Chunder Road trip

With a break in the Sunday weather Scott and I eventually got a session together on Loch Etive. We had been trying to get a trip together and have a catch up for a while and Nick joined us for the journey north. We met up in Dumbarton and set up off at 7am. The drive up was eventful for Scot at least, he had been ill for a couple of days as it happened. I had to abruptly hit the brakes a few times as the journey turned in to chunder road for Scott. Nick and I had a chat about kayaks on the way up as Scott sat quietly and focused on feeling better. When eventually we arrived to pick up the hire boat Scott was certainly lighter and felt ok so we got rigged up and set off in the clearing fog.

We had all fished Etive before and were aware of what it can be like, great setting, sheltered waters and with a good variety of species. However, some days it can be really poor, today was going to be one of those days.

Our first stop produced small Whiting and Cod for Nick and Scott and only the very occasional rattle of the rod tip. The only thing showing interest in me was a passing Swan.

It was a pity we were to be limited by the lack of an appropriate length of anchor rope for this venue.  We made do tying off to the limited number of buoys around the fish farms, sometimes this is adequate to get results and sometimes it’s not. I would have preferred the choice.

After a move and hour or so on a new spot I had a good bite on a Rainbow Trout fillet. I hooked up and realised it was a decent fish. As I brought the fish to the boat predictably it got stuck on some of the structure around the fish farm. Scott started the engine up and moved the boat from its position just enough to give me another angle, luckily this worked.

Trying various spots and one or two drifts we hooked off to another buoy and the three of us started to get little knocks. I had a rummage in my bag and found a Sabiki rig consisting of two lures which I baited with tiny pieces of squid. This worked and produced a steady stream of small Grey Gurnards.

Nick commented that it was the most successful rig of the day, sadly he was correct but at least it kept me entertained for a little while. The final drift was about 100 yards from the boat station where Scott reckoned we might pick up another species or two. I didn’t bother to put a line in the water but Scott got a knock straight away as did Nick, this ended up being his best fish of the day ironically, where we started.

The final tally for species, Cod, Poor Cod, Whiting, Coalfish, Spurdog and Grey Gurnard. Bizarrely no Dogfish. We got lucky with the weather and the scenery is great, a couple of trips to Sunart and Etive in a year is plenty for me, I’ve seen enough of it as a fishing experience over the last 15 years.

It was good to meet Nick for the first time and we might get a Kayak trip together on the east coast this summer. Scott now has a few days off to recover, it was good to see you again and thanks for keeping my car clean under pressure!