Loch Etive is a deep water loch noted for Spurdog and Thornback Ray, but also turns up Dogfish, Whiting, Cod and a club record Poor Cod.. With some shore marks fishing into over 200ft of water who knows what else it might turn up. A great attraction is that you can turn up and fish with frozen baits only. Some of the popular marks are very small and will only take 4 or 5 anglers, although it is a huge loch with a lot of untried coastline. The mark shown is the High Ledge which now requires a bit of a walk. Other marks are around the Quarry, The School Stretch and The Church.
All these marks are on the north side of the
The best method to find a mark is to use an Admiralty Chart and locate the deep water points closest to the shore. These may only take one or two rods. A stiffish rod with 18lb line is good. I find my 14ft rod better for getting gear back over the ledges. On the flatter marks. Waders can be very useful too. Rig wise a pennel with a wire biting piece to cope with the Spurdog teeth. I prefer a Clipped pulley set up but an up and over is also useful. Luminous beads, Muppets etc are a must. Hokkais baited with thumbnails of Mackerel are useful to pick up Gurnards, Whiting etc. The main bait for Spurdog is Mackerel. Sandeel and Squid also have their moments and Lug and Mussel can work for the Codling that are there too.
This Loch can be brilliant, one of our club matches had a top bag of over 25kilos including fish of 6.1 and 6.7kg, it can also be dire there is no great rhyme or reason to this. I have fished it many times on 'poor' tides and caught and on 'good' tides and blanked, fished well on the rise then other times fished on the drop. One thing is that darkness will improve your chances no end.There are several Charter boats operate in the Loch
The Purple Heather