Thedarkarts

Early season rainbows like nothing better than a dark-coloured fly or lure at this time of the year.

One pattern that comes to mind and fits the bill is the Ace of Spades, which is tied in the style of New Zealand’s Matuka flies.

What the Ace represents is one of the many creepycrawlies which inhabit the bottom of the loch.

It could even represent a small, dark fry.

You will, of course, see trout rising during warmer spells, particularly around the middle of the day.

But in April – particularly if the weather is cold – most of the trout are still bottom feeding.

So get the Ace down to the bottom and tweak it back with an irregular slow retrieve.

Gravid cock fish or stockies do tend to grab at a quickly retrieved lure.

But what we want to catch just now are the prime conditioned, overwintered ones, and these seem to take a dark fly fished slowly better than anything else.

Early season brownies also like dark coloured flies.

One of the most important CARSTAIRS angler Mark Wishart came close to doubling his personal best with this magnificent Loch Lomond pike.

Mark’s previous biggest pike was 21lb 8oz. This magnificent specimen tipped the scales at 40lb 6oz.

It was his third catch of the day, having landed a five-pounder and 17-pounder. The big one was tempted by pollan deadbait.

Congratulations Mark, you will shortly be receiving details of your fantastic tackle prize courtesy of top UK tackle makers Daiwa, our Fish of the Week sponsors. elements in the trout’s early season diet is a bizarre little creature which encases itself in tiny pebbles and grains of sand, or sometimes little sticks and pieces of vegetation.

For most of its life this beastie crawls about the bottom of the loch, avidly eaten by trout grubbing about as they search for a snack.

A good imitation for the caddis fly or stickfly is the Montana Nymph, also a terrific early season killer.

Like the Ace, it should be fished on a long leader, allowed to sink to the bottom and again retrieved slowly with occasional little twitchy movements.

Quite often when the imitation is being brought to the surface for another cast it will be followed up.

How many times have you re-cast to see a fish boiling at your fly just as it is leaving the water.

Try hanging it in the water for a few seconds before re-casting.

You’ll be amazed at how many extra fish you will catch.