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This is the reports page for the season 2010, this will give information on the fishing trips we have (if the fish co-operate it might make interesting reading). I aim to publish details on where and if we catch fish and information on tactics, lures, depths and any other information that I think might relevant or could be of help to anyone planning a trip to the Lochs we will be fishing on.

Above all I  will be honest with the reports, if we have a bad day you will know about it!!.I will also try to include pictures on the lures we get fish on.

Click here for past seasons reports

Season 2010
Tues 16th Feb

First outing of the year and the Loch was cold and misty , the water level was way down, it was more like a summer drought that the "normal" winter level. I set off and trolled down to Net Bay and quickly disappeared into the gloom , after and hour or so another boat appeared out of the mist he had caught the same as me " bugger all" it was a bit creepy trolling about in the mist knowing another boat was somewhere nearby. At one point I didn't have a clue where I was so I just stuck to following previous GPS trails at least that would keep me in deep water and off the rocks.
I saw a few areas that were holding fish but couldn't get them to take no matter what lure I put in front of them the water temp was down at 2deg c and later when i moved up to Inchfad the water temp went up to 3 c.
Below is a pic of the mist, you can just make out the planer board about 20 yds away.


Sat  20th Feb Loch Lomond

Two anglers had booked a days fishing with me but we had to cancel the day and rearrange  another date as Balmaha Bay was frozen over, the ice was so thick you could stand on it at the boat ramp. The ice stretched right out to Clarinch and over to Aber, 3 days ago this was open water its just amazing how quickly the ice formed. Below is a couple of pics of the boat ramp and the view out from Balmaha it also shows just how low the loch is at the moment.

Season 2009

Sat 7th March Loch Lomond

My first outing of the year and my first fishing trip since suffering a heart attack in September last year which kinda cut short my fishing season a bit. I was out taking and angler on one of my trolling days, it was one of those windy wet days we got soaked to the skin and battered about a bit by the wind and waves we managed to get one Pike a wee one of maybe 3lb ish it took  a handmade Balsa Lax minnow on leadcore  just at the Cladich shore  we also had a downrigger go off but it wasn't noticed at the time so if it was a fish it got off. Below is a pic of the lure i was pleased it got a fish, its good to get a fish on a lure you have made yourself.

Tuesday 10th March Loch Lomond

Out again this time by myself it was a completely different day to Saturday the loch was mirror calm and the sun was shining i trolled around the Endrick Bank and Cladich area. I managed to get one Pike that took a wooden jointed Cutplug fished from leadcore, i didnt weight the Pike just measured it , it was 25" long and just popped it back in the water, again i was pleased to catch a fish on a lure i made. Because the loch was calm i decided to spend some time making drop offs and reefs on the GPS i have most of the Aber reef marked and a few other nasty bits so now i should be able to  troll without losing too much gear. Below is a pic of the lure that caught and one showing the loch as i came in at the end of the day.
 

Sat 21st March Loch Lomond

I was out with a father and son who had booked a days Trolling we fished hard and tried all the lures in the box but never had any luck, we had one fish pull back the planer board  but that was all, it was a day of variable weather ranging from nice and calm to quite bumpy at times.

Sat 28th March Loch Lomond
Out with another angler who had booked a trolling day, he had just got some downriggers and wanted to have a day out to see how to use them, we went out and i showed him  how to set the rigger and  some tips on the different line releases and how to use rubber bands as  line releases, it was a nice day out and we managed to get a couple of Pike for our efforts.

Wed 8th April Loch Lomond

Fished with Two anglers who booked a days trolling we fished hard all over the loch and the only fish we managed was a Perch of 2.5lb+ that took a Balsa minnow in trout pattern fished from a dipsy just at the stables, we then went over to Inchmurren and was some good fish showing on the sonar, we ran through them and managed to get one take on the downrigger but the fish got off and we also had a fish take a leadcore fished lure but that also escaped.

