Loch Lubnaig : Char quest continues!

Jake and I had a job to finish yesterday that gave us the opportunity to visit Loch Lubnaig again. Jake's not the type to ever admit defeat and he has a score to settle with the resident arctic char population who have been tormenting him recently.

We arrived and headed straight to the spot where I caught two of them last time we fished it. Same tactics were employed, ultra light gear and pink Jackson Cymos which the fish  in the loch love. After a while with no action at all we decided to head up the loch towards a weedy spot where Jake caught a few perch last time with the intention of return to the starting point later. We reached the area and started working the lures through the weed beds. I quickly became annoyed having to pull the lure through the weed and weed off the lure so I switched to a weedless Decoy Violence jighead and a 2.5" Lunker City Fin-S shad in Watermelon Candy Shad.

Still no action so we decided to head a bit further along the bank to a spot we've never tried before. The water was a bit deeper here and immediately in front of us to bottom was a fairly clean boulder field but a bit further out was a large weed bed. We started working along this and as Jake was retrieving his lure it was hit very close in by a perch, just in front of him. His drag was set lightly so the little perch started stripping line much to our amusement. He was enjoying this little scrap and I jokingly told him to tightened up before it spooled him! After a quick photo it was returned to grow bigger.

This cheeky perch gave Jake an epic battle.

 
Jake then caught another two in quick succession. Again both of them taking the lure very close in, probably following it in from the weeds before striking.

Another stripey fish falls to the pink Jackson Cymo.

Jake makes it a hat trick of perch.

Meanwhile I was not getting any attention on my Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner on a 3.5g #4 AGM Finesse jighead so I decided to start heading back to where we started to try for trout and arctic char whilst Jake happily continued targeting perch.

I got back to where we started and carried on with the soft plastics retrieving them very slowly with a few pauses and twitches. After quite a while I was beginning to think I was going to blank when I felt a little jolt and hooked a small perch quite close in just beyond the drop off. This was my first perch from Loch Lubnaig so I was quite pleased.

My first Loch Lubnaig perch! Due to the absence of pike the loch holds some huge perch, or so we've been told.

At this point Jake came back around to rejoin me and asked what I had caught. I told him it was a char..., pausing briefly to wind him up before adding, ...ming little perch. Luckily he saw the funny side.

Then as we we were fishing we heard a low pitched drone. Over the horizon came a bomber. Flying very low it flew over our heads before heading up the loch and north up the glen. Obviously on a radar avoidance training exercise. An awesome sight indeed!

The bomber approaches.

With Jake's focus now switched back to targeting arctic char, he waded out a bit and began working along the bank. This time in the opposite direction down the loch. I headed past him, and very quietly past the group of relaxing highland cow bulls that live in the field next to the loch, to some rocks a bit further along next to the road.

Highland cow bulls including a jet black one. Just looks weird!

I climbed up onto them to survey the area. It looked it may hold a few perch. Fairly deep and a few weeds but instead of large beds they were a bit more spaced out, perfect I thought! I started working my lure through the gaps very slowly. Moving along the rocks exploring the gaps in the weeds. Again as the lure was close in I hooked a perch. It was very small, yet had managed to get most of the lure into it's greedy little mouth! It took me a bit longer to unhook it so I put it straight back without taking a photo. A few cast later I caught another, slightly bigger perch.

With no pink vibe lures wizzing by to distract them, the perch were loving the Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner.

Lovely fins.Some odd scars on it though. Perhaps from a monster Lubnaig perch!

Meanwhile Jake had also caught another two perch, a small brown trout and had also hooked another two brown trout that had thrown the hooks but alas the arctic char were not playing ball again.

Another nice perch for Jake.

Tell your cousins that Jake will be back for them!

Looks like another, perhaps longer visit will be on the cards soon. I know what Jake will be targeting, I on the other hand may take some "heavier" lure gear and throw some larger soft plastics to try and tempt out a bigger perch!

Tight lines, Hutch.