Exploring Etive

I don’t visit Etive much over the summer as there are usually better options and I prefer to reserve her charms for the harsher winter months. However, with windy conditions elsewhere Etive seemed worth a bash, perhaps exploring some different tactics and marks.

I started late in the day and it was nearly sunset by the time I made it ashore north of Ardmaddy. Pitching my tent I decided to sort out some dinner and leave the fishing until tomorrow.

Dinner was a vaguely Italian but rather random mix of pasta, pesto and chicken, cooked over my campfire. Welcome nonetheless, especially washed down with a cool beer.

I’d taken firewood in with me but there was a fair bit lying on the beach, probably testament to relatively windy conditions recently.

Lazy Breakfast

Next morning dawned calm and I rekindled my fire to discourage the midges with a little smoke. Setting some water to boil over the fire, I had another wander along the beach whilst I waited. Time for a few photos and a scavenge for more firewood.

Back at camp, I stuck close to the smoke as I munched my bacon roll, washed down by fresh coffee. With all day available to me there wasn’t any rush this morning so I’d a leisurely breakfast.

Out on Etive my trusty longliner sat patiently at her mooring as I debated where to explore and try my luck first.

I’d come equipped with a couple of spinning rods and a fly rod. A boat rod too, although this wasn’t intended to be a static fishing expedition.

Trying for Trout

A spot of trout fishing was first choice and I kicked off with a light spinning rod and small Toby lure. I cast along and into the shoreline as most of the trout seem to hunt along the margins.

Brownies weren’t exactly throwing themselves at me but I missed a couple before hooking something better. This fish gave a good account of itself on my light spinning rod – until it made a grand leap for freedom just feet from my boat. Unfortunately, it succeeded – you can see lure and trout just parting company in the photo below. A bad word or two echoed off Ben Starav!

I persisted, and made progress with a handful of smaller trout and the odd mackerel. Still feels weird listing these species in the same sentence!

One or two were sizeable, but luckily for them I didn’t need them for dinner, so everything went back.

I switched tactics a few times and had a good bash with my fly rod too, casting alongside the bladder wrack.

All great fun but the trout were smaller than those on the spinning gear. However, definitely something I’ll try again in the right conditions, possibly using meatier lures.

Mini Species

Sabiki rigs had already taken a few grey gurnard and whiting so I tried them again, close to shore. Gurnard obliged more or less instantly and today the loch seemed paved with the wee beasties.

A few other species managed a look-in, with a single poor cod and this brightly coloured red cod.

By now it was late afternoon so I headed a little way south of Barrs and tried a wildcard. The ground here is quite shallow, mainly 60 feet or less and I’ve not fished it much before. However, in midsummer and with warm water temperatures, I reckoned it was probably worth a bash.

There were certainly plenty of fish – literally dozens of gurnard and quite a few whiting and mackerel too. All very small but entertaining enough on a summer evening.

Another codling and a solitary doggie popped up too, otherwise it was wall to wall gurnard.

I had hoped for thornbacks chasing crab in the relatively warm water but just had one small specimen.

With the light dimming I headed back towards my tent and the prospect of more midges for company. In all honesty they weren’t too bad but I was glad to hide in my smokescreen again.

Midge Misery!

Waking at 4 in the morning to heavy rain battering my ageing Banshee tent I drifted back to sleep in the certain knowledge that it would be a midge-fest come daybreak…

I wasn’t disappointed! I prepped my kit for a hasty exit and put on gloves, repellent and a head net before I daring to open the tent flap. Even so, I was surrounded by clouds of the devils within seconds, and a percentage made it through my defences. Horrendous creatures!

Even packing up in double quick time I was well mauled before I could climb aboard my boat and escape the shoreline.

Opening the throttle I lost most of my rapacious followers in the slipstream before stopping to regroup in mid-loch. Dropping a chunkier mackerel bait to the bottom I brewed a coffee and burnt a bacon roll as I slowly recovered and scratched my itchy bites.

Back to Fishing

Moving closer inshore I tried a mix of spinning and trolling but with little success.

The weather looked distinctly ominous in the background and my time was limited this morning. I took the easy route and went back to my gurnard fest of the day before.

There were definitely fewer fish this morning but a fair number of small feisty creatures came aboard.

Eventually the threat of rain turned into a torrential reality – short lived, but I was glad of the cuddy and my waders!

More or less at the last gasp I pulled up a spurdog on the mackerel bait, followed not long after by half a whiting. Definitely small spurs about but not really what I was after this trip, so I was happy enough to leave them in my wake.

I had a final quick stop at a deep rocky mark to see if there were any small pollack in residence. Purely an attempt to boost my species count into double figures, and I wasn’t devastated when it failed miserably.

Despite the best efforts of carnivorous hordes I enjoyed this trip exploring a different side to Etive. Deploying freshwater tactics on a sea loch certainly has a novelty value and makes a change for loads of small spurries!

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