Just returned from a week in Scotland and had my first crack at Loch Fishing near Oban very enjoyable with lots of lovely little Browns that were anything up to about 9 inch or so. Was amazed at how much the fish varied within that one loch ie in colour and shape I wondered is this typical of loch trout?
Down here in the peoples republic of Yorkshire the wild browns in the becks and streams are like carbon copies of each other.

Also as I am planning a return journey next year the estate keeper reckons the loch holds Char. How does one go about catching them????

Cheers Andy

It's normal to get many variations in one loch.ie:- fish that hold over a sandy bottom.30' away fish that have a rocky or peaty bottom will be completely different looking.A brilliant survival trait.
Certain time of the year the char come up from the depths and hang about the river/burn mouths getting ready to spawn,this and sometimes through the night rises is about the only time they become catchable on the fly

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

As Jim says charr can be very localised and night/ dusk is a good time.
Once watched a shoal of charr on Loch Garry (Invernesshire) rising over an area about the size of two or three football pitches at dusk.
There must have been thousands of them.
Oh for a boat that night.

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

Interesting It was certainly enjoyable fishing and the fish scrap well above there weight. I will certainly be back next year it made a hell of a nice change not to have to watch out for the trees and bushes on your backcast,,

Jim is that really you in the pic?

Best time for char is September.
I've caught a fair few on the fly from lochs in the far north of Scotland in September.
I think that's when they come into the margins getting ready to spawn.

Never caught a char but it's on the list...there are also a few lochs with self sustaining populations of brook trout (technically a char) introduced in the victorian period.

I fish a loch about a mile and a half long where the fish at the top end are butter bellies while and in the deeper bottom end are dark.

Many of the highland lochs have two distinct types/strains of fish.
Some of the trout are butter yellow with loads of spots. Yellow Bellies my dad calls them, and he praises them highly.
Then there are silver fish with small black spots. I think these fish are palegic in nature and are found further out in the lochs.
The yellow bellies tend to be on the bigger side also.

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

All this talk of Highland lochs is getting me all misty eyed
I learned my craft on lochs such as Katrine, Rannoch, Oich, Garry, and the wee hill lochs like Lundie.
In those days I was not so fixated on the fly, and spinning etc accounted for a fair part of the catch

You have to take a wee look back now and again to see what you have. Will be back to these lochs next year thats for sure.

__________________
It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)