A trip to the Trossachs

I headed north for the first time to Lubnaig. I’ve fancied fishing here for a while as it seems to have had some reputation for producing decent Perch. It was a late start for me, first cast about 9.30am on a baking hot morning. I’m not really a fan of making a start at this time of day but I had to buy a permit so tied my start in with opening time purchasing this then getting on the water. I was looking forward with anticipation, as you do fishing somewhere for the first time. I initially had some issues with the Lowrance for the first hour and fished without it till I worked out what was wrong with the settings. In truth there was not that much to see apart from the very odd fish mark. The most interesting point over the day was a clearly visible thermocline crossing over a point transiting areas. The water was 100ft deep and the change was at 80ft deep for about 100 meters till the depth changed. I've not came across this marked as clearly before on any sounder, not that it made any difference to me on the day either right enough.

Brownie on a little HTO sp

I picked up the first fish on the drop shot next to a weed bed about 300 yards from where I started. This size of Perch set the tone for the day. I found plenty of them in one spot at two points in the day and the second time drop shotting worm bait. Having gone over the area again with a few different lures I didn’t get a touch. I tried a worm and it was all action. There was the odd fish here and there in deep water which I targeted but it was pretty poor apart from this one area. It was a nice spot, 20ft deep close to the bank with a little burn trickling in, nice fringe of weed in tight with some shade. You don’t need any electronics to find these spots. I could see why it seemed to hold the fish. It’s just a pity about the average size.  There were some really nice weedy areas but various approaches proved fruitless. The best Perch of the day came when I was heading for home about as fast as I could after covering about 7 miles.Having been looking at the sounder I was doing just shy of 4MPH, about twice the speed I normally would consider fishing. It might have gone ¾ pound. This was followed by another smaller one at the same speed; maybe I missed a trick on the day?

Looking south from the top of the loch, its a decent kick back to the launch site from here.

 It’s certainly a nice setting but having been from one end to the other it’s too noisy for my liking with everything from motorbikes to yapping dogs. Having had good numbers of Perch this padded out the reality that most were from one area, probably the same shoal and the size of these fish were smaller than I would have liked. I’ve no doubt that it has some nice Perch but it’s not the water for me.I might have another shot here if Scott can borrow a kayak. Other than that I think I’ll stick to the lochs which I know can produce better Perch and at the same time, enjoy some tranquillity. It was however some day to be on the water and better than working on a Friday.

Drysuit tan. Can you tell we've had a pish summer and I've not been abroad yet? Might need to get some Oil of Olay and some creosote for balance , these don't look right.