FISHING!!

Here in Scotland we have a wealth of good fishing. Big pike in almost every loch south of Ullapool and some of the bigger rivers. Trout in almost every loch and river. We also have some coarse fish including carp, roach, rudd, tench, dace, chub, barbel and many more.

I,ve had a few big pike the best one being a fish of 36lb, 44inches long. This old girl, like all the fish I catch, was returned safely with the minimum of stress/pain.

Pike are not easy to catch especially in the bigger lochs. Some of the Scottish lochs have up to 65 miles of shoreline and possibly only 3 or 4 miles of that suitable habitat for Esox Lucius ( thats the Latin name for a pike) are'nt I clever ;-) You need to spend a we bit of time on these big lochs to find out where the pike live.

This is the boat that my lovely wife bought for my 50th birthday last year. She is a British built Seahog Hunter. She is equipped with a power tilt and trim 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke outboard, Yamaha 22kg thrust trolling motor, sat nav, ship to shore marine band radio and fishfinder. I have a Cannon mini troll downrigger for fishing the deeper water. Her current name is Chrissie11 but that has to be changed. Its unlucky to change a boats name but I found a ceremony for doing it. Unfortunately this requires the services of a man of the cloth and I do'nt know one yet but....................

I also developed a cool anchoring system that allows me to anchor where I want to be without drifting off the mark. This involves two bow rollers, one on the bow, one on top front of the cabin, a hole drilled in the windscreen and a cam cleat. Enlarge the pic you will see what I mean.

The type of fishing I do depends on the time of year. November through to April I mainly fish dead or livebaits. The rest of the year I mainly troll lures such as Rapala. These are pulled along behind the boat at slow speed in 20 feet of water or less. This is a very effective method not only for pike but also truot and salmon which also are returned alive. I love the hunt and the chase but cant get around the killing part. In the UK salmon are in decline. No-one should kill a salmon particularly a female that can produce thousands of fry, still it happens.

I am considered to be what is commonly known as a "coarse angler" because I use coarse methods ie; baits and lures, but I seldom kill a fish, whereas the game angler, who only uses an artificial fly tied from feathers and a single hook, is considered the gentlemanly game angler. The game angler is the chappy that you see walking along the bank with a brace of hen salmon most likely gaffed by a willing ghillie who is more interested in his reward of a bottle of malt whisky than the decline of the species that provides his living.

Game anglers get right on my very last nerve ;-(

Gordon