Sat 9th May Loch Lomond
I was out with an angler and his girlfriend who booked a days trolling we trolled round the Endrick Bank area  and on out first run through the Cladich shore we got a Brown trout of 5lb'ish on a Balsa minnow in trout pattern fished from leadcore we then went round some of the islands and picked up a  Jack Pike  on a  trout pattern 3Play minnow again on leadcore, we then headed back down the Endrick back and  got another Brown Trout 6lb'ish again on the 3Play minnow just as we were leaving Net Bay, we also picked up a wee Neb of a Seatrout on a deep diver from the planer boards.

Sat 23rd May Loch Lomond
I was out with  two anglers who booked one of my trolling days, we trolled round the Endrick Bank area and it was a busy day with lots of trolling boats out hoping for a Salmon. We only managed a Pike and a Perch both on lures fished on Leadcore we had a Downrigger rod go off but the fish never stayed on so it was a quite day fish wise, one of my friends past us to tell us that he had just lost a good Salmon at the Cladich shore he also  lost an even larger one later in the day so he is feeling a bit sick.

Sat  25th July Loch Lomond
I was out with a Father and Son who had booked a trolling day we trolled round the Endrick Bank area and caught a few Perch  we also had a fish hit a lure fished on a planer board that just snapped the line above the lure, it was new line maybe there was a nick or damage to the line that i  had not noticed, we also had a hit on a Dipsy the fish pulled some line out them nothing i had a lure on with a Siwash hook on, now i had wished i had used a treble, but you still lose fish on them as well so its a hard one to call. Our  usual areas had not produced the goods so we went looking for fish . as we trolled round Clairinch in the 50 foot deep side the Downrigger started  bouncing around, the angler i was with quickly grabbed the rod and a nice Brown started leaping  about behind the boat it was a fat well conditioned fish that took a reproduction Martin Plug ( a copy of a 1950's plug a bit like a wooden Tomic, link to Martin Plugs if you are interested in  old Salmon Plugs) When the fish was landed it coughed up a whole load of tiny pin fry they were almost transparent  and about 15mm long there was obviously a feast going on down there at 35 ft deep. Did'nt  manage to get a picture of the fish but here is a pic of the lure it took a 4" Martin style plug.


Sat 15th August Loch Lomond
I was out with two anglers  who had booked a trolling day, we trolled the usual routes Endrick Bank etc, we were mainly catching Perch and as we passed  the Endrick mouth we saw a salmon boat  hook into a fish it looked a good size as it leaped about at the back of the boat, the day for use ranged from calm'ish to pretty rough with white topped waves and at times it was more like surfing than fishing. At the end of the day we decided to make one troll around Clairinch and just at the very end as i was bringing the rods in one of the downrigger rods fired off with a nice 4 to 5 lb brown on the end , so it was a good end to the day.
One of the highlights  of the day was when we returned a perch we had caught, an Osprey saw its chance and dived down an grabbed the fish before it could get its bearings, the Osprey then flew past the boat giving us a great view of it carrying the fish it also had two Gulls harassing it trying to make it drop its lunch.

The lures that produced fish were my own plugs and my Balsa lures the Plug was one of the Lomond lures with a 50/50 paint job Smolt on one side  of the lure and Rainbow trout on the other ( for the fish that can't  make up its mind) the Perch we caught were mainly taking  a Balsa Lax Minnow in Brown Trout pattern. pics of fish and lure below.
  

Mon 7th Sept Loch Lomond
I was out with an angler who was up on holiday and booked a trolling day, he mainly fished for Carp at home so trolling was a new experience for him. When we launched at Balmaha the water levels were extremely high, the sort of levels we normally get in Feb/March.
We trolled down the Endrick Bank and picked up a few Perch,it was a blustery day and trying to control the boats speed and direction was was proving difficult at times but after lunch the wind dropped a bit and we were able to keep the boat going at a steady speed and we started catching fish we got some more Perch and 5 Pike the largest being 9lbs the fish were taking all  methods from planer boards to downriggers and the hot colour for that day was Orange or lures with Orange in them.
Below are pics of the lures and fish.


