Thursday 25 April 2013

Arbroath - A couple of Smokies Perhaps


Today, I left Cumbernauld around 7.45 a.m. to meet up with Bill for a wee kayak paddle and fishing jaunt on the east Coast of Scotland near Arbroath.

Having met Bill at his home in Dunblane, we travelled in separate vehicles through Perth, Dundee and Arbroath for our chosen destination in a wee secluded bay which is reached via a steep winding track down the to the pebble beach. Where the old harbour used to be, surrounded by 120 foot high Devonian Sandstone cliffs.The weather was fair and dry with a stiff breeze blowing which was forecast to strengthen into the afternoon.

On our arrival, we had a wee blether and discussed tactics for the day which were to fish the incoming tide with a mixture of baited Hokai's alternating with free running traces to hooks baited with squid, mackerel and mussels. Should we be lucky enough to find  substantial shoals of cod or pollack on Bill's echo sounder.



So, after gearing up, Bill hit the water first with me joining him a short time later after organising some gear as this saltwater kayak business is a bit new to me and I had to select a rod, reel and tackle suitable for the intended voyage. My rod and reel selection for the day was an 8 foot Shakespear Ugly Stik lite spin rod and one of my Abu Ambassadeur 7000 multipliers. Clothing wise I decided to step outside the box a bit and rather than dry trousers topped off with a goretex fishing jacket as an outer shell. I decided to layer my bottom half with neoprene booties, a pair of thermals, a pair of tracksters and a pair of fleece troosers as although there was a stiff breeze, the swell was low and there were no white caps.

When I joined Bill on the water, he had been out to the point and had seen a few fish on the echo sounder, having caught a wee codling which he returned to fight another day. Anyway, Bill reckoned it was a wee bit blowy so we headed North up the coast drifting and fishing as we went for about a mile or so. Mainly using the Hokais tipped with baits as we searched the waters even though fish on the fish finder were few and far between.


( where are the fish Bill ? )
Well, much as I would like to report fish upon fish and show you a picture of the nice cod I was going to have for tea tomorrow, our endeavours were fruitless and around 2 p.m. in a stiffening force 3 wind and slight swell we headed back to the harbour area


where we landed on the lovely wee pebble beach for a late lunch and a bit of a natter in the April sunshine before we bade our farewells and headed for home.

A story about good days fishing and kayaking doesn't always have to be about fish by the bucket load or catching the big one. Despite our almost blank efforts it was yet again another great day out in great company in a fantastic location. What a wonderful place Scotland is to go fishing and paddling. Be it fresh, salt, river, burn or loch.



Maybe we should've headed into town on the way home for a couple of the famous Arbroath Smokies for tomorrow night's tea perhaps.

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3 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the read, sounds like you had a good day even without the fish.
    Geoff

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the kind comments folks.

    ReplyDelete