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The South Uist Virgins - 6 - 13 May 2012

23/5/2012

Alec, Brian and I arrived at Kinloch on Sunday 6 May to fish the famous trout lochs of South Uist. Kinloch caters primarily, but not exclusively, for anglers and is owned and run by Wegg Kimbell, who welcomed us warmly and then very practically with a superb roast beef dinner. Stories were told, fishing discussed and we looked forward to fishing East Loch Bee the following day.

East Loch Bee is not a Machair loch but is a large expense of shallow brackish water with great feeding for brown trout. Our ghillie for the week, Ian Kennedy, advised us on choice of flies, which I interpreted as including a Clan Chief, the famous South Uist fly invented by Ian's father, Capt John Kennedy. Brian decided to wade first and I was somewhat surprised when Ian instructed him to wade across a great distance to an island I could just about see! The loch was consistently shallow and Brian set of with little hesitation. Alec and I were in the boat benefitting from Ian's wise words and it was not too long before my size 10 Clan Chief took a top quality Loch Bee trout of about a pound and a half. Brian took a slightly larger fish during that morning and we were looking forward to a good afternoon starting with Brian and I in the boat. I took Ian's advice about the trout responding to fry patterns far too literally and tried a sparkler booby which moved a number of fish during the afternoon but accounted for only one to the net. That was to be our lot of day one, with 3 quality trout of which Brian's was best at around 1lb 10 oz. All these fish and those we caught subsequently were returned.

The cold north wind was still with us we headed for Loch Bornish the following morning. Bornish was to be our first experience of the Machair, a loch with a shore of white shell sand which slopes very gently to the deeper weeded areas. This mix of environment provides rich feeding for the trout which grow on well and can often be caught at the machair edge as they feed in this area where the shallow shell sand meets the deeper water. Ian took Alec and Brian off in the boat and I waded the machair edge which I found to be easy to wade despite my almost total lack of experience of this sort of fishing. In the boat Brian took 3 fish from 12 oz to a pound and a half while I caught my first trout on the machair edge, a lovely fish of about 24 oz. It's brother followed a little later with a smaller fish of about half a pound in between. The wind was getting up a bit by this time and I managed one more from the boat before lunch while Brian added one more in early afternoon. Brian's best fly was the soldier palmer while my 3 'keepers' were on the 'Gerry's Kate', a Kate McLaren variant given to me by Gerry MacDonald and which has accounted for many of my brown trout in the last 3 years. The wind eventually forced us off Bornish in mid-afternoon, with a total of 7 good trout and one smaller one.

Alec was getting a bit restless as we headed for Loch Grogarry on Wednesday morning. After a fruitless first hour with only Brian moving a fish from the boat, we changed over and I was delighted to watch and photograph Alec catching his first machair trout of the trip on a 'Gorgeous George' fly supplied by Ian that morning. The fish was a good 2.5lb, and our best of the trip to date. I also had a good pull before lunch, but nothing further was converted by the time we took a break. After lunch I managed to hang on to a fish of about 2lb and was surprised a bit later as i watched an explosion in the water just beyond my fly line as trout of a similar size to the one taken by Alec treated me to a dogged fight before succumbing to Ian's net. That was to be our lot for the day. Despite it being bright, the fish we took were all in very shallow water and came out to play when the north wind dropped off a wee bit and we had some cloud cover. However, Grogarry can be a bit dour and to finish with 3 fish for around 7.5 lb is a reasonable result.

Our evenings spent with Wegg at Kinloch were marvellous and notable for the wide ranging and always entertaining conversation, coupled with Wegg's outstanding cooking. He quotes sample menus on his website, but that really does not do justice to the food - from roast beef, to Loch Bee trout, to different kinds of local hot and cold smoked salmon, to langoustines and wonderful scallops. We ate well.

