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Got back yesterday from my annual trip to the mull.
To say the weather was mixed is an understatement, some glorious sunny days, but some days of horizontal rain. As a result, the fishing really wasn't up to much, so if you're expecting loads of pics of fish, you're going to be disappointed lol.
Started the week as I always do, plugging for bass. The first thing I notice was the huge amount of weed sitting on the hightide line. I was told they had a big easterly sea the week before and that is what caused it. Anyway, I didn't get one take although seen a couple break the surface so they were there.
The Mull
When I could, I got over the west side to try a couple of the Pollack marks. I mainly fished jellies and lead heads, although I did throw out the launce feathers and got a few straightaway, big 9-10 inch fish. These were put live on the float and lobbed out. The Pollack love them, some with eyes bigger than their bellies....
Fishing was slow for Pollack though, I got maybe 10 fish in the 3 trips I managed, disappointing really as they were really good marks, although the conditions were touch and go at times.
I tried for smoothies with Fresh crab on the evening flood tides but never got a sniff, just the usual dogs. There were plenty of Mullet about though, feeding in the shallows.
On the Friday, the weather changed for the worse, a howling southerly wing and torrential rain. The previously flat calm Luce bay looked a totally different place, with white water all over. But it does mean Bass from the beach.
My mate Kev, who lives up there, picked me up at 7.30pm in his 4x4 and we drove onto the beach at Sandhead. We spent 20 minutes digging enough bait for a couple of hours, then drove along the beach to the Bass mark. The weather was terrible, horizontal rain, but the beach look good, lots of surf, lots of gullies and a good chance of bass - something to cross off my fishing bucket list, getting a bass from a surf beach.
The fishing here just involves finding the gullies and casting into them, normally no more than 50 yards. It wasn't long before Kev got the first fish of about 2.5- 3lb. I responded with a nice flattie (trust me!) until the bite I'd waited for came. Tip straight over and then slack line. To be honest, it swam all the way in, so I didn't get much fight out of it, but it was my first surf Bass! I had one other big lunge that never came back, and so with the light fading and tide flying in, it was back for a well earned pint.
What a way to fish though, beats the way we do it over here!
So it came to the last day. The plan was I'd try another Pollack mark during the flood, then we'd be out in Kev's boat over low water later in the evening for Tope. The forecast was SW force 5 dying later on in the day, so the boat trip looked good. I went to a mark South of Port Logan for a couple of hours, but it was hard with the wind in your face and a growing sea. Not surprisingly, it was struggle, so I decided to pack up and head over to a bass mark on the east side and try over high water plugging. The bay looked perfect, clear water, no weed....
but after 2 hours, I didn't have one rise so decided to go back to the digs and hope that the wind died off.
We launched from Sandhead and after a quick stop for mackerel (which were all over), it was off to the tope mark with me having the great job of preparing the bag of rubby dubby.
We got there, anchored up and put the bag out. One rod was baited with half a mackerel, the other rod was baited with a live joey. On top of this, Kev had brought frozen crab for the smoothies. For the next hour and a half, it was constant bites. Doggies, Smoothies and a nice thornie to Kev, but unfortunately not a sniff from the tope.
The thorny is actually standing on its wings!
But as soon as the light started to fade, the bites stopped like someone flicked a switch. We packed up and headed into the sunset for a pint or two.
Roll on 2016!
To say the weather was mixed is an understatement, some glorious sunny days, but some days of horizontal rain. As a result, the fishing really wasn't up to much, so if you're expecting loads of pics of fish, you're going to be disappointed lol.
Started the week as I always do, plugging for bass. The first thing I notice was the huge amount of weed sitting on the hightide line. I was told they had a big easterly sea the week before and that is what caused it. Anyway, I didn't get one take although seen a couple break the surface so they were there.
The Mull
When I could, I got over the west side to try a couple of the Pollack marks. I mainly fished jellies and lead heads, although I did throw out the launce feathers and got a few straightaway, big 9-10 inch fish. These were put live on the float and lobbed out. The Pollack love them, some with eyes bigger than their bellies....
Fishing was slow for Pollack though, I got maybe 10 fish in the 3 trips I managed, disappointing really as they were really good marks, although the conditions were touch and go at times.
I tried for smoothies with Fresh crab on the evening flood tides but never got a sniff, just the usual dogs. There were plenty of Mullet about though, feeding in the shallows.
On the Friday, the weather changed for the worse, a howling southerly wing and torrential rain. The previously flat calm Luce bay looked a totally different place, with white water all over. But it does mean Bass from the beach.
My mate Kev, who lives up there, picked me up at 7.30pm in his 4x4 and we drove onto the beach at Sandhead. We spent 20 minutes digging enough bait for a couple of hours, then drove along the beach to the Bass mark. The weather was terrible, horizontal rain, but the beach look good, lots of surf, lots of gullies and a good chance of bass - something to cross off my fishing bucket list, getting a bass from a surf beach.
The fishing here just involves finding the gullies and casting into them, normally no more than 50 yards. It wasn't long before Kev got the first fish of about 2.5- 3lb. I responded with a nice flattie (trust me!) until the bite I'd waited for came. Tip straight over and then slack line. To be honest, it swam all the way in, so I didn't get much fight out of it, but it was my first surf Bass! I had one other big lunge that never came back, and so with the light fading and tide flying in, it was back for a well earned pint.
What a way to fish though, beats the way we do it over here!
So it came to the last day. The plan was I'd try another Pollack mark during the flood, then we'd be out in Kev's boat over low water later in the evening for Tope. The forecast was SW force 5 dying later on in the day, so the boat trip looked good. I went to a mark South of Port Logan for a couple of hours, but it was hard with the wind in your face and a growing sea. Not surprisingly, it was struggle, so I decided to pack up and head over to a bass mark on the east side and try over high water plugging. The bay looked perfect, clear water, no weed....
but after 2 hours, I didn't have one rise so decided to go back to the digs and hope that the wind died off.
We launched from Sandhead and after a quick stop for mackerel (which were all over), it was off to the tope mark with me having the great job of preparing the bag of rubby dubby.
We got there, anchored up and put the bag out. One rod was baited with half a mackerel, the other rod was baited with a live joey. On top of this, Kev had brought frozen crab for the smoothies. For the next hour and a half, it was constant bites. Doggies, Smoothies and a nice thornie to Kev, but unfortunately not a sniff from the tope.
The thorny is actually standing on its wings!
But as soon as the light started to fade, the bites stopped like someone flicked a switch. We packed up and headed into the sunset for a pint or two.
Roll on 2016!
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