Getting Damp for Dabs

When Burnie from Shoreangler posted he was heading out again after some dabs I asked if he minded me tagging along. We agreed to meet in Montrose and then on to the mark.

Burnie had dug some fresh rag and we both had some frozen mackerel as bait and were using two hook flapper rigs. I decided to fish just the one rod for a laid back easy session whilst Burnie fished the two rods.

Bites came thick and fast as soon as the tide turned and started flooding, with Burnie struggling to keep two rods going at times.
The first hour was bone dry, then a bit of drizzle followed by an hour downpour. I'd brought a waterproof jacket but decided not to bother with the waterproof breeks. Big mistake as I was quickly soaking from the knees down and called it a day as my wellies started to fill up with rain water.

Still we landed a good amount of fish with me managing 9 and Burnie over 20. Burnie managed the numbers of fish and I had a slightly better average size. Burnie also managed to land 3 or 4 small flounders along with the dabs. Nice wee spot I'd love to try into darkness on the flood.

Loch Leven

After fishing Loch Linnhe the night before with the big rods I decided to fish the old slate barge moorings behind Loch Leven hotel on the way home next morning with the LFR gear. In contrast with the night before there wasn't a breath of wind and the sky was mostly blue. Lovely you think well the little Scottish vampires were out in force and I look like I have measles this morning with all the bites, especially my wrists for some reason.

Still in for a penny and all that, I spent a few hours winkling out some micros. Lots of Poor Cod falling to isome.

And the best fish of this session a small codling falling to a pink HTO Knight Worm. Though I was going to lose it as it went like stink on the small rod.

I was hoping for some wrasse, pollock or trout but none showed themselves before I beat retreat due to the midgies.

Loch Linnhe

Headed straight up to Loch Linnie on Friday night after work to fish the tide two down and three up ove from Corran Ferry. I thought the traffic would be hellish due to the bank holiday but the roads were pretty good thankfully barely a caravan in sight. 

On arrival the wind was stronger than forecast and straight in my face, but after considering a move I decided to set up as the wind was consistent and not very gusty. Quickly set up and baits in the water wind was hampering casts but not hellishly. I was just using mackie and squid cocktails as I had thought I had bluey in the freezer but was wrong. First fish came first cast a wee thornie with nice patterning, quickly followed by a tiny doggie.


Unfortunately the second catch was the way things continued. Things went quiet after the first catches until the tide turned and then it was a doggie a cast. I only lost two traces all night, one to a crack off and one to a snag and I think I lost a reasonable thornie to the snag.

I could have fished on but was getting a bit sick of the constant doggies but it was still a good busy session even if I'd have rathered more thornies.

Little Loney LSSS

Went out to the rocks for the first time in 2014 for some lrf fun but as the title suggests it was not the busiest session ever. Still an enjoyable afternoon clambering the rocks in the East Neuk. I was hoping to see a lot of activity but there was almost none. No sea birds nothing and that was the same on the fish front other than a single sea scorpion beating the blank.

Loch Etive Shoreangler meet

I had been looking forward to this for a while, meeting up with old friends and folk I only ever chat to online. Unfortunately the day dawned and there was strong wind and rain forecast all weekend. Several folk had been out since the night before and a few spurdogs and thornies had been caught. People had traveled from North, South, East and West of Scotland and all told about 20+ people appeared.

Malky and his weedfish

After a few cups of coffee and some fishy tales most got round to the main point of the meet i.e. fishing, which was initially uneventful other than the wind trying to blow everyone's rods over and and Malky breaking in his new zippex with a mighty weed fish. Just as the wind was picking up and everyone deciding to run in smaller groups to more sheltered areas Big Spurrie land what would turn out to be a Scottish Record tub Gurnard (still to be officially confirmed) which was only one of two fish landed at this point. At a little over 2lb 7oz it is a belter from the shore.



Five of us moved round to the south side of the loch to settle in for the evening. A lovely spot with just enough room for 5-6 people, fairly strong current and casting into approx. 40-50ft. A bit snaggy with weed on retrieval but nothing very bad.

Quite quickly Rossco had a smallish Spur dog and Garsi a couple of small thornies. Always grand to fish next to Malky as he grumbles away to himself contemplating a blank.

There came quite a quiet spell as high tide came and went, darkness fell and it wasn't until mid-tide down that I broke my own duck with a smallish thornie of 3lbs or so that came in quickly and wasn't even hooked as it spat the bait out as I turned to unhook it. Lucky to land it but it must've been determined to snack on the squid and bluey cocktail. A couple of casts later I'd not noticed any bites but felt a large weight when I started reeling in to re-bait. There was no noticeable movement on the line so I assumed it was the usual lump of passing weed attached to the sinker. Still it was coming in albeit slowly and with a lot of extra effort to get it through the weed bed in front of the mark. It was still 20 or so feet out when I saw the tell tale flash of the white underside of a wing in my head torch to show another thornie. A fair bit bigger than the last and also very thick but unfortunately no scale with me so not sure of the weight but certainly around 6lb I'd think. Not massive but a decent fish.

Malkie still hadn't broken his blank and at that point we gave it two more casts before calling it a night at about 1 a.m. Still time for one last fish for me in the form of a bonus doggie.