Loch Etive

[Stuart]

Well at last decided to use some of my holidays and have a bit of a fishing holiday. After a lot of deliberation between Orkney and the west coast of Scotland have decided to plump for the west coast.

I\'m planning on starting around the Loch Etive area and work up the west coast up over the top and back home (a round trip of about 600 miles).

Now I know some of you have tried your luck on Loch Etive and I was wondering if any of you would pass on any words of wisdom about fishing it from the shore. (Bait/Rigs/Marks - fancy trying for a thorny but anything will do )

I know I\'ve left it a bit late to ask, going hopefully on Tuesday but only just decided to head that way rather than hop the ferry across to Orkney.

P.S. anyone in the area fancy hooking up let us know not made any definate plans just going to go with the tide

[Rab]

Hi Stuart there are many marks on Etive which are worth a go. Taynuilt Slip on the Oban side offers small whiting, grey gurnard, doggies and also the chance of spurries at night. The falls of Lora at Connel bridge can yield big coalies to spinning. However having said that the best fishing seems to be on the opposite side as there are spots where you can easily cast in to 200ft of water.

As you drive along the road to Bonawe many of the shingle beaches along the way produce big spurs 7lb+ especially in darkness. A good area to try is around the Ardchattan Priory.

The best area( IMO) is that around Bonawe quarry. The little bay just as you enter the quarry can produce cod to 5lbs, grey gurnard and small pollack especially around the dock area. Best tactic to use is here is shrimp feathers baited with rag. There is an obvious looking point as you head in to the quarry(this is known as quarry point). Here you can catch small thornies, spurs, codling and whiting. Best rigs/baits here would be a 2 hook clipped rig with size 2/0 kamasans or pulley. It is very important here to use lumi beads/tubing on your rigs to attract the fish, best to charge them up witha torch before you cast out. In addition even the slightest movement of the rig once you have cast out seems to get bites. As for baits I would suggest mackerel and squid. The final mark that I would suggest trying is one called the big ledge. It is about a 10 min drive right through the quarry. You will pass a gate which is usually open if not it is a 15 min walk from the car. The mark is positioned b/w 2 mussel farms. If it helps I can send you a pic that will give you a rough idea where it is. Use the same rigs/baits as I suggested for the quarry point. At this mark you will be casting in to 200ft of water on relatively clean ground and have a good chance spurs and thornies. It is worth remembering that spurs are pack fish and wont always be at a given mark all of the time. The key is to find the poor cod and whiting shoals and the spurdog won\'t be far behind. One day 2 years ago me and some mates had 50 spurs off this mark!

As for meeting up I will be in the Ardnamurchan area for 2 weeks from Saturday.

[willywetegg]

Rab what an excellent post. Any angler would be drooling at the possibilities.

Jim.

[Stuart]

Got to agree with you there Jim, can\'t wait to get over there tomorrow to try some of these marks out, thanks alot for that Rab, have sent you a pm as well about possibly meeting up.

Stuart

[Rab]

Oh I forgot to mention that my mate had an 8lb ling off the big ledge mark last year

Jim I remember some posts a while back about you going up to Lochaline. Did you ever make it up there?

[willywetegg]

No didn\"t make it Rab. Unfortunately had a few probs with the car and didn\"t want to risk it, bit of a long way to have to get towed back off the A.A. lol. Gonna leave it till next year but definately going mate.

Jim.

[Rab]

Other places to try would be the long stay carpark at Fort William. Best to fish here about 2hrs leading up to high tide and 2 hrs back down again. Here you can catch dab(some to 1lb+), small codling, small thornies and stacks of doggies at night. As you drive to Fort William you will notice a sign for the Corran ferry. Follow the sign and get the ferry to the other side. If you leave the car on the Fort William side it is free for foot passengers. You can try spinning off the pier at high tide with the chance of mackerel and possibly sea trout. For doggies and odd rays fish along the shingle beach towards the marker buoys. Best to fish this spot 2 hrs down to low water then 3 hrs back up. It is possible to get doggies here every cast if you hit it right.

[catchalot]

Hiya,

just to add to Rab\'s bit, the Fort William side of the Corran ferry has some good rocks to the left of the slip.. I\'ve seen Pollock to over 5lb taken off here along with Sea Trout, Coalies & Mackerel

[Chippy]

Of course, not forgetting chaps that a migratory fish licence is required for sea trout. But then again, if a salmon or sea trout happened to take your bait, you\'d do what Id\' do and unhook before returning it carefully.

[willywetegg]

Thanks again Rab some great info there mate cheers.

Thanks catchalot will keep hold of this info for when I get up there.

Cheers Chippy will bear that in mind mate.

Jim.

[catchalot]

Hiya,

Of course, not forgetting chaps that a migratory fish licence is required for sea trout.

Erm Not in Scotland it aint, you do however need permission from the person that owns the Salmon and Sea trout rights for that bit of water

[DaveMcK]

I spent 5 days up ther last week and I managed to fish Lochaline, its an excellent jetty the water is very deep but I never got a bite on 2 rods in 3 hours. I picked up a few small coalies spinning but nowt else.
Moved to Loch Sunart and piked up doggies every cast. More dogs at the Fort William car park, last 2 hours of flood at dusk. The locals said the mackerel had not arrived yet as the water was too cold and this had also effected the sea trout run which is better on the far bank.
I fished the picnic area about 2 miles before the corran ferry and had dogs and pollack, whilst one of the locals was set up for tope. Also tried Loch Leven and managed to catch a cod and a few pollack.
On the trout side I managed to get some brownies out of Loch Lochie which is free fishing, however there are some jumbo rainbows in there as someone cut open a fish farm pen and quite a few thousand escaped
You need to use ledgered orange power bait to catch them.
Overall I enjoyerd the fishing but its did not compare to the 3 trips I\'ve made to Whithorn this year.

[Rab]

Dave McK where on Sunart were you fishing and did you find any deep spots on the loch? Lets not talk about Lochaline....I lost an 8lb pollack there off the wee ferry pier a couple of weeks back!

[Stuart]

Thanks for all the tips, and marks just finishing off the packing of the car and should be gone in about an hour.

And yes I do have my camera with me so if I do any good will post the pics

Stuart

[DaveMcK]

Rab,
On the road to Lochaline you turn off at Liddesdale up a single track roadwhich goes for about 2 miles before you come to some private gates. Just before this there is an old stone building with a little jetty the water was not all that deep but it was a dog fest. Apparantley you can get permission to go past the gates and fish an old pier where you do get pollack.