KLUANE LODGE …FISHING…

With a moderately large lake 11 miles long and 6 miles wide (but easy to find your way around) , lots of features/depths and three species (Whitefish/Pike and Char) the options are almost too many. Weather will play a part but to maximise from our trips the following may assist in making a daily decision. Lodge owner Brian Dack will provide good on the spot advice.

Precise fly patterns/colours and lure colours/size will be down to the week fished, although there have been patterns over previous visits. We learn something new from each trip. Each years brings similarities but nothing is ever totally the same.

Whitefish:

Dry fly, sparsely dressed patterns. Afternoon and evenings on calm days fishing the shallows near the lodge. On calm nights out over the “flats” in deep water huge shoals of big whitefish feed on the surface – again well worth targeting if you are not concentrating on the Char.

Wet fly, buzzers (olives and prince nymphs etc). They respond any time of day, calm water more suitable in depths of 8 to 12 feet. I prefer to use a sight indicator as they are feeding just off a sandy/muddy bottom with covering moss/weed.

Northern Pike: Whilst you may hook the occasional pike in deeper water (more by accident when fishing for Char) they are to be found in the shallower reedy bays in 3 to 10 feet of water. Calm afternoons and evenings best. Surface “popper” action on a fly rod is excellent. Surface plugs like the Mans minus1 is also effective (do not strike on sight but wait for the rod to pull round before pulling into the fish otherwise you will miss the take). They also respond to spoons fishing/trolled along the drop-offs. Bigger pike like 8 to 12 foot depths that have good weed growth that comes within 5 to 3 feet from the surface..

Char: A number of methods.

The easy way to target big char is to troll very slowly, engine in and out of gear frequently  making slow turns) with streamer flies on a fast sink line. Short mono leader. Black with red/silver is effective but many colours seem to work.

In  deeper water “flats” etc, jigging with braid as a main line and 30lb mono as a leader say 20 feet - (never use wire traces.) Use rubber jigs/shads on a slow drift.

Streamer flies medium to large patterns fishing the shallows and drop-offs and along the ridges. Cast and retrieve with a sink tip or medium sink line. Char from around 4 to 20lb plus are caught.

Calm evenings on cool nights will see char of all sizes rising for surface flies – sedge patterns in particular are excellent. It is really impossible to target individual char, they rise all over. Pick an area, cast and watch. A slight “vibration” on the fly will often induce a take. Natural sedge hatch on calm evenings in shallow bays with depths of around 4 to 10 feet. Lots of areas to choose from.

They also respond to spoons, cast or trolled, but flies have often out-fished metal.

Rubber jigs in the deep water as temperatures rise consistently produce very big char.

Burbot: always a chance. Use a small to medium shad, jigged just off bottom in deeper water. They gas up and generally do not release, but are good eating.

MONSTER BARENTS SEA COD.. Fishing aboard the MV HAVCRUISE based at Lauklines in March / April. Dave Lewis shared in a huge cod catch.. Tackle Tips.. Dave used a Shimano 20-30lb travel rod. Torium 16 reel loaded with 40lb braid to a 20 foot 50lb leader. 400 gram pirks were ideal. Result.. numerous cod 20 to 40 pounds, 6 x 50 pounders, 2 x 60 pounders and the biggest 72 pounds.!!! Monster Cod Fishing.

BIG FISH IN NORTH NORWAY...  NOW....Paul Coles enjoyed his best sea fishing trip ever at Lauklines in late April. Numerous cod in the 30 to 40 pound category. Paul had a huge halibut estimated at over 200 pounds which broke him at the side of the boat. All fish took a Baltic Wiggler pirk. NOW AVAILABLE FROM... PIRKS & MORE.. (Gordon Elder) Tel 01865 370505. Just add your own extra strong trebles, swivels and split rings.

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ARDAN GRANGE Near Belturbet, Great value accommodation, top advice and private coarse fishing lake currently producing excellent catches.. mixed bags of bream, roach and hybrids 180 pound bags. Tench top 6 pounds. Incredibly low package prices for 6 anglers and more.. Great pike venue too with local guide.