local knowledge

[andy m]

when i fished a new area i was always told to seek local advice, fishing magazines some books advised the same , was just thinking have anyone hear who have had good or bad local knowledge. i have had two or three examples. once up at loch assyent had a few beers with a local lad in the inchnadamph who said his father fished this loch plenty fish 10 to 12 0z, it was sprat city ha ha. nice water though. the other one from the same lad who said it was dour did get me a fish of 1lb 8oz so one out of two not bad. was up at bettyhill and having a beer and got talking to a couple of locals got them a few halfs and told them me and my dad were up for the fishing. on the wall there was a big os map of the area and one of the lads said i will show you a couple of lochs to try. so went over he pointed out to me two lochs to try, his pal was looking over our shoulders. i thanked him and said i will get you boys a drink just nippin to the toilet, having a pee when i heard shouting then a smash, come out the toilet and the map and its frame was on the floor, the lad who showed me the lochs on the map said his pal went mad at one of the loch that he pointed out to me and picked up a bar stool and launched it at the map. my dad said come on drink up before it all kicks off. the joys of local knowledge cheers andy m

[Bobfly]

      At least it was the map not you !!

[Lochan_load]

Sounds like he gave you a good tip maybe a bit too good for his pals liking  :lol:

[haresear]

Can you remember which loch sparked off the outburst?  :
It depends who you talk to, how much they know , really. Not everyone is a local expert and some local experts won't want their prime locations given away (as you discovered) 

[andy m]

yes i was glad it was the map and not me. he was a big guy , i never got to the loch fair tramp over boggy ground, its in bruces book loch mor  na caorach, if anybody fished there let me know, that was the loch the lad went mad at his pal showing me.the other loch buidhe beg. i never tried that either ,will try them one day now that i know them without having to ask someone in a hotel bar again haha. cheers andy m

[Robbie]

Like any advice There will always be good and bad. The way I see it there are a couple of problems: shelf life and self fulfilling prophecy. Is the source has not fishing the location in question recently any advice should be taken with a pinch of salt. If a water is know/assumedn to contain nothing may may not get fished ever, therefore nobody catches in it.

I suppose the ideal is to get the reaction you did in that pub, pretty good sign that the advise is good!

[Inchlaggan]

When we had a local pub, you could get four or five types of advice-
1) A real expert- "Come out with me tomorrow, that will be £80."
2) Another expert- "Not telling."
3) An idiot who thinks he knows everything -hours and hours of useless bullshit.
4) Mr Helpful- will question you on your ability, experience and equipment and then offer suggestions.
5) Deliberate misdirection.

Across t'interweb there are many "hot-spots" spoken of on my local lochs and river- I have not had a fish from any one of them.
There are four anglers who fish here for two two week sessions each season, and have done for many years. They land trout to 12lb and pike into the 20's on a daily basis, not one of them will tell a stranger where or how.

[seamab]

Fished mor na caorach many times and blanked a lot.
Really bonny loch that has good fish, however, the last few years it has gone downhill a lot.
Last time we were there was early September this year, decided to take the tubes. Perfect conditions, thought we were going to get a bag full, I  got 1 fish from the banking.
Given it's location it gets a lot of attention, boys up on quads with lots of rods out etc.
We've noticed it going downhill over the years, maybe something to do with the big lad having a go at his mate?

[andy m]

thanks seamab for the reply, think these quads are getting more people to lochs that would have been a long walk out onto the moor plenty rods take it bait fishers as well. seen on a map a boat house so can you fish it from the boat. shame that its going downhill so might no bother trying to get to mor na caorach. what type of avg weight would you have put on the fish seamab. cheers andy m

[seamab]

Hi, no boat house anymore, estate were told no boats by rspb militia due to nesting birds? That was many years ago. We thought taking the tubes would have us in about them, thinking increased pressure from banking. Average a pound and a bit, much smaller in the reedy loch connected by a burn to north, think that's the spawning/nursery bit.