16/10/2012 - Loch Dunmore

Loch Dunmore

Time 1300-1600
Weather - Light shower or two, around 6 degrees
Water - Still, pretty clear, lots of lilies
Method - See text
Total - 0

Spending a week at Tummel Bridge with the family obviously had me looking around at potential fishing destinations in an area where you are spoilt for choice.

With the trout season gone, trouting on Loch Rannoch, Loch Tummel or Dunalastair Water were all out as was a shot on the River Tummel or River Gaur (incidentally, its the Gaur you can see behind the cooncil lager in my profile pic). Salmon on the River Tummel or River Garry (Pitlochry Angling Club) were my next thoughts. Being early season rivers the prices are quite reasonable this late, but the season ended on both on Monday, the day of my arrival. Similarly Loch Faskally's Salmon had ended the previous Saturday (shoddy scheduling by the school holiday planners). Pike and/or Perch on Loch Rannoch or Loch Tummel then? Seriously daunting waters for a relative novice like myself and also the possibility of getting through a session alone in severely testing weather conditions (there was a dusting of snow on the hills on our first night) didn't really appeal. I'd prefer to try these types of waters when I can go after Trout and Char as well.

Next to the Boathouse

I remembered a small water I'd found a while ago on Google Earth adjacent to Loch Faskally and looked it up. Loch Dunmore is a small sheltered coarse pond just outside Pitlochry run by the quite appropriately named Dunmore Angling Club. Details were sketchy online but I found a contact email address and sent off a hopeful enquiry not really expecting a response, never mind the quick and excellently detailed reply I received later that day.

At this time of year, the woods surrounding Loch Dunmore are converted into The Enchanted Forest once darkness falls so you have to be off the water by 1630. Holding Perch, Rudd, Roach, Tench and Carp (Crucian's as far as I can tell, although maybe some of their larger cousins too), most of the common baits apparently do the trick with maggots probably being the best starting point. I was warned though that there was a fair bit of growth, mostly lilies which, whilst not ideal once a fish was on, provided plenty of cover for the inhabitants. Tickets are £6 and available in a couple of places, I got mine just down the road and round the corner at the Faskally Boat House. Incidentally, there is no Tackle Shop in Pitlochry just now, although the Boat House sold some gear, mostly Salmon and Pike lures. I was also tipped off about a couple of pegs, but in all honesty, once there, they all looked pretty sweet.

So, I arrived just before 1pm and was immediately impressed. It is difficult to overstate the beauty of this location and nestling in woodland it's nicely sheltered. There was another dude fishing next to the little Boathouse who looked like he knew what he was doing and his son was also fishing. Indulging in a quest for as much info as possible I made straight for them. They'd been there all morning and it had been raining quite a lot but the Dad had taken a small Roach and a couple of Perch on maggots. The boy reported a lost Tench right at the bank from the other side of the water and a Carp that had snapped him. Both had been off the bottom with a red & white maggot combo using a pole and float. The Dad was set up with a float, fishing it quite deep.

How can this possibly fail?

I decided to fish the peg next to them at the other side of the boathouse and employ my standard coarse tactics, devised over a couple of years at Eliburn. Rod One has the float slipped onto the mainline and held in place by a couple of small weights (enough to right the float in the water), then a swivel clip to which I attach a fine pre-tied hook/leader, usually about 2lb b/s and a size 18-20 hook. For smaller silver fish I find if you get too bulky they tend to be a lot less likely to take. This can cause problems if something substantial decides to wolf down the maggots instead, but this is rare. Rod Two is a bit more speculative. I add enough weight only to hold it firm on the bottom about 2-8 inches away from a specialist carp hook about size 8-10. Obviously all these tactics can vary, but that's the general starting point.

Despite my best efforts I searched all round with my float rod but couldn't find any fish. I opted for cubed luncheon meat stuffed with a few pellets and still loosely attached to another couple of cubes (see pic) that certainly looked scrumptious to me, but not it seemed to the fish. This was plonked out to my right in front of the boathouse along with some more meat as groundbait and some maggots. For good measure some floating pellets were thrown out, but all with no response.

