Angling Reports 2002
15 March - Loch Awe - Horrible weather! A very strong easterly wind coupled with sleet and rain. Typical wild Argyll! We fished the southern end in the most sheltered bay we could find. The only fish caught (apart from 2 tiny brownies) was a 3lb salmon, taken on a bronze 10g Toby. The fish was very thin and should have weighed at least 5lb. It was returned to the loch. Elsewhere, namely the Pass of Brander, Brian Rutland braved the elements and broke the British brown trout record with a monster 31lb 12oz hen fish, caught on trolled dead bait. Andy, Al, Brian & Stu
17 March - Loch Nell, nr. Oban - The first reasonable trout of the season - a half pound brownie, caught on the worm. A few smaller trout were returned. The average seems to be '3 to the pound'. A good hatch of buzzers. Andy & Al
26 March - Loch Gleann a Bhearraidh - Loch Gleann a Bhearraidh is a small reservoir on the southern outskirts of Oban. I arrived at 9.30am amid a swarm of large buzzers. A quick scan of the surface revealed an abundance of empty shucks from the newly hatched buzzers. I set up with a cast of two buzzers and set about covering as much of the loch as I could. It wasn't long before my slow retrieve tactics were rewarded with a lovely half pound brownie. I managed to deceive another two by lunch. The wind then dropped and the trout seemed to go off. The afternoon session was a hard slog with very few signs of life. My persistence was rewarded at about 4pm when another hatch of buzzers were greeted by hungry trout. I managed another four fish by 5pm. No monsters that day, the biggest a modest 12oz. Two kept for breakfast (mmm!) and the rest returned. An enjoyable day out on a beautiful little water. Brian
27 March - Loch nan Druimnean, Kilmelford - We were kindly provided a boat on this loch by Melfort Village, a timeshare village near Kilmelford. Fly fishing buzzers provided good sport with around 6 brownies taken, all around the 6oz mark. A nice morning's fishing in pleasant weather. Andy & Al
30 March - Loch Awe - We set out trolling for ferox through the Pass of Brander at about 9am. We trolled several different types of lures on Al's home-made downrigger (see side photo), including rapalas and large tobys, at between 30 and 45ft depth. Caught nothing on the downrigger but hooked a couple of salmon, both around 3 ½lb, trolling a deep diving rapala on a spinning rod at about 10ft depth. Both fish were thin and were returned. The loch was flat calm all day and it was cold. Andy & Al
13 April - A Kilmelford Hill Loch - I set off at around lunchtime, the hope being that the sunny weather may provide a hatch of flies and some risers to cast at. After a thirty minute drive and a vigorous hike I was at the bank of the loch I had chosen to fish that day. Whilst tackling up I scanned the surface of the loch for any signs of insect activity, hopeful of some rising trout. The signs were pointing towards a day of little activity - no buzzers in the air, no emerger cases in the water and a rather cold northerly wind. Undaunted by the conditions I set up a cast of three flies. A Peter Ross on the point, a Zulu on the middle dropper and a Kate McLaren on the top dropper. My preferred tactic for hill loch fishing is to fish quickly, covering as much water as possible. I tend to cast a line of around 30ft and have three casts at different angles before moving 4-5ft along the bank and repeating. I started at one end with the intention of fishing right round the water to where I started. I got halfway round the loch before I got my first and only pull of the day. I had cast straight in front of me and retrieved around half of the line when it tightened and I raised my rod. The line was quickly stripped away and the fish hit the reel, making it scream in short bursts. In no time the fish was in the middle of the loch where it decided to go deep. As it turned to make for the bottom it's tail broke the surface. It was about then I realised I was into a fish of a lifetime. The tail was huge and I immediately began to worry. Was my dropper knot sound? Which fly is it on? I hope its well hooked! As it turned out the fish was well hooked on the point fly, the Peter Ross. The fish came to the net after a valiant struggle but was in early season condition, weighing about 5lbs. It may well tip the scales at six and a half come the summer. After quickly taking a few photos I gently returned the fish to the water. I held its tail and turned the fish into the wind. I returned home a happy man. Brian
19 May - Craignish peninsula, near Ardfern - Early start. It was a grey day with a strong south easterly wind - not the best day to explore new waters. I arrived on the banks of Loch Mhic Mhartein and, for a brief moment, wished I had stayed in bed. It was a truly miserable day. However the thought of catching fish spurred me on. After a quick cup of tea I set about exploring the loch. I started off using a Peter Ross on the point, and a Bibio on the dropper, but after half an hour without a pull I opted for a Mallard & Claret and Kehe combo. The change paid off almost immediately as a trout broke the surface and snatched at the Kehe - a nice fish of about 10oz. I continued around the loch and managed to catch a few more trout in the 10-12oz region. On to Loch Fada. The flies that had worked on the previous water brought four lovely Fada trout to the net. No monsters today, but, with an average size of 10-12oz, these lochs are bound to hold fish over the 2lb mark. I will return when better weather looms. Watch this space. Brian