Thursday and Friday were made even more challenging as the wind strengthened and stayed resolutely in the north. We tried to fish Upper Kildonan on the Thursday but decided to cut and run after an early lunch, with Brian having only one small trout to show for our efforts. Boat fishing was all but impossible in the wind and we were treated to a wading lesson in Loch Hallan that afternoon, which involved wading right across the loch to the north east shore, fishing along that shore and then fishing back across the loch to our parking spot. That produced a small fish and another of about a pound and a quarter for me, which was scant return for our efforts. Still, we weren't blank. Brian and I had a wee look at Loch Driudibeag before finishing for the day, and a lovely wee trout of just over half a pound succumbed to my rod, taken from a little bay which could almost be covered from the bedroom window of the guest house. Our Friday efforts on Loch Stilligarry, one of the Machair jewels in the crown, were just efforts. We didn't move a fish between us, and the only fish we saw was one of a couple of pounds having a jump to itself in the middle of the loch. Quite what possessed it to show on such a cold and windy day I don't know, but if its idea was to keep us out of the pubs of South Uist that Friday afternoon, it failed!

Our last hurrah was on West Loch Ollay, and as the wind had moved round to the west and had dropped off a bit, we were full of good cheer and optimism, not to mention the previous night's excellent dinner and whisky! Ghillie Ian was confident that we would do well on one of his favourite lochs, and so it proved, but not in the way he thought. After a fruitless couple of hours in the boat for Alec and I, we found Brian, only to hear that he had had a trout of about 2lb 8oz (possibly more) and an escapee land-locked salmon of about 2lb from the shore. Good angling! The boat fishing continued to be difficult and Alec added another couple of good fish from the same west shore. After a further change, Alec took to the boat and showed us how to do it with a nice fish from the machair edge, and I soon had one of 24 oz wading in the same area. I also took a couple of smaller fish from the popular west shore in our last hour, but as the wind got up a bit and the temperature dropped the fish stopped moving. Nevertheless, it was a fine way to finish our week fishing the trout lochs of South Uist.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable week in all respects. The fishing was challenging, but I suspect that is the case most of the time on South Uist. A variety of flies caught fish, including the clan chief, gorgeous george (for Alec!), golden olive bumble, Kate McLaren variant, RA green peter and the ubiquitous soldier palmer. Most fish were on size 12 flies, but with 10s working on occasion. The quality of the fish was nothing short of outstanding and the sense of satisfaction in getting one to the net will bring us back to South Uist. We've rebooked!

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Cheeky wee trip to Butterstone

7/4/2012

Tom and David decided that a day on the Lake of Menteith was not enough and headed off up to Butterstone on Tuesday 3 April, to check out the new lodge for the B&BAC visit on 28 Apr. All was in order, we are pleased to report.
On Sunday when I told Fiona what we were doing she immedaitely asked if we had seen the weather forecast for tuesday - I replied that I hadn't and they always get it wrong, anyway. Well, it transpired that they were predicting snow and freezing temperatures - and for once they didn't get it wrong!
Still, the fish were pretty cooperative and a selection of junk food ensured that we had 16 in the boat before the cold and our respective lenghty drives home sent us off the water at 4.20. I hope the fish prove to be similarly cooperative at the end of the month. I have posted a couple of pics in the 2012 Pic Page.

3 days on the Midland Reservoirs - 22 -24 August 2011

3/9/2011

Pitsford looked beautiful in the sun as we headed for the pines and dam area to try our luck. We were given lots of help by the wardens amid warnings that fishing had been pretty hard over the last 2 weeks and that the fish were recently down at least 6 feet. Tom started on a midge tip, with me on a Di7 to try different depths. From the off we saw a few fish moving and after half an hour Tom had moved a fish and I hadn't, so it was on with the MT and pretty soon a fish was in the boat. Tom followed suit pretty quickly and we wondered what all the fuss had been about. Fish came steadily during the morning, mainly to the daiwl bach, with the odd one taking the booby. After lunch it slowed down for a while (ie, we caught nothing for ages!) and Tom suggested we move closer to the shore. That did the trick for a wee while, but it soon tailed off. A wee trip closer to the dam was unrewarded, but around 4.30 a couple more were taken back at our original beat. We were due to be meeting a friend for dinner in a local pub, but stopped off for a couple of drifts off Stilton point on the way back to the lodge - and were rewarded with a cracking fish each.