Mark two view to the right

In the meantime my neighbour extracted another wee Perch so at least there was hope. I decided to move and made my way half way round the pond to another outstanding looking peg. The same tactics were deployed, all the while lengthening the depth of the maggots under the float. For the first 150 minutes or so I only had two solitary bubbles appearing as my only encouragement. Whether simple gas releases or Tench feeding, these are sometimes the only encouragement when staring at a potential blank especially on a new venue.

Mark two view to the left

I switched from maggots to Isome on the float rod and tried a beard of maggots on a smaller hook on Rod Two. Finally the beard did the trick and the rod started to twitch. When it pulled I struck, but didn't feel a fish. Probably a Tench, I focused on the 'hotspot' but didn't get any further interest.

So a slightly disappointing blank, but more than enough to peak my interest. It is certainly a venue I intend to return to. Enhancing the natural beauty of the place from an Anglers point of view, it's very well maintained with many pegs available and all in good condition. In my opinion an excellent balance is struck between the natural setting and the requirements of the Angler. A lovely example to all other small coarse fisheries.

View back to the Boathouse

On my return from Pitlochry to Tummel Bridge I stopped to take a couple of photos of Loch Tummel, as displayed later in this post.

Although I didn't push for any more fishing passes from the wife, later in the week we ventured up to Kinloch Rannoch where I took a neb at Loch Rannoch. Catching it not long before sunset the view up the Loch was outrageously stunning and I let my cameraphone do the work. If you enlarge the photo's you can see the odd ring of ripples showing the rise that was well underway along the near bank by what I expect were small trout. A proper assault on Loch Rannoch is high on the list for 2013, my anticipation heightened on the holiday by delving back into Ron Greer's outstanding book Ferox Trout & the Arctic Char which I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in fishing, even stockie-bashers who come in for a bit of a tongue-lashing. Informed, Insightful and Intelligent, I'll leave the i-superlatives there.

Loch Tummel

Loch Tummel & Schiehallion viewed on the way back to the Lodge

Loch Tummel, same spot, different view

Loch Rannoch

Stop the car!!!!!

And the photos still don't do it justice

Looking across to the south eastern shore

Photography made easy

Fetch me my rod Jeeves?

OMG, as they say

North east shore

Hold the camera horizontal you fool

19/07/2012 - Eliburn

Water - See first paragraph
Weather - OK, a bit chilly around 6pm as the wind got up, before dying down into quite a nice evening
Time - 1pm-9pm
Method - Meat cubes, maggots, sweetcorn, floating bait
Total - See end of report
Species - Roach, Perch, Ide, Gudgeon.

A long overdue trip through to Livi kicked off in the early afternoon. The wettest April-June spell on record followed by a couple of big July downpours had the reservoir at its capacity and as a consequence, the water was a bit muddier looking than normal. Saying that, the visibility wasn't much different to usual.

A little surprisingly, as it was the best weather in a while, it wasn't too busy. We settled into the Railings Peg with two tactics. Firstly some chopped meat out on the bottom and then maggots under a float at varying depths until we found some fish.

2-3lb Carp in the surface

There were plenty of fish in the surface including some small carp although they largely disappeared from our immediate vicinity as things progressed. I was into fish on the drop pretty quickly managing to land one Roach whilst losing two more Roach plus a decent Ide and a wee Perch. I was fishing reasonably shallow (18 inches - 2ft) below the surface and was having most interest on the drop with a few maggots sprinkled on and around my float at regular intervals. Whilst there were some Ide getting involved, it was mostly Roach that were interested just below the 'surface layer'.

Primo condition Roach

My fishing buddy was fishing a little deeper than me and was having a bit more success. As usual, there were spells of little happening interspersed with bursts of activity as fish seemingly came into range. In between this I'd target wee Perch deeper down in the margins to boost numbers a bit. When we were both doing this a larger than normal Perch of 9 inch was taken, until that point our biggest Perca had been 5.5inch.

