RNLI Species Hunt, Loch Etive

This turned out to be one of those days when getting afloat was a bonus, catching a few fish on top of that made our journey all the more worth while.

We left Coldstream at 5am, driving through fresh snow, the prospect of 180 miles more of the same conditions was rather off putting to say the least. Never the less we plodded on and within 4 hours we had reached our destination of Loch Etive in beautiful snow capped Argyll.

Once daylight broke , the snow had turned to sleet and the white veil on the hills around us slowly receded to the peaks, a promising sign at least, as we contemplated our journey home that evening.

As we arrived at the loch we were met by an armada of dinghies and a few kayaks. Today was the inaugural RNLI benefit day, a species hunt on the loch. A total of sixteen boats, four kayaks and two charter boats were all chomping at the bit ready to get afloat. One small hurdle lay in front of us though. The wind was howling down the Loch, reaching gale force 8 at times. The saving grace, it was dying and dying fast. By the time we had rigged up and had a cuppa it looked a much better prospect. The match had been postponed for an hour, a wise decision, as although now it was still windy, the tide had turned and the narrows at Bonawe no longer resembled the maelstrom of white water that they were 20 mins previous. It was now viable and we slipped in, making our way for some shelter behind the quarry on the North Shore.

After half an hour sitting at anchor with nothing to show we opted for a change of venue. A long,slow slog against the now fiercely ebbing tide took us up to the rough ground inside the Quarry. It was a nightmare to try and set an anchor in such conditions so we threw the towel in and made for the South shore to stretch our legs and make a long over due brew.

Now refreshed and full of new found vigour we tied off to a couple of Buoys at the old Quarry fish farm. By this time the wind had dropped away to nothing and in it's place came a steady downpour of sleety rain. It didn't cause a problem though as a few fish came on the feed and the species tally started to grow as they came aboard.

I struggled to get a Codling so a quick shift back over to the quarry proved to be fruitful as i nailed three off the belt end.

From there I made my way down nearer the launch site and tied off to a Buoy near a mark that was renowned for throwing out a few varied species. True to form it produced the goods, but unfortunately I had encountered most of them already today, if only I had went there first in the morning. Time was running out and I noticed a few of the boats heading back to shore so we made our way back in. A total of five species for me which I thought was ok considering I hadn't touched a Spurdog, Thornback or even a Dogfish throughout the day.

The prize giving over, we beat a hasty retreat and thankfully we had an uneventful journey home. The conversation on the way home soon turned to fishing as we discussed how we were going to put a fish on the table in the month of February. A tall order if ever there was one........

Winter Hideaway

With the cold North Easterly winds now set in on the East coast a jaunt over to Loch Etive in Argyll helps keep the winter blues at bay.

The first weekend in January was earmarked for such a trip and perfectly timed to work off some of the Christmas fayre that seems to have attached it's self to my waist line.

We met on a frozen shore line on a cold but still January morning. A good forecast for the day ahead gave us hope but mutterings in the camp were of poor catches over recent tides.

A total of twelve kayaks turned up for our gathering ,all the boats used the Ebb tide to their advantage and made their way up the loch for the morning stint. I followed suite and made my first few exploratory drifts over the rough ground near the quarry. A couple of codling's were first to mark the score card, swiftly followed by a succession of small Coalfish to kept me busy for an hour or two. Brian was well off the blocks on his one man species race.........

It wasn't long before the cold got the better of me and as I was ready for a change of scenery. An ideal time to swing the paddle for half an hour and head further up the loch. A brief paddle warmed me up and put me onto a deep shelf just off Glen Noe.

A perfectly positioned marker buoy served as my anchorage and my bait was soon heading down into the darkness of the Abyss. Several minutes later, what started off as a few tentative bites soon developed into a hooped rod as the first Spurdog of the day decided to put in an appearance.

A few more missed runs, cold feet, cold hands and the thought of a hot cuppa was enough to get me fired up and heading back down the loch to Taynuilt. With hot soup, coffee and our feet warmed up it was time to fasten our lights on and head down the loch with the first of the Ebb. The late afternoon/evening plan was to fish the bay at Inveresragan, you can just see the small white cottage behind the bay in this picture...... The Ebb tide proved to be very dissapointing for us, as did the couple of hours of darkness we fished into. Stephen had a decent spur and a reasonable Thornback from the ropes before Airds point. For the rest of us it was very slow, Doggies, Whiting and small Spurs being the order of the day.

I've had better days on Etive but that's the nature of the beast, it does tend to blow hot and cold throughout the winter months. In hindsight I think a bigger tide would have made all the difference for us, but you can't have it perfect evey time. Most importantly, we all went fishing and we all came home,................. safely.

2009, Off to a flying start

An early start on New Years Day paid dividends for our first outing of 2009. A short four hour morning trip was planned, our venue Berwick, our target.......the first Cod of 2009. The result........ several Codlings, infact twelve to be precise. A small Pollock also broke the surface which brought my tally up to a bakers dozen. The bulk of these fish went back to fight another day. A few unlucky ones were kept for the table which made a refreshing change from the recent over indulgence of Turkey. Certainly a flying start to the New Year, can it continue? I doubt it, the next couple of months will see us in the doldrums. Coloured water and strong winds will be the order of the day.