Mon 14th Sept Loch Lomond
I was out with 2 anglers who had booked a trolling day, they were traveling by public transport so i had arranged to pick them up at Balloch. So after launching i motored over to Balloch ( I was glad the loch was calm). After picking them up we trolled round Boturich shore round to the Cladich Shore we picked up one Perch going past the stables and that set the scene for the day we were only catching Perch the biggest was about 15to16"long, we started off with the orange lures that did well last week but they were no good this time, we tried lots of different areas and loads of lures but couldn't seem to find any decent fish, we stayed out a bit later hoping for the last minute fish but it never turned up, i ended up arriving back at Balmaha and putting the boat back on the trailer in  near darkness.

Wed 30th Sept Loch Lomond
I took my daughter  and one of her friends from school out fishing, we has quite a nice day and were catching mainly perch but we had one pike of around 7/8lbs that took a lure fished from a dipsy diver it gave the young lad a good fight before we got it in the net  and after a couple of pics we  put it back to fight again another day.


Thursday 22nd of Oct Loch Lomond
I took a fisherman and his girlfriend out on a days trolling the were from London so they enjoyed the peace and quite of Lomond compared to the hustle of the city. We trolled round the Endrick Basin and started picking up perch we also got 2 pike with the biggest being 7lbs, lure colours or the day were decided by football team colours, the guests team were Norwich so Yellow was the choice and some of the fish must have been Norwich fans as the Yellow lures worked.We also had one of the Downrigger rods fire off in Net Bay there were tons of fish showing there but by the time we got to the rod the fish had gone.

Sat 24th Oct Loch Lomond
I was out with a friend who is a traditional Salmon troller, i was showing him what it was like "on the deep side" of the water. The weather forecast was for 50mph winds so we didn't think we were going to get a full day out on the loch we trolled down the Endrick Bank and  started picking up  perch we also got a couple of Pike on the Downrigger, we were just coming out of Net Bay when the Planer Board rod got a fish, it was a Pike of around 10lbs we then trolled up the loch looking for shelter we got into Manse Bay and a trout of around 5lbs took a lure fished off a dipsy, the lure was one of my Handmade minnows i started making it on wed of that week and rushed it through for fishing at the weekend.
At lunch the weather got really wild and we thought that was going to be it for the day but it quickly calmed down and dried up so we carried on fishing we got another trout in Manse Bay on  a Lomond Lure in Gold Glitter with Black and Orange. So we ended the day with 5 Pike between 4 and 10lbs 2 Trout 3 and 5lbs and a couple of Perch
Here is a poor pic of one of the trout (the camera was set for close up stuff when i took the pic)


Wed Oct 28th Loch Lomond
I was out with an angler  up on holiday from England,we set out and trolled down the Endrick Bank and on out first run down before t had even got to 10am we had a fish hit a lure on one of the Dipsy's but after a hard jagged fight it came off when the lure came back one of the trebles had been opened out a bit  we then trolled round to the Stables where we had another hit on the Dipsy but it came to nothing, we turned round and headed back up the Endrick Bank where we picked up a couple of Perch biggest being 15" long. We then went round to the Black Rocks where we got a pike of around 15lbs on one of my plugs fished on leadcore we trolled  back down to Net Bay where another Pike took a lure on one of the planer boards this one was around 5 lbs we also had a Trout of 4lbs  one the Dipsy just as we headed out of Net Bay and at the end of the day as we were heading back to Balmaha we had a take as we passed the Endrick mouth my first thought was "Salmon" but it turned out to be a Pike that had taken a Flasher and Fly there has to  be a first time for everything i suppose. Below are some pics of the day and the lures that caught.