It turned out to be a great day's fishing with a total of 12 fish in the boat, many in the 3lb+ class, all of which fought very well, and all but one taken on or very near the surface. We were not too late for dinner, and enjoyed a meal and a cheeky we pint of ale!

Rutland could not have looked more different e following morning. Heavy clouds threatened the rain which fell between 11 and 1.30, after which it cleared up. We started at Fantasy Island, but didn't take a fish until we were a couple of hundred yards down the shore. Curiously, there was only one other boat in the area repeating the drift I would have chosen, but he didn't seem to be catching. We continued down the Normanton Shore, picking up fish steadily and each of them picking out a UV cruncher. It wasn't until we tried the boils that I took one on the blob. Yob.

With 8 fish in the boat, we took a break for lunch (ask one of us about that!) and had a chat with Mick Brooksby, a former RAF pal turned Rutland warden, who gave us a few south arm locations to try for better fish. There were some fish moving on the Lax Hill side of Browns Island which seemed worth a few casts and I landed 1 on the Menteith booby (you know the one I use!) which was at least 3.5lb and very well mended. A move to the Manton cottage rewarded Tom with a similar, if not slightly bigger fish which took him all over the place, but especially around the back of the boat. One more fish in Manton bay and a final one near spud bay completed the day and we headed back to the hotel for some food and fly tying.

Wednesday meant Grafham in the company of Graham Watson (former England team manager) and Charlie Abrahams , both of whom were fishing in the English National Final on 3 Sep (and, as transpired, failed to qualify for the England team in 2012). The day was a bit misty and we got out early to make hay before the sun shone. Both boats (me with Graham and Tom with Charlie) took a few fish in the open water near I Buoy, with Tom being broken off first cast! By lunchtime we had 10 fish between 4 of us and a quick sandwich and change of partners saw us head for hill farm, where a good bag had been taken in the morning. We found fish there but they were not prepared to take the fly as readily as in the morning. By this time the wind was getting up, too, which didn't help matters. Charlie and I fished fairly close to the north shore all afternoon, seeing lots of fish and boating a few, while Tom and Graham headed back to the central drift of the morning. Tom and I finished of the day and the trip by going looking for better fish in the Savages/Sanctuary area but the wind quickly put paid to that. However, sailing club bay yielded a couple of late fish to bring out combined total to 10 for the day.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable 3 days fishing for top quality fish in good boats and in great company - what more could we ask for - roll on next year!

Scourie (part 2), Harelaw/Snypes, Lintrathen, Watch Reservoir and Butterstone

25/7/2011

A wee bit of catching up to do! Scourie during the first week in July was fun, with the hotel up to the usual standard and the fishing pretty good, for the most part. I fished 3 days and had 38 fish up to 1lb 4oz, all of which were returned. Na Thull (check the map, just south of Riconich) was first up, with 16 on a very windy day. Got the float tube out in the afternoon and paddled all the way up the south leg and halfway up the main Loch and enjoyed sone great fishing. Claret bumble and pearly invicta did the damage. On the Thursday I shared a boat on Loch Stack with my pal Neil. We took 11 fish between us, 7 of which came to my Kate McLaren variant (ask me!) and the rest to a teal blue and silver. 1 was a sea trout, 4 finnock and the rest brown trout. Great fun and thanks to Rob the Ghillie for keeping us entertained. The last day I was on my favourite Lower Duart beat, again on the tube. Water was very low and was on my backside making my way into the eye pool. It fished well, with 11 brownies to 1lb, with the best being beside the lilies near the road bridge - the rest from the eye pool, with me sitting in the tube in the middle of the pool, casting to the shores - great fun. Lots of different flies took fish, including
bibio and Diawl Bach!

