Angling Reports 2003
9 February - Taynuilt Slipway, Loch Etive - Fished the slipway from 12-4 on Sunday using squid, rag, and mackerel as bait. Finished the day with a rather disappointing result - 1 scorpion fish for my dad and one for me, still better than a blank I suppose! Also lost a small cod and scorpion fish. Robert Inglis
1 March - Loch Etive - Arrived at Loch Etive on the Bonawe side and managed to get past the new gate on the far side of the quarry. We walked up the Loch about 1 mile and got set up. We Fished the flood tide using mackerel strips on a single hook rig. Caught 14 fish in 5 hours - 4 small cod (biggest was 2lb), 2 thornback ray (small), 6 pollack (biggest 2lb), and the rest where too small to admit to. Weather was showery but nice. A good day out. Scott Twort & Darren France
1 March - Loch Fyne (Furnace & Inverary) - I fished at Furnace (quarry pier) which was quite busy. No luck but a few pollack were caught with spinners and a couple of doggies on mackerel. I returned to Inverary and fished the pier for a couple of hours and caught two small dabs on mussel. A doggy and a few other dabs were caught by some other anglers and that is about it. Enjoyed the fishing and will no doubt return in the better weather. Mike Sydor
2 March - Ballachulish (Loch Leven) - Fished a spot directly across from the island with the cemetery on it. Had plenty of bites and plenty of lost traces! In the end caught 1 dogfish on sand eel. My dad lost a decent fish on his last cast using whole squid. Robert Inglis
8 March - Loch Etive - Three of us tried a mark about 1.5 miles past the quarry. The last time we fished this mark we had 80+ fish between six of us. On my first cast I picked up a small whiting, so we hoped there would be spurdog about. Sadly this was not to be, and Kenny got the only other fish at this mark, a whiting and a doggie. At about 3pm we moved to marks nearer the quarry. Me and Kenny opted to fish near the dock area while Gareth tried a point about 400 yards further up the loch. I managed to catch 2 small cod, 2 scorpion fish and a common goby while Gareth managed a doggie on his last cast. Robert Inglis
15 March - Loch Baile a' Ghoainn - The trout season is finally upon us! We set off at 7am heading for Loch Baile a' Ghoainn. The weather was superb, with clear skies, a light wind, and warm temperatures - in sharp contrast to the conditions last year on the opening day. We arrived and started fishing at 8am. The first fish caught was at 10.20am - a cracking 1lb 2oz brownie by Andy. The fish was slightly under condition and didn't put up a great fight, but this is to be expected so early on in the year. Another 5 hours passed without a touch until Al hooked another cracking trout weighing just over the pound. This fish did put up a struggle! Shortly after, wee Brian landed a nice half pound brownie. All in all an excellent start to the 2003 season! Andy, Al & Brian
17 March - Loch Etive (Bonawe) - Conditions bright with slight wind down from the head of the loch. Cammy, Kyle and me used squid and joeys and never even got a nibble (except for Kyle who got a fantastic run but never connected). A nice day out though, even with about ten million people trying to fish the same stretch of loch. John Bichard
20 March - Loch Scammadale - We thought we'd make the most of the good weather we've had over the past week or so and pop down to Scammadale for a few hours fly fishing. It was no shock to us to see rain clouds coming over the hills as soon as we arrived - typical Argyll! We hired the boat from Mrs McCorkindale and headed to the western end of the loch. We got into a good drift along the northern shore and, within ten minutes, Brian hit into a brownie of around half a pound, which took a black buzzer. We fished for another few hours but didn't touch anything else or see any fish rise. As soon as we started to pack up the sun appeared. On the way back through the glen we spotted a Golden Eagle flying high over the hills - a spectacular sight. Andy & Brian
29th March - Feinn Lochs, Kilmelford - Al and I set off from the car at around 7am and headed for the Feinn lochs. We parked in the village of Kilmelford and had a walk of about 1 hour ahead of us. There were already trout rising as we walked along the bank of Loch a' Phearsain, but we resisted the temptation to stop and headed onwards and upwards towards Big Feinn. It was a warm spring day, with broken sunshine and a nice breeze - perfect conditions for fly fishing. We arrived at the loch (knackered) around 8am and minutes later heard an encouraging splash as a trout greedily took a fly from the surface of the loch. A quick rummage around in the shallows revealed an abundance of olive nymphs under the