1-5 June - Loch Awe - Four days intensive pike and ferox fishing! The trip started out well with us catching plenty of perch to use as livebaits the following day. Saturday morning saw a pike of 16lb 12oz for Stu within the first hour. It looked like we were in for an excellent session. Unfortunately, the rest of Saturday and the next 3 days were spent searching the loch for any signs of life. We tried everything we could - trolling dead and live baits, lures, worms and fly fishing. Nothing but perch. The water was very dark after the recent heavy rainfall. The loch can be very hard going in these conditions. We promise to bring you a photo of a large trout from Loch Awe before the season is out! Al & Stu
3 June - Loch Etive - As we arrived we were approached by a gentleman who informed us that we were on private property, even though we were fishing from the sea shore. He was politely dismissed ;-) We caught two nice sea trout on the fly, both on a customised Peter Ross, weighing ¾lb each. Andy & Brian
5 June - Loch Baile a' Ghoainn, Lismore - We arrived around 4pm after an interesting journey in Al's boat. It was choppy to say the least. There was a strong northerly wind blowing down the loch, making fishing difficult. Al managed to bag a lovely brace of brownies, both weighing 1¼lb and in excellent condition. We returned to the boat to find it high and dry on the shore. Must check the tide tables next time... Andy & Al
12 June - Loch Etive - The weather was fresh with a southerly wind, low cloud, and rain. My first sea fishing trip of the summer, aiming to catch some Loch Etive specimen spurdog. I spent the first half hour bait hunting. After catching a pollack of around 1½lb on a leadhead jellyworm combo, I set off up the loch with the incoming tide to my favourite mark. I only managed to get through half a sandwich before there was a big thump on the rod, resulting in a 7½lb spurdog in the boat. For those of you that may not have come across spurdog before they are not to be confused with their smaller lesser-spotted cousins - they fight all the way to the boat (and around it)! The next hour saw fish of 8lb and 8½lb, and I missed around 3 others. Soon after I had an arm-aching tussle with a fine 13¾lb fish, then two others at 13¾lb and 8¾lb. The bonus was a large edible crab that hung on to my line all the way to the boat. The final spurdog was a hard-fighting 12lb-er - a nice fish to finish off the day. My tackle consisted of a 10ft through-action rod with roller-tip, an Abu 6501-C3 reel loaded with 10 kilo Spiderline braid, a 2ft 40lb wire trace, split in the middle by a swivel to a 4/0 hook, and a 180g grip lead. We have been using braided line for some time now for different forms of fishing and all agree that it is far superior to mono in most cases. Every knock from the fish can be felt. Give it a try - you may never use mono again! Al
16 June - Loch Creran - We set out for a few hours spinning for sea trout. It was dry with a very light breeze and the tide was on the ebb. We both fished Toby lures for the first hour, trying different colours and sizes with no result. An angler pulled up on the opposite shore and, on his first cast with a spinner, caught a nice sea trout around the pound mark. This made us all the more determined to catch something. Al changed to the old leadhed-jellyworm combo and within a couple of casts caught a 2lb pollack, shortly followed by a 4lb-er. Andy stuck to the Toby and caught a 2lb pollack and a 1lb codling, which was kept for spurdog bait. We will return for the sea trout... Andy & Al
1-18 July - Loch Etive & the Sound of Mull - Loch Etive has produced lots of double figure spurdog - no really big fish but Al's had two over 13lb. We've had some good-sized pollack too and, as Andy will confirm, they are excellent sport on braided line. Andy's tip of the month: make sure your drag is set correctly BEFORE you hook a 5lb pollack! We've also had loads of undersized haddock, a few codling and pouting, and Stu's had a nice thornback ray. There has been good mixed fishing on the wrecks in the Sound of Mull with pollack, coalfish, wrasse, conger, codling and mackerel being caught. Al & Andy
22 August - Aird Na Coile, Sound of Kerrera - This mark at the southern end of the Sound of Kerrera never seems to fail to produce lots of wrasse, even on a blazing hot day with calm seas (fairly rare in Argyll). When other species fail to take the wrasse feed freely. I took a good number of these brightly coloured fish on hokkais baited with mackerel. I also had some small pollack and mackerel on the same lures. Although I was fishing from the boat I was only around 10m from the shore so it can easily fished from the rocks. Al
