New reel

I bought a new rod and reel specificaly for wrasse. The rod is a Fladen Maxximus Rockhopper beech rod, a good strong rod for light sea fishing, 2 piece, 12 feet and casting 2-4 1/2 oz. The reel is a Shimano baitrunner ST10000RB, the 10000RA is one of the most popular reels around and a huge favorite of lots of fishermen for both sea and predator fishing, the 10000RB is just an improved 2014 version.

New species.

I went to Rhu, near Helensburgh on Sunday morning with a couple of Friends, we had 6 rods out between thye three of us and never got one fish, rags was bait. as we still had plenty of ragworm left, 2 of us headed to greenock the next morning, we caught about a dozen cod 3 wrasse and a Goldsinny wrasse, which is a new species for me and takes me one over last years total of species and we still have all winter to go.

new PB wrasse

went to Greenock today and fished the 3 hrs before low tide. caught 6 cod, 2 pollock and a new personnal best wrasse of 3lb7oz...

River Clyde at Clydebank.

Stayed local to get a few hours fishing in on sat afternoon at the new college in clydebank. used mackerel and rag as bait. I caught 9 flounders, I spinned a bit to try for any passing predetor fish but no joy.

Arrocher

I went to Arrocher at Loch Long to fish for a change from Greenock. went with my nephew and got there just before low tide. we used lug, rag and mackerel. between us we caught 8 Cod, 3 wrasse and a couple of pollock.

greenock, another wrasse.

managed out again to greenock and caught another wrasse and a couple of cod and one wee pollock.

wee video of my first wrasse catch's

greenock vid from thomas best on Vimeo.

Wrasse at last.

went to Greenock targeting wrasse again. Received a phone call just as I got there meaning I couldn't make a day out of it as planned so decided to stay for a couple of hours instead of leaving straight away. I was using rag worm on size 4 baitholders and got my first wrasse after five minutes, these fish give some fight but can die if over fought so try to get them in pretty quickly. A very nice Balan wrasse at 2lb 5oz. I got another 3 good sized wrasse, 2 at 1lb 6oz and 1 at 1lb 8oz. also caught two of my biggest cod so far at 1lb 8oz and 1lb 6oz, and a little pollock too.

Greenock.

I headed over to Greenock yesterday to try and catch a wrasse but failed again. I got over just about low tide and fished till high tide almost. the water was very clear and hardly any wind at all. Bait was Mackerel, Lug, Rag and Sandeels which was fished both single and mixed, with 2 rods, one close in and in the harbour and the other further out. I was using a pennel pulley rig with 3oz impact leads and single 1oz weight with single hook for close in. Caught 6 small cod biggest about a pound, a wee ss sea scorpion and a tiny hand sized flatty. Although the cod were small they are bigger than the one's around the clyde area last year so I think it's looking good for the future. I still never caught my target species which was wrasse but i,ll try again, maybe trying some different area's of greenock and even gourock.

had a day at loch lomond and only caught a EEL, it was a nice dry day but fish weren't biting.

Pike fishing , Balmaha.

Well unfortunately I never got going to loch etive this weekend so decided to head up to Balmaha for a bit of pike fishing. started off at the mouth of the Edndrick but was having no luck decided to go round to the pier and fished just to the right of it. Caught a nice pike, around 10-12lbs and a eel about 3lb. I didn't manage to get any pics as both fish were caught when loads of tourists were passing and they all stopped and were taking pictures. I was just concentrating on getting both fish back into water safely, and the weights are estimates judged by hand, and experience. The pike was a fair bit bigger and heavier than my previous personal best of 8lb. I am more chuffed by the eel which is a very hard to catch fish and a 3lb one is even better as the scottish eel record is 6lb-2oz. I will certainly be going back there again...soon.

Planning Loch Etive trip.

I'm Planning a trip up to Loch Etive at the end of the month so i,ll probably not go out fishing again until then. I am going for a couple of days, will set up camp and fish through the night and try to get new species. I am aiming for spurdogs, thornback rays, gunard and wrasse. I,l need to head out and dig some bait before I go.

Rhu and Helensburgh.

