Remote Loch Fishing

The weekend had finally arrived! Work finished and the van packed, it was time for my long haul drive to meet the guys for a weekend of pike and perch fishing.

When I say long haul drive, I feel that is unfair as Adam had actually driven up to Scotland from Southampton.

Myself, Adam and Robert all met up at the local pub and drove in convoy to our camping spot for the night at the head of the loch.

With a nice easy launch site we got our gear ready and started for the water.

I had three rods set up. One rod with a gold mepp on it, another with a chunkier rubber lure and the third was my fly rod set up with a rainbow patterned fly.

Weather wise it was stunning, the water was like a mirror and the sun was splitting the sky.

We launched and headed up the river, paddling in and out all the islands and into numerous narrow channels leading off from the main river itself. The banking was very high with long grasses and trees so you had no idea where you were and had to get back out using your memory. Sometimes paddling backwards as they were very narrow.

We all had really good fish, I lost count of the amount of pike I had. Although none massive with the biggest about 6lb, I did catch my personal best UK perch coming in around 1.5 – 2lb. Caught on a light spinning outfit, it was a great catch.

Adam lost a good pike, biting his line and swimming away with his lure.

Robert too had a good catch rate, bagging up on pike and perch although he only had heavy gear with him.

We called it a night when the sun started to set. The colours were amazing in the sky and it was still so still. We paddled back for some dinner and a few beers.

The next morning we awoke in a haze of mist. I popped down to the water for a look but could not see 10 feet in front of me.

It was around 5.30/6 am and myself and Robert had had our bacon rolls and coffee while Adam slept. Boy can that guy sleep, after some subtle loud chatting, radio playing loud and some car shaking we still couldn’t wake him.

Eventually when we were all up, we packed our gear and drove off for another even more remote loch.

I was meeting my friend who was driving up in the morning, I gave him a call and gave him directions to the nearest town where I would drive down and meet him.

On arrival at our destination the water was smallish but looked very fishy, it was flat calm with lots of little islands and tufts of weed and grasses. Great for the pike to hide out in.

Robert and Adam set off but I was nervous and Alan’s phone had no signal when I tried to call. I decided I would head down to the town to wait on him coming. When I got off the farmer’s track and arrived at the junction to the main road, Alan drove past me. Talk about timing!

We drove back up and I gave Alan some pointers as he had never kayaked before or even held a rod in his hand.

On the water Alan managed to catch a fish on his first cast, then again on his second cast and another on his bloody third cast. All perch but good introduction into unhooking on a kayak.

We all paddled around the loch, Robert and Adam fished the top end and we’re catching a lot of fish. Myself and Alan fished the bottom bays and Alan was catching all the fish. He was like a duck to water on the Big Tuna, the perfect kayak for both the novice and more experienced kayaker.

He had countless big perch and also managed to catch a nice pike. His words straight from his mouth when he saw the pike went a little like this, “I am not f****** touching that, you will have to do it”.

This attitude later changed when we were heading towards our final hour on the water when he said he wanted to catch another one of those pike thingys again.

I however had not touched a fish. After giving the guys a ribbing the night before as I was bagging up I was starting to get worried. My mate who had never held a rod before was showing me up no end.

I decided to leave Alan to it and went into the long grasses with my fly rod. I managed to hook a nice pike but lost it.

We all broke for some lunch and a blether then hit the water again.

By this time the wind had picked up a fair bit, to the point it was difficult to fish.

Adam had decided enough was enough and packed up and left for England!

The three of us fished on in the wind. Alan still doing well on the big tuna despite the really strong wind.

I too was catching fish in the second half. I had several pike up to about 8-10lb although I would struggle to say the fish broke the double figure mark. I did however smash my perch personal best again from last night with a fish over 2lb.

This water was amazing, only really accessible by kayak as most of the water is 6 inches to a foot deep but it is full of hiding places for fish and it is jam packed with fish. With it being so remote there was no litter or scorch marks out the grass. No line lying around or left over cans of beer. The fish are still there in numbers and not been harvested for food.

A great weekend spent fishing but due to high winds we had to call it a day, a day early. Great fun and great banter with amazing fishing.