It’s been ages since I fished Loch Sunart, so it was high time for a camp and fish session on this beautiful sea loch. Trevor joined me for this trip at the very end of October sandwiched, as usual, between autumn winds.
We planned to camp in the very sheltered waters of Loch na Droma Buidhe, so it made sense to fish around Laga Bay. Our targets here are mainly spurdogs but it also throws up skate, rays and conger.
With the anchor down it didn’t take too long before our first unwilling visitor arrived alongside. A spurdog, just not a very big one…
This set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Plenty of fish but nothing more than 7-8lbs and most more like 4-5lbs. Not really what we were hoping for.
Trevor did have one spur crunched by a skate, but that was the only real excitement.
However, showers of misty rain, low clouds and brief glimpses of sun made for a very atmospheric afternoon. Perhaps appropriate, given it was nearly Halloween! We finally packed in half an hour before sunset, heading round to Loch na Droma Buidhe before it got too dark.
Steaming Dry…
Mooring the boat was easy enough, although the shallow water meant she was tied off over 90m from shore. My big Robens bell tent went up fine – but not before I managed to fall into the burn running just behind it. 🙂 🙂
‘Twas a classic – walking backwards from the tent, guy rope in hand ready to peg out, I forgot about the stream, and went in backwards. Luckily for me I still had chesties on so got away with a big scoosh of water down my back rather than a full soaking. Trev did his best not to laugh too loudly…
It was raining as we put the tent up so we were in a hurry, but even so this was dumb! Fortunately we stoked the tent stove up to a full on inferno which helped steam me dry quite quickly.
The tent setup is big and clunky on my little boat, especially with a stove and wood, but it’s brilliant on a long, dark evening. Space and warmth!!
A Beautiful Morning
Next morning was flat calm and dry, with some stunning autumn colours reflecting on the loch.
We wasted no time in firing up the stove again. Trev was cook this morning, soon serving up bacon and egg butties.
As we munched I popped the drone up for a look around, and these shots show off our surroundings pretty well.
This spot is hellish with midges over the warmer months but is pretty spectacular at this time of year.
On the Water Again
However we did need to get out on the water if we were to get any fishing done before dark! Reloading our gear aboard my boat we said goodbye to Loch na Droma Buidhe.
I tried a different spot, anchoring on a large lump of rock at the western entrance to Laga and aiming to fish the deep water alongside for conger. Things didn’t work quite as planned and both the tide and a slight breeze conspired to swing us gradually off the spot we wanted
There are some pretty amazing houses along parts of Sunart, and some of these have made full use of the lochside. We were definitely jealous!
We stuck it out for a while but the tide didn’t change in our favour and neither did the fishing.
Eventually we gave up and headed over to the deepest point of the loch which lies near a fish farm at the southern/eastern end of Laga Bay. Here it was quiet to start with, then it picked up with similar spurdog to yesterday – perhaps a smidgen larger, but not the size we wanted.
We kept going with these until the light faded and it was time to head for home (the days are getting pretty short now!). I really enjoyed this trip, soaking aside, but two days is barely enough at this time of year. A third day would allow a bit more exploration, but maybe that’s just being greedy!
A Lesson Learned!
I’ve had small boats for forty years now and still manage to do stupid things… Heading back up Sunart my Longliner felt slower and more sluggish than usual. It’s performance is never sparkling with two anglers and a full mountain of camping gear aboard, but we were running a good 2 knots slower than on the way out.
All was revealed back on the trailer when I took the lower bung out. This has been completely dry for the past seven years – but seawater gushed out for a full ten minutes or more. The space between the hulls was virtually full 🙁
Initially I thought the hull might have settled on a rock overnight and been cracked. However, crawling around on wet shingle under the trailer with a torch disproved that theory. In the end it turned out to be the obvious – I’d installed brackets allowing my sonar transducers to move up and down. These make the transducers less vulnerable when launching in shallow water but also meant I’d to reposition some fittings. Although I’d filled the old screw holes with sealant I didn’t do a good enough job and one still leaked enough to let in a small trickle of water. Serves me right for rushing the job…
All fixed now, but not something that should need fixing! The hole was tiny but the boat was afloat for 36 hours so it accumulated. On the plus side, apart from being sluggish, there wasn’t much impact on performance and nothing leaked onto the main deck.
