Seatrouttime
WE ARE just at the beginning of June and the sea trout season is on us already.
I’ve had reports over the last week or two of sea trout being caught during the day and as the weather warmed up last week, of others being caught after dark.
Pound for pound, many believe the sea trout is the hardest-fighting and most sporting game fish of all.
They are very acrobatic and often cartwheel out of the water after being hooked.
Sea trout, especially when they are fresh into the river, have very soft mouths and have to be played carefully, otherwise they will be lost.
Just now, they can be caught during the day – and many take salmon flies.
They are also keen to take a quickly retrieved upstream Mepps or Flying C.
But fly fishing for sea trout in the evening with a 10ft six or seven-weight rod provides the ultimate sport.
On smaller rivers, it pays to have a quiet look at the pools during the day with polaroid glasses so you can identify the ones which are inhabited.
It’s also good practice to identify where there are overhanging branches to catch your flies or deep pots where STRANRAER angler Kenny Paterson could have claimed a Scottish record for this huge 17lb 10oz smoothhound if he had killed it – but instead he sportingly released the fish.
Kenny, 69, said: “I believe the days of killing a superb fish like that to claim a record are in the past.”
He hooked the monster – 10lb over the current record – on a squid bait from a rock mark on the Mull of Galloway.
Congratulations Kenny, you will shortly be receiving details of your fantastic prize courtesy of top UK tackle makers Daiwa, our Fish of the Week sponsors. you might go in over the tops of your waders.
After all, you’ll be fishing as darkness comes into the sky.
The magical time is just as the light is fading and experienced sea trout fishers will tell you never to go into the pools before that because you can disturb them.
Unfortunately, because of a balance problem which makes it impossible for me to fish in darkness, I just can’t do it any more.
But when I was able to, I favoured a Cinnamon and Gold or a Wickham’s Fancy on the top dropper and a Silver Stoat on the tail.
As darkness falls, sea trout can go off the boil and the lure of a dram usually sent me home, often with two or three nice fish in my bag.
But those who fish on through the night have great success with sinking lines armed with bigger tube or “snake” flies, and sometimes wake flies which create a disturbance on the surface. ● Heat 4 of the Scottish Club Championships proved challenging for most of the competitors with the breeze picking up and dropping off to a flat calm and heavy rain.
The top three clubs going to the semi-final on August 18 are Househillmuir with 14 fish for 26lb 6.8oz, Alba Orvis with nine fish for 19lb 5.3oz and Bothwell & Blantyre with eight fish for 17lb 8.1oz.
The five anglers going to the Champion of Champions final are George Cashmere, Paul O’Neil, Stevie Francis, Ian Glassford and Gregor Fleming. Heaviest fish was 3lb 2.7oz for Bill Ramage.