The day after I got back from the north I had arranged to go tubing on Harelaw with my RAF pal, Al G, who is known to some of you. He is a top angler and I look forward to doing boatman duties for him in the National Final on 10 September. We tubed all over Harelaw all morning for no reward, other than a few perch and a wee pike for Al. Talked to Alex, who runs Harelaw and he agreed we could try his other place, Snypes, in the afternoon, again from the float tubes. We each had 2 nice fish, Al's on dries and mine on the same pearly invicta that worked on Na Thull for the brownies. Since that trip I hear that Harelaw has closed for the season and may open under new management in 2012. Can't say I'm surprised.

The next weekend saw a trip to Lintrathen for an RAF Northern League match. It is a nice fishery, about double the size of Butterstone, I would estimate, well stocked with rainbows and holding loads of perch! We fished the west end to start with, but it was a bit slow (4 by 1pm) and the water a bit murky, so toured the Loch to find one of the other lads doing well at the dam in clear water. That proved to be key and I ended up the day with 9 fish and 2nd place. Rod average was 5 for the day and the fish were good quality. They took a variety of flies, with 3 on the bibio hopper and 3 on the UV cruncher, all on a midge tip line.

Last Wednesday (20th) I fulfilled a longstanding promise to take my pal Ross fishing in the borders (he lives in Melrose) and we ended up at the Watch Reservoir a few miles from Duns. The Watch had come recommended and we were not disappointed. Bill, who runs the place, gave us a comprehensive briefing on fish locations and tactics, and proved to be spot on. The high quality rainbows (see picture page) were on the surface and moved readily to the black booby, the Kate variant (see above) and an orange blob. Ross landed 4 fish and I hooked 4 fish - work that out for yourself!! A super afternoon and the day was completed with an excellent curry in Gala and a few wee nippy sweeties later on! Happy days.

Which brings me to Butterstone on 24 July. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. 10 RAF anglers took 24 fish and returned 5, with Warren the fish magnet accounting for 6 and 5 returned. By the time I found him, (at 1pm) at the cottage on the North shore, he had already caught 6 fish and a few of the other guys had 2 or 3 fish. My boat partner and I were blank, having tried the west end, top bay and reeds just north of the wee bay at the far end. Tried different things, including the mid glass, Di5 and bung, but to no avail. Weather was dreadful for fishing, with bright sun and a cold, blustery north wind. Eventually put on the fast glass (as recommended by Warren) with a cat booby, blob and cruncher. Took first fish at 1.50 and proceeded to bag up by 4, much to my BP's disgust, as he could not get a pull. My 6 fish were good enough for 2nd place, behind Warren. The other guys who had fish in the morning failed to catch in the afternoon, including good anglers like Willie E. Very odd. But to me the most odd bit was the fish. Most fish were in the 2.5 - 3 lb class, but most of my fish were of very recent stock and had very poor tails. No complaints about the fight, though. What I don't get is the 6 fish limit. What are you meant to do with 16lbs of fish if you fish there regularly - plus it is nearly £60 per boat and no drogues! The fish we got on Carron the day before with the B&B were much better quality (full tails) but closer to 1.5 - 2 lb. Butterstone has even gone to the extent of stocking some 1 lb rainbows for the ospreys! Why not stock with 1.5 to 2 lb fish, let the ospreys have the smaller ones (they seem to do OK on the Lake) and reduce the price a bit? I would be interested in your thoughts - use the comments facility!

