Light Rock Fishing Island Sea Lochs

During this lockdown, while fishing trips are off the menu I've been itching to get back out. With plenty of time to reminisce and recce, I am sure many of us have done is begun planning trips. 

Scanning through my fishing photo album there's one mark that I can't wait to get back to, hopefully the weather holds and I'll get to see Loch Scridain against beautiful blue skies soon.

Beautiful View of Ben More Across Loch Scridain

Loch Scridain is located on Mull. You can catch lots of species in the waters around the island; Mackerel, Skate, Pollack, Codling, Flatfish, Tope, Spurdog, Rays, Coalfish, Conger Eels and Flatfish. 

There are plenty of charter trips available if you want to go out with a skipper, while for the more adventurous may be able to find under-fished marks amongst the rugged coastline of Mull. Shore access is difficult at best and often inaccessible due to the cliffs though

The Sea Lochs and Estuaries will produce Sea Trout from late April onwards along with Grey Mullet, Pollack, Mackerel and Flounders. 

Rocky marks will turn up Dogfish, Wrasse and Conger Eels with fresh bait like mackerel. With a spinner you should attract Mackerel, Pollack and Coalfish. 

The sand of Calgary bay, neighbouring Langamull and the other white sand beaches in the South (Ross) of Mull and Iona will produce Rays, Flatfish and Codling.

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It's the sea lochs that I favour and in particular the steep-sided Loch Scridain with its incredible views and superb fishing that I'm planning to get back to as soon as I can.

View of Loch Scridain

On my last trip, we'd been hillwalking on the island so I'd brought along my light rock fishing gear. This meant I could grab a session and keep mobile whenever I got the chance to go fish. I was targeting Pollack using lures exclusively.

Tackle for Rock Fishing

I find soft plastics such as the Swimy Cheburashka with it's weedless rigging work best, allowing me to get closer to the kelp without snagging up but traditional spinners like Tobys work well too.

I'll always have a range of sizes and colours but  I find a bit of baby blue or pink on the lure can give you an extra edge.

A short cast from the shore is all that is needed  to get over the kelp, then a variety of retrieval methods can be used to bring the lure back over the kelp to entice a Pollack to have a go.

Typical Scridain Pollack taken on light lure gear

Setup:

• HTO Rockfish Revolution 7-28g
• Shimano Sedona Reel
• Daiwa J-Braid

Setup wise I use a nice lightweight rod that still has a bit of muscle to handle a decent-sized Pollack diving back into the kelp. My Rockfish Revolution paired with braided line gives me a great balance between casting distance and sensitivity to pick up feedback from the lure through the braid and pick up slight knocks and bites that I'd miss otherwise.

For lochs that hold bigger fish and snaggier ground, I'll step up my gear but this outfit is perfect for Scridain and similar waters on the island.

On my next trip, I will definitely bring along my bait gear for a longer session at the loch. I'll be able to set up at different marks as the tide changes through the day and take the chance to explore around with the lure gear while my baits are soaking.