Lake of Menteith, day session, 12 October
Having rained all day Friday beforehand, hopes were high that the band of rain would clear away by Saturday. Alas, it rained all day Saturday as well. Having stayed overnight in Callander, the Forth was a sight, driving back on Sunday morning -- very near the point of bursting its banks. Never mind, the brownies will be getting an early chance to get up the spawning burns. The other feature of the Met Office forecasts was the strong to gale force winds predicted for Saturday. Aye, right! We had a corduroy ripple all day, verging on flat calm at times (thankfully!).Last outing of the season times, and the Lake was setting a bit of a test. There was clearly a good head of fish, but few easy stockies to be had. Furthermore, the fish were divided into groups behaving differently in different areas. What was doing for one group was not doing for another. Top areas were Lochend, Heronry, Dog Isle and International Bay. Stu B (7) and Fraser G (4) found fish in the Heronry responsive to snatchers and hare's ear palmer, fast figure-of-eighted on the slime line. Stuart C took 4 on wee wets including this red palmer, again on slime line. Stuart's bag included the day's best (and probably the season's best from Menteith) at 3 lb 12 oz. He reported loads of good residents rising in the area he fished: around Dog Isle/Malling Shore.
Jimmy M (7) and Capn F (4) employed intermediate and ghost tip with all manner of washing line combos... booby on the bob, booby on the tail, boobies on bob and tail... generally with the idea of keeping the flies high in the water while fishing slow. Our fish came from Lochend and international Bay, with Jimmy's wee black tadpole on the tail being top killer.
A soggy Jimmy M smiles through the rain
Late on, the rain eased a bit and a hatch of black buzzers got a good rise going and there was a chance with dries. A wee dark F-fly produced some chances and in fact John M took 2 of his 3 fish on dries.
Congratulations go to Jimmy M on winning the Marr Bowl for the second year running. Like last year, it required his very last fish to do it!
The Club's total for 9 boats was 37 fish for 93 lb 8 oz.