I went to Rhu point, just along from Helensburgh yesterday and fish from high tide to low using bait and feathers. Not even a bite. there were about a dozen other people fishing, mostly spinning and I never saw one fish landed. at low tide I packed up and headed back along to Helensburgh and fished from the pier for a couple of hours. I got 2 Lesser spotted dogfish and a wee flounder. used a pennell pulley with Lug and mackeral strip.

River Ettrick. 6th Aug 2014

I had a few hours on the river Ettrick fishing for pike.I was fishing with my nephew and we only got 2 jacks 1.1/lb and 2.lb using light gear with flying C's lures. Great fun on the light gear.

No Wrasse.

well managed a few hours around the greenock quay and never managed any wrasse. I did get a wee flounder and a pollack both on a mackerel bait. The impact leads and the pennel pulley rigs worked well and will be a regular in my tackle box. As for the Wrasse, I think I'll have to move round the corner to either gamble steps or the cloch lighthouse at gourock.

Greenock again, Target: Wrasse.

Hopefully I will manage a few hours at Greenock again tomorrow, this time i,ll give the Mackerel a miss and target wrasse close in with the Light gear and try a bit further out for something bigger. I may even try a float if there is space. I,m going to try out some new (for me) Tackle. Breakaway Impact leads..

you clip your baited hook to it which makes the whole presentation more airodynamic, casting further out, and then releases the baited hook upon impact with the water. I,m also going to try out a Pennel Pulley rig...

This rig has two hooks (top one adjustable) for presenting larger baits, and when a hooked fish is being retrieved the weight of the fish will cause the free running swivel to act as a pulley, the lead weight will then be lifted above the fish with a reduction in the risk of snagging. thats the plan anyway, lets see if it works.

Greenock.

Fished 2 hours before low tide and 3 hours after and caught 16 mackerel one pollack and one codling.

greenock gopro from thomas best on Vimeo.

No Pike.

I picked up a course fishing permit and headed up the right side of loch lomond at Balloch to look for pike.
I fished mackerel for about 5 hours but didn't catch anything. the wind was strong and blowing straight at me and it rained a few times as it always does there. Next time i,ll take the car and head up towards balmaha and beyond it.

The clyde again

Managed a few hours today at the clyde in clydebank. 4 flounders caught between the two of us biggest was 1lb 6 oz.
I,m going to try Loch Lomond tomorrow and try for some pike.
I recently picked up a Gopro Hero 3 plus so hopefully I,ll catch a pike on video.

first catches of 2014

I have recently picked up a wee car which will hopefully allow me to get out fishing more than I did last year, honestly, sometimes I went out like a pack horse carrying loads of gear in case I needed it.

Now with a car I can take everything I need without any bother at all, although its a small car I can fit all my gear plus other things in it, lovely.

my first outing by myself was local, well, Clydebank is close enough to be called local. Anyway I headed down to the Clyde at Clydebank college on a sunny evening around 4.30pm 10th June, and caught 2 wee flonders on a squid and sardine bait..

I went back again on thursday 19th and caught 2 more at the same spot.

Friday 20th June was a scorching day so decide to head over to greenock with the intent for a bit of bait fishing when I saw a couple of asian guys start to pull in mackerel, so I got a set of fethers out and quickly caught two before losing my feathers and weight on the cast. it was the only set of feathers I had so I settled for a bit of bait fishing.

I got talking to two guys from Johnstone and they kindly gave me a set of feathers, nice guys they were, one showing pics of some of the huge carp one of them caught.

I started fishing the feathers and soon had 25 mackerel which I kept for bait.

It was a great day out in the car, meet some good guys and caught enough bait to last me a while.

I;m going to go back over to greenock and try for some different smaller species with a small rod and small hooks and weights.

Late present for myself..

I treated myself to some new fishing clothes, a late christmas present to myself.
I picked up the Jack Pyke hunter jacket and trousers, along with a Jack Pyke skip cap with leds on it and a pair of TFGEAR extreme boots. picked up some Greys Prowla super viz floats, wire traces and some bait. so I just need to get out and do a spot of pike fishing now.