Loch Ard, and at last, a fish!!

I have a sort of love-hate relationship with Loch Ard. On the one hand, it’s a lovely place to paddle, but on the other, it’s just a little too close to civilisation to be “wild” enough for me. Oh, and there’s always the fact that despite no fewer than four previous outings, I’ve not yet landed a single fish!!

However, somehow I had a feeling that this time it was going to be different……

Come on, look at the place – it surely must be stuffed full of pike! (actually, I suspect the large numbers of pike present are probably responsible for the shortage of trout observed during my previous trips!). So, time to switch tactics, and a piking we will go!
This decision was soon rewarded with this fellow taking my bait, and putting up a cracking fight on the way to the net.

OK, not huge by pike standards, but given that I’m new to coarse fishing, I was still fair chuffed to land him!

Right then, howabout some trout!?

This proved a little more difficult however (as usual!), and even the osprey circling overhead wasn’t catching anything, and he’s a professional!  Come the evening, a few trout started to show on the surface, and to my great delight, I managed to land a couple of them on a small dry-fly, just as dark was setting in.

Why so delighted?  Well, perhaps now I’ve finally broken my duck,  I can start going to other more productive places instead!! 🙂