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Highland Fling!
I was lucky enough to be invited on a trip to the west coast of Scotland this weekend with a couple of Tyneside anglers, Neil, Mick and Roy. We headed to Loch Etive an inland sea loch near Oban in search of spurdog, thornback ray and cod.
There can't be many more scenic spots to fish in the UK surely.
Our first look at the loch and we were blessed with excellent weather.
Absolutely stunning, on a fine day like this in winter I really think the loch looks it's best.
We dropped our gear off at the digs near Taynuilt which was a heated caravan done out with all mod cons and really warm to. Just as well to as the temperature during the day rarely climbed above freezing and was well below at night.
Then it was off for our first shore fishing session on Friday evening to a beach mark near Bonawe on the north side. Here I've had some success before and a decent cast will easily put a bait into 90ft of water!
What can I say, perfect conditions for fishing, we were in luck.
Flat calm with a nice strength of tide, as soon as darkness fell we hoped the fish would bite.
The pitch black descended and yes the fish began to bite.
Thornback rays to 4.5 lb for me, I had quite a few of these, and for my rod bites were coming thick and fast, almost a fish a chuck!
Bluey topped off with a starlight or glowing green beads was the best bait by far for all we caught on the trip.
The rays were biting, get in there!
Neil had a cracking bite and he was into a very good fish which unfortunately bit him off, most likely culprit a good spur.
Soon after Mick caught a beautifully marked codling.
The night got better and I caught my first spurdog of 5lb. As I'm up for catching as many different species as I can this year, a shore caught spurdog was up there at the top of my list, spot on.
Amazing fish these with their bright green eyes, decent scrappers to.
Followed by another codling and more thornies.
A pretty succesful first evening and it was off to bed to dream about our boat trip on the loch in the morning.
Up bright and raring to go, three of us set out up and down the loch looking for fish.
Our launch point, again stunning.
We finally settled on a spot right up the loch which was extremely deep. It wasn't long before a few spurs found us, small ones at first.
Slightly better.
Then Neil had a good tussle through 300ft of water and landed a cracker of 8lb, a belter of a fish for us. This one was tagged to and we kept a record of the tag number to follow up.
We had around ten spurs here before calling it a day. We payed £18 each for the privilige and I've got to say it was some of the best money I've ever spent. We didn't fill the boat with fish so to speak but a day out on the loch is magical with good weather, a big fish is a bonus.
Saturday night and the lads went on the lash lol. I popped out to the nearby jetty at Taynuilt for a few hours and it was slow, only one thornie, not my favourite spot to be honest. Maybe I should have watched the footy instead, aaahhhh!!! it can't be good all of the time!
Only a thornie here.
Sunday the weather closed in so we headed for the open coast but as they say on the west coast when the wind blows from the east the fish bite least and this turned out to be true.
My only fish on the open coast, a small ling, very pretty though.
As darkness approached and the wind began to howl we headed up the loch looking for shelter around Bonawe Quarry, unfortunately nothing here either.
We didn't head up to the flat rock as the weather was bad but did go back to the beach at Bonawe where I caught another thornie.
What a great weekend, thornbacks, spurs, codling and a ling, not bad at all. Highlight of the trip was undoubtedly a trip up the loch on the boat and
also for me the first nights fishing was fantastic. I'm sure we'll be back up sooner than later.
Tightlines, Dave.
There can't be many more scenic spots to fish in the UK surely.
Our first look at the loch and we were blessed with excellent weather.
Absolutely stunning, on a fine day like this in winter I really think the loch looks it's best.
We dropped our gear off at the digs near Taynuilt which was a heated caravan done out with all mod cons and really warm to. Just as well to as the temperature during the day rarely climbed above freezing and was well below at night.
Then it was off for our first shore fishing session on Friday evening to a beach mark near Bonawe on the north side. Here I've had some success before and a decent cast will easily put a bait into 90ft of water!
What can I say, perfect conditions for fishing, we were in luck.
Flat calm with a nice strength of tide, as soon as darkness fell we hoped the fish would bite.
The pitch black descended and yes the fish began to bite.
Thornback rays to 4.5 lb for me, I had quite a few of these, and for my rod bites were coming thick and fast, almost a fish a chuck!
Bluey topped off with a starlight or glowing green beads was the best bait by far for all we caught on the trip.
The rays were biting, get in there!
Neil had a cracking bite and he was into a very good fish which unfortunately bit him off, most likely culprit a good spur.
Soon after Mick caught a beautifully marked codling.
The night got better and I caught my first spurdog of 5lb. As I'm up for catching as many different species as I can this year, a shore caught spurdog was up there at the top of my list, spot on.
Amazing fish these with their bright green eyes, decent scrappers to.
Followed by another codling and more thornies.
A pretty succesful first evening and it was off to bed to dream about our boat trip on the loch in the morning.
Up bright and raring to go, three of us set out up and down the loch looking for fish.
Our launch point, again stunning.
We finally settled on a spot right up the loch which was extremely deep. It wasn't long before a few spurs found us, small ones at first.
Slightly better.
Then Neil had a good tussle through 300ft of water and landed a cracker of 8lb, a belter of a fish for us. This one was tagged to and we kept a record of the tag number to follow up.
We had around ten spurs here before calling it a day. We payed £18 each for the privilige and I've got to say it was some of the best money I've ever spent. We didn't fill the boat with fish so to speak but a day out on the loch is magical with good weather, a big fish is a bonus.
Saturday night and the lads went on the lash lol. I popped out to the nearby jetty at Taynuilt for a few hours and it was slow, only one thornie, not my favourite spot to be honest. Maybe I should have watched the footy instead, aaahhhh!!! it can't be good all of the time!
Only a thornie here.
Sunday the weather closed in so we headed for the open coast but as they say on the west coast when the wind blows from the east the fish bite least and this turned out to be true.
My only fish on the open coast, a small ling, very pretty though.
As darkness approached and the wind began to howl we headed up the loch looking for shelter around Bonawe Quarry, unfortunately nothing here either.
We didn't head up to the flat rock as the weather was bad but did go back to the beach at Bonawe where I caught another thornie.
What a great weekend, thornbacks, spurs, codling and a ling, not bad at all. Highlight of the trip was undoubtedly a trip up the loch on the boat and
also for me the first nights fishing was fantastic. I'm sure we'll be back up sooner than later.
Tightlines, Dave.
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