Linlithgow Loch - 15 June 2011

18/6/2011

David and Tom checked out Linlithgow Loch earlier this week and were delighted with a fine day's angling. The Forth Area Federation of Anglers runs the fishing and thoughtfully provide trolleys to transport all the kit to the boats, which are reasonably well appointed. We took a club engine and a couple of batteries and managed to fish on the drift all day, unlike most of the anglers who remained anchored up. Very boring. The conditions were good, with some cloud coupled with a reasonably high air temp, particularly given conditions in the last few weeks. I fished a floater all day, on my 5 wt, coupled with 2 size 12 nymphs. Tom started off on his intermediate, with blob, cormorant and cruncher, as recommended on the FAFA website. David had a savage take 3rd cast which succeeded only in removing the red headed DB and dropper from his cast. At least we had a clue what they wanted! Tom then lost one after a short fight, but it was obvious already that these were quality fish. We got one to the net as we neared the north shore and it turned out to be a fish of at least 3 and a half pounds, which gave my 5 wt a good workout, and went all round the boat in the process. After another couple of fish and another breakage I scaled up to 10lb leader and had one more before another relaxed lunch. Tom tried a floater with no success but took a couple of fish on a blob and cat's whisker combination after lunch. By the time we came off the water at 4pm we had netted and released 8 fish, averaging, I estimate, around 3 lb. The fish were as good quality as I have seen all year. Linlithgow Loch didn't disappoint in any way. I understand that they may have water quality and weed issues if it gets really warm, particularly later in the season. For now, then, based on this week's experience, Linlithgow Loch is highly recommended.

A Week's Angling

6/6/2011

Well, that was a wild and cold week. The Bothwell and Blantyre exploits at Frandy (28 May) and in the Scottish Clubs (4 June) are documented elsewhere, but I also took the opportunity to fish Monday evening (30th May) in the SANA Open and Sunday 5th June on Lintrathen, a new venue for me.

The weather on Monday evening was a welcome change from the rest of the week, with light winds and a nice, mild evening. The SANA Open is a pairs and individual event, and the Sharp Gentles Fly Tying Club entered 2 teams of 2. I was fishing with Billy Gillan and John Gould fished with Robert McBride. The competition was all C&R, so no weigh in and teams or individuals with the same number of fish being separated by the time the first fish was caught. This was not a good idea for me as halfway to the island I discovered I had left my rod leaning against the lodge! My BP (Ian Stuart) was very understanding and we tried quick drifts in Hotel Bay and off Inchmahone before going to Gateside Bay. That did the trick and we were into fish off the Rookery Point, initially on a mid glass and then on a floater. John Gould was accumulating fish steadily on a midge tip off rookery point on cormorants and DBs, and Billy was getting a few on the Di3 sweep! Take your pick. I ended up on dries and hooked and lost a fish late on on a black shuttlecock, but fortunately it did not matter. Both teams had 9 fish (JG & RM 7 and 2 - Robert had a cracker of over 4lb, BG & DO 4 and 5). John and Robert were 3rd on time to 1st fish, and Billy and David 4th. Top 5 went through. Roll on the final on 1 August.

Lintrathen - RAF Northern League.

Sunday at Lintrathen was different altogether. A cold NE wind greeted us and I had my winter jacket on all day. 17 anglers from RAF stations in Scotland and the north of England braved the summer weather and eventually caught a reasonable number of fish after a slow start. A few fish were taken early on near the Rhododendrons and a few more up on the far side of the island. Lots of perch and undersized brownies were boated, too. The best drift of the day was the shore opposite the boat dock, with my friend the fish magnet Warren Gain and his BP each catching eight fish, mostly during the afternoon. All the usual flies took fish, with the booby, blob, DB, buzzer and mini lure featuring. I had 4 rainbows, for over 9 lb, on lines from midge tip to Di7 and flied from blob to Hare's ear nymph. Make of it what you will.

Lintrathen is a nice fishery, albeit a bit of a trek from Cambuslang. I'll certainly go back if invited, but suggest that it is a journey too far for the Bothwell and Blantyre at the moment.

