It was autumn and Liam and I were overdue a trip to the Highlands in our long held quest to land a 20lb shore-caught Scottish spurdog. It wasn’t long before we were deep in conversation looking at tides, moon phases, air pressures and weather. The Blue Moon should be ideal timing to give us an optimum chance to find the spiny unicorn that had, so far, evaded us. Big tides, high pressure weather systems and a giant moon were all factors pointing towards the ideal conditions for an expedition north.
That drive up through the highlands never gets old. The scenery on the drive is genuinely something to behold and makes the trip west alone a success. It’s a majestic journey of winding roads, untouched landscapes, waterfalls and hills. Its beauty added to the excitement of what lay ahead. Five hours after setting off we arrived at our first destination. Catching fresh bait was the priority and we soon cast out feathers and small lures for the targeted bait fish. In no time, we had an abundance of joey mackerel, some larger mackerel, perfect size coalies, some nice pollock and even a couple of lovely ballan wrasse which hit the lures like steam trains: great sport on the lighter Century Graphex lure rods. Fresh bait is arguably one of the most overlooked aspects of sea fishing. It is an absolute must for us and we prioritise this when travelling further afield to ensure we have the best chance of catching.
The second leg of our journey involved
