Fishing Sprats on Loch Lomond (Page 1).

Cicumstances!

I have not been blessed with exceptionally large salmon from the Loch, having only landed two over the 20lb mark in all the years I've fished the loch, but both of these have been to the trolled sprat.

The largest salmon I ever hooked was also on the sprat and was hooked early one April day in 1992. It was one of those horrible windy days when the rain was changing to sleet, and I thought, "What the hell am I doing here?" - we've all been out in those kinds of days, and I was on the verge of going ashore for a heat, when I passed Claddich point heading for the stables, and the inside rod doubled back, the striking lead jumped about a foot in the air and the reel screamed out.
I looked back in time to see the fish turn on the surface and judging by the rear half that I saw, knew it was a cracker. I headed out into deep water, got the poker rod in, and was just reaching for the bait when I heard the thump of the other striking lead and looked back to see a second salmon of around the 12 - 14lb mark jump clear of the water.

Elation turned to panic. I was heading into the teeth of a gale in order to get into deep water, both salmon were screaming line out and I couldn't let go of the engine, as the boat would be blown round like a top. I just left both rods running, which in retrospect was the wrong thing to do, but hindsight makes everything easy.

The smaller salmon stopped running and I lifted the rod only to find that my decision to not keep tension on the fish had allowed it to work the bait free. I got the line back on the reel and concentrated on the large salmon, which had also stopped running after stripping approx 200 yards of line off the reel.

I was relieved to feel the weight of the fish at the end of the line, and I was already thinking, "at least I've got one out of the two", very dangerous thoughts.

I managed to get well over 100 yards of line back on the reel when the salmon took off again like a train. It stopped and I felt a couple of heavy knocks... then no more. The sinking feeling I felt in my stomach is hard to describe, but it is as close as I've ever come to tears about losing a fish.

How big was it? I'll never know for sure, but it was at least in the high 20's or more likely over 30lbs - certainly the largest salmon I've ever hooked in the Loch, and I still feel that if only the one salmon had taken I would have got it, or if another angler had been in the boat with me, there's a chance we could have had both, or if it had not been such a strong wind, I could have let the engine run itself whilst playing one of the fish. Whatever my excuses, the fact is that it was just one of those days, but I still carry the memory of what might have been.

In spite of that disaster, I still have great confidence fishing sprats and for those who want to give it a go - read on.

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