The first couple of months of the season are now over and it's been a mixed bag weather wise. We had some unseasonably good weather in April and the reverse in May. The strong winds have been a feature latterly, making life in general difficult, not just angling! Last year at this time I blogged that my season (to that date) had been a nightmare - the opposite this season. I am enjoying my angling immensely, looking at competitions in a more relaxed way (although you couldn't have told me that between 8pm and 10.30pm on Saturday night as I tried to catch my 5th fish in the Scottish Clubs!) and generally having a good time. Roll on the Council outing to Dunwhan on Thursday when my 4/5 wt will be getting an outing (if the wind permits!) and then back to Carron on Saturday. See you there.

Scottish National Championship - Preliminary Round - 11 May 2011 - Lake of Menteith

15/5/2011

Scottish National Championship - Preliminary Round - 11 May 2011 - Lake of Menteith

Paul Wilson and Ian Glassford represented the Bothwell and Blantyre in the Scottish National Angling Championship this year and fished their preliminary round at the Lake of Menteith on Wednesday 11 May, the day after the Club outing on 10th. Laurie Taylor was also fishing this round, but was representing the Rainbow Warriors Club. Ian was drawn with David Auld from the Ellem Club and had Jim Law assisting as boatman while Paul was drawn with Ronnie McKean, a fellow EK angler representing Craufurdland FFAC. David hindered Paul and Ronnie from the middle seat. Laurie was drawn with Jim Twaddle, so started off with a 3lber in the boat from the off!

Ian and Paul were into fish early in Gateside Bay and continued to accumulate there and in the rookery all day. The usual cormorants, nymphs and boobies did the trick with favourite lines being the Di3 and the midge tip. By the weigh in Iasn had 10 fish and Paul 9 - both qualified comfortably, with Ian picking up third place. Laurie, who had been in the Butts all day, got through with 5 fish. All the boat partners qualified too.

The full results and a photo of Glassford almost smiling is here:

http://www.sanacc.org.uk/2011_heats.html

There are more pics on the Pics page here:

Pics Page

Scourie - 24 Apr - 1 May 2011

2/5/2011

I enjoyed a week's fishing from the Scourie Hotel from 24 April to 1 May 2011, which just happened to be over the period I finally stopped being in the RAF. The deal up there is that when you arrive at the Hotel your name goes on the 'Fishing Board' and beats are allocated in strict order according to your place on the Board. The allocation is administered by one of the guests who is known as the Boardmaster. Every day the name at the top of the board is rubbed out and goes to the bottom of the Board, so everyone shuffles up a place each day. During the week 700 fish were caught, including some bumper hauls on the Lower Duart and Na Thull beats, but not by me! You can see descriptions of the beats and the hotel here:

Scourie Hotel

The weather was fantastic (far too bright for fishing) most of the week, although the wind was very strong and blustery for most of the time. My week went as follows and you can follow the week in photos here:

Scourie Photos

Monday 25 Apr - fished the Stalkers beat. It is a 4.5 mile walk to the loch, mainly along a stalkers track. Had one in the main Loch and one in the satellite up the hill. (Loch na Stioma Gile) Pretty dour most of the day with nothing moving. The better fish was 1lb. Black pennell and claret hopper, both size 14.

Tue - Took Duchess beat, but fished the morning on Eileanach (Beat 14) because no one had chosen it and it wasn't too much further than Duchess. A few fish moving near the islands on Eileanach but I couldn't temp them. Took 3 on Duchess in the afternoon, 2 on Pennell and one on Claret hopper, all up in that wee leg area at the top of the loch, if you can find it on the map. See Stan Headley's book, The Loch Fisher's Bible, pp 101 and 102 for a somewhat different view of the lovely Duchess!

Wed - Hush 2. Walked past Hush 1 and the main Hush 2 lochs and fished the satellites further in. Loads of fish moving on a satellite shaped like a squashed heart. Had my best fish of the week - over 1lb. 2 altogether, one on a Kate McLaren variant, one on the claret hopper, again 14s.