27 August - Southern tip of Lismore - The rock marks Laith Sgeir and Lady Rock at the southern end of Lismore provided excellent pollack fishing with lots of fish taken between 4lb and 6lb. They were taken on the old faithful leadhead-jellyworm combo. Al
10-11 September - SS Breda wreck, Ardmucknish Bay - We had two night sessions conger fishing on the wreck. The largest caught was just 14lb, with one at 12lb and another at 7lb, all caught on mackerel flappers. Undoubtedly there are much larger conger lurking in the wreck but we've been put off fishing for them due to the time it takes to clean up the boat afterwards! Al & Andy
17 September - Sound of Mull - I anchored up at the southern end of the Sound of Mull armed with a heavy boat rod and a big Penn Senator from Philadelphia loaded with 50lb mono. I dropped a double mackerel flapper on a running ledger with a 1½lb lead 400ft to the bottom. I put on the harness and butt pad and waited. The first 2½ hours were spent watching the rod and re-baiting after being robbed by small fish and crabs. An hour before high water the line tightened and I clipped the harness to the reel and struck. The boat swung round 180 degrees and the rod arched with the line as tight as a piano wire. The first five minutes of the fight went to the skate as I only managed to gain a few feet of line. Slowly, after a great deal of effort and strain, a large white shape loomed up from the depths. They were the hardest 20 minutes I've had for a long time. I gaffed the skate in the wing, then managed to rope it around the tail and tie it to the boat, to give me a bit of a rest before trying to haul it into the boat. Fortunately it was hooked in the scissors of the jaw and was easily unhooked. It was photographed, measured, then hauled out of the boat. Not easy as this female skate weighed 95lb! I don't recommend skate fishing alone as, unless you're built like Arnie, there's no way you'll get a 100lb+ skate in or out of the boat. I would suggest using braided line as there's too much stretch in mono which makes it difficult in the initial stages of the fight. The fish had a tag in it, the tagging programme being run by Glasgow's Kelvinside Museum. Skate that are tagged should be measured wingtip to wingtip and nose to tail and the sizes forwarded to Mr. Richard Sutcliffe on 0141 287 2699. Al
13 October - Loch Etive - The heavy rain which has been with us over the last few days finally stopped so we decided to take a trip out in the boat. We headed to a favourite spot to catch some bait for spurdogs. As soon as we arrived Al hooked in to a nice mackerel on his first cast. Shortly after I hooked a 1½lb coalfish, then a 1lb pollack - ideal bait size. We had lots of hits on the lures but most managed to escape. I hit another pollack, around the 3lb mark, before we headed off to one of our spurdog marks. The tide was on the ebb which was not ideal. We made ourselves a brew then, after about 45 minutes, Al hooked into a 5lb spurdog - his smallest to date! Not long after I caught a 6lb-er, then another at 6lb. We moved around quite a bit to see if we could hit any larger specimens but with no luck. Andy & Al
27 October - Loch Etive - 6 of us fished a mark about 1 mile past the Bonawe Quarry. Bites came almost instantly and I landed a small spur and a whiting on my 1st cast on one rod and a pollack of about 3lbs on my other rod. I finished the day with 20 fish - 6 spurs, 10 whiting, 2 poor cod and 2 pollack. Both pollack were caught on rag - the second weighed 4lb. My 2 biggest spurs of the day were caught on poor cod. It is important to use luminous beads, tubing etc. on your rigs. For added attraction beads can be charged up by using a torch or flash from a camera. Between 6 of us that day we had 80-90 fish. Spurs, whiting, pollack, poor cod, lsd and thornback ray were the species caught. Robert Inglis
Brian's summary of the 2002 trout season - As usual the trout season for many of us didn't go quite as planned. It started with horrendous opening day conditions, followed by the longest non-summer I can remember, and ended with midges that were far too numerous to contend with. Right, that's Andy's excuses dispensed with, now to the fishing. The season was a bit up and down with the weather being mainly poor, but on the occasions we did venture out we were rewarded with some nice trout. Without trying to be too controversial I would guess that the fly probably accounted for more and better trout than the other, less traditional methods (although the capture of a 5lb wild brownie to the fly may have influenced my opinion). In all seriousness though, when I'm fed up catching trout there's nothing I like better than sticking out a ledger and laying there soaking up the rain. To summarise, it was a good season for the ferox again, with Mr Rutland's record breaker. Other than that there was nothing outstanding about the trout fishing in general on Loch Awe (nothing a bit of restocking and long term vision can't sort out though, I'm sure). There are, however, some cracking hill lochs in Argyll and my advice is to get out and try them. The positives aspects (big trout, solitude, beautiful views) by far outweigh the negatives (walking, climbing, sweating, gasping etc.). So get out there....see you next season. Brian