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I originally posted this on "seaanglingreports.co.uk" and wasn't going to post it on here since it's not from the north east but I have changed my mind and decided to post it anyway as a lot of people on here don't go on there and you may find it an enjoyable read. Anyway you don't have to read it if you don't want to. So here it is, my trip to Scotland from a few weeks ago .....
I arrived at Gardenstown on Saturday 1st looking forward to a weeks fishing. Gardenstown is a small fishing village on the north east coast about fifteen miles west of Fraserburgh. My original plan had been to fish the pier over high water however I only had the mornings available to go fishing since the afternoon/evenings were to be spent doing other holiday things with Mrs Thunderpants and the little lad Thundernappy. Mornings turned out to be low water so I decided to fish the rocks instead. After a quick scout around along the rocks I settled on the point half way between Gardenstown and the neighbouring village Crovie. Here the rocks reach out into the sea in a sort of Y shape providing two good marks with deep water alongside. These rocks were only accessable around 2 hours or so either side of low water (with wellies). Outside that the rocks are cut off from the shore and at high water on a big tide may very well be completely submerged. If anyone else wants to try this mark take care and keep your eye on the tide and the swell.
Pic taken 2 hours after high water showing the rocks on the Y-shaped point still visible above water at the front of the photo.
The left hand point.
The right hand point. I found the rock at the front right of the pic to produce the best fish casting into the bay.
With all that deep water around the point and loads of kelp it looked perfect for pollack so I set about it with my spinning gear and a selection of spinners, redgills and jelly worms. I also had some ragworm that I had brought with me from home so I set up a second rod with a float one morning and also did a bit of ledgering another morning. The float didn't produce any fish but the following day with only enough worm left for three casts I managed to pull in a nice little red cod just undersize at 34cm casting into the middle of the bay to the right of the rocks. Sadly the fish had taken a hammering being dragged in over the jagged rocks and it looked like it had had a close encounter with Edward Scissorhands. I returned it anyway but it just floated way and became the target of two arguing seagulls. Oh well.
The pollack fishing was good from the off. My first short session Sunday morning three produced three small ones on spinners (largest around 30cm) then about an hour into the flood tide I hooked into something huge on a 40g silver minnow fitted with a Mustad size 2 treble. My light rod was bent over double it's tip down to my knees and I could feel the fish tugging and thrashing about and I held on with all my might. One thing I love about pollack fishing is the fight they give you. I wrestled with it for five minutes or so hoping to catch my first glimpse of the beast as it came near the surface then my line locked solid. Snagged around a rock or something. Nooooo. I waited patiently for another ten minutes hoping the fish would swim out and free my line but it didn't happen and I reluctently was forced to snap off and lose the fish. I didn't get him but wow what an adrenaline rush. Strike one! Due to the regions Viking connections I decided to name him King Canute and vowed to spend the rest of the week trying to catch him.
Next session I decided to use the soft plastics and having lost a few spinners to snags the previous session I fitted a mustad aberdeen 3/0 in the hope that it would bend out of the snags and I wouldn't lose much gear. This worked and I landed three more small pollack on 4" Berkeley Gulp Sandeels then once again hooked into a big one this time using a black firetail jelly worm. Another great fight then I lost him when the hook strightened out before I could get a good look at him. Strike two! King Canute was proving to be a difficult adversary.
The next morning I caught two small pollack on spinners then noticed a shoal of sandeels coming past so I switched to a 4" Gulp Sandeel and first cast landed my first keeper of the week at 39cm 1lb 2oz a very colourful little pollack with that lovelely golden red colour that comes from living in the kelp and some nice blue spots. It provided a nice meal for me and Mrs Thunderpants with the fillets baked with an italian style tomato based coating. Mmmm.
This session once again I hooked into the big guy, King Canute. This time on a 6" brown/orange tail jelly worm. After a hell of a scrap I managed to get him to the surface and he was a whopper! Easily 5 or 6lb or could have been more. This fish would have beaten my personal best by a long way, not just my PB pollack but my PB fish! He was darting around side to side like a mad thing then when he broke the surface there was a hell of lot of splashing as I brought him towards me. Then as fate would have it he managed to get flat side on top of the seaweed and with a big thrash he got off the hook and was gone! Nooooooo. My hook had straightened out again. Arrghh. Strike three!
Right, this means war! Next morning I set up my end tackle with some stronger Mustad 3282 aberdeens 4/0 with a thicker shank than the 3262 ones I had used previously. They should still be flexable enough to bend out of the snags but hopefully strong enough to keep King Canute on my line if he showed up. It was Friday now, my last day so my last chance to get him. It was a lovely morning the sun was out and the water quite flat. I was into fish from the off and caught two small coleys (saithes as they call them up here) to spinners and eight pollack on spinners and jellies largest 38cm 1lb 2oz. I also lost three on the retrieve one of which was a good size probably about 3lb that came off the hook right at my feet. The hook had not straightened it had just come out but that's fishing. And so ended my week in Gardenstown.
