As my parents are moving I thought I would grab a last chance to fish one of the lochs from my childhood - Loch Ochiltree in Dumfries and Galloway that is managed by Newton Stewart Angling Association so with permit in hand I had my first day on the water on Sunday
I used to fish it a lot for pike back in the day but never had much success with the rainbows ( as usually on the association lochs they were hammered in the first week after stocking then there were no fish left until the 2nd and last stocking of the year - when the same happened again !)
I digress....
I tool my #10 for the pike and my #4 for the trout in case any showed.
Loch Ochiltree is a decent sized natural loch with lots of character so although I don't normally fish for 'bows on a loch like that (wild !) I was willing to turn to the 'dark side'...
They now also allow tubing on Ochiltree so I set afloat ( they have only very recently allowed it)
Within 5 mins i was into a good rainbow - who would have thought ! It was an overwintered fish that fought VERY well on the #4 glass
Changed to my #10 as I entered a pikey looking bay and there was a big splash. Trout thinks me, so back to the #4 and I cover the splash. Big boil but no pull. Pike thinks me - back to the #10 and a big pike fly - which gets nailed. However the fish rips off at speed and it turns out to be a trout of about 3bs
I then got another good trout on the pike fly before I went back to the #4. The trout were taking the fly really well and i landed about 7 I reckon.
My best (half) day ever on the loch. No pike thought
Monday I was back, Different wind direction and much stronger. The fish were MUCH more finnicky but I still landed 3 , lost a couple and missed loads.
Sunday they wanted a stripped or moved fly ( hogs / hoppers etc)
Monday they wanted them almost static. Had some lovely rises to the fly which I could even see over the waves - even if some of them missed or turned away at the last moment.
All the trout had full tails and were clearly overwintered
Good times...
( I don't normally take any trout as i don't eat them however my dad does so he was well happy !)
