The ‘Educated’ Broonie

When I first fished the northern Scottish lochs, the prevailing attitude toward the wild brownie was of a daft wee thing that really couldn’t help itself. The basic tactic was to be the first to get your flies across them; presentation meant chucking three traditional wet flies out there and dragging them back to the boat or shore, finesse was a matter of maybe ‘dibbling’ them for a moment or two before making another throw.
Well, this has changed, but not everyone knows it yet. Like most waters that have received increasing angling pressure over the past decade, the good fish have become a little harder to catch. Some folks think there are fewer trout in the popular lochs, but this isn’t the case. Others think catch and release is educating the trout and making them harder to catch, but I can’t take this one seriously since so few anglers release their trout in northern Scotland.

No, the good trout are still there, but what’s happening is, as on most waters around the world, the fish are adapting to pressure. In other words, presentation has become an issue for Scottish anglers. I noticed it several years ago on a couple of lochs I fish every summer with a gang of pals. There are a lot of lochs in Sutherland on which you will seldom see an angler, but a couple of them are fished steadily throughout the best of the fly season – June and July.

These popular lochs have boats on them, and are fished pretty well every day of the season. Given a good wave and cloud cover, you can still make a good bag with traditional tactics and flies, but the best trout will normally be taken by fishing fine and far-off with static and near static presentations. Except in spate conditions, the stripped wet fly will often result in disappointing numbers of small fish. Put simply, the better fish are avoiding the disturbance of fly lines and boats.

Expert stillwater tactics developed on the English reservoirs are now employed to excellent effect on the big Irish loughs. There is no reason to believe that Scottish trout are any different than brown trout anywhere else in the world. If you are heading north this summer, bone up on your stillwater presentation skills. You might be happy enough with a bag of wee brownies, but if you get serious about your trout hunting approach you might be in for a surprise.