Friday 30th Oct Loch Lomond
I out with an angler who had booked one of my trolling days, we headed down the Endrick Bank  to see if the fish were still there , as we entered Net Bay we had a hit on the Flasher and Fly on the Downrigger but it came to nothing. We trolled round to the Stables and back round to Balmaha but there was nothing doing. So we set out to try and find the fish we headed over to the Long and Short Points were Richard spotted some leaping Seatrout in the distance at the Ross Dhu Bank  so we headed over to them, we quickly got a good Perch that coughed up a  wee Trout we trolled around the Bank for a while and then decided to head to an island for lunch. After a very damp lunch in the rain we trolled down the side of Inch Fad we had a hit on the Dipsy that came to nothing so we trolled down to the and and turned back up for another go this time we had a hit on the other Dipsy  but again that never hooked up so about turn again for another go, this time the planer board started to slide back in the water and after a good fight a Trout of 5lbs was landed and quickly returned. So it turned out quite a good day with 2 perch and a nice Trout but we had to work hard to find the fish, if we had more time we might have picked up some more of the fish lying off Inch Fad.


Season 2008

 Feb Mon 11th Loch Lomond

Went out on the Loch on a nice sunny and calm day i had my daughter with me and we trolled  round my usual route of the Endrick Bank/ Stables area. On the Loch there were rafts of Ducks that would have been a Punt Gunners Dream, we trolled round to the Cladich Shore and back up to Balmaha on out trip back the Dipsy rod started bouncing with a good fish so my Daughter took the rod , and after a good struggle she landed a Trout of  5lbs it took  a dead trout trolled on one of my new Bait Hoods i tried to get a pic of it but i got the "battery exhausted" warning on the camera so no pic. We later had a Perch on a J11 Rapala from the Downrigger 35ft down this was VERY unusual as we dont normally get perch until May.
Here are a couple of pics one of the boatyard and one of the Baithood rig with Troutbait. The fish was hooked on the Tail Treble

Friday March 7th Loch Lomond

Went out with an Angler Chris on one of my Trolling days the weather was pretty wild  with rain and high winds, Chris had been tying to organize a day since November but the weather has against us every time.We trolled round the Endrick Basin area but with the  rain and winds we had a hard time just standing up never mind fishing, we sought shelter  around some of the islands and trolled round Buchinch and Inchmoan but never caught anything on one of our trips  down to the Cladich Shore we saw one of the few fish marks on the sonar for that day and it was huge, we marked the fish on the GPS and trolled round that area a few times but the  fish had gone, never saw it again.

Loch Arkaig 17th/18th April

Took my son and one of his mates away for a couple of days fishing/camping we arrived at the loch and it was a bit on the windy side so we headed up our camp site and set up camp,we trolled a bit during the day and got one trout of 2lb ish on a Blue Glow Tomic, i went out again in the evening  but the boys wanted to stay by the fire, after i passed the fishfarm cages i had a fish on, the planer board staggered back in the water and a fish came somersaulting out of the water behind it it took a Blue Glow Tomic, about 5 mins later i had another fish of around 4lbs again on the same Tomic it was just like history repeating its self (see last years report on Akaig) but this time it was only 2 fish. The next day we went out again but the wind was gusting all over the place  and making speed control very difficult i could ether go too fast or too slow never  my preferred speed of 2.5mph so we got nothing that day.
That evening i went out again by myself and again got 2 fish one on Leadcore on a Highlander Plug and the other on the Blue Glow Tomic,it was chaos when i got the fish  as  during the fight of the leadcore fish i drifted into shallower water  so i netted the fish and quickly popped it back in (the camera was back at base so no pics) at this point one of my downrigger lures snagged in the shallower water so i was busy trying to clear rods to sort it out when the inside planer board rod "snagged" as well but the board headed out to the loch, another fish on again on the Blue Glow Tomic, so i managed to get that fish in and then popped it back in the water and then trolled slowly back to camp  trying to untangle  all the mess with the rods and lines.

Below are some pics of the fish and the lures that caught them.
 

