Carlingwalk Loch suprise.

On Wed I had a job doing a removal in Castle Douglas so needless to say I built in a bit of time to visit Carlingwalk Loch! The forecast was for heavy persistent rain across Dumfries and Galloway, however when I arrived at the loch after loading the van it was warm and sunny! I only had an hour to fish which meant I couldn't really work my way round the loch. 

I started fishing close to the van where there was a lot of lily pads and weed beds. I wanted to try one of the Croatian bumble lures as we had got hold of a couple and they are perfect for this type of weedy swim. I went with the popper type and cast it out into the weedy growth. The action on the lure was good and it spat water and walked the dog when i gave it little twitches. It was also surprisingly weedless and meant I could work it through lilly pads and over surface weed beds. No bites were forthcoming though so I swapped over to a Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Fungus Roach. I hopped around reedy bays working the lure through the clear water but to no avail. 

With about 15 mins to go until I had to leave I found myself in a little bay. I had waded out till i was knee deep and suddenly noticed a large shoal of little perch milling about my legs! Not one to miss a opportunity I waded back to get my LRF kit and mounted a small 1" tail section of pink Isome on a 1.8g #10 Decoy Rocket jighead. Determined to beat the blank I waded out again and flicked the Isome out beyond the shoal. As I began to retrieve suddenly everything went solid and the little rod arched over, then bounced wildly as the fish gave a massive head shake and bolted! Line screamed off the reel as the fish stayed deep and tore off out the bay. If this was a perch it was a record breaker, if it was a pike I would have to be very lucky indeed to land it as I had no wire trace on! I gently turned the fish and caught sight of a big mottled tail as it made another run, Pike! Oh dear I thought as the pike made another run stripping line off the reel, this cant end well! Every second of the fight I kept picturing the tiny hook bending straight or the pike biting through the 6lb leader. Every time I got the fish close it would scream off at an incredible speed stripping line and pulling my arm off! Eventually and with disbelief I managed to beach a wonderfully fat 7lb fish! The hook was in its scissors and promptly dropped out as I lifted the fish to admire it!

My biggest pike of 2012 so far.

Recovering in some shallow water.

My Corto/Technium LRF combo had dealt magnificently with the fight and I know it would handle a bigger fish as I had to play this one very lightly indeed. What a turn up as I was honestly just trying to catch a little 3" perch and ended up with a beautiful Carlingwalk Loch pike. The fish recovered well from the fight and after a couple of pics she swam strongly away, although what she was doing preying on tiny worms is beyond me. With that it was time to head back to Edinburgh and finish the job, but I was sure glad to beat the blank on work time with a Carlingwalk Loch suprise!

Tight lines, Schogsky.