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Western Isles Day one, Kilmalaug bay , Skye.

The Third Earl

The Third Earl

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Well folks, arrived eventually, Saturday evening , we moved into the self catering cottage and after a quick snack we ( for that read I ) decided to scope out the rock marks at the bottom of the field outside the front door.
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A yomp down the field, over a stile and along the low cliff top revealed lots of likely looking spots that may produce a bite or two. Looking at
I boating marine charts …


It showed the bay to be about 10 feet deep at low tide, further along the cliff there were plenty of rock ledges that would put a cast out into deeper water , so that was me sorted for the time being , we returned to the cottage and I started to sort the gear for the morning . I was only planning on a couple of hours, casting around some plastics near the rocks as the tide was coming in .

11.00am this morning saw myself and swmbo scrambling over rocks and down muddy sheep tracks to the sea, SWMBO is a photographer and she left me to my own devices whilst she was snapping away at god knows what.

Lots of casts, no interest, change from a metal to a shad, same result, move along cast , retrieve, cast, same result .

This went on for quite some time, but I did not get dejected, new coast , new marks always need a bit of exploring , although I must say the marks looked fishy .



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I had a couple of half hearted knocks, probably small Pollack or Coalies nipping at the shad tail, but nothing was converted into a fish on. Change shad again, move along and eventually …..

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This turned out to be …


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Not the biggest pollack I have ever had but I had at least proved something was at home, he was unhooked and returned back unharmed to grow bigger .

Anyway, nothing else seemed interested so as a few rain spots were appearing , and a dark cloud approached I phoned SWMBO , we met at the cliff top and made our way back to the cottage .

It turned out that SWMBO had been watching me from the cliff top and had taken a couple of snaps of me on the rock mark. She thought to take a photo of me with the fish on but then saw something more interesting so made off.
I took the selfie of the fish and that was that.

Hopefully the weather will be ok tomorrow and I may have another couple of hours, I have seen a couple of likely looking perches that may produce to bottom fished baits .

To Be Continued……

Dave
 
Light starts to fade here at 9.45 pm so will be out again tonight with a couple of carbon rods trying for something different. 🤣🤣
I dont use traditional gear in salt water, takes too much of a beating , I am not precious with my sea gear at all .

Dave
 
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Is that Aird Cottage Dave? Just curious.Great report by the way.(y) That's one hell of a drive from your place, slightly further for me.:eek:🤣 Looking forward to the follow up.

Dave.
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Day 2.

Spent a large part of the day walking, covered bloody miles , not scoping fishing spots, just hiking the byeways around and about . Wifey taking photos and me doing sod all .

Got back , prepped my gear for tonight and partially knackered had some tea and a snooze in the chair . Come 8pm it was time to yomp along the cliff, drop down and then across ankle breaker rock,cross a deep ravine where the sea rumbled below and down again to a mark I found yesterday .
Looked the bizz and I was full of expectations , Maybe Spurs or a Ray possibly , bound to be the odd whiting or coalie .
Gear set up , I had only the one rod as the mark was a bit small . Afaw Tourney Rock and a Shimmy Ultegra with 40 lb braid .

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Carbon stuff VB 👍

Rigged up a 3/0 penn pulley with squid/ mackerel and whanged it in , sat back , had a coffee and was full of hope . Was fishing for 9.00 pm.
Wound in 20 mins later bait untouched, not even a sign of crab activity, so same again fresh bait, cast to the left this time .
Zilch , Nada , nothing . Remembering the adage if you continue to do what you have already done dont expect anything different I swapped to my tried and trusted scratching rig , a 1/0 and 2/0 loop rig , baited with the same but mackie on one hook and squid on the second .
Cast in further to the right and sat back , had another coffee and some cake that had found its way into my bag .
20 mins goes by and….. zilch again so swapped baits for fresh, cast to the left .


Wont bore you further . Darkness fell and I thought this would maybe bring the fish on.

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Nope, continued to chop and change every 20 mins . Not so much as a nibble . Come midnight I had had enough and retraced my steps back to the cottage.

I will say that the tide state was poor , only a med size , with very little movement, and on the down with low at about 0015 am so imo not the best , I would have preffered to fish it up but as have stuff to do tomorrow and need my beauty sleep .

Have to have a rethink here .
Just finishing an Ardmore now and off to bed .

There is always another day .

Dave
 
tdxs133pm said:
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Is that Aird Cottage Dave? Just curious.Great report by the way.(y) That's one hell of a drive from your place, slightly further for me.:eek:🤣 Looking forward to the follow up.

Dave.
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Yup , the very same 👍 different curtains and furniture though. You must have trashed the place 🤣🤣

You got any marks up your sleeve for me TD. ?

😋😋😋

Dave
 
The Third Earl said:
Yup , the very same 👍 different curtains and furniture though. You must have trashed the place 🤣🤣

You got any marks up your sleeve for me TD. ?
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As I said Dave I was just curious.Have not been there so can't offer any info I'm afraid.But after seeing your Post I think I might give it a try in Sept.It does look fishy and comfortable off those ledges and conveniently close to the cottage.(y) Good luck with your ventures, it looks an amazing place to be.By the way,my son (now 51) still has the boat rod you possibly made for him at Filey.

This should bring back memories for you.
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Day three ,

Only spent an couple of hours this evening on the rocks chucking plastics . Checked out a few places I had seen but not yet accessed.
This one, I had high hopes for .

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It is a bit of a twat to get to mind , looks easy but there are a couple of verticals to negotiate, with minimal footholds or pockets.
To give it some scale the centre right vertical from sea level is about 35 feet tall . Twenty years ago I would have raced there, today it took me at least five mins to find a route.
I have to say they look very fishy every one , but there was zero interest in my Sidewinders , until my last cast when I had a good hit and a fish on for a few seconds , it gave a good couple of lunges which pulled the rod tip around then was gone.

I am thinking maybe it is a bit early in the season yet but no worries.

Checked out some more marks at Duntulm Castle which may be good for the future .

Rain all day forecast for tomorrow so will be having a lazy day.

Dave
 
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tdxs133pm said:
Keep at it Dave.It can only get better.That's one mark I wouldn't attempt these days.
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I have a bit of a problem accepting that as we get older some things are not as easy as they once were .

Wifey thinks I am nuts and keeps dusting off the insurance policies 🤣🤣🤣

Dave
 
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