So, in the immortal battle that is Man vs Fish, sadly today fish won..... but I'll be back!
October I'm off to the Isle of Mull and the area I'm going to looks very pollacky so hopefully I will do better
I arrived at Gardenstown on Saturday 1st looking forward to a weeks fishing. Gardenstown is a small fishing village on the north east coast about fifteen miles west of Fraserburgh. My original plan had been to fish the pier over high water however I only had the mornings available to go fishing since the afternoon/evenings were to be spent doing other holiday things with Mrs Thunderpants and the little lad Thundernappy. Mornings turned out to be low water so I decided to fish the rocks instead. After a quick scout around along the rocks I settled on the point half way between Gardenstown and the neighbouring village Crovie. Here the rocks reach out into the sea in a sort of Y shape providing two good marks with deep water alongside. These rocks were only accessable around 2 hours or so either side of low water (with wellies). Outside that the rocks are cut off from the shore and at high water on a big tide may very well be completely submerged. If anyone else wants to try this mark take care and keep your eye on the tide and the swell.
Pic taken 2 hours after high water showing the rocks on the Y-shaped point still visible above water at the front of the photo.
The left hand point.
The right hand point. I found the rock at the front right of the pic to produce the best fish casting into the bay.
With all that deep water around the point and loads of kelp it looked perfect for pollack so I set about it with my spinning gear and a selection of spinners, redgills and jelly worms. I also had some ragworm that I had brought with me from home so I set up a second rod with a float one morning and also did a bit of ledgering another morning. The float didn't produce any fish but the following day with only enough worm left for three casts I managed to pull in a nice little red cod just undersize at 34cm casting into the middle of the bay to the right of the rocks. Sadly the fish had taken a hammering being dragged in over the jagged rocks and it looked like it had had a close encounter with Edward Scissorhands. I returned it anyway but it just floated way and became the target of two arguing seagulls. Oh well.
The pollack fishing was good from the off. My first short session Sunday morning three produced three small ones on spinners (largest around 30cm) then about an hour into the flood tide I hooked into something huge on a 40g silver minnow fitted with a Mustad size 2 treble. My light rod was bent over double it's tip down to my knees and I could feel the fish tugging and thrashing about and I held on with all my might. One thing I love about pollack fishing is the fight they give you. I wrestled with it for five minutes or so hoping to catch my first glimpse of the beast as it came near the surface then my line locked solid. Snagged around a rock or something. Nooooo. I waited patiently for another ten minutes hoping the fish would swim out and free my line but it didn't happen and I reluctently was forced to snap off and lose the fish. I didn't get him but wow what an adrenaline rush. Strike one! Due to the regions Viking connections I decided to name him King Canute and vowed to spend the rest of the week trying to catch him.
Next session I decided to use the soft plastics and having lost a few spinners to snags the previous session I fitted a mustad aberdeen 3/0 in the hope that it would bend out of the snags and I wouldn't lose much gear. This worked and I landed three more small pollack on 4" Berkeley Gulp Sandeels then once again hooked into a big one this time using a black firetail jelly worm. Another great fight then I lost him when the hook strightened out before I could get a good look at him. Strike two! King Canute was proving to be a difficult adversary.
The next morning I caught two small pollack on spinners then noticed a shoal of sandeels coming past so I switched to a 4" Gulp Sandeel and first cast landed my first keeper of the week at 39cm 1lb 2oz a very colourful little pollack with that lovelely golden red colour that comes from living in the kelp and some nice blue spots. It provided a nice meal for me and Mrs Thunderpants with the fillets baked with an italian style tomato based coating. Mmmm.
This session once again I hooked into the big guy, King Canute. This time on a 6" brown/orange tail jelly worm. After a hell of a scrap I managed to get him to the surface and he was a whopper! Easily 5 or 6lb or could have been more. This fish would have beaten my personal best by a long way, not just my PB pollack but my PB fish! He was darting around side to side like a mad thing then when he broke the surface there was a hell of lot of splashing as I brought him towards me. Then as fate would have it he managed to get flat side on top of the seaweed and with a big thrash he got off the hook and was gone! Nooooooo. My hook had straightened out again. Arrghh. Strike three!
Right, this means war! Next morning I set up my end tackle with some stronger Mustad 3282 aberdeens 4/0 with a thicker shank than the 3262 ones I had used previously. They should still be flexable enough to bend out of the snags but hopefully strong enough to keep King Canute on my line if he showed up. It was Friday now, my last day so my last chance to get him. It was a lovely morning the sun was out and the water quite flat. I was into fish from the off and caught two small coleys (saithes as they call them up here) to spinners and eight pollack on spinners and jellies largest 38cm 1lb 2oz. I also lost three on the retrieve one of which was a good size probably about 3lb that came off the hook right at my feet. The hook had not straightened it had just come out but that's fishing. And so ended my week in Gardenstown.
So, in the immortal battle that is Man vs Fish, sadly today fish won..... but I'll be back!
October I'm off to the Isle of Mull and the area I'm going to looks very pollacky so hopefully I will do better
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