Trout&about
BY LOUIS FEROX THE Scottish Brown Trout season kicks off today, so hopefully some of you are out to wet a line and catch a fish or two on the first weekend.
It’s been a mild end to February and there have been some fantastic captures of spring salmon and specimen pike so fingers crossed the trout get off to the same start.
Whether you are out on your local river, on one of the big lochs or your local stillwater like the re-launched Howwood fishery that’s promising some PB-busting fish this year, there’s a huge excitement to getting the trout gear back out.
Last year threw some weird weather at anglers – from deep snow in March to scorching heat in the summer. I know a few folk whose season was curtailed by the conditions and they are champing at the bit.
I’ve got a day off booked to get out on the bank, maybe on Carron, weather depending. I don’t often fish reservoir-sized waters from the shore but I fancy a day chasing some grown on fish up the Tak Ma Doon road. In a big water, there are loads of places for the fish to hide and maybe I’ll find some hungry ones that have never seen a fly.
A bit of background research of the map and the catch reports are valuable sources of information giving you areas that are holding fish and methods that might work.
I’ll copy someone’s homework to get me a leg up and a starting point.
There’s no need to overcomplicate things to get you catching consistently from the start of the season. The fish “should” hold in a band from 10 yards out to 70 yards out, and from bank or boat, you should aim to be in this area fishing in the bottom third of water. If I’m not fishing sinking lines on a dam wall or deep hole, I’ll start out on a floating or intermediate line with a heavy lure on a long leader counting down, so a 20-yard cast from the bank should fish into eight to 15 feet of water.
The water will be cold so it’s a case of fishing deep and slow with lures such as tadpoles, cat’s whiskers, damsels and humungus to maximise your sport.
A slow figure-of-eight with the odd pull to induce a following fish is all that’s needed. Fish are usually shoaled up at this time of year and will not move much so get out there and go find them.
Looking forward to seeing superb trout in the Fish of the Week.