Jock Monteith Salmon Lures
Fishing At Hogganfield Loch In Glasgow
In 1968 at the age of 3 with a tiny spin fishing outfit my mother bought for me in a local hardware shop, I vividly remember catching a pike on a little silver mackerel spinner in front of the mini golf course (near the main jetty where the old Victorian pavilion used to stand) at Glasgow’s Hogganfield Loch much to the surprise of my late Grandfather! I horsed that pike straight in out of sheer excitement and a grown up angler who was fishing nearby kindly landed and unhooked the fish for me. This picture of Hogganfield Loch was taken from the exact location of that very first pike capture.
My Early Pike Fishing Obsession
I recall back in 1973 when I was 8 years old winning an ABU Silver award for this 17lbs pike I landed on an 20g ABU silver Toby at Glasgow’s Craigallion Loch. On a few different occasions at the same location, I hooked and was broken by pike that must have been at least double that size and one of them I clearly watched its huge shape and bow wave as it charged my 12g ABU zebra Ellips lure into the shallows, completely missing the lure on the first attempt before grabbing the lure and charging straight out to the open loch (parting the lily bed where it had attacked from!) before emptying my spinning reel spool with an almighty crack!
Fishing Lures In the 1970's
Then followed the era in the late 70’s of the new range of ABU Hilo plug & Shakespeare’s Big S lures which were something completely different for fishing for pike with and especially in shallower water where they weren’t so easily snagged. Many visits down to Cromar Bay near Balmaha on the south bank of Loch Lomond in the early 80’s yielded some memorable days with pike up to 28lbs on the Super Shad floating Rapala lure in roach (or perch) scale pattern which were amazing to fish with as you’d usually always get a great visual when a big pike came out of the reed beds to attack these lures. Lures and how they were presenting to fish became an obsession with me back in that era and at that point in my angling career I became a true 'sub-surface' thinker.
Early Salmon Lure Experimentations
When I became a professional ghillie on the River Tay’s Newtyle Beat I was already in the right frame of mind and had a great understanding of the various lure designs and colours that worked best. I used to airbrush my own Kynoch harling lures to experiment with different lure colour combinations which I had the luxury to do as a Head Ghillie. Solid ‘performance based' colour & movement faith was the outcome of that professional Tay ghillie experimentation period of my career which you’ll now observe in the 'core range’ of carefully designed Monteith salmon lure colour combinations available today.
Vintage Swiss Lemax Mother-of-Pearl Spinning Lures
In the same era, I recall replicating the old brass Swiss Lemax Mother-of-Pearl handmade spinning lures in memory of my late friend and mentor Willie Laird as he adored the thought and craftmanship that went into producing those old Lemax lures. He used to keep 2 uncut New Zealand Abalone Paua shells on his outside window sill to sparkle in the sunlight at Ladywell Cottage where he lived in Birnam.
The Salmon Lure Fascination Continues
As a Piscean and now running one of Scotland’s most professional salmon fishing guiding business's the attraction and complete fascination of lures, their movement and how salmon react to them is as strong now at the age of 60 as it has ever been in my entire life. This fascination has been enhanced due to the new technology paints & holographic lure colour finishes that are now available in addition to being able to test and computer design varying swim style lure actions and pair these attributes with optimal depth weighting to give salmon anglers the very best chance of success.
The New Monteith Range of Salmon Lures
This new range of Monteith salmon spin fishing lures have been ‘meticulously' designed through my career River Tay ghillie salmon lure obsession to ensure the very best chance of sub surface cooperation where anglers can benefit from my ‘extensive’ riverbank experience. I’d say I’m well above average with a salmon fly rod in my hands but even more so (as a former River Tay boatman) armed with traditional salmon spinning rod & fixed spool reel outfit paired with complete 'faith' in the lure I'm swimming! These new lures are all purpose designed for Atlantic salmon, no guesswork, just hard earned professional River Tay boatman experience spanning a lifetime.