Ferrox , years late but I finaly wrote it up.

[levigsp]

Some years ago I took the notion that I would like to catch a truly wild trout on the fly, but not just any trout.
I wanted to catch one of the big fish eating trout that are often called Ferox.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  One wind swept day at the end of March found me in a large traditionally clinker built boat slowly meandering around a huge sheet of Inland water with its multitude of islands.
When I say huge I mean huge by UK standards, 25 miles long and some ten miles wide is big by anyones standard.                                                                                 

On one side of the boat there was a downrigger, set to troll a fish bait at great depth, but it was only there as a teaser to try and get the fish interested and never meant to catch the fish.
My fishing gear was used on the opposite side of the boat, this consisted of a very large and heavy brass tube fly, some 3inch long dressed in black, yellow and silver  sporting a rather large treble hook, attached to my 10ft nylon leader , a 30 yard weight forward 12 weight ultrafast sink line and  150 yards of backing line filled my reel, a 16' double handed Salmon fly rod completed to outfit and it was gear I was very used to using, however I normal used it   for casting on some great Salmon rivers.                                                                                       

  This time I was simply casting the fly out behind the boat and pulling the backing of the reel as fast as I could allowing the whole lot to sink into the depths, some 90-130 feet down and when it touched down I reeled in some ten feet of backing before gently working the fly sink and draw.
Every now and then I would let line out to check the depth or reel in some to shallow up, strange how ones heart would skip a beat every time it touched bottom!
We had been at this for some 4 hours, all the time getting soaked by the constant waves crashing over the side of the boat, when the down rigger released, I franticly worked the fly to no avail, that was the total excitement that day, some would say I should have had hooks in the bait!.
Dawn the following day saw us on the loch in the boat again on a rolling 3ft wave with perfect overcast and very cold conditions.'
Fishing in 30-40 ft of water produced 2 small jack pike, so after lunch we moved back into deeper water.
At 2.30pm I was watching the fish finder/ depth sounder when I could clearly see a fish come up ten feet or so and start moving back and fourth at the back of the trolled fish, it was clearly a big fish and I worked my fly with a little more effort whilst still watching the sounder.
The fish vanished of the screen for a minute or so and then it happened, the line simply felt different, I lifted hard and there was a resistance like a wet rag, I started hand lining to get the rag in the boat, about half way up the rag woke up and took all my gained line back, that was its only good run, it was then simply a matter of getting it back 130+feet .
The fish was slid over the net and its beauty was there for me to behold in-between its mad slapping about and to realise a dream, a double figure wild brown on the fly, it was just over 10lbs and was slipped back carefully to hopefully live the rest of its life in piece.
The memory of that trout and the 3 that followed will live with me to my dying day, no more or less than any other of my red letter captures over the years, captures that make life truly worth living.

 

Edited December 19, 2017 by levigsp
add

[nigewoodcock]

Nice frank. 

[levigsp]

On ‎19‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 09:58, levigsp said:

Some years ago I took the notion that I would like to catch a truly wild trout on the fly, but not just any trout.
I wanted to catch one of the big fish eating trout that are often called Ferox.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  One wind swept day at the end of March found me in a large traditionally clinker built boat slowly meandering around a huge sheet of Inland water with its multitude of islands.
When I say huge I mean huge by UK standards, 25 miles long and some ten miles wide is big by anyones standard.                                                                                 

On one side of the boat there was a downrigger, set to troll a fish bait at great depth, but it was only there as a teaser to try and get the fish interested and never meant to catch the fish.
My fishing gear was used on the opposite side of the boat, this consisted of a very large and heavy brass tube fly, some 3inch long dressed in black, yellow and silver  sporting a rather large treble hook, attached to my 10ft nylon leader , a 30 yard weight forward 12 weight ultrafast sink line and  150 yards of backing line filled my reel, a 16' double handed Salmon fly rod completed to outfit and it was gear I was very used to using, however I normal used it   for casting on some great Salmon rivers.                                                                                       

