I have fished Lake of Menteith for many years, pretty much every year since I returned to fishing, I have been there a couple of times a season at least, and sometimes more.
It’s a place I seem to struggle at, though it isn’t always for the want of hooking fish. That I can do ( usually), getting them to the net can be an altogether different thing though.
Getting the Excuses Ready
As I discussed with my boat partner for the day, Stevie Plank, who is a pretty good angler having been in the Champion of Champions 2018 fish off last year, and the final of the Carron Valley Masters 2018, it’s not the end of the world when you are fishing catch and relese anyway. If you get the sport from the fish and it comes off as you were about to net it or something, it saves you having to unhook it!
But for our own sanity and because let’s be honest it is expected, you do want to get some to the net. I thought my usual Lake Bogey was rearing its unwelcome head today when early on fishing in Sandy Bay with a couple of skinny Lake Cormorants ( Buzzers with a very fine wing) I hooked a fish, played it for a few minutes and had it near the boat when it simply slipped the hook. Actually the knot pulled out the hook ( as far as I could tell) , which was kind of odd as it was not especially fine tippet nor a big eyed fly. Oh Dear.
The Daddy Variant
Stevie soon hooked into a fish and netted it, and then had two fish on at the same time but lost them both, though his hooks were left intact ( not always a given when your taken by two at a time). His point fly was a Orange Foam Daddy and a couple of skinny cormorants, I was also on two cormorants but had initially booby on point that I swapped with a Fish4Flies Drunken Daddy which did a similar job, and I thought might work based on Stevies success with the Daddy variant he was on.
There were quite a few fish around in Sandy Bay but after staying there for probably the best part of an hour we decided to move. We had to nip back to the Lodge as Stevie had forgotten something. Once back out on the water we opted to try Hotel bay. By now the sun appeared to be making its presence felt and was getting quite hot, as the haziness cleared. Both of us had started on midge tips but with the bright conditions and as I wasn’t getting any other offers I decided to change things around and put on a full intermediate, in case the fish were sitting on the bottom and just coming up as things caught their eye. I kep the cormorant son but changed the point fly for one of my Golden Damsels.
Within 5 minutes I had a fish on ( on one of the Cormorants) and this one made the net. Stevie had a second then a third. I lost my point fly on the bottom so arriving at the next spot we wanted to try in International bay I decided to give a small hothead Damsel a swim on point but keeping the other flies as is.
We soon realised we were in among fish about 30 metres off the reeds and I managed a couple on the damsel before Stevie went one ahead again on his foam bodied Daddy he was fishing on point.
After things went quiet for a bit here, we decided to head to Lochend and almost right away I had a good pull but it never stuck. Not to worry though within 15 minutes I too had my fourth fish. I had changed the point fly for a Fish4Flies Pearly Daddy and it was this that attracted the fish this time.
Success All Areas
I was pretty satisfied at picking up fish at every area we tried, and with a little stronger breeze from the west and a bit of a wave, we decided to return to Sandy Bay again. When we got there it appeared a lot of other boats had the same idea and we had to carefully maneuver in between the fleet to get a drift. But it proved worthwhile as we were soon into fish. Stevie had his fifth and then I had the equalizer again on a Cormorant. The fish was nicked right in the tip of the mouth and suggested the fish were a little wary of fully commiting. Had it put up much of a fight like most of the fish had so far ( some of the scraps we had were insane for the size of fish) I doubt I would have netted this one, but I suspect it had been caught previously and didn’t have a lot of spark this time.
The nips and pulls continued for a good few drifts and Stevie finally netted his “winner” for the boat championship. Over the day I think about four of his six fish were on the foam daddy. But now we had to head for the pier, as he had to shoot off early, and once back with only an hour to go I was satisfied with my haul and decided to pack up too.
My highest haul to date on the Lake and I was pretty pleased with that.