Thur - Freagairt. A mate of mine had tried this beat a few weeks ago and had done well, so I thought I better try it. Hmmm. I was advised to try the satellite near Mnatha (Beat 4) so went there via Mackays Loch, which is supposed to hold a big trout. I didn't see anything of the sort. Took 2 in the Mnatha satellite and 3 in the main Mnatha loch from a wee promontory on the north shore. All small but good sport. All on a size 16 claret hopper! Then went up to the top Freagairt loch - nothing. next loch down - nothing, next loch down - nothing, and nothing moving on any of them, either. 4th loch down, saw fish moving, so worked my way carefully down, had a couple of settling casts, then cast to a rising fish and hooked it, and it's mate! One on cruncher with red collar, other on claret hopper! 14s. Nothing further.

Friday - Lower Duart, which I shared with a couple of Scourie virgins, Peter and Steve. This is one of the prime beats in the Hotel - see the website for descriptions. I took the lower Loch and river in the morning - 3 from the loch, one from the river - very windy. Fish on a green buzzer, 2 on a black gnat thing - both 18s Other fish was on a size 16 claret hopper. In the afternoon, took the boat right up to the inlet near the hatchery - wind was too strong to fish from the boat, even with a drogue. Fished the pool that takes the water from the river/burn from Upper Duart and took 7 - 4 on a wee green skinny nymph and 3 on a bushy bibio - both 14s. It was a very difficult day to fish Lower Duart - one of my guests blanked, which got him a special mention during the prize giving on the Saturday night in the Hotel! There was a larger fish (sea trout or small grilse?) moving at the bottom of the pool I fished in the afternoon, but I couldn't tempt it.

Saturday - lazy day on Claise Fearna, a roadside loch again shared with Peter and Steve. Fished the bank for an hour, took 2 on the black pennell to save the blank, then went up to the satellite up the hill. (Lochan an Fheidh) Steve took 2 on a dry from this loch - I walked right round and cast to a couple of rising fish, hooking and losing one. Back to the car at 1pm, off to Durness to Cocoa Mountain:

Cocoa Mountain

for some chocs for the wife!!

It was a great week. On Thursday there was a fantastic hatch at Stalkers and the boys said the place just boiled with fish. 2 guys (Kevin Primmer and his mate Russ) went to Char Loch on Sat and had a great time - 8 fish each. It is a limestone loch with an 8 mile walk to the furthest point on the Loch - then 8 miles back! If you have a look at the map it is north of Loch Stack behind Arkle. As part of a deliberate experiment I didn't have fly bigger than a 14 on all week, so Gilbert would be proud of me!

The guys who caught the most fish during the week were the float tubers, of which there were 2 pairs. I didn't take my tube because my waders are leaking and now regret that I didn't sort that out with a new pair before I left home.

Can't wait until July to get back! See you all at the Lake.

Catch and Release on the Lake of Menteith

4/4/2011

Please comment on the Lake of Menteith C&R issue here using the comments facility

Lexus Team Competition - Rutland Water, 3 & 4 Sep 10

9/9/2010

I was lucky enough to be selected for the RAF Fish Hawks team to compete in the International Final of the Lexus Team Competition at Rutland Water on 3rd and 4th of September 2010. 22 x 6 man teams competed the final and it was most unusual in this day and age that none of the teams included a female team member. I had also been part of the team that qualified for this final at Rutland in April, so it was nice to be selected again in our attempt to finish the job. We met up on the morning of 1st Sep (my 28th wedding anniversary!) to have a couple of days practice and reconnaisance prior to the event. We were able to use a fish finder on the first day (not allowed on the final practice day), but it didn't take one of these things to tell us that the fish were holding at around 3 - 4 feet and were quite happy to come up for a fly. However, as well as helping us with depths, the finder did identify fish holding at around 25 feet or so, obviously in the cooler water. Paddy managed to tempt a couple of them in the Barnhill Creek area with a Di5 twiddled slowly. I was with Dave Newing on that day and it wasn't until we moved from the main basin to the front of the sailing club just before lunch that we found some fish - and then found some more around Brown's Island after lunch. Others had identified fish in small pockets in the North arm, but there seemed to be numbers of fish from the Sailing Club frontage across the south arm to Spud Bay.

