On Saturday I had a job in Dunbar delivering some furniture, as always I managed to fit my LRF gear in the van and I hoped to have a fish around the harbour once the job was done. Sure enough after the job I had plenty of time for a fish and rigged up a dropshot rig comprising of a 7g weight, #12 offset worm hook rigged with a section of Gulp! Sandworm. I fished around the harbour in all our usual haunts but it was devoid of any fish. It was not unexpected as the harbour goes really quiet over the winter but still a bit disappointing. I needed to catch something so I decided to pop into Markle Fisheries on my way back into Edinburgh. I know Markle very well as it's my go to fishery for trout on the fly, however on this occasion I would be fishing the Kin Loch using my LRF gear. I popped into speak to John, the fishery owner, to just double check that this would be OK by the rules. He was fine with this so I paid for my permit and hurried down to the loch.
Markle is a very well run fishery and is clean and litter free so I was really disappointed to see a lurid blue crisp bag stuck in the willows where I was intended to fish. I was muttering about irresponsible anglers when the "crisp bag" suddenly sprouted wings and flew off in a flash of iridescent blue and red. Doh! I really want to get some nice photos of kingfishers and that was a chance missed but it was brilliant to see such an iconic bird happy and well at my favourite fishery! As the rod was already set up with a tail section of gulp sandworm I decided to start with this and see how the trout reacted. I followed the wind and chose to fish the end of the loch where the wind was blowing onshore. My first cast was along the shore about ten feet out and I began to twitch and shake the rod causing the lure to shiver and writhe. I then hopped the lead back along the bottom a couple of feet then paused and began shaking the rod tip again. I had worked the lure back about twelve feet when I felt a couple of plucks at the lure before the soft tip arched over as the fish grabbed the lure and made off with it. A flick of the wrist set the hook and I was into my first rainbow of the day. The fish took off making some strong darting runs and the marvellous progressive playing action of the rod came into effect, softly curving when the fish darted away soaking up its power without having to give line. The fish was quickly subdued and as it came towards me I managed to get a few shots of it breaking the surface before it was landed. Brilliant! A first cast fish always leaves me grinning like an idiot and it was a nicely conditioned rainbow of about 1.5lb .
Markle is a very well run fishery and is clean and litter free so I was really disappointed to see a lurid blue crisp bag stuck in the willows where I was intended to fish. I was muttering about irresponsible anglers when the "crisp bag" suddenly sprouted wings and flew off in a flash of iridescent blue and red. Doh! I really want to get some nice photos of kingfishers and that was a chance missed but it was brilliant to see such an iconic bird happy and well at my favourite fishery! As the rod was already set up with a tail section of gulp sandworm I decided to start with this and see how the trout reacted. I followed the wind and chose to fish the end of the loch where the wind was blowing onshore. My first cast was along the shore about ten feet out and I began to twitch and shake the rod causing the lure to shiver and writhe. I then hopped the lead back along the bottom a couple of feet then paused and began shaking the rod tip again. I had worked the lure back about twelve feet when I felt a couple of plucks at the lure before the soft tip arched over as the fish grabbed the lure and made off with it. A flick of the wrist set the hook and I was into my first rainbow of the day. The fish took off making some strong darting runs and the marvellous progressive playing action of the rod came into effect, softly curving when the fish darted away soaking up its power without having to give line. The fish was quickly subdued and as it came towards me I managed to get a few shots of it breaking the surface before it was landed. Brilliant! A first cast fish always leaves me grinning like an idiot and it was a nicely conditioned rainbow of about 1.5lb .
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| The first rainbow of the session makes an appearance. |
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| I love the colours on this fish as it breaks through the dark winter water. |
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| A freezing winters day prize, a rainbow of about 1.5lbs. |
Next cast, again the same happened, another fish seized the lure and began to tear about sending the rod into that satisfying bend as it was played towards me. This one was a bit bigger at 2lbs and again was a great conditioned fish. Annoyingly I had not charged the battery on my camera and I could only get some pics of it in the water before the battery ran out.
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| This rainbow was a bit bigger at 2lb and again in great condition. |
I fished on for another twenty minutes and had a further five fish up to 2lb and they were all great fun to catch on my LRF gear. The final fish I caught made me rue not charging my battery as it went aerial and made some really high jumps as it was being played in.
Still it was an eventful short session and a real eye opener as far as drop shotting for trout goes. I had no idea it would be so successful and I had felt that it lacked finesse, the trout thought otherwise though and gave me some excellent sport. I will have to go back to Markle soon and next time with a fully charged battery, the kingfisher and leaping trout await!
Tight lines, Schogsky.
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