The monster Perch

All this time and for the rest of the session we didn't get so much as a line-bite on the bottom bait. Very disappointing. This despite chucking out sweetcorn and some extra meat cubes to try and attract some fish in to feed.

There were some other guys fishing opposite us and down in the Dam Corner peg. they were catching regularly enough as well, bith using poles and looking mostly like they were into some Roach.

Gudgeon - lovely wee fish

As it neared 9pm and the end of our permit, we were running out of maggots, so therefore struggling to find much interest from fish taking bait in the drop. So we decided to give the head of the pond a shot as it's usually a safe bet. We were quickly seeing our floats pulled under by small Perch and as it turned out, some Gudgeon too. These were all on one or two maggots. It's also where I connected with a comedy perch of 3.75 inch.

We did try some floating bait too, but nothing was feeding on the surface (other than the odd seagull).

Me (16)
Perch x 10 - 3.75"-6"
Roach x 4  - 7"-11.5"
Gudgeon x 2 - 5"-5.5"

Him (18)
Perch x 5 - 4"-9"
Roach x 10 - 7.5"-11"
Ide x 2 - 15.5"-16"
Gudgeon x 1 - 5.5"

02/03/2012 - Union Canal

West end of the basin

Time - 1615 - 1700
Water - OK, but visibility not great
Weather - Low bright sun, nice enough but chilly
Where - Wilkie's Basin
Method - Meat cube under a float & a jelly Perch
Total - 0

I had a quick session at Wilkies Basin. So far only one bite here in a few attempts, but you've got to be in it to win it and it looks as fishy as anywhere else on the canal.

Crazy Light

I chucked out some leftover meat cubes (from Eliburn) under a float on a wildly speculative rod and jigged a jelly Perch along the length of the stretch on the other.

No fish, bites or encouragement at all.

Normal Light

The sun was quite low in the west, so I took a few photos with and without it. The bottom two photos were taken no more than a minute or so apart, pointing in the same direction from only a few metres apart. Just shows the difference light can make with quite dramatic results.

01/03/2012 - Eliburn

Time - 1400 - 1700
Water - OK, same as yesterday at inflow, quite cloudy in main body of lake
Weather - Overcast and mild with biggish 20 min shower about 4pm
Where - 3rd peg on the arm and next to inflow
Method - Various maggots and bread, details in report
Total - 5 (3 ide, 2 Perch)

With an arsenal of bait I had plenty of options for attack. With all pegs on the 'south-west' bank and the bottom corners taken I decided to start on my favourite 'arm' peg. There was little reason for optimism as there didn't seem to be much showing and so I began on a simple maggot/float set-up deciding not to employ the 2nd rod yet.

There was a heck of a din coming from the trees down near the dam end somewhere and after about 15 mins it showed itself. There was a tractor type vehicle coming up the path which turned out to be a seriously noisy tree shredder, the noise not being any shredding, just the motion as it edged slowly forward. The operators then fired up a chainsaw and started attacking a tree that took a little bit of coercion to finally come crashing down. None of this was helping my headache and I was pretty sure it wasn't much good for the fish either. After 10-15 mins of nothing I'd decided to move when a 5 inch Perch took the maggots. At least there was something about but I was hoping for a little more. So I chucked out Rod 2 with some chopped meat and gave it another 15 mins. There was no further action and when the chainsaw got fired up again as well as the chopped tree now being shredded I was off to the inflow spot I'd fished the previous day.

17.5 inch fatty

I was delighted to see no ducks or especially swans and chucked out some pieces of the healie bread I'd brought. In no time there were fish swirling and taking it. So I put a bit on the hook and cast it out. Needless to say my bait remained untouched while the other bits of bread were taken one at a time. I chucked some more bread in and this time cast a bit farther past it. Again, most of the other bread was taken before eventually my bait disappeared and I was into what I was sure was a wee carp. It soon became apparent it was something else and into the net appeared a big fat Ide which tipped the tape at 17.5 inches. After checking my records, it comes up .25 of an inch short of my record taken at Eliburn (29/10/2009). Most probably about 3-3.5lb. Good enough and the first time I've taken a fish at Eliburn with this method.