Day 2 of practice saw me out with the fish magnet Warren Gain and the south arm (Gibbets, Browns Island and Manton Bay) provided a fruitless morning. Other faired little better and our afternoon free practice confirmed the findings of the previous day. There were a few flies to be considered, including the sparkler booby, various crunchers, daiwl bachs and hares ears. We were happy with our practise and looked forward to the first day of the competition.

132 anglers in 66 boats is a lot! I note that because even the logistics of finsihing a brief and getting everyone into boats takes longer than you might imagine. I was drawn with Joel Beeney, a young angler with youth and adult international caps who was happy for me to take the engine. It was a bright, sunny almost windless day as the talking ended and the fishing began. I took Joel to the sailing club frontage and we were into fish immediately, I am delighted to report. Getting a fish into the net early sure does settle the nerves on this sort of occasion. We were fishing to a 4 fish limit, with C&R thereafter, with all fish returned to be recorded on a card signed for each fish by your boat partner. Around 11.30 I took Joel to Spud Bay (where we had founf fish the night before) and were not disappointed. We each had 4 fish by 12noon, and my bag included a cracker which I reckoned to be over 4lb. I would have been gutted if it had been my fifth fish and I would have had to return it and see it counted as only 2lb! Joel continued to catch fish throught the afternoon as we drifted centrally in the south arm and I took anothe couple to take my tally to 6. After day 1 (and a weigh in completed in under 70 mins - remarkable) the RAF team was in 9th place. My 6 fish took me to 33rd place individually and we had 34 fish as a team, Warren the fish magnet leading us with 8 fish.

Day 2 was cloudier and I was drawn with Brian MacKenzie of the Scottish Saltires. I had met Brian before (at Harelaw, among other venues) and knew he was an excellent angler who was part of the Neilston FF team which came 3rd in the Anglian Water/Airflo event last year. We fished the same locations as previously, with Brian accumulating on a midge tip and me not getting any takes! I eventually switched to a Di3 and got a fish - on a blob! Later in the day we found fish drifting towards Yellowstones Bay, but by the early finish time of 5pm I was on the wrong end of an 8-3 scoreline. However, Warren had had another good day and despite Dave Newing and me each only weighing in 3 fish, Warren's 12, Dave Eames 9, Si Morris's 7 and Paddy's 5 fish gave us a total of 39. In the end this gave us a very satisfying position of 6th overall, although we were well behind the team in 5th place. The winners were team tightlines with 96 fish, followed by the Rio Masters with 91 fish, although Rio were only 1lb 8oz behind Tightlines. Our total was 73 fish, which puts the result in perspective. Airflo and Team Nymph-a-manics Gareth Jones was the top individual with (I think) 25 fish. The biggest weighed-in fish of the competition was caught by some bloke called Dave Ogg of the RAF Fish Hawks and weighed 4lb 9oz. Some bigger fish were caught by unfortunate anglers who had to release them if they were their 5th or later fish.

This was a fantastic competition to be involved in. While I was disappointed with my personal 2nd day result, to finish 78th out of 132 is by no means a disgrace, and I was delighted, as ever, to be part of the RAF Fish Hawks Team. In all honesty, I don't think I would change much if I were to fish the 2 days of the comp again - like many comps, it either happened for you on the day, or it didn't. On day 2, it didn't quite happen for me. So - a Bothwell and Blantyre Team in the Lexus next year?

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