 Loch Lomond July  21st Loch Lomond

Was out with an angler Paul who had booked a Trolling Trip with me he had just bought some downriggers and wanted  to get some hands on experience in using them. We went out on a Blue sky scorching hot day and trolled down the Endrick bank on our first trip  along the bank we had a downrigger pop free but whatever took the 6" Jake quickly spat it out so we missed it, we had a few other takes and hits  that resulted in three Perch landed and a Pike and Perch lost. We used lots of methods Downrigger, Leadcore, Planer Boards, Flasher and Fly and Deadbaits but the only lure that caught fish was the J11 Orange and Gold Rapala.

Season 2007

Feb Sat24th Loch Lomond

My first day out this season it was only going to be a short day ,I went out and tried around the usual Endrick Bank areas I trolled right round the the Stables I saw a few other boats out but like me they had caught nothing as well. I went over to the islands to try there and saw a few big fish marks 40 ft down at the end of Creinch i trolled through them a few times and had a hit from a fish  it was on for a few seconds and pulled some line from the reel and then got off, it had taken a  Mino Mepps fished off a Dipsy I tried a few other areas but that was it for the day so i just packed up.

April 28th/29th Akaig and Lochy

This is the first time i have managed out for ages, every time i try to go out fishing something crops up and i have to cancel , so i was determined to go this time. We arrived up at Arkaig on the friday night and decided to troll up to the camp site, we quickly got a Trout of around 3lbs  on a Lyman plug fished off a planer board we managed another 2 before we got to the site. The next morning we got up and  saw a boat just out in front of the camp site had a fish on when he landed it it looked  a good size, so we quickly  got the boat out in the water we trolled round the bottom half of the loch in the area of the fish farms where we got another 4 fish all on the Tomic or Lyman plugs fished off the planer boards we had a few fish take lures from the downriggers but they got off. That evening the rest decided to stay at the campsite so i went out by myself i trolled up the South shore of the loch and got 5 fish in 2 hours the largest was 6½ lbs and the rest were around 4lbs they were all on the Tomic and Lyman lures fished from  planer boards  again i never managed to get any pics of the fish as my jacket and camera were back at the campsite.

The next day we moved down to Lochy were it was blowing a north easterly  that made trolling difficult but we got a fish immediately again of the Lyman/Planer board combo we had a couple of takes on the downriggers both got off , one we saw  and it was around 4lb'ish we had 2 other fish on the Board rods one on a Lyman plug and the other on Rainbow Trout  Stumpjumper. After about 4 hours of bouncing about in the waves we called it a day and headed home.

Here are a few pics of the trip I will try and get a better pic of the fish!!.  

The Lures are  Blue/sil scale glow Tomic, Lyman Pink Stripe, Lyman Pink/ white and a Rainbow Stumpjumper.

Monday 14th May Loch Lomond

I managed to get a day off work to go out, i didn't manage to get to the Loch till 11am. I decided to stay at the Endrick basin area and troll round my usual routes it started off calm but the wind kept coming and going calm one minute and when i decided to go to more open water it would pick up again with white caps on the waves and i hate it when its like this, its difficult to control the rods or  read what they are doing. I managed to get one perch about 2lbs, 30ft down  on the downrigger with a Challenger Fluo Orange jointed plug.

 As  i was heading back to the Balmaha there was a bit of excitement with a German Family  as they came out from Inchcalliach and a wave flipped their canoe over dumping them all in the water there was a Ski boat closer to them than i was and i thought they would go and help them but it just buggered off !! so i pulled in the rods and went to help them there was a Father and Mother and Daughter all in the water with lifejackets on but struggling with the  cold and wind. I got to them  and threw a float cushion to them and a rope and managed to heave all of them into the boat, the back of the boat was just a tangle of wet  and tired bodies, the boat "Marion" was also there and  brought the canoe back in.When we got into Balmaha they went off to their B&B to dry off and the Mother who managed to impale herself on a  lure while being dragged into the boat   was off to the Docs to get the hook removed.

Monday 4th June Loch Lomond 

Managed to sneak  a day of work and had a day out on the loch, it was a nice day with better weather than my last outing i trolled round my usual areas and the only thing that was biting were perch I got 4 all on Planer board fished lures the Red Willies Worm catching all of them. The water temp was up it was reading 70degf at the surface and 65degf 30 ft down in Net Bay, maybe it was too hot for the fish.

