No outings to report but thought I would let you know that I will be a 'controller' in the World Flyfishing Championships being held in Scotland in the second week of June.  The competition is fished over five sessions at Loch Awe, Leven, Menteith (where I will be stationed), Carron and the river Tay. I have been through my training session so ask me a question..... preferably related to my duties. And no, I do not speak any foreign languages fluently, just some 40 year old  Higher French. There are no Romans competing so my Latin wouldn't be of use anyway.Should be an interesting experience and I will let you know how it goes.

I had a frustrating day on the Lake yesterday in the 1st round of the 2009 Scottish National.  Was very happy with practice on Sunday (see below) and had good info from Paul and Ian (and others) before the event.  My BP was a former internationalist, but he had not practiced and really brought nothing to the boat on the day.  I took him to the Heronry where he went 4 up on my by 1pm, and we were seeing enough fish being caught to hang around.  I tried all the flies that did well on practice, trying the midge tip and slow glass in the morning.  At 1pm I changed to floater and traditional (for me) Lake flies (green DB, Cat booby and cruncher) only to land 2 fish in short order by 1.45, one on the booby, one on the DB.  We talked about moving, but as we were doing so, my BP took a fish, so that was that.  How often does that happen - there is just enough going on to keep you interested.  I then took another 2 fish in short order before 3pm, and my target for the day of 8 was still on, debarb hooks, remove booby ( well, take off the eyes) and we were fishing again.  A good pike made off with my now non-booby (no, Tom, it was not my knot!) and as neither of us took any more fish we moved to Shear Point at about 4pm.  Saw the odd fish being taken there and just as I was telling my BP there were no fish in International bay I hooked my 5th and last fish of the day just inside the bay, having come round from Shear Point.  I suppose a day on the Lake with 10 fish in the boat is respectable and, as I said to Gilbert, beaten (as in didn't qualify) but not disgraced.  Onwards and upwards for Ian (see news section), and very well done to him, but for Paul, Robin and me next year will suffice.  The Bothwell and Blantyre circus moves on to Frandy on 30 May, and I will try to secure my Scotland qualification for next year through the RAF qualifying competition on Grafham on 11 and 12 Jun.  In the meantime, I have to go to work.  I hate it when work interferes with fishing.

This is a Club Website.  I have not yet worked out how I can let members add content, but if you want to, please, please send me a blog post in an email and I will add it to the site.  Equally, if you want to help run the site, please let me know and I'm sure I can sort that.

Tom and I spent a few hours on the Lake on Sunday.  As we left the shore, we counted 13 boats in Reedy Bay, so we headed for Kate's Brae!  Fish were not forthcoming, so we continued round the south shore past the Tod Hole where we each had a dram and a fish, Tom's on the trusty Dancer and mine on a cat booby.  Tom lost a pike when the fish chewed through his dropper (no, it was not my knot that failed, Tom!!)  As we moved to the Butts, Tom took another fish and as the wind got up I moved a couple of fish, but couldn't get them to take.  Tried long range C&R on the Malling Shore reeds before taking shelter in the Heronry.  We each lost a fish and I had a couple of other pulls.  We braved the wind again in Portmore Bay, but decided that we were cold enough for one day and ran for the lodge.  With 3 fish between us we reckoned it had been a hard day, only to discover that the Scottish Disabled Champs had seen 59 fish caught by 24 anglers (unconfirmed figures).  The Champion had 18 fish on buzzers in Hotel Bay, so it's obvious we have lots to learn.  Despite the cold, blustery wind, we had a good day out and it's better than sitting in the house.  Thanks for your company, Tom.