Hi folks,

Out of curiosity, does anyone know much about catching charr in the UK? A colleague is keen to have a go for them, and has infected me with the idea. Advice on tactics much appreciated.

My local stillwater used to stock them in winter , good fighting fish , nice looking and pretty aggressive little blighters.

They tend to shoal up and usually head for deeper water areas....find one and you will find a lot !

Best tactics used to be aps bloodworms on very long leaders , dead slow or under an indicator.

Wild charr are only found in a few deep lakes in the UK, and aren't really a viable prospect on the fly rod. the fish tend to be fairly stunted too, with a 1lb fish being a big one.

Some stillwaters stock them, and brook trout so it may be worth hunting them down, but theyre few and far between and then only stock one or two.

I should add that we're after wild ones.

He's a fish biologist, so knows *where* to go - it's the matter of how we're stumped on.

As far as i know, they're usually caught on tiny spinners or flies trolled deep behind a boat.

Just grill or barbecue a trout.

Voila! The burnt bits are char.

http://www.burntfoodmuseum.com/exhibits_bfm.html

Lol! You joke - the origin of the quest was a Norwegian colleague who told us about a traditional 'rotten fish' dish they make, which is apparently best made with charr. We decided that, in the name of scientific enquiry, we needed to have a go ourselves.

similar to trout when they are rising, although they rise by the shoal all at the same time! they are hard to hook on dry flies because they are faster than fast trout, a nymph or a nymph under a dry seems to work best
trying to hold them is hard going too, they wriggle like hell and are pretty slimey, an 8'' one can put up a fair struggle.

I've seen char fishermen trolling on Windermere with two heavy long rods sticking out the back of the boat. They use heavily weight spinners to get down to where the fish lie. It may be a hundred feet or less.
The char fishing in Windermere has gone on for hundreds of years but the stocks of char are on a decline and not many anglers fish for them anymore.

BK

any charr I have taken have been accidently caught on standard wet flies, I have tried targeting them even on a loch where I know there is nothing else, but no joy even watching them pass the flies they dont seem to shoal up in
these lochs, its always been an accident and only at certain times, and not neccessarily in deep water, brookies are greedy taking any fly chucked at them
even getting 3 at a time on a 3 fly cast, but no great size,easker1