Thunderpants
Well-known member
So I headed up to Scotland for a weeks holiday with plans to spend some time lure fishing on my favourite rock. I had fished here last year and lost some big pollack so this was the rematch. Now loaded up with 30lb braid and a good range of lures I was ready for action. This rock owed me a fish!
A disastrous drive up saw us marooned in the Scottish borders all afternoon with the car in a garage in Dalkeith with a snapped drive shaft. They finally got it fixed just before closing time and we were back on the road arriving at our destination Gardenstown about 10pm stressed and knackered. Mrs Thunderpants kindly suggested I go fishing in the morning to wind down so I did and ended up on my rock about 8.30am an hour or so before low water.
The mark is only accessible over low tide and is at the end of a big pile of rocks that juts out into Gamrie Bay. It's bit dodgy getting onto it as you have to jump across a gap then climb up a slippery slope. With deep water all around a fall would be disastrous. Also you have to keep an eye on the tide as it comes around behind you and at about mid-tide the rock becomes cut off from the shore. I planned to be on there for a session of about three hours today.
I started out with an old faithful 28g silver minnow spinner and began catching small pollack and coleys (saithe as they call them up here) pretty much every cast. I kept this up for an hour or so and lost count of how many I caught. The pollack were amazingly coloured from living in the kelp being a bright metallic orange with light blue spots. Beautiful.
I switched to a jelly worm for a while but after no interest in that I switched to a white redgill. First cast the line hooked something heavy and for a split second I thought I had snagged a rock then my reel started buzzing off line at great speed. OMG. It was a monster! I fought and struggled with what felt like a whale on the end for a few minutes with my light rod and 3000 size reel. The fish was so strong! Suddenly the line went very tight and stopped, it had taken me around a rock. The rocks here are incredibly sharp and jagged and in an instant the line was cut and the fish was gone. I never got to see what it was but I suspect it was a big pollack and a fish of a lifetime. Anyway, not the first fish of a lifetime I have lost so I shrugged it off and carried on ...
A few other lures tried with nothing then I put on a Fiish Black Minnow. Casting into the same patch of deep water that I had lost the other fish I just let the lure fall then as I started to tighten up BANG! Another good fish on, a big one. Get in! Another good fight then the fish dove and took me around a rock. The line did not break but it was stuck fast so I let out some slack and waited hoping the fish would swim out of the snag. After a minute or so I noticed the line moving very slowly to the left so I wound into it and pulled and the battle was back on. Twists and turns and dives with me winding away furiously then I get my first glimpse of the fish as it moved through a patch of sunlight. A lovely big pollack. What an adrenaline rush. I fought with it and got it up to the side of the rock and there was so much bend in my rod I didn't dare use the rod to lift it so reached out and grabbed the line and heaved. Success! The fish lay at my feet a beauty at 64cm weighing in just an ounce short of 5lb at 4lb 15oz. A new personal best for me. Well chuffed!
I carried on fishing with about 45 minutes left before I had to get the hell out of there. With a motor oil coloured jelly worm I hooked into another nice fish and after a short fight was looking at another pollack about 3lb before it fell off the hook just as I lifted it out of the water and was gone, lol.
So a great session on my favourite pollack mark, lots of action and a new PB as well. If only all sessions were this good
A disastrous drive up saw us marooned in the Scottish borders all afternoon with the car in a garage in Dalkeith with a snapped drive shaft. They finally got it fixed just before closing time and we were back on the road arriving at our destination Gardenstown about 10pm stressed and knackered. Mrs Thunderpants kindly suggested I go fishing in the morning to wind down so I did and ended up on my rock about 8.30am an hour or so before low water.
The mark is only accessible over low tide and is at the end of a big pile of rocks that juts out into Gamrie Bay. It's bit dodgy getting onto it as you have to jump across a gap then climb up a slippery slope. With deep water all around a fall would be disastrous. Also you have to keep an eye on the tide as it comes around behind you and at about mid-tide the rock becomes cut off from the shore. I planned to be on there for a session of about three hours today.
I started out with an old faithful 28g silver minnow spinner and began catching small pollack and coleys (saithe as they call them up here) pretty much every cast. I kept this up for an hour or so and lost count of how many I caught. The pollack were amazingly coloured from living in the kelp being a bright metallic orange with light blue spots. Beautiful.
I switched to a jelly worm for a while but after no interest in that I switched to a white redgill. First cast the line hooked something heavy and for a split second I thought I had snagged a rock then my reel started buzzing off line at great speed. OMG. It was a monster! I fought and struggled with what felt like a whale on the end for a few minutes with my light rod and 3000 size reel. The fish was so strong! Suddenly the line went very tight and stopped, it had taken me around a rock. The rocks here are incredibly sharp and jagged and in an instant the line was cut and the fish was gone. I never got to see what it was but I suspect it was a big pollack and a fish of a lifetime. Anyway, not the first fish of a lifetime I have lost so I shrugged it off and carried on ...
A few other lures tried with nothing then I put on a Fiish Black Minnow. Casting into the same patch of deep water that I had lost the other fish I just let the lure fall then as I started to tighten up BANG! Another good fish on, a big one. Get in! Another good fight then the fish dove and took me around a rock. The line did not break but it was stuck fast so I let out some slack and waited hoping the fish would swim out of the snag. After a minute or so I noticed the line moving very slowly to the left so I wound into it and pulled and the battle was back on. Twists and turns and dives with me winding away furiously then I get my first glimpse of the fish as it moved through a patch of sunlight. A lovely big pollack. What an adrenaline rush. I fought with it and got it up to the side of the rock and there was so much bend in my rod I didn't dare use the rod to lift it so reached out and grabbed the line and heaved. Success! The fish lay at my feet a beauty at 64cm weighing in just an ounce short of 5lb at 4lb 15oz. A new personal best for me. Well chuffed!
I carried on fishing with about 45 minutes left before I had to get the hell out of there. With a motor oil coloured jelly worm I hooked into another nice fish and after a short fight was looking at another pollack about 3lb before it fell off the hook just as I lifted it out of the water and was gone, lol.
So a great session on my favourite pollack mark, lots of action and a new PB as well. If only all sessions were this good
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