Riverdancing Tobys, Salmon And Lomond (Page 2).

Locations
Lomond is big, but can be divided into zones worth fishing according to the seasons. Spring trolling (from March to May) would normally be carried out in the lower basin of the Loch with the Boturich, Claddich, Net Bay and Endrick Bank shores the most likely places. The Endrick Bank weeds up in June/July along the fishing edge and makes trolling a penance. Being shallow, it also heats up quickly during periods of prolonged sun, and the fish move elsewhere. Although the odd fish is caught outwith these areas, I seldom venture much above the Ross isles before May.
Thereafter I expect fish, and have caught fish, anywhere on the loch, even as far up as Tarbet and Inversnaid. Both East and West shores of the upper loch can be productive through June, with many sealiced salmon and grilse caught well up the loch during June/July/August. The islands can be trolled in similar fashion to the main shorelines, and do produce fish, but I tend to leave them to the flyfishers.
The LLAIA produce a detailed Angling map outlining trolling lanes , fly drifts, etc., and with much other useful information.

Runs and Seasons
Lomond salmon runs are well defined, the timings changing only marginally each year, and seem to be practically unrelated to the height of the River Leven. Although good water levels never hurt and give good fishing in the River Leven, Spring, Summer and Autumn fish find little difficulty in accessing the loch even in the lowest of water levels.
The earliest spring fish are taken in late March, but it is sometimes into April before the first fish is landed. Spring runs then gradually increase until they peak around the end of May. Of recent years Lomond has benefited from a run of early summer fish which appear to arrive in the first week of June and continue throughout the Grilse run. The first grilse can be expected around the end of June, with the run peaking usually around mid July. Seatrout usually arrive in small numbers in early May, and these early runners tend to be of a larger class.
The main runs of seatrout usually coincide with the main grilse run, and it is then that a mixture of trolling for salmon and flyfishing selected areas for seatrout can be productive. It is unusual to catch seatrout on the troll when using tobys specifically for salmon, though they can be caught if smaller lures are substituted.

Sprats and Rapalas
In early spring (late march to late April) there are only two lures worth trolling space as far as I am concerned. These are natural dyed sprats coloured either gold or red and rapalas in the 4-6 inch size range (black/gold or orange/gold). Both are designed to work at a slow trolling speed and both will develop plenty of action at the slow speeds essential for success at this time.
I always make my own sprat mounts which have the facility for weight adjustment and also incorporate ball bearing swivels and Eagle Claw hooks. I use a minimum of three ball bearing swivels per sprat mount, one incorporated within the mount itself, and two further up the line, which are essential to avoid line twist. Sprats should spin on an even keel at a slow rate of draw. Fish hooked on sprats are seldom lost, and many times the forceps have been required to remove the hooks, so well has it been taken.
At this time of the year I think too much importance is put on trolling slowly. Within reason, I have always found early fish prepared to take a lure fished at a reasonable pace. They are after all, still habitual chasers.
Sprats are, on some days, irresistible to pike and seatrout kelts, so the novice should get plenty of practice runs before the real thing arrives. I stop using sprats/rapalas around the beginning of May and change to Tobys. Shop bought Dyed Sprats are difficult to find so I dye my own using Dylon fabric dye and preserve them in formalin. This may seem to many to be too much trouble, but I find the effort well worth while.

Continue to Page 3