Loch Etive fishing improving?
We launched at Kelly’s pier on Sunday morning with seven anglers on two boats, “Outcast” and “Tartan Spartan”. There was very little wind and a calm loch early on, but the rain showers soon started and remained on and off for the full day. We were fishing a dropping tide in the morning with LW expected about 1pm. Both boats headed West after launching and settled at a couple of marks just round from Airds Point in depths of around 100ft. Our bait selection came from mackerel, squid and trout. Darren was first into a fish on our boat as his rod buckled over and the tell-tale banging hinted that a decent spurdog was on it’s way up to pay us a wee visit. This nice healthy female weighed in bang on 8lbs and was a good start to the day. Things quietened off for us on Outcast after that, but the lads on Tartan Spartan seemed to have a consistent run of fish, especially small thornbacks of around 2 to 3lb.
After a wee while (and me still blanking!) we decided on a move over to the Priory area near the North Shore and got the anchor set. The tide had started to slacken off quite a bit and very little movement wasn’t a good sign. We stuck it out here for an hour without a bite while we had a hot lunch and pondered what to do next (and me still blanking!)?
Our third and final mark was back up the loch not too far from Airds Point, and again fairly shallow in Etive terms at only 90ft. It wasn’t long until we were into fish and boated three pregnant females weighing 7, 8 and 9lbs each in a frantic half hour. We all managed a thornie each and a couple of LSDs appeared too. Scott’s spurrie came on the light rod we had rigged up with small hooks to search for whiting, so gave him a decent fight. Another good fish hit this same rod a bit later, but sadly managed to escape the wee hooks during the retrieve. Darren also lost a very good fish when it escaped his rubber hooks.
My highlight came as the mist was closing in, rain started getting heavy and the rising winds from the West let us know they were there. I’d been using whole squid baits on a three down rig with 7/0 circle hooks in the hope of something a bit bigger? I wasn’t disappointed when I landed a very lean female spurrie of 11lb 7oz to cap the day off. It was also a tagging recapture, being first tagged in November 2010.
Best news of the day was that the two juniors on Tartan Spartan fishing with Jason & Les had caught plenty fish and thoroughly enjoyed themselves – even if they were cold and wet.
Good fishing, good company, good day.
We launched at Kelly’s pier on Sunday morning with seven anglers on two boats, “Outcast” and “Tartan Spartan”. There was very little wind and a calm loch early on, but the rain showers soon started and remained on and off for the full day. We were fishing a dropping tide in the morning with LW expected about 1pm. Both boats headed West after launching and settled at a couple of marks just round from Airds Point in depths of around 100ft. Our bait selection came from mackerel, squid and trout. Darren was first into a fish on our boat as his rod buckled over and the tell-tale banging hinted that a decent spurdog was on it’s way up to pay us a wee visit. This nice healthy female weighed in bang on 8lbs and was a good start to the day. Things quietened off for us on Outcast after that, but the lads on Tartan Spartan seemed to have a consistent run of fish, especially small thornbacks of around 2 to 3lb.
After a wee while (and me still blanking!) we decided on a move over to the Priory area near the North Shore and got the anchor set. The tide had started to slacken off quite a bit and very little movement wasn’t a good sign. We stuck it out here for an hour without a bite while we had a hot lunch and pondered what to do next (and me still blanking!)?
Our third and final mark was back up the loch not too far from Airds Point, and again fairly shallow in Etive terms at only 90ft. It wasn’t long until we were into fish and boated three pregnant females weighing 7, 8 and 9lbs each in a frantic half hour. We all managed a thornie each and a couple of LSDs appeared too. Scott’s spurrie came on the light rod we had rigged up with small hooks to search for whiting, so gave him a decent fight. Another good fish hit this same rod a bit later, but sadly managed to escape the wee hooks during the retrieve. Darren also lost a very good fish when it escaped his rubber hooks.
My highlight came as the mist was closing in, rain started getting heavy and the rising winds from the West let us know they were there. I’d been using whole squid baits on a three down rig with 7/0 circle hooks in the hope of something a bit bigger? I wasn’t disappointed when I landed a very lean female spurrie of 11lb 7oz to cap the day off. It was also a tagging recapture, being first tagged in November 2010.
Best news of the day was that the two juniors on Tartan Spartan fishing with Jason & Les had caught plenty fish and thoroughly enjoyed themselves – even if they were cold and wet.
Good fishing, good company, good day.