31st August-8th September Lake Michigan

This is the first time i have been out for ages, too busy at work and very busy getting the tackle shop section built up on my other web site but i knew i had this trip booked so i could miss out on some fishing for a while.

3 of us went out to Michigan for a week of Hardcore fishing we knocked it of  from the start as out booked accomodation was not available so they up-graded us to a cottage double the price but only charged us for the one booked. Our first days fishing was in Rogers new boat a 25ft Chriscraft loaded with all the gear top of the range sonar  all the rods and a great CD system. A typical days fishing starts like this, out of bed at 5 am,  get in the boat, blast across White Lake in the dark,  go through the channel to the Big Lake and blast out again for a mile or 2 start putting out rods with glow lures ( its still dark) troll about trying to keep a straight course (hard to do in the dark). We them sit back and wait for fireworks  the fish usually hit before the sun gets up sometimes with multiple hits at one time we had one rod go off and then while playing that another rod kicks off and then there is two of us playing fish the average size of the fish is 10 to 12lbs for the Kings.

Above are some pics first, Doc playing a fish and then the fish a 15lb King, Paul playing a runner this fish ran and ran and ran we saw it approx ¼ of a mile behind the boat it was landed though the 3rd pic was 2 of the fish caught on the first day and the 4th pic was a Coho that took one of my Dark Side of the Moon spoons, a genuine catch, and the 5th pic (a bit fuzzy) was of fish we got out of the Port of Holland one night.

We also had a couple of days river fishing the first was casting lures unfortunately the Salmon had nor arrived in thge river yet and all we got was some Bass and a Perch we hooked a couple of  stray Salmon but they got off, the next day was on the Pere Marquette river. A cracking day drifting down the  river in a float boat and stopping the fish the pools 3 salmon were hooked and one landed, one that got off was 25 to 30lbs in weight it was well worth going and i would do it again if i had the chance.

Some river pics,1, setting out,2, playing a fish,3, the fight,4, landing the fish,5&6 and stopping for lunch.

Some more pics 1,3 fish a King, Steelhead and a Coho,2, top of the range sonar showing fish looking at the lures, 3,ready for netting , 4,me with a Steelhead, 5, Sunrise and Sunset.

In total we landed 32 fish for the week we were too knackered to do a days Combat Fishing but if we had we could have added another 10 fish at least, to the total.

I will add some links to this report to places we stayed at and some of the guides if you fancy doing this sort of trip yourself.

Monday 17th Sept Loch Lomond

I took a Fisherman out on one of my Trolling trips, he was up on holiday from England we were lucky with the weather as the previous day was awful. Steve had bought some items from the Web Shop and wanted to see how they worked before going on the lochs Eck and Awe on his holiday. We trolled out round the Endrick Bank and Cladich area we saw a Salmon jumping at the Cladich area but all we managed to catch was Pike and Perch we had 4 Pike up to 6lbs and 3 Perch up to 2lb'ish the lure that worked were a Tomic Multi in Crystal Firetiger on leadcore and a Copper and Red spoon on the slider on the Downriggers and also a Red Willies Worm on the Planers. Pics to follow.

Sat 20th Oct Loch Lomond

I was out 2 anglers Iain and Andy who booked one of my "Trolling days" it turned out to be a great day. We took the usual route of the Endrick bank Cladich area it was a great day for the Pike we had about 8 mostly jacks but we had 2 of about 8lbs and 11lbs we also had 6 or 7 perch and a trout of 2 to 3lbs hit a lure fished off a jet diver it took off like a missile and threw the hooks the fishing then went a bit slow so i put on something to wake them up a bit a flasher and fly it was only on for about 1/2 hr when the downrigger kicked off and Andy took the rod and after a good fight a Brown trout of 12lbs was landed it was a cracking fish and built like a brick sh1t house, we also had another Brown of around 3 to 4lbs on a willies worm off the planer boards.