Cambourne Pike Anglers

Early last month the Pike Anglers of Cambourne made their annual end of season trip, again we decided to opt for that long journey up the A1, to neighbouring Scotland.
This time we chose to fish Loch Venachar. This Loch lies in the district of Stirling which is also part of The Old Famous Trossachs National Park.
We had received some information that Loch Venachar had a good pedigree of producing some very large pike. The biggest recorded was caught back in 2002, this Scottish heavyweight weighed in at a whopping 42lb.
Many pike between 20 and 30lb have made regular appearances to the local and visiting fly/trout anglers of Loch Venachar. Many would normally expect to catch the other species that inhabit this Loch these include game fish like the Wild Brown Trout, Sea Trout and even Salmon. With a surface area of approx 1.6 miles, length of around 4 miles, we had to make sure that we were prepared for the task ahead. The average depth was known to be about 42ft, while the deepest point was approx 111ft, good job we had our Depth/Fish finder, thanks to The Crier.
If you remember, some months ago, we were hoping to fish The Lake of Menteith. This was an event organised by The Pike Anglers of Great Britain. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to be drawn out of the hat.
Not to be outdone by seemingly controversial draws, we still decided to keep the same week free. At least this way, we could organise a trip for ourselves.
I am sure that we will have another try for those elusive tickets for the event in 2010. Let’s face it, the same anglers cannot keep fishing the same event year in year out, can they? The draw will once again take place at this year’s annual PAC convention. This year’s event, like the previous one, will take place on Saturday the 27th of September at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. Well worth the effort if you are a Pike Angler!
After spending a couple of days visiting Loch Lomond, our first trip to Loch Venachar had arrived, unfortunately though it did result in a wash out. When we first arrived, the weather was looking a bit grim to say the least. But after travelling over 400 miles, we were not going to let a little drop of wind and rain get the better of us or so we thought. After a delicious free hot chocolate from our friendly host, we decided to head for a couple of areas we had been told to try. Everything seemed to be going to plan, but then the heavens opened. The rain came and came, the winds grew stronger and stronger and things were getting dangerous.
We had given it our best shot, and we had lasted nearly 3 hours, but it was time to call it a day. On our way back to the lodge we had to motor down the loch, back up it, this was because the wind was blowing too strongly down the loch for us to cross. This could have been very dangerous and even cause the boat to capsize.
Another day we did manage to fish for a couple of hours on the famous Loch Lomond. We decided to take our rods and lures while visiting Balmaha, this also happened to be one of the most popular areas on the loch for Pike fishing. Funny that! But again, those Scottish pike eluded us!
We did decide to stay on another day and give Loch Venachar another go, as the weather forecast was to improve. Indeed the weather did, but the fishing did not. Never mind, I am sure I will be back up there soon!
In the meantime here are 7 fish for you to find this month. Can you un-jumble these words to find these well known fish that come from around the world.

(1) hesarme
(2) ibnhofse
(3) rntgseou
(4) rsgifeiht
(5) ubel iarnlm
(6) jsakcpki ntau
(7) ienl rhcpe

Well, that’s all for now folks, so until next time, good fishing, Stu