  This time I was simply casting the fly out behind the boat and pulling the backing of the reel as fast as I could allowing the whole lot to sink into the depths, some 90-130 feet down and when it touched down I reeled in some ten feet of backing before gently working the fly sink and draw.
Every now and then I would let line out to check the depth or reel in some to shallow up, strange how ones heart would skip a beat every time it touched bottom!
We had been at this for some 4 hours, all the time getting soaked by the constant waves crashing over the side of the boat, when the down rigger released, I franticly worked the fly to no avail, that was the total excitement that day, some would say I should have had hooks in the bait!.
Dawn the following day saw us on the loch in the boat again on a rolling 3ft wave with perfect overcast and very cold conditions.'
Fishing in 30-40 ft of water produced 2 small jack pike, so after lunch we moved back into deeper water.
At 2.30pm I was watching the fish finder/ depth sounder when I could clearly see a fish come up ten feet or so and start moving back and fourth at the back of the trolled fish, it was clearly a big fish and I worked my fly with a little more effort whilst still watching the sounder.
The fish vanished of the screen for a minute or so and then it happened, the line simply felt different, I lifted hard and there was a resistance like a wet rag, I started hand lining to get the rag in the boat, about half way up the rag woke up and took all my gained line back, that was its only good run, it was then simply a matter of getting it back 130+feet .
The fish was slid over the net and its beauty was there for me to behold in-between its mad slapping about and to realise a dream, a double figure wild brown on the fly, it was just over 10lbs and was slipped back carefully to hopefully live the rest of its life in piece.
The memory of that trout and the 3 that followed will live with me to my dying day, no more or less than any other of my red letter captures over the years, captures that make life truly worth living.

 

 

[Carpbell_ll]

Very nice, most people including myself would not know there are Trout like that in UK waters, those pictures could of been taken in Canada, which would of been my guess if CM hadn't called Scotland. 

 

[levigsp]

6 hours ago, carpmachine said:

Loch Awe by any chance, the calf of Lyn gives reference to my surname, the only place in the world that the name comes from, the highland clearances changed all that, the clan was dispersed to  the Duke Of Bucleugh lands in Northamptonshire and Ireland, but Kilchurn is a place of pilgrimage for many from all over the world, some bring their rods, hee, hee.

Interesting but the answer is no not loch Awe, loch Awe 14 square miles is a lot smaller than the Loch I was fishing, Corrib is 68 square miles.

[levigsp]

1 hour ago, carpmachine said:

Maybe you can help with this question Frank, one of the Lochs contains just pike, cant remember whether its Loch Lochy or Lock Oich, which one and have you ever fished it.

I'm sorry, I don't know the answer.

[buzzbomb]

On 12/21/2017 at 02:04, carpmachine said:

 , the clan was dispersed to  the Duke Of Bucleugh lands in Northamptonshire and Ireland,  .

Bucleugh was the man who bred Labrador Retrievers from hunting dogs he purchased (at Poole, mostly) from fishermen returning from Canada.  Without his vision and perseverance they wouldn't exist today.

 

ps: those are some nice browns Levi

 

[cyborx]

On 12/21/2017 at 14:55, carpmachine said:

Maybe you can help with this question Frank, one of the Lochs contains just pike, cant remember whether its Loch Lochy or Lock Oich, which one and have you ever fished it.

both loch's also contain atlantic salmon, they use Ness, Oich and lochy as spawning ground every year and as the fingerlings only move on after their second year that means they all have a permanent stock.

 

[cyborx]

heres a quick bit of relevant trivia for ya, the largest UK loch caught pike ever recorded was weighed in at 77lb and measured 7ft long and although this is almost double the current record (T Morgan in 1947 lomond) of 47lb 11oz it was never declared as such, well not in 1777 anyway

just shows, if they were there then what class of fish could be hiding in the loch's now.

[levigsp]

5 hours ago, cyborx said:

heres a quick bit of relevant trivia for ya, the largest UK loch caught pike ever recorded was weighed in at 77lb and measured 7ft long and although this is almost double the current record (T Morgan in 1947 lomond) of 47lb 11oz it was never declared as such, well not in 1777 anyway

just shows, if they were there then what class of fish could be hiding in the loch's now.

I have seen a 53, that looked absolutely massive, something over 20lb heavier would be unbelievable. Big pike like perch always seem to look bigger for some reason.

[levigsp]

On ‎22‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 13:23, buzzbomb said:

Bucleugh was the man who bred Labrador Retrievers from hunting dogs he purchased (at Poole, mostly) from fishermen returning from Canada.  Without his vision and perseverance they wouldn't exist today.

 

ps: those are some nice browns Levi

 

There  were two separate breeders/ kennels that produce dogs that became known as Labrador retrievers, one in Scotland [Duke Buccleugh] the other in South of England [ Earl Malmesbury], later joined by a third in Scotland[earl Home], these laid the foundations for the breed. Shame that the fantastic dog they developed has been spoiled by modern breeders.

I have photographs somewhere of myself as a young boy sitting with a brace of Golden Labs in the kennels of Earl Malmesbury in Hampshire, I've also fished there. I have hunted and fished on the Buccleugh estates, Its a small world we live in when it comes to fishing/shooting and hunting.