Took a trip last night that I've been meaning to do for a while....the trip didn't disappoint, but unfortunately no Pike for me
.
The trip was mainly to try out my new camping gear, but I brought my 9'6" 7wt fly rod and some hefty pike flies (and also my spinning gear boo hissss I know I know
). What was strange, was that there was zero activity in the loch itself at all. I was there from about 3pm and all through the night and didn't see a single fish rise even though there was an abundance of fly life on the surface. I think this goes to show that there really mustn't be many trout at all in there - I would imagine because they are probably a Pike's favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner! I tried with both the fly and spinning gear and had no joy at all in the loch....not even a nibble. There was a chap on the other side as well who was dead bait fishing - I don't think he had anything either, or at least I didnt see/hear him fighting anything, or the alarm on his rod stand ringing.
I moved up to the inlet burn at the east side of the loch for a look up there and straight away there were trout moving. Not many rises, but plenty movement. What I noticed most was that they spook so easily. As soon as I got to within about 15-20 feet of the water's edge you could see the bow waves zipping all over the place in panic. I had a couple of takes on the dry but couldn't get them on they spat it so quickly! Quick go with a spinner and had a couple of trout about 6-8" long chase it, but not take it.....after this I thought right that's it, time to pitch the tent and have a wee dram
!!
Casting from the beach well in to the night and not a tickle ... off to bed for me.
This morning I headed back down the hill, with a small dry fly on and tried the burn on the way down, another few missed rises
Switched to a wee black pennel and kept myself well back from the edge so most of my dry line was actually on the rocks and only my leader was in the water - finally, even though it was only small, I was rewarded with a wee brownie. I think the main thing really was about being as stealthy as possible, because after that I had another half a dozen. Better than a blank right?!
..... only just though
.... and on a 7wt rod it was a bit pointless really, but I wasn't going back to the car without hooking something
!
I had a search on here about Callater before hand to see if anyone had any past experiences. I found some info but not a massive amount, and nothing very recent. If anyone reading this has had any recent experiences it would be great to hear if they were similar to mine - or if not what I needed to do differently for if I head up again!
