Sea Trout Fly Fishing on the Big Loch (Page 2).

Sea Trout Lies.

In general sea trout can be found in water of between 8 and 15 feet deep although there are exceptions with water of up to 20 feet sometimes producing. In the early season and late season when the water temperature is lower they can often be found in surprisingly shallow water. This may also be due in some respect to the fact that there are fewer disturbances then.

I once had a day in late September on Inchmurrin with just a light Westerly blowing. I felt that the normal flies were way too big and decided to try a lighter cast and smaller flies. A wee double size 14 Cinammon and Gold went on the tail with a size 12 Mallard and Claret on the middle and a size 12 lightly dressed Golden Olive Bumble on the bob. I started at the house on the north west shore of the island in around 15 feet of water. Not a fin stirred until I was casting into about 5 feet of water and a fish grabbed the wee double. I was taken aback but struck firmly and a nice sea trout of a pound and a half thrashed about on the surface. They fight right on the surface in such shallow water and you can see the rocks below them.

As I carried along the drift I rose fish after fish, hooking some and missing more than I hooked, all of them in unusually shallow water. Just as I approached an old trailer that sticks out of the water I cast between two rocks very close in and I saw a fish turn onto the wee double again. This was the shallowest lying fish of the day, in no more than three feet of water. It screamed out past the boat heading for deeper water and when the net finally slipped under it, it weighed in at three and a quarter pounds and was the biggest of the day.
I ended that day with nine fish from a pound to three and a quarter pounds, mostly around a pound and a half and all of the flies on the cast scored. Had I fished my normal cast of size 10s on eight pound nylon I doubt if I would have enjoyed so much sport.

The association produces an excellent map showing the main fishing areas both for trolling and for fly fishing. I would advise anyone setting out on the loch to have a copy.

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