stones. After a quick cup of tea we headed off in different directions to explore the loch. With nothing hatching off in any numbers we had both decided to try a variety of nymphs on floating lines. It wasn't long before I was into my first fish of the day, closely followed by Al on the other side of the loch with his first - both fish had taken pheasant tail nymphs. Just above Big Feinn lies Wee Feinn which we both fished to no avail, so down it was to Big Feinn and hopefully some risers to cast at. The anticipated olive hatch never materialised, but we took fish throughout the day on nymphs. Al ended up with seven to my six. No monsters this time - the average was 12ozs. It was, however, a great day out and it was finished off with a nice brace for supper. Brian & Al
6 April- Loch Tralaig - I arrived at the loch at around 12 noon and headed up the northern shore towards the far end of the loch. The weather was warm and dry, with some cloud cover. Within 15 minutes I had hit into a brown trout of around half a pound, which took a 10g bronze toby lure. I fished my way around the head of the loch and caught another two trout of around the same size, all within 45 minutes. The clouds disappeared and the bright sunshine seemed to put the fish down. I continued to fish for another three hours but only managed a couple of knocks. Andy
12 April - Loch Baile a' Ghoainn - Myself and long time fishing compadre Gary set off from Benderloch heading for Lismore early on Saturday. The anticipation of what was to come was building nicely as I filled Gary's head with stories of picture perfect wild trout that tail dance out of the water, and an aqua marine loch, typical of a limestone fishery. By the time we were on the bank of the loch there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Bright, sunny days are not the best conditions on gin clear limestone waters, so it was on with wet lines and counting down in search of the fish. Things started to look up quite quickly as I missed my first trout of the day. It had followed my black cat lure in, snatching it on the lift and catching me unawares. With the help of my Polaroid's I was able to clearly see a trout that would be easily 2lbs. One more fish missed in similar circumstances and lots of olive buzzers coming off soon had me changing tactics. It was while I was setting up a team of buzzers on a floating line that Gary hooked into the first fish of the day, a beautiful brown trout of about a pound that gave an excellent account of itself. Not put off by Gary's success on the wet line, I was soon casting a team of buzzers across the wind and retrieving them slowly when I was rewarded with the kind of trout that typifies this classic water. The fish put up a terrific struggle and tipped the scales at 2lbs12ozs. It was quickly returned to the loch. One more fish was taken, a modest half pounder. The fish here are hard to catch but great fun is to be had trying. We returned to Benderloch already planning our next trip. Brian & Gary Edwards
13 April - Loch Awe - Our first outing of the year on Loch Awe, in search of pike. We set up in a small bay, on the shore directly across from Lochawe Village, and cast out a couple of deadbaits on floats. We fished from around 11am to 4pm and didn't touch a fish. Shortly before packing up time I decided to have a throw about with a toby, to see if I could hit into some trout or perch. After only a few casts I felt a thump on the rod and found myself with a jack pike on! After a few nervous moments (as I had only 6lb mono line on) I managed to land it. It tipped the scales at just over 6lbs - no monster by any means but a nice end to the day. No fish for Stu today, but he's had plenty of pike from Loch Awe anyway! Andy & Stu
18 April - Loch Awe (Ardanaiseig) - I arrived at the loch at about 8am. There was a cool south easterly blowing and hardly a cloud in the sky. I started with a team of three flies on the floating line, working my way quickly in and out of the bays. After half an hour passing without a pull I was starting to contemplate a change of tactics. Suddenly the surface of the water was broken and my rod bent into a decent rainbow of about a pound. The fish was full finned and put up a great fight. This fish was quickly followed by another rainbow of a similar size. Both fish had taken my favourite point lure - the Peter Ross. I decided at this point to change tactics, even though I had a nice brace. I had noticed small black buzzers hatching off and felt a change might improve my chances. I spooned one of the rainbows to discover a bellyful of tiny black buzzers about size 18. In amongst the buzzers, however, were half a dozen Olive nymphs! The change to wet line and a team of nymphs proved to be a good move, fished deep and slow. I had some great sport, finishing at 5pm with ten trout. Of the ten fish the seven brownies were all returned and three rainbows taken for the table. No decent brownies this time, sadly. In my opinion the average size of Loch Awe's brownies is on the slide and seven trout under half a pound does nothing to disprove this. Brian