By the time I had it in the net the swans had appeared and hung about so I didn't continue with bread on the surface and switched to maggots with the float. It was the usual with shadows cruising about and hoovering maggots on the drop. I lost a small perch and a Ide/Chub/Roach of about 10 inches and there was plenty of interest. I then had the brainwave to put some bread out on Rod 2, usually reserved for meat cubes. Although the fish were being beaten to the bread on the surface by the swans, if I attached an unsqueezed piece of bread to the weighted line, it would pop-up and sit a few inches off the bottom should anything take an interest that far down.

Double hook-up

After setting that out I returned to the mags and soon hooked another Ide. As it came near the net, Rod 2 screamed off too. I managed to net the 1st one and get the 2nd rod in time to keep it on. The result was two Ide of 15 & 13.5 inch.

Just as I released them a lady & her hubby arrived. She said I was lucky as she'd not brought her permits book but asked if I could move from the area I was fishing as it was a "sanctuary" for nesting birds. As optimistic a regulation as I've ever heard and unfortunately typical of the way so many fisheries seem to evolve. The only sanctuary was for for detritus and plastic bottles, but rules are rules and so I had to move 10 yards to my left and out of the way of the hotspot. My biggest recomendation for Eliburn would be that the folk who take your fiver should carry pincers and a bin bag and do a wee clean-up ontheir rounds. I know its not 'their' mess exactly and I wish brain dead twits didn't litter, but if you're running a fishery and charging folk for the privilege of fishing, a little TLC would go a long way.

Despite a couple of other bites, probably small Perch, there were no more fish to be landed. Apparently nobody else had caught a thing, something that always surprises me at Eliburn. Unless you're solely after Carp when long periods of nothing happening are to be expected, there's no reason not to howk out something at any time of year. Firstly, if your not catching or worse, getting no interest at all, then move. Not a notion I believe most orthodox coarse fishers seem to live by. Maybe its the amount of kit often required and the prospect of hauling it all somewhere else. And secondly, get straight to whoever is catching and find out what they're doing. My Plan A, get a small hook an a fine leader, attach a float and put 2-3-4 maggots on. Then get it out. Start at distances or spots you've caught before but don't be afraid to drop it in right in the margins. If nothing happens increase the depth right down to 5-6 foot if you need to. And if all that doesn't work, MOVE.

23/12/2011 - Eliburn

Bit of a beast

 Time - 12.40 - 16.20
Water - Cloudy, cold
Where - Middle Peg & Bridge Peg
Weather - Cold, calm, odd very light shower, 6.5 degrees on arrival
Methods - Meat cubes on the bottom, multi maggots on float
Total - 14
Species - Ide (4), Perch (9), Roach (1)
Size - 4.5 inch - 17.5 inch

Five anglers in total, two of them with poles were trying their luck. The water had been frozen until Tuesday before thawing and was certainly still chilly when I dipped my hand in.

I was delighted to find my fave middle peg unoccupied and settled in. Rather than specimen hunt with both rods, due to the time of year I decided to try one with meat cubes on the bottom with one rod and vary the depths under a float with maggots or pellets on the other. A tactic that proved very productive by the end of proceedings.

I'd sat for a while with nothing doing at all. The pole fishers were on the last two pegs on the east bank at the dam end. The Dam boy got a gudgeon and the other guy landed two I think, one I defo saw was a roach of about 8ish inch. Not sure of his bait, but he was sending the pole out, tipping his bait in, retrieving the pole, adding his bait/float, then dropping it right on top of his bait again. The fourth gent arrived and took the bottom corner peg chatting a bit on the way past. His intention was to fish the bottom.

Tip top condition

After exploring depths & areas with the mag rod, I was even unsuccessful right in at the bank hoping for a guj or wee Perch. Eventually, only marginally further out I had a wee tickle and extracted a Perch that, if I had had the temerity to measure it, may have broken the 4.5 inch barrier. And it had wolfed the hook right down. About 20-30 mins later, another little bit of action on the float was met with my eagle-like reactions. Fully expecting a guj or 4 inch perch, I was delighted to feel something a bit more substantial. It turned out to be a 10.5 inch Roach in nice nick. Not quite a mad half hour, but thats sort of how it felt at the time.

