Yes it’s with us again…..autumn……when the leaves turn colour, fall or are blown into the water and without fail attach themselves to your trolled lures turning them into miniature water skiers …..or when your carefully dabbled bob fly suddenly disappears below the waves, your heart misses a beat and you strike into a big old oak leaf! It happens every year.
While out during the week I noticed that Ross point has almost re-established itself as one of the most scenic views on the loch following the severe scarring it suffered due to de-forestation. Sometimes we take the loch-side surroundings for-granted but when you study it closely there’s often a surprise in store…..have you ever noticed the spread of pampas grass across the hillside above Anchorage Cottage, just north of Cashel? Definitely not natural to the area….. the shape of things to come??
The Ross point area is well known for holding sea trout and salmon. Ross Isles, Pilot Bank and Mill O’ Ross produce fish every season. Colin McCrory and friend Jimmy Millar were fly fishing up there very recently. After numerous takes, three sea trout to 2 1/2 lbs and half dozen nebs were netted. Colin tells me it was a splendid day out which his pal thoroughly enjoyed.
A few weeks ago Colin returned from holiday to find that Angus McRitchie and Co. had been having great sport on the Loch, so at his earliest opportunity headed out. In no time he was into good sea trout, which were taking freely, slashing at the bob fly. His biggest shown below was about 4lb. He reckons there was a shoal of similar sized fish sitting off Inchcruin.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a stone you should have noticed from the ‘Catch Reports’ that our regular band of sea trout enthusiasts, including Dave Sunman, Gibby Bruce, Matt Stewart and Angus MacRitchie are having a very good season. I’ve been out a couple of times trying to follow their example…..but don’t quite have the same touch. Alan Raeburn and I went out on what looked like a promising day. However the wind really increased strength to the extent that it was difficult to keep a line in the water. Managed to get an offer at the Long Point to a dapped imitation daddy and hooked a couple of small fish on the wet fly. Back at the Bay we met Alex Bowie and wife who had risen a few up at the Luss Bank. I went back out to have another go during the week and found out that a rod works better when you remember to pack the reel!
It’s encouraging to hear so many reports of good sea trout being caught again. I remember when I was first introduced to the Loch in the early 80’s. Mid May and there were at least twenty boats out in the Long Point, Short Point, Darroch areas, queuing up for drifts…..and god help anyone who started up an outboard! Long time member Walter Gilchrist reminded me that in those days the trolls were only deployed for the first couple of months and thereafter the fly was king. All you had to worry about was a trolling boat coming too close to your drift…..no jet skis then! I had a conversation with Donald McKellar about this trolling culture which so many…..including ourselves…. have fallen into…..the reason we concluded ….laziness!
There have been very few reports of salmon and grilse taken on the Loch since the end of August and I would certainly suggest that any fish caught now are worthy of being returned and allowed to follow nature’s course….. which reminds me….. Kenny McDonald and pal Roly Craig went out for a troll down the Bank the other week and experienced the quality of our coarse fish…….within half an hour they had a 15lb and a 17lb pike on the boat…..not quite what they were in search of but great fun nevertheless. Lomond pike are well renowned for their tail dancing antics and at this time of the year when the first frosty mornings kick in they become particularly lively.
A few years ago Colin Campbell, who fishes out of Burnfoot, caught a 2 1/2lb rainbow trout in the Loch. At first I thought it was a wind up….. but no, he insisted that it was caught on the troll near the Fruin. Where did it come from? The only solution we could think of was that it had found it’s way from some stocked water that eventually drains into the Loch or had been brought as live-bait by pike fishers and released. This year he had an even stranger catch…..a yellow wellington boot containing a bottle of a famous Islay malt whisky. Believe it? ……or perhaps not!
Well it’s getting very near to the end of season again and this may well be the last tale of the year. Maybe salmon catches on the Loch weren’t the most memorable but I’m sure most of us had some great fun trying with good memories to keep us going over the winter.
Regards J.R.