19 April - Loch Fiart - The day was bright and sunny with not a lot of chance of catching fish so I left the fishing to later on in the evening. I started fishing around 7pm. The surface of the loch was covered in rises but because of the flat calm the fish were not taking. However a light breeze started to blow and as I drifted into the north end of the loch the fish started to come on. My first fish felt like a monster but it turned out to be 2 smaller fish of about 1/2 lb and 3/4 lb on the same cast. This happened about 4 times and I caught a lot of fish over an hour and a half. It was the shallower water which produced the fish. I've fished Fiart a few times last season and the biggest fish in the loch seem to be 3/4lb to 1lb. The flies I was using were a size 12 Zulu on the dropper with a size 12 Connemara Black on the point. Greg McAlister
25 April - Feinn Lochs, Kilmelford - With Al as company once again we set off for Big Feinn early and arrived on the loch about 8am. With nymphs still prevalent in the margins it was on with a team of pheasant tail nymphs. This loch has a definite 'X' factor, every retrieve I get a feeling something big will explode at my flies. Al says the same - there is something out there. Anyway, the nymphs were working, a few pulls and a trout caught and returned. At around 11am the first risers started to show. With fish feeding on the now emerging olive nymphs I quickly changed to some emerger patterns. This paid off and continued to work all day. I finished with nine, biggest was just over the pound mark. Al had three fish and lost a cracker, the fish would have been round about three pounds and was an acrobat in a past life - it's fourth leap into the air was the one that threw the hook! Another cracking day out though and I've no doubt we'll be back!! Brian & Al
26 & 27 May- Loch Creran - Arrived at the top end of the loch at the old road bridge (south side) early afternoon with the tide just on its way in. I was fishing with an 8' trout spinning rod and small (4g) toby type lures with the intention of catching some sea trout. The fishing started off pretty slow but after some time I hooked a couple of small finnock. A few casts later I hooked into a better fish which turned out to be a sea trout of around 1 1/2 lbs. I fished on and with the tide almost at high a decent fish jumped out the water 20 yds in front. I cast over it and it took first time. The fish was about 1 1/2 lbs - same as the first. The following day I arrived at the same spot and with the tide at its lowest. I fished from the bridge down and caught scores of small finnock. I walked right down to where the river meets the loch and caught 2 slightly larger fish - the biggest about 1/2 lb. I fished back up to the bridge with the bites slowing down up to high tide and no decent fish showing. One worrying sight was the sea lice infestations on some of the fish. A good number of fish I caught had upwards of 30 sea lice completely covering their head and all down their body. There were a lot of small fish jumping high out the water which presumably was an effort to rid themselves of the sea lice. These unnaturally high sea lice numbers are undoubtedly a result of salmon farming and it seems efforts to control sea lice in fish farms are having a very limited effect, if any. Greg McAlister
1 June- Loch Awe - Spent the day out on Stu's boat fishing various parts of the loch. The weather was warm with a fair amount of cloud cover. We trolled with Rapala lures for a couple of hours without much success, the only fish taken was by Al (a small jack pike). We decided that a change was in order so we headed to our favourite perch spot. We had a good laugh over the next hour catching perch. They are cracking wee fish that put up some fight for their size, especially on light braided line - a lot like mackerel! The perch in Loch Awe seem to outnumber the brown trout in both size and quantity, excluding the ferox fish. A nice day out, even though Stu's missus (Carol) caught the biggest perch of the day (1¼lb)! Andy, Al & Stu
