Well Sunday past was the RNLI species hunt to raise some dosh for the lifeboats and being frugal I thought to make the most of the long trip and go up Friday/Saturday as well as the Sunday for the comp. Plan was to fish at Loch Leven and hopefully get into some decent thornies then meet up with Sharpie and his daughter to fish Loch Etive from his boat the rest of the weekend.
Day 1 - Loch Leven
After a reasonable trip there a few weeks ago I thought a longer session was in order and with LT hitting just around sunset I was hopeful for a good haul. Being unable to sit still in anticipation of a fishing trip I was up and out much earlier than intended and got to the mark about three hours before I actually intended, but as my last trip was in daylight on a dropping tide I was hopeful I wasn't just wasting time. Wrong, four hours feeding the crabs and I was contemplating the move but decided to stay as the sun was setting and tide on the turn. Just as the sun set I got the fright of my life when I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a big white oval face 'floating' over the lochside. GHOST! Then the rational brain took over and I realised it was a Barn Owl lol funny how being out on your own in the dark plays tricks on your mind. I seriously crapped it for a split second. But then it slowly flew past me and in the end was a truly excellent sight. Shortly after the fish finally made an appearance. I had just given myself a couple of casts before heading back to the car for some scran when the doggie pack attack hit. 6 in 6 casts to start and ending up with 8 in 12 casts with another two dropped right at the waters edge. Two rods bouncing away at once most of the time, so a nice frantic end to a session looking at heading towards the blank. So finally back to the car for the aforementioned feed before driving over to Etive to find a quiet spot to get my head down for a few hours kip.
Day 2 - Etive Shore and Boat
After a cold night and a more than welcome fry up out of the car boot I had a few hours to kill waiting for Sharpie so decided upon a nice easy session at the priory so I could pack up and shoot round to Taynuilt at a moments notice. I wasn't fishing hard and as it was a lovely bright day (actually reasonable warm when the sun appeared from the clouds) I didn't expect much and didn't catch anything. Still a pleasant morning clearing the cobwebs and it was good to meet Bri Reid when he popped down to say hello on his way to the quarry. An enjoyable chinwag, we'll have to get a proper session arranged at some point.
I think I was feeding the crabs at the Priory for about three hours before the call came from Sharpie to pack up and get over to Taynuilt. And after a couple of false starts launching (due to the low tide) we were motoring over to tie up to the fish farm near Airds Point. A couple of rods down for spurries or thornies and a couple optimistically feathering for some of the year round mackies. Nothing happening on the feathers so they were replaced with scratching rigs fairly quickly. All in all a really nice day weatherwiseother than the odd blustery squall coming through. The fishing was fairly slow at the Airds point fish farm the only bite was to me and my target for the previously day howed up when I landed a 3lbish thornie (or flappy as Sharpie's daughter named it :)). Then shortly after an urgent dash to Taynuilt pier for a call of nature we moved to tie up to the fish farm across from the quarry. Again same tactics rods with spur/thornie rigs and a couple with scratching rigs. It was still a bit slow but we didn't have to wait long when Courtney and I caught a couple of similarly sized thornies as the first in quick succession (all three were caught on old squid, a bait I love).
As the squid was doing well I took up my small rod to change bait from mackie strips to bits of squid tentacle and felt a bit of weight on the line but no knocking or movement of any kind and was fair surprised when a pollock of just under two pounds came over the side and promptly spat the hook. It just came in like a dead weight no fight, no sign of a bite or anything. New species for the year so quite happy but a wee bit disappointed at the same time as it should have put up a bit of a scrap on the light rod.
So change to squid tentacles made and it was rattles on every drop and a fair few missed bites before I connected and landed one of what we thought were the culprits, Whiting. A few more missed bites and only a second one landed before we decided to give in to hunger and make a break for shore, tying up to Kelly's pier to save launching again in the morning.
So day one on the boat 2 thornies, 1 pollock, 2 whiting to me, 1 thornie (flappy) to Courtney and a blanker for Sharpie.
A wee detour over to Oban for a fish tea in the
chipper, cracking feed. Feeding time over, Sharpie fancied taking his new rod, a Century Kompressor he had recently bought from Big Spurrie that I had just delivered to him that day, for a few casts and as we were staying the night in Taynuilt we decided to walk down to the pier. As we walked along we could see tip lights on the piers end and on arrival found one guy (sorry forgot to ask your name and if you were on the forum) set up. But plenty room as we only had only rod each and only planned to stay for an hour or so for Sharpie to test out his rod.
To be honest I only fired out one bait and was so distracted by the amazing night sky and chatting that I can't really claim I was fishing, so we left fishless after an hour or so with Sharpie very happy with his new purchase.
Day 3 - RNLI Species Hunt
Well after an even more chilly night I got up to a lovely view, clear skies, not a breeze and some fog lifting from the Loch. It is a truly beautiful place.
Whilst we got the kettle boiling and the fry up going all the other boats and kayaks (that weren't there already) started to roll in and launch. The dues paid and it was soon time for the off.
With boats nipping all over the loch we decided to try for smaller and mini species to begin with in the quarry area. 45mins of nothing, no rattles nada so a move further up the loch was decided on. lots of other boats buzzing about but not a lot of info coming on what the others were getting (or not). Still no fish and after a few more moves drifting in different areas of varying depths we moved up to a spot not far from Kelly's Pier and put the anchor down. This change brought the first fish to the boat for Courtney another flappie.
About half the competition gone (9:30 - 15:30) and it was slow going after another fruitless visit to the quarry area we moved to the fish farm across the loch from it where we picked up the pollock and whiting the day before. Another couple of thornies to Sharpie and myself shortly after the move. Then my scratching rod started to get battered and the whiting started appearing (Sharpie has the photo on his phone of the one we took a pic for the comp). A double hook up and another 3 in 15 mins, plus loads of missed bites. Like the doggies on Friday night it was a fun few frantic mins after a slow day.
Our final move from one side of the fish farm to the other for the last half hour of the comp was worth while as Courtney got her second species of the comp (and Get Shorties third) with a doggie. Another then took one of my light rods baits and gave a fair fight on the way up that I thought I had a small spurrie until the doggie broke the surface.
Tickety Bo radioed for lines up, comp over. So it was off back to land the boat and see how things went for everyone else. The Oban Life Boat came into the loch to say hello with the coxswain coming ashore to thank everyone for there efforts on behalf of the lifeboats (pic from the Oban Lifeboat facebook page of the lifeboat leaving the loch).
The winner was team Poundstretcher with 8 species, with 2nd and 3rd get 7 and 6 species respectively. Per Ticketies post on WSF there were 46 anglers and 9 juniors in 16 boats and 3 kayaks taking part and raising £292.41 for the RNLI on the day.
Big thanks to Tickety Boo for organising the comp and to Sharpie and his daughter for making a slow couple of days fishing a good laugh. Great weekend all round and can't wait for the next trip.
I was glad to see Jay turn up to divert the guys attention for a bit. Jay quickly set up his two rods and was quickly in with a double shot of flounder. Shortly after was in again with another single. Whilst I was enjoying relaxing and being out I decided to nick some of Jay's bait and immediately my rod was twitching. Not big not tiny but a a blank beater none the less. Jay was still getting lots of bites and landing a fair few whilst I was not getting much interest despite the change of bait. Still once the sun died and the wind seemed chillier we decided to call it a day, it I think it was 8-2 to Jay on the flounder front and no trout.
