isome and a size 14 hook (not aiming for monsters lol). The wind was stronger than forecast and had more south in it as well, so there was little or no shelter under the harbour wall.

Still I thought have a few casts and see what happens. A bed of kelp and boulders was the ground a first cast I quickly had a wee tap tap on the lure as it worked back. A wee draw back then settle and I could feel a hook up. I love the sensitivity of the Tronix Rockfish UL. Every wee bump and snag on the bottom can be felt and distinguished from the gentle tap of a small fish. In this case a Long Spined Sea Scorpion which went bananas, tiny though so quickly landed, unhooked, a quick pic and put back.

Who you looking at???

This was the pattern for the next hour as I landed a LSSS every 2-3 casts all very similar in sized and with similar patterns. Ugly wee beggars but I love catching an photographing them. A couple were buzzing as I unhooked them which I had never experienced before. It was fairly vibrating in my hand. Not sure if this is  something anyone else has experienced or a common threat response?

I did get a more interestingly coloured one but the vibrant reds I saw in hand haven't come out in the picture unfortunately. The tail and pelvic fins especially were really lovely colours.

Towards the end of my wee session I started getting loads of wee coalies/pollock. I can never tell them apart when they are that small. They provided a wee bit more entertainment before I packed up and went my merry way.

Quick report: Cellardyke 13-07-13

With the lovely weather continuing I decided to take the LRF rods over to Cellardyke harbour to try to winkle out some blennies. I'd PM'd Dykerboy and found him already fishing when I arrived.

The conditions weren't best for the light gear as the temp had dropped a lot and the wind was getting up I was bloody cold in shorts and t-shirt as it was about 10 degrees colder than the morning. Not busy fishwise from the start with almost no bites at all. Dykerboy was fishing lug into the harbour for flatties and I persevered with the lures. After about an hour Dykerboy had a thick flattie of a pound or so. I looked like a brick lol.

Dykerboy had to head off shortly afterwards to wine and dine his wife for her birthday (hope you had a good night).

The wind was a real pain for the light lures so I decided to give myself another half hour before I packed up and went home. Good decision as a few casts later with the Rockfish Ultra Light my wee blenny lure was smashed.

Hmm not a blenny that's for sure. Rod bent double and me hoping that the size 10 hook was up to the task. As the lure was hit right under the harbour wall I could see a wrasse zipping about. It felt like I'd hooked a monster due to the light rod a 4lb braid I was using, really great sport. After a wee anxious moment or two I got it under control and landed it, very glad it was high tide so there wasn't much of a distance to get it up.

Very happy as it's my first wrasse, a species that for some reason has alluded me for some reason till now. Next sunny day I'll be back to try to get the blennies as well.

St Andrews

After not getting out for a wee dangle of hooks for over three weeks I was set to get out this Friday. -high tide around 8 p.m. and a weather forecast of little wind a some rain. Well the tide was right lol, bright shies high could no rain and a fair gusty wind from the SE.

Just my second trip to St Andrews pier with the last being a flounder fest I was hopeful for a few fish. Two main rods out off the pier end one left to the rockier stuff and one a bit right onto sand plus the mini species rod just over the side of the pier wall. Nothing for the first half hour or so until my mini species rod buckled immediately after a re-bait. It is an extremely light rod so I knew it was nothing massive but certainly not a blenny lol. Soon a double hook up of two wee pollock appeared. Released then rebaited and again almost immediately another slightly larger single pollock appeared. Not exactly ground breaking big fish but pretty fun on the light rod whilst I waited on something to take on the big rods and there were the usual progression of folk coming for a chat to break the time.


Not long to wait for a thumping bite on my left rod over the rocky ground, strike, hook up and I thought I'd missed as I cold feel no weight on the line until I saw the unsightly sea scorpion coming in. Must be a very powerful fish for its size as it weighed next to nothing but its bite was that of a much bigger fish. Ugly beggar but my 18th species of the year :)

Fairly quickly afterwards my other big rod went and there was a wee bit of weight on it this time and a couple of thumps on the rod on the way in, up the pier side and a nice plump flounder about a lb.

I stayed another couple of hours but that was it on the fish front, not even another bites just three bait robbing crabs.

Looking forward to a Jedi trip west next weekend, hopefully something a bit bigger :)

Wormit again 04-06-2011

Bait - prawn

Rigs - flappers - 2, 1 &; 1/0 hooks
Tide - Low to High
Place - Wormit Bay


Driving over the Tay Bridge to the Kingdom of Fife once again this morning for a bit of fishing at Wormit. I was going just before low tide, knowing that I wouldn't be able to fish for a couple of hours as the tide was too far out. But had a wee walk along the waters edge in mind to scout the lay of the land a bit further afield.

 I particularly wanted to walk along to a derelict pier and build I have often looked at from round the bay but have never before gone to look at.

I was glad I did as I found a few promising fishing spots along the way and when I finally got the the pier and building  I was intrigued as to the structures and what purpose they might once  have served as there did not seem to be any road or track leading to them from the farmland to their rear.

 I stopped walking and turned back to the car when I got the a headland where the shingle strip I was walking on next to the estuary mud started running out and I didn't fancy stepping anywhere near the thick gloopy mud!

Did take one last photo from the walk though.

So back to the car it was for a quick coffee and then it was fishing time.

 Short walk along the bay to a sport where the water was close in and two baited rods out quick smart. One close and one further out.  Just after I had my rods set up Grumpa arrived with Jonty followed shortly by Sultzer. 

I have to say I was pretty guilty of neglecting my rods in favour of a chinwag so it was a bit of a surprise when I reeled in to change the bait to find a reasonable 25cm flounder. Blank off first cast again for the second time this week.

Nice lively fish that seemed to have a bite mark on its back. From another fish??? Back it went to the river to plumb up and be caught another day.

Everyone else quickly followed suit with similar sized fish. Grumpa and Sultzer also landed another couple of flounders. 

Time to change bait again and I ended up with a similar result of a fish on that I hadn't seem bite. I could tell that this was a better fish as it was not happy about coming in. I landed my best flounder to date of 32cm and around the lb mark. The greedy beggar had taken both 1/0 hooks on my rig with a king prawn on each!

Quite soon I had to go and left Grumpa And Sultzer fishing. Both had been getting a few good bites just before I left but had only added a couple of postage stamp sized flounders to the catch list. Hopefully things picked up again after I left.