Sea Fishing Loch Etive from Taynuilt, Argyll, Scotland

Loch Etive is a sea loch on the West Coast of Scotland, slightly north of Oban. It runs from the Connel Bridge in the West all the way to Glen Etive, to the north-east. Loch Etive is approximately twenty miles long and up to a mile in width. It is more than five hundred feet deep in places. The village of Taynuilt is found around six miles up the loch from the Connel Bridge and just before it branches off in a north-easterly direction towards Glen Etive and Glen Coe. This makes Taynuilt the ideal base from which to fish Loch Etive, with boat hire and top fishing marks readily available.

Taynuilt Fishing Club has six boats for hire from Airds Bay, just outside Taynuilt. The different sized boats have room for two to four people. The boats are hired by the day or the hour and are equipped with safety equipment, including life jackets. Contact details, full details of boat hire options, terms and conditions can be found on the Taynuilt Fishing Club website:

Taynuilt Fishing Club

As is always the case, the type of bait which is used and how it is presented will play a huge part in the likelihood of enjoying a successful day's fishing on Loch Etive. The types of bait which are likely to prove effective on the loch are in particular mackerel (fresh or frozen) and calamari squid.

Remember to look after your bait at all times. Cut up only what you need, when you need it and keep the rest covered, or in a cool bag. Leaving bait on a bait tray, particularly when exposed to the sun, will dry it out and render it ineffective. Bait should be changed approximately every fifteen to twenty minutes.

Baiting Hokai lures or muppets is likely to further improve your chances of catching fish on Loch Etive, with red having proven a particularly effective colour on the occasion of this visit.

The link below to the BBC website will provide high and low tide times for Loch Etive at Taynuilt for the next 7 days. (Rmember to add an hour to the given times if BST applies)

The top fishing marks on Loch Etive will of course vary from time to time, dependant particularly on the time of year. The visit which led to this page being produced was made at the end of April 2011 and the top two marks near Taynuilt at that time were the fish farm slightly to the north of Airds Bay and just off the new quarry at Bonawe. It is always best to seek expert local advice at the time of your visit to maximise your chances of catching fish in Loch Etive.

The time of year, the precise location at which you fish and the bait and end tackle which you use will all factor in to what you are likely to catch on Loch Etive. There are a number of species, however, for which the loch is renowned and record or near record specimens have been captured. Spurdog, skate, thornback rays and hake are some of the species which you can regularly expect well in to double figures from the right location.

Catching one for the pot is a big attraction to the sport for many sea anglers. Particularly where you fall in to this category, you will be interested to know that big cod and pollack are to be had from Loch Etive. Mackerel, coley, whiting and pouting are just some of the other wholly edible species which may find their way on to your hook.

Important - Fish Sustainability

While in most instances it is of course entirely acceptable to take a fish or two for the pot, all of us as sea anglers have an inherent responsibility to be aware of the sustainability of fishing stocks. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Big Fish Fight campaign has highlighted the plight of many species in our coastal waters and beyond but it is not only commercial fishing which leads to problems. Please therefore do all that you can to ensure that where your catch is undersized, or in some other way not suitable to be classed as one for the pot, it is carefully returned as unharmed as possible to the loch.

Food and Sea Fishing

There is no doubt about it: being out on the boat all day, in the fresh sea air, makes you hungry. That means you should always have plenty of food with you to satisfy your needs. Some food items, however, are not ideal for eating out on the sea while fishing. For lots of great, practical ideas for sea fishing food items like the big breakfast sandwich pictured right, click on the link below:

Practical Food Ideas for Fishing Trips

Thank you for your visit to this page. If you have ever fished Loch Etive and have any tips or tricks to share, you can leave them in the space below. Do please note, however, that all comments are subject to approval and therefore will not appear on the site immediately.