Malc

@mike farrants how did you get the last picture at a jaunty angle?

A late kick off into a slight sea to lure fish for codling. We tried for mackerel outside the piers but no one was catching, probably due to recent rain so we headed out to our chosen spot. Wind against tide gave us slight offshore drifts and we soon had codling on soft plastic lures of all shapes and sizes. We seemed to pass small shoals and then barren sea. A few small pollock to 2lb and the codling from fish finger to a couple of pounds with some bigger among them. There was a pan-pan which we listened to as we were a few miles away from, a yacht with no engine to get into harbour but the lifeboat took her in. We decided to visit a local wreck we had tried to anchor earlier in the year and lies E-W and first drift the skipper got a good fish on a 10gm rod that would have been around 8lb, quick snap shot and back to breed more, while I hooked a line as I reeled in to get the landing net! A couple of drifts on or around it, with a couple of fish, and then we get well placed and drift the full length of her but the tide was very near slack and we drifted too slowly so nothing else so we headed home. Lots of banter, some dolphin, a salmon leaping close enough to startle the gulls on the water and a fair amount of marine traffic including HMS Albion. No fishy photos so it didn't happen. Not the Albion, City of Rotterdam

Well done on the fishing and using a sling to weight fish

Nice one. Good to see a report like this!

Shhhh! We're having sundowners, look at that sky!

Get with the programme for goodness sake, I'm retired and every day is the weekend, so zip it wage slave! 😘

Might be out tomorrow and Saturday!

Mooring anchor. Or not paying attention or 🤓

Snagged on the bottom?

Greenery in Stornoway...😲

My rudder had been playing up so I tried loosening it a smidgen, and gave everything a good lube and check over and headed for the coast. No real attempt at catching but I took a rad some sabikis and a couple of jigs. Unfortunately the jetski numpties were out in force but fortunately the authorities were keeping a watch on their stupidity and eventually I got to the mark I wanted to try as all tests were done and functionality was 99.9%. Just off a kick in the current I got amongst them after spotting sandeel/sprat on the surface and after a couple of drops found 3 good sized snake launce, then a just in size mackerel, 4 snake and then 2 mackerel and off home. Hour and a half and I had finished sea trials, and got bait and some fish for friends...result. Even got a sticker from my granddaughter for catching fish (her potty training stickers) 🤣

Always nice to have dolphin about, more so if the fishing is poor. We have had porpoise all through the winter and as the sandeel and launce numbers built it changed to mainly dolphin. I hope it is a good sign

Terrible thing to happen but a wonderful man for not flapping and doing the right thing.

It was, we were completely trashed on Saturday night due to the conditions and to be frank I was goosed on Tuesday too, it was not too bad for the bigger boats and decreasing through the day however. We had loads of laughter though, such as chasing a joey mackerel around under the hatch edges (yes there was that much water running around at times) and eventually having to use long nose pliers to get its tail and drag it back to open areas, dumbass giggly sugar low times, sheer flukes like hooking a mackerel in the mouth with a 8/0 circle when retrieving an empty tope trace, losing a (the first) smoothie at the boat instead of asking for the net, going light and getting smoothies and rays a plenty on small hook flapper rigs, bites rays, doggie rash, and a dab or two of karma when we were 30 seconds behind an RTA with a paramedic, car mechanic, and an ex firefighter onboard, and giving a crew our handheld radio when their's failed and might have meant that they could not compete. Freaking great every time we go.

Thanks, we had them on the first 3-4 but just one iirc after that

If in the wrong section apologies. I've noticed an increase in the above on fish first was lice on mackerel a couple of years ago and then lice on codling a month ago and finally what looks like leeches on TBR which I have never seen before. Anyone else seeing this increase or ever seen these parasites before?

We are getting more and more of them off the NE coast.

Absolutely, but its not my boat. They are giving it a clean off as it was Abraham Lincoln from 2 x 8hr days of fishing and sat in 25C heat. I had to take a knife and scrape off dried mack off my trousers before putting them in the washing machine.

Annual competition for tope, huss, smooth hound and TBR and oddly mackerel too. Weather forecast was improving over the preceding week but Saturday was hard work with a proper lump on if you ventured more than a couple of miles offshore and several boats went back in as crew were ill. We scored a few small mackerel which was a bonus as they were thin on the ground and eventually got to our first mark but it was hard going so we went inshore and although the weather then calmed we soon got into the rays which steadily got bigger until they peaked at around 52cm wingtip to wingtip and a good sized mackerel to get us on the score sheet. Moved again to try for tope/huss and had one belter of a run which ended with a dropped bait. Sunday was smooth after an overnight deluge and we bagged up on mackerel very quickly and after trying a mark we spotted for tope/huss decided to get a smoothie inshore which worked and they were more interested in small baits than anything bigger than a strip of mackerel or squid and a few more feisty ray kiting about in the tide. Now we needed the big two but unfortunately we didn't get either 😕 but I got a mackerel that was 1cm smaller than the winner 🙄 Awesome time, there as ever and I look forward to going again next year! Heading out day 2. Calm Sunday Gratuitous fish photo. Alien bait shredder.

I've heard people with speech impediments but not like this...

U fishing?

Was it;, Rods (new purchase... Or was it; Rods in rod bag (new purchase... Saturday's weather is marginal for most of the smaller boats so it could be just be Sunday or fish from Port Logan Saturday and Drummore Sunday?

Rods in rod bag (new purchase just for this competition), traces made up, rubbing leaders tied up, just a couple of things in the loft to get and the bag is packed. Just got to mince up a little chum, get the boat on the trailer tomorrow and Friday its off on adventures to the wild west. There's not going to be much sleep until Saturday night!

Full on weekend of fishing for tope, huss, smoothie, and TBR. Hopefully the mackerel will be about or it will be hard going.

Beeb just reported that it was a rip tide.