There hadn't been any fish visible just under the surface, but occasionally what were probably decent carp, would break the surface, mostly near the middle of the water so with a couple banked and some sort of activity about, I was happy enough. Nothing whatsoever on the meat rod though and no nibbles at all when I retrieved the bait for inspection. As the time edged closer to darkness, I had to decide whether to stay put, maybe get another fish or two and maybe a nice one on the meat, or head towards the bridge where I would always go if I had to catch a fish if my life depended on it at Eliburn. So I upped sticks and moved.

Half way to my destination, I noticed another dude fishing where I was headed. However he was packing up. So I politely made enquiries and sure enough it would be all mine soon enough. The vacating gent said he'd taken 4 small perch on the maggot.

One of the greedy 15 inchers

First cast my float disappeared and I took my second tiny, hook swallowing roach of the day. Result. Another 3 followed, maybe reaching as much as 6 inch in length. I'd edged about as north as I could go, where the inflow drops off and struck into another perchy type bite and realised immediately I was into something a lot more substantial. A couple of minutes later I had a 15" Ide on the bank. Where did that come from? I was baiting up a bit more now and the Idey type swirls would appear now and again so I knew I was in with a chance of some more. Bang, another 15 incher soon followed which was blind in one eye, then almost immediately another that gave me a good tussle requiring a fair bit of cajoling to keep it out of the weeds beds. It tipped the measuring tape at 17.5 inches. A few more wee perch then followed before a final 15 inch Ide obliged. All fish on the maggot and all using tactics that wouldnt be out of place at most other times of the year at Eliburn, although generally deeper than usual, but not necessarily on the bottom.

08/09/11 - Eliburn Reservoir

Blank Buster

Time - 15.00-20.00

Water - OK, visibility 18-24 inches, pretty calm

Where - Middle Peg

Weather - Decent enough, not much breeze, sunny outbreaks amongst cloud

Methods - Rod 1 - Maggots, float, 3lb trace size 18 pre-tied hook link, Rod 2 - Meat
Total - 1
Species - Roach
Size - 7 inch

As unusually tough a day as I've had here. First note of interest at 17.30 on the mags. Started shallow and increased depth. Although bites did increase, nothing wonderful. Prob just a Perch or two, a Guj or two and a Roach or two. The Roach I did eventually get was a very tentative offer, on mag, about 3-4 feet down.

Worth noting I didn't have too many maggots (leftovers from previous visit) & they were in a bit of moisture & pretty unpleasant to handle so I wasn't baiting up as often as normal. If/when I did, interest certainly increased.

The meat rod had no runs, one pickup up & spit, and two or thee line bites as far as I could tell. Twas a different brand of meat from usual and I'd like to think this had a bit to do with the general underwater inaction.

Others Anglers seemed to be in the same fishless boat. Two younger dudes started in the Dam Corner Peg and about 19.30 got a Mirror Carp of about 6lbs. Method looked like maggots in a swim feeder.

06/09/11 - Eliburn Reservoir

21 inch Common Carp (est 6lbs)

Time - 12.30-19.30
Water - OK, visibility 18-24 inches, a bit choppy, no film

Where - Second Peg on the arm, then Middle Peg

Weather - Very windy, nice to start with, drizzle increasing to really miserable at times

Methods - Rod 1 - Maggots, float, 3lb trace size 18 pre-tied hook link, Rod 2 - Meat
Total - 17
Species - Gudgeon, Perch, Common Carp
Size - 4 - 21 inches

If ever a day rewarded perseverance, this was it. Six Perch to 5.5 inches, ten Gudgeon to 5 inches in 6 hours until the meat rod finally paid off big time.

Started on The Arm, another gentleman started just before me on the First Peg using a pole. I began on the next peg along. Chucked the meat in near the lilies on the right, tried a few different lies, but nothing at all. The chunk had been quite well nibbled, but not by anything substantial and not enough to show any signs of a bite on the rod.

