An extraordinary week of fishing. Part 9 : Carlingwark Loch birthday present.

Last Monday was my 35th birthday and I wanted to celebrate it with a spot of wrassing however it had rained heavily during the night and was quite windy in the morning and I really didn't fancy fishing rock marks so after checking the weather forecast further inland Ross and I decided to settle for a for a spot of piking instead. We packed up our gear and headed up the A75 to Castle Douglas to fish Carlingwark Loch. I've had some great fun there with jacks in the past and there are fish in there to over 20lb so our fingers were crossed for some fun with the jacks and maybe a big girl or two. When we arrived Ross couldn't wait to try his luck around the large lily pads and weed beds the surround the loch. As we moved around the edge we realised there were a few guys deadbaiting in some of the best spots I normally fish so we opted to move and headed to the bay at the top of the eastern side of the loch and work or way down the eastern side.

Action was slow to start with but as we made our way down the loch exploring all the small bays and reed beds we soon had a few jacks nipping at our brightly coloured Relax Kopyto shads. They are super supple and have a fantastic action due to their thin body and oversized paddle tail, even at very slow retrieve speeds. Fellow The Lure Forum member and big Kopyto shad fan Rob Pope very kindly sent me a few to try and I'll certainly be getting a few more in various sizes for use targetting a variety of species in both fresh and salt water.

Whilst watching jacks attack is exciting and hooking them before they thrash about wildly and throw the hook is great entertainmaent both of us were getting a bit frustrated by not being able to actually land any of the fiesty pike. We split up slightly and fished two areas quite close to each other. Casting along the bank in front of some reeds I watched a fish follow my lure out. As it got closer I realised it was a perch. It was almost right at my feet, so close I couldn't believe it really. I just stood still and dangled the lure in front of it and after a short pause inspecting it the perch lurched forward and with three chomps worked its way up the lure. It appeared to now have the whole lure in its mouth so I struck thinking it must get hooked but incredibly I managed to pull the lure clean out of its mouth and startled it quickly shot off. I was dissapointed but this wasn't long lived as shortly afterwards I hooked another jack and despite his best efforts, leaving the water completely at one point, I finally got my first present of the day.

Barely hooked in the corner of the mouth. Amazed that I landed it.

Next cast I hooked a better fish but again it threw the hook with a violent headshake on the surface. I toyed with the idea of adding a stinger but felt it would ruin the action of the lure. I called Ross to tell him I'd landed one and he came along to join me. He too had landed a jack and had enjoyed a fair bit of action. Unfortunately he'd left his camera in the car so he didn't get a photo of it. We continued working our way down the loch and the jacks continued tormenting us. When we got to a large bay covered in lily pads we both agreed that there may be bigger fish lurking underneath and switched to lures fitted with trebles. Ross had a missed take just in front of the lily bed but after spending a while trying to get another with no joy we had to call it a day as Ross had to make the drive back down to Chester dropping me of at Carlisle train station on the way.

Our extraordinary week's fishing had just come to an end, but Ross was already talking about coming back to Scotland again as we drove to Carlisle! Who can blame him really? Great locations, great fishing and great company, what more could he want? More species hunting of course with a two spotted goby and a common skate from the shore at the top of his list!

Tight lines, Hutch.

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.