kayos
Well-known member
Well much excitement for our first summer session at Blairmore Pier on Loch Long. Alarm sounded at 650am with Lynn in charge of the cooked breakfast, me the picnic. Caught the ferry to Dunoon at 820am and arrived at Blairmore at 930am for an 11am high tide. Breezy but sunny with a pleasant temperature and most importantly, the place to ourselves!
Tackle - 9 ft spinning rods, fixed spool reels and 60gr dexter wedges.
We weren't sure if the mackerel would be showing as the start of June is usually too early for the Clyde, however after about 20 mins I managed 2 mackerel in a row, too small to keep, but great to know they were there. The next half hour produced nothing, so time for a coke, a cigarette and a few pictures. Lynn carried on.
It really is a lovely spot to fish from. The pier is now owned by a trust and they have raised a lot of money to restore it to its former glory.
They have also refurbished the old ticket office, which is now a beautiful rental cottage, absolutely lovely, a fantastic plot, waking to a fantastic vista.
Anyway, I digress, back to the fishing. Around 11am, bang on high tide, Lynn brings in her first mackerel of the season and a much better size than my two earlier. So I grab my rod and for the next hour and a half it's pretty much a fish a cast. Not the biggest we have ever caught, but great fun on light tackle. We must have had around thirty, of which over half were shaken off the hook to fight another day.
I was thinking about cracking out the beach caster and using some mackerel for bait, however about 1230pm 4 young lads turned up, plus a family of four from the nearby caravan site. We had some pleasant chat with them and thoughts of the heavy gear coming out were put on hold. Having had a great morning and getting rather peckish, we decided to pack up our gear and give them the run of the pier. The mackerel had gone off the boil a bit, but the new arrivals caught a few before we wandered up the pier and had our picnic on the tables and chairs outside the shut cafe!
The sign said : Open Tues/Weds/Thurs. Obviously it isn't their main source of income! What a waste of a lovely cafe and so typical of rural Scotland!
We then headed back to Dunoon and had a pint while waiting for the boat.
So a fantastic first summer session, sun and fish, hopefully the first will not turn out to be the best!
Just away now to have our first fresh mackerel dinner of the summer.

Tackle - 9 ft spinning rods, fixed spool reels and 60gr dexter wedges.
We weren't sure if the mackerel would be showing as the start of June is usually too early for the Clyde, however after about 20 mins I managed 2 mackerel in a row, too small to keep, but great to know they were there. The next half hour produced nothing, so time for a coke, a cigarette and a few pictures. Lynn carried on.

It really is a lovely spot to fish from. The pier is now owned by a trust and they have raised a lot of money to restore it to its former glory.



They have also refurbished the old ticket office, which is now a beautiful rental cottage, absolutely lovely, a fantastic plot, waking to a fantastic vista.

Anyway, I digress, back to the fishing. Around 11am, bang on high tide, Lynn brings in her first mackerel of the season and a much better size than my two earlier. So I grab my rod and for the next hour and a half it's pretty much a fish a cast. Not the biggest we have ever caught, but great fun on light tackle. We must have had around thirty, of which over half were shaken off the hook to fight another day.

I was thinking about cracking out the beach caster and using some mackerel for bait, however about 1230pm 4 young lads turned up, plus a family of four from the nearby caravan site. We had some pleasant chat with them and thoughts of the heavy gear coming out were put on hold. Having had a great morning and getting rather peckish, we decided to pack up our gear and give them the run of the pier. The mackerel had gone off the boil a bit, but the new arrivals caught a few before we wandered up the pier and had our picnic on the tables and chairs outside the shut cafe!

The sign said : Open Tues/Weds/Thurs. Obviously it isn't their main source of income! What a waste of a lovely cafe and so typical of rural Scotland!
We then headed back to Dunoon and had a pint while waiting for the boat.
So a fantastic first summer session, sun and fish, hopefully the first will not turn out to be the best!
Just away now to have our first fresh mackerel dinner of the summer.
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