Monday, 19th May

Lake of Menteith, Day Session

Not a bad day for fishing… mostly cloudy, with scattered showers and bright intervals and a mild, moderate south westerly.  There was plenty fly life too, with claret duns, mayfly and a gazillion tiny buzzers.  It was extremely disappointing then, that there were very very few rising fish to be seen all day.  Perhaps the water clarity contributed, as it had obviously taken a nose-dive after all the recent heavy rain, but whatever -- dry fly was a waste of time.

So it was down to pulling and nymphing to put some fish in the net.  Most folk had the bulk of their sport in the morning, with the afternoon being much slower, although one or two rods had a late burst.

Ian Mac with a stockie from Kate's Brae

Jimmy M and Stu B found willing participants along the road shore and at Kate's brae a.m., catching to Texas rose muddler and black cat on intermediate lines.  Later in the day they found the fish had gone deeper and switched to DI-3, taking more fish at the pink buoy (the one that isn't there any more!)

Mike P and Alan M took their fish mostly early on in International bay, on intermediates.  Their best patterns were the Kate lure, claret dabbler, Dunkeld and black tad.  Claret dabbler and Kate lure also got fish for Ian Mac and I, along with a standard mini cat.  We were on slime lines in International bay and from Sam's point to Hotel bay.

Alan M connects with a live one in International Bay

Hotel bay proved to be a good area for JSB and Tommy, and after some early fish pulling, they switched to fishing buzzers on intermediates, such as this Blakeston's, giving them a slow, twitchy retrieve mixed up with figure-of-eighting. Buzzers also saved the day for Alan H, who took 3 in the last hour to this pattern, down at Lochend.

The Club's total for 16 rods was 36 fish for 69 lb 8 oz, with 28 more returned.