18 June - Loch Etive - Superb sport had by all - patchy weather gave way to still dry conditions around 7.30pm. Fishing from one of Ian Campbell's fine boats out of Airds Bay, a short jaunt to the left just before the first mussel farm, we tied up to a large buoy close to the shore. Huge pennels armed with whole sandeel (large), half squid and half mackerel cocktails were adorned with various luminous muppets, beads and snap light-sticks. On 4 ft flowing traces these were cast away from the farm about 100yds. Happy to be using bait runner reels it was not long before the first screaming take - yielding a double figure spurdog. Unable to cope with more than one rod each all extra rods we brought in as two hours of unbelievable action unfolded with 20 odd spurdogs (mostly around double figures), a few thornbacks (all small), a rock cod and one dogfish being boated between the four of us. A big thankyou to the Taynuilt Hotel for helping to organise this and happily provide all the local knowledge. John Hewitt
25-26 June - Sound of Mull - The weather was sunny with a light breeze. I started fishing for pollack on the flood tide around Lady Rock. I took 5 pollack ranging from 1lb to 3lb in size on my favoured jellyworm-leadhead combo. I then fished in the tidal race with a set of Hokkai lures and connected with some small pollack and 6 mackerel. I moved up to Liath Sgeir and, using the leadhead again, took 3 good pollack, the best 6lb. The next morning saw a force 4 easterly wind with broken cloud. I anchored up at the bottom of the Sound of Mull and set up my skate fishing outfit. For bait I had a few pollack and mackerel caught the previous day. Due to the choppy sea state, wind and tide I had problems getting the anchor to hold. After around an hour of messing about I managed to get the anchor to hold firm, and I was able to drop a 3lb pollack bait 400ft to the bottom. The weather gradually improved over the next couple of hours. A few clicks on the reel ratchet signalled a bite. I hooked the reel into the harness and the battle commenced! After what seemed like an age I finally saw a large skate appear 20 yards behind the boat. I drew the fish alongside the boat and got a rope around its tail and secured it to the boat, where it was measured, tag number recorded, and unhooked. According to the weight chart this female skate weighed around 112lb. I stopped at Liath Sgeir on the way home and caught a 5lb pollack on the leadhead combo. A nice way to end a couple of days fishing! Al
22-24 July- Loch Linnhe - Fished from the jetty on the last 2 hours of the flood and then another 2 on the ebb. Overcast and wet weather. Tried everything I had! Sandeel, mackerel strip, jellyworms, mussels. Not even a poxy little pollack! Even tried spinning with a second rod! Also had 1 day under the Cregan Bridge with the same but with sunny weather. Saw several sea trout cut didn't catch any! Stuart
7 August - Kerrera - Fished at Kerrara island with my mate Alan. He had the best skate of his life at 185lbs. We also had a nice eel of 24.5lbs. Dale Robertson
16-17 August - Sound of Kerrera & Firth of Lorne - Al set off in his boat from Barcaldine and stopped to pick me up at Benderloch. We headed into Oban where we picked up Paul, then set off down the Sound of Kerrera. Our first stop was at the small islands near Gallanach, to try for some mackerel. I was using white feathers and hit into a nice sea trout just under a pound in weight - my first trout on feathers! We all hit some small pollack which were on the edge of a reef. We moved further down the sound and stopped at a mark that Al has fished a few times. I caught two mackerel and a pollack on the feathers and Al hooked a pouting and a nice cuckoo wrasse on baited hokkais. Later in the day we sailed round to the west coast of Kerrera and set up camp. The midges were horrendous so we went out for a couple of hours in the boat again. It was a beautiful night, flat calm. We saw a couple of porpoises and a few shoals of mackerel. Between us we managed to catch forty mackerel. The next morning we set off early as we were being eaten alive. We caught another six mackerel and I caught a 4lb pollack which nearly snapped the rod in the rod rest. As the wind picked up we decided to head home early. Andy, Al & Paul Brady
16 August - Loch Leven - Fished the loch on Saturday evening. In the hour before darkness we had 10 thornbacks, 6 mackerel and a dogfish. My kid craig got a 29lb conger eel. after dark we had 3 codling in 3 hours. Dale Robertson
20 August- Sound of Mull - Returning to Oban from Denver, Colorado, I had a fantastic days fishing with the top Skipper in the area, Ronnie Campbell, in his charter boat "Laura Dawn". Out at sea in the Firth of Lorne, we had a busy day. Ronnie provided the fishing equipment and I caught the biggest fish of my life, a 129lb skate, followed by 2 conger eels that were 20-25lbs each. Others on the trip caught a 108lb Skate, 3 other conger eels of similar weight and and several thorn back rays. Dean Clayton