This series of classic hill lochs to the west of the hotel provide some of the most challenging, frustrating and exciting fishing anywhere in Scotland. A bold statement but one that can be backed up with the stream of quality fish that have come off the lochs over the years. Although each of the lochs is slightly different in character the fish average around the 2 pound mark with the best fish recently being a massive 5 lbs 6 ounces. We believe that double figure fish lurk somewhere in the depths . . . .
The down-side, of course, is that getting these fish out is not very easy and even expert fishermen will suffer many blank days. We will not send you to the Cross Lochs if you want to catch fish!
There are 5 main lochs of which 4 contain fish. The lochs lie an hour’s walk from the hotel over the moors or a 20 minutes walk from the forestry track that lies west of the lochs. Bank fishing only here. They lie north south and, assuming you approach from the forest track, the first loch you reach from the car park is the fishless one. The most northerly loch (un-named) is small, shallow and reedy and is seldom fished but does contain fish. Next is Mac, a loch which looks as though it has featured in a sci-fi movie – dark, peaty and uninviting to the north, shallow, stony and uninviting to the east and south. It takes a lot of confidence to even cast a fly in this loch and even more to think you’re going to catch fish. Oh - this is where the 5 pounder came from . . . .
Next we have Willy’s – a much more attractive loch which dog-legs roughly west to east. The west end is shallow and reedy and the main fishing area is in the obvious eastern part from the ‘wasp waist’ that splits the two lochs. This is a shallow loch with safe wading and good fish can be taken all over. ‘Can’ being the operative word here. Best fish recently was 3 ½ pounds.
The final loch is Jubilee. Reed fringed, steep sided and clay bottomed wading is not a safe proposition here except on the east bank but even here care must be taken. The largest and most fertile of the Cross Lochs this is the place that monsters may lurk. It has a healthy population of fish and is the Cross Loch where you may actually catch a smallish fish ( ¾ pound class). Fish lie all over but can be caught very close to the banks either in or adjacent to the many reed beds – best fish recently was over 4 pounds.
Hope, luck and prayer seem to be the key tactics on the Cross Lochs. It is fair to say that fishing with whatever you feel most comfortable and confident with is probably the best way forward. Fly life is varied with sedges and buzzers being common to all lochs, olives on Mac and Mayfly on Willy’s and Jubilee (which do not appear to be important here as elsewhere). Willy’s and Jubilee also have damsels, shrimp and corixa with the latter two being important diet items and fry feeding has also been noted here. Given the size of Mac and its relative infertility, fry feeding must also be important here.
Having said all that the majority of fish on the Cross Lochs have either come to traditional pulled wets such as Loch Ordy and Kate MacLaren, disrupters such as mini muddlers and sedges, or dry flies – especially sedge patterns. Big is best and size 8s are the order of the day unless there is an obvious hatch of naturals to imitate (eg buzzers).