Butterstone Loch, day session, 3 August

A real dreich day, mirror calm at times and never more than a very slight ripple.  The rain was never really off, though mostly it was just a mildly annoying smir.  And it was muggy as well.  Too warm to sit with your coat on, and too wet to take it off!

Just about everyone caught a fish in the first ten minutes (it seemed like).  Thereafter, it was a different story, as it got harder and harder.  Our boats kept to the drift in the main, though that might have been a mistake, as the other club that was out had boats anchored up, fishing boobies on Hi-Ds and catching steadily.

Our best boat was Ian Mac and his young son, Gavin.  Ian was the only one of us to bag up, and Gavin had four to his own rod.

Ian reports, "I had one fish on dries and the other five on slime line with two size ten Diawl Bachs and a small olive booby on the bob.  Four fish took the nymphs and one the booby.  All Gav's fish were on the Diawl Bachs.  The retrieve was a slow figure of eight. The DB's had jungle cock cheeks.  I dropped another three fish and had loads of follows and plucks. Gav's line was a Steve Parton intermediate."

The JC Diawl Bach was my best fly as well, fishing it in the middle of a nymphing team on the floater.  Elsewhere among our catches, we had odd fish taken to nymphs, dries, wets, lures and boobies, on floater, intermediate and sinker.  But, looking back (Ian's boat apart), we never got tuned in with anything, really.  Spoonings revealed little more than small amounts of daphnia, and the fish caught, even those on nymphs and dries, though a good size, and fit, were not what you would call residents.

Our club total for 14 rods was 37 fish for 91 lb 13 oz.