I missed out on the HCC Tuesday night paddle and as such I was itching to get out on the water. I also fancied trying to see if there were any Mackerel in the loch, so I took along my hand reel and some Mackerel lures. I paddled my Romany Surf as this boat is really stable and makes a good platform to fish from.
Before setting off from my house, I called KHM (the Kings Harbour Master) at Faslane to let them know I'd be out and about on the loch. Instead of the usual KHM guys, I had some deputy KHM chap who seemed to be in a bit of a muddle as to what he needed to do. Eventually, after a bit of faffing, he took my details (they always do this) and said he'd let the Police Boats know. Letting the police boats know is a good thing, otherwise you tend to have a police boat tailing you everywhere! But, actually this is also not a bad thing, if you fancy having your own personal safety boat following you everywhere! The Police boats patrol the loch, every hour of every day, all year round, with Gare Loch containing HM Naval Base Clyde (AKA Faslane), security is pretty tight.
I get the feeling the guys in the police patrol boats are pretty bored for much of the time, going up and down, up and down, constantly. I find more often than not, they will follow you regardless of being told you are out and about, just for something to do. The KHM chap said to me in a somewhat panicked voice on the phone "you won't be going north will you?"; Faslane is just north of where I live. I told him I didn't know, as it all depends on the wind and swell when I arrive at the water's edge, but if I did go north I'd avoid the protected area, all non military vessels are prohibited from entering. This seemed to satisfy him somewhat, in that I obviously know what I was doing (err...)!
I think the deputy KHM's comment about going north irked me a little. There is no reason I cannot go north, so long as I avoid the protected area (clearly marked on the marine charts), and stay out of the restricted area, if and when the port closure lights come on. These are three red lights on a mast on the KHM building, which are visible to all traffic south of Faslane. As I arrived at the slipway on the waters edge, the wind happened to be coming from the NW, as did the swell, so a trip to up to Garelochhead and around the schooner "Albatros" it was going to be.
I headed across to the west side of the loch, before heading north up to Garelochhead. This meant I would be outside the protected area, and also well outside the restricted area, not that there were any port closure lights on. It was quite choppy on my side of the loch, yet was flat calm on the west side. The paddle up to Garelochhead was pretty uneventful, apart from being shadowed by the Police boat. A quick circuit around the schooner "Albatros", and I made my return.
Not too far from Garelochhead I tried dropping my Mackerel lures from my boat, and immediately caught five Mackerel; three small and two large. I kept the two big ones and carried on back down the loch, before trying again. This time nothing, so I moved on and tried again - another five Mackerel, all small, this time, which I duly released. There were obviously schools of Mackerel dotted about the loch and it was just a case of being lucky and finding a school. I probably caught about 15 fish in total, but just kept the two large ones, releasing the others.
I headed back to the choppy east side of Gare Loch, to my slipway. It was getting late, despite the daylight. Time flies when you are having fun.
Fab!
7 Nm Time 2.5 hours
GPS track