Extracted three Perch (including the 5.5 incher) & a fat 5 inch Gudgeon on varying amount of maggots. Started quite shallow (a foot or so) and got enough interest. Went deep and interest dropped off, although not altogether. Got stuck on the bottom a bit too often, although didn't lose any tackle so moved up to 1.5-2 foot and had most interest. Possibly the odd bite from an Ide, probably the odd bite from a Roach. A carp splurged in front of me about 15 feet out and despite the wave on the water, there were enough skimmer type fish louping out now and again to keep my interest up.

Decided to shift positions and see what was doing at the dam end. Spoke to Pole Guy. He'd had a small roach and a Crucian of about a pound and a half on pellet. Also spoke to guy on next peg round. He was using bread/float but had no joy. Observing plenty bubbles near the weed bed.

Happily the middle peg was free. I'd been thinking about a Dam end peg as it looked the most sheltered from the wind but the Middle Peg proved too tempting (another couple of guys were moving pegs too and were in Dam Outflow Corner Peg).

Lobbed some meat out in the usual spot and began efforts to connect with something other than Perch on the mags. A 5lb or so carp half splatted out of the water in front of me as I was re-setting up. However the wind was dragging the float right to left and into the shore too quickly. No chance of spotting surface fish and there were a few drizzly showers too. So I tended to fish no more than a rod length out with varying amounts of maggots and was able to get loads of attention mostly from Gudgeon and some Perch.

Gudgeon 4.5 inch (not the fat one)

The weather really closed in meaning a huddle under the brolly and a few missed bites on the mags. Another Carp flapped right out of the water about 20 feet in front startling me somewhat. Nothing happened for ages on the meat rod. Thought I had a wee bounce at one point, then eventually got a definite tap. But offers/attention were few and far between and I was missing anything that did show. There was one probable line bite too.

During a drizzle break I decided to move to the Dam Wall Peg. I collapsed the net and lay it on the fence and it was at this point that my meat line screamed off and up the lake. Turned, tightened and struck only to feel the hook and fish part company. No idea of size, but defo not a minnow!!! So had to stay put. I suspected it may have been a carp. Usually its more of a bounce than a run when the meat is taken. But as the day wore on I became a bit more convinced it was a Barbel (about 60/40).

One of the Perch I caught came off with the (pre-tied) hook and line disconnecting so started using a size 16 with the mags to no obvious slowing up in offers.

Was varying the distance from the bank with the meat rod (not too far, but sometimes quite close) and had another couple of bounces but couldnt connect. Meat often showed nibble marks. Noticed the barb of the hook was a little turned in, so straightened it in the hope it would help.

Then at about 6.45 the meat rod screamed off again (very satisfying sound) and this time the hook set nicely. I was able to turn it and exert a modicum of control. It didn't try to go too far (maybe just my increasing ability and composure in these circumstances). I'd been re-baiting the mag rod when this kicked off, so the water was clear in front to play it. Tried to get it up into the top of the water to get a look but it stayed quite low, and the fact it wasn't haring off uncontrollably meant I was happy it was a decent Barbel, confirming my earlier hypothesis. Eventually got it into view and was rather delighted to discover it was a friggin carp!!!

It might not have been uncontrollable, but it was still well heavy and difficult to get near the net. When it turned away it was also doing a good job of flapping its tail on the line. After 10-15 mins I was able to get it into the net without too many frights. The hook was securely in the top lip and no prob to disgorge.  Measured it, got a couple of photos and released it back.

It might be a sign of madness, but the fish seemed to be a reasonably chilled individual. It didn't scrap any harder than a 17 inch Barbel and felt less weighty by far in the water than my previous Common. It didn't flap about at all on the bank either, almost as if he knew the script and was waiting to be released. A very nice specimen. I didn't consider it's weight on the bank, but estimate it was about 6lbs for its 21 inches in length.

Although I continued on for another half hour, there were no more bites and I packed up.