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Considering the loch is generally only regarded as a venue for spurdogs, thornbacks and grey gurnards I'm pleased to have achieved a total of 9 - out of which 4 were new points for the species hunt, taking my total for 2014
Up to 31 - and counting
Tally was - spurdog, thornback, grey gurnard, rock goby, poor cod, codling, dogfish, dab and a giant short spined sea scorpion.
Day 1 saw us arrive at a new marked neither of us had fished, recommended by a friend of Andy's. Unfortunately as we had not fished this particular mark on the loch none of us had really prepared for the rough ground that it turned out to be and a combination of constant snags and little more to show than a dogfish for me and a handful of small coalies for Andy we quickly decided enough was enough. Andy was feeling a bit under the weather so I suggested an early trip back to the B+B so he could get his head down and hopefully bring himself around for the evening.
This worked a treat and we decided to hit the priory so I could tick off a grey gurnard and a thornback. The latter species came without argument to a 3 hook flapper baited with mackerel - not a conventional way of catching thornbacks but I'll take it!
Andy also managed a palm sized thornback, which gave me an opportunity for a water shot, and a couple of smaller gurnards.
A gurnard didn't come to me on this instance but we didn't want to spend to long here - the idea being to use the nighttime to target spurdogs.
So we upped sticks to the windsock, giving access to deeper water.
We whiteness a decent sunset and even a faded view of the aurora borealis (the northern lights) but sadly completely blanked!
Day 2 - not to be outdone by the previous evenings blank we decided to go to a mark more in keeping with loch etive standards - giving access to VERY deep water - in fact I counted just over 60 seconds to hit the bottom at one point.
Davy was first off the mark with a spur around the 4lb mark - sadly that was to be the biggest of the day.
Eventually both me and Andy managed a couple of pups.
I had been contemplating the opportunities for LRF in the loch, given the various deep water pools and rock edges, and I was kicking myself for forgetting all of my small leads despite bringing the rest of my LRF Gear. As if by fate however, Andy dragged up a mass of old line and terminal tackle, which happened to have a 1oz lead amongst it.
This lead me to codling, poor cod, a rather big short spined sea scorpion and a bonus rock goby.
I still wanted to get my grey gurnard before we left so a return to the priory was decided. Second cast in comes a grey gurnard so happy days!
Third cast in comes a bigger grey gurnard and a dab - even better!
So there you have it - 9 species overall. Shame the bigger spurs weren't playing but hopefully back soon.
Up to 31 - and counting
Tally was - spurdog, thornback, grey gurnard, rock goby, poor cod, codling, dogfish, dab and a giant short spined sea scorpion.
Day 1 saw us arrive at a new marked neither of us had fished, recommended by a friend of Andy's. Unfortunately as we had not fished this particular mark on the loch none of us had really prepared for the rough ground that it turned out to be and a combination of constant snags and little more to show than a dogfish for me and a handful of small coalies for Andy we quickly decided enough was enough. Andy was feeling a bit under the weather so I suggested an early trip back to the B+B so he could get his head down and hopefully bring himself around for the evening.
This worked a treat and we decided to hit the priory so I could tick off a grey gurnard and a thornback. The latter species came without argument to a 3 hook flapper baited with mackerel - not a conventional way of catching thornbacks but I'll take it!
Andy also managed a palm sized thornback, which gave me an opportunity for a water shot, and a couple of smaller gurnards.
A gurnard didn't come to me on this instance but we didn't want to spend to long here - the idea being to use the nighttime to target spurdogs.
So we upped sticks to the windsock, giving access to deeper water.
We whiteness a decent sunset and even a faded view of the aurora borealis (the northern lights) but sadly completely blanked!
Day 2 - not to be outdone by the previous evenings blank we decided to go to a mark more in keeping with loch etive standards - giving access to VERY deep water - in fact I counted just over 60 seconds to hit the bottom at one point.
Davy was first off the mark with a spur around the 4lb mark - sadly that was to be the biggest of the day.
Eventually both me and Andy managed a couple of pups.
I had been contemplating the opportunities for LRF in the loch, given the various deep water pools and rock edges, and I was kicking myself for forgetting all of my small leads despite bringing the rest of my LRF Gear. As if by fate however, Andy dragged up a mass of old line and terminal tackle, which happened to have a 1oz lead amongst it.
This lead me to codling, poor cod, a rather big short spined sea scorpion and a bonus rock goby.
I still wanted to get my grey gurnard before we left so a return to the priory was decided. Second cast in comes a grey gurnard so happy days!
Third cast in comes a bigger grey gurnard and a dab - even better!
So there you have it - 9 species overall. Shame the bigger spurs weren't playing but hopefully back soon.