Shore sessions in October where rather fruitless to say the least, I put in a bit of time trying to find some good fish but it didn’t happen. We had a lot of east and north winds and this can’t have helped. On the plus side the weather was rather good for fishing in the boat and me and Mark got out from his SIB and it provided a PB for both of us…

It was a cold morning, probably in the region of 4 degrees! We wanted to hit the reef early as we had to be back by midday so we launched in the dark and slowly navigated our way with head torches from the launch point. We made the reef with it still dark but locating ourselves on the reef in the dark was easier said than done. This is all visual based and it was difficult to see where we were from the land and what the ground looked like below us. The first drift didn’t produce a bass but we still had a couple pollock hitting our surface lures. As it got lighter we could locate ourselves better and set up a better drift. The action began though there was a lot of pollock and garfish active this morning. Garfish are annoying and I’m not sure if they stop the bass from hitting the lure as I’m yet to have a garfish follow and for a bass to then hit the lure. Pollock on the other hand are just hilarious. They seem to miss the lure more than they actually hook up but that’s not a problem when there just small fish and we have had bass smash the lure from in front of pollock before so I don’t mind them as much. They certainly keep you entertained normally breaching clear of the water on a hit and often hitting your lure clear of the water! I reckon some 4lb+ fish of the top would just be epic fun!

We managed 8 bass all off the top and didn’t miss a single hit from a bass which made a change for sure! I managed a couple up around the 3lb mark on my Sammy 105 in ghost while most of marks where smaller fish. That was until he switched to his secret weapon. The Sebile ghost walker 110 in yellow aka ”The Banana”! He really does love this thing but they certainly look different, either way there’s no questioning there fish catching potential and this is the second time he’s had bigger fish than me when switching to his secret weapon. The fish hit close to the boat but hardly broke the surface, the softest of takes and barely a ripple shimmered across the surface. She went back down and stayed deep turning the boat around and puling us along for a minute before she managed to wedge herself in the reef. Mark kept on the pressure and eventually he got free and she was still on the end. She really didn’t want to come up but finally she breached the surface and fine fish she was too. I got a solid lip grip on her before getting her into the boat safely as we didn’t have a net.

A lovely fish of 70cm and possilbly a new PB for Mark. The action slowed on the next drift and we decided to head off in search of some pollock and possibly cod if we where lucky. The ground looked stunning on the charts but really I didn’t know what to expect. Water movement on the surface showed there was current and structure below. We drifted and missed a few bumps on the first drift before landing small pollock and wrasse. This wasn’t quiet as good as I had hoped and there certainly wasn’t as much feature as I had imagined. There was a few other people fishing from small boats in the area but we only saw small pollock landed.

We moved to another good looking reef on the chart that we hadn’t yet drifted. Mark got a bump and on the retrieve up I got nailed near the surface but whatever this fish was it took my Fiiish minnow 140 clean off… I very much doubt it was a poor knot at the lure end but something happened…

We drifted some more before we decided to set up the same drift that I got bitten off. Casting in the opposite direction that we where drifting towards I aimed where I believed the reef/feature was. I wound in the slack and instantly had a fish on. The fish didn’t do a lot until it came closer towards the boat. Then it took off in the opposite direction. This was a good fish and I haven’t had a run like this before. I pumped the fish up and it went off again. I tightened the drag thinking it was me and then snap it was game over… Gutted! I re setup and we did the drift again. This time it happened exactly the same and would you believe it this time the hook snapped! Mark hooked into a fish and pulled in a lovely 5lb+ pollock and his best from the boat so far. He was happy as he had wanted to get into some better pollock fishing. We went again. I was in again, exactly the same and another good fish, Luckily this time it suck and I landed a nice 79cm pollock and my best from the boat so far.

As I was playing the fish mark noticed on the fish finder the large shoal of fish sat behind this rock out of the current. He had never seen anything like it and me neither but I don’t have a fish finder. Mark landed another nice fish about the same size as his last one and I managed one probably around the 70cm mark. These fish where just released quickly without even a measure and they all happily swam back down. We both dropped or missed a few more fish before the action died but it was time for us to leave.

I really couldn’t believe the tiny pocket of good fish all sat together and hiding behind this one reef. Everywhere else was just small fish around a couple pound but here there where some good fish and only in around 50ft of water…

It was some cracking action and an awesome way to finish the day. A spot we will be hoping to return to if the weather ever plays ball.