Sunday, 2nd May

Carron Valley Reservoir, Day Session

Cap'n F on his annual trip up the Tay...   Alan M reports...

Well, we got our usual Carron weather, didn’t we?  Er, well no, as it turns out, but as we tackled up in the car park it was looking like it.  With not a cloud in the sky, the sun was splitting the stones and there was a cold north westerly wind to add insult to injury: another day's toil on Carron beckoned. Oh, and in similar conditions the day before, only 4 fish had been caught!

However, as we motored out the harbour, the North Westerly started bringing in a bit of cloud cover and by the time we started fishing, conditions were pretty good, bar a bit of a swirly wind.  Most of the boats seemed to set out for the head of the wind and the far dam end and Carron bay, although Ken Maclean and myself dropped into Binns Bay, where conditions were pretty good... and a few Scottish blends were hatching.  We were into fish straight away, Ken on the intermediate and Kate Maclaren, and myself on the Hi-D, black tadpole and palmered coch.  Most of our boats concentrated on Binns, Burnhouse and Carron bays and were rewarded with some decent bags in which stockfish featured prominently.

Four stockies and a wildie from Carron

Ian Mac and son Callum had nine from Binns and Carron bays, JSB and Eric S had seven from Binns and Burnhouse on Leven Spider, Dunkeld and Kate Maclaren and Ken and I had nine from Binns and Carron bays.  Jimmy Miller and Stewart Chirnside had twelve to black tadpole and traditionals.  Tommy Steven (just to be different) had two to dries (black Bob's bits) and reported missing a few more.

What was interesting was that the successful lines used were everything from slow intermediates -- such as the Cortland Blue and Wetcel Kelly Green -- to slime lines, Wet Cell II, DI-3 and Hi-D.

The things you see when you haven't got a gun...

Our best boat, by some considerable margin, was Stewart Barclay and Dougie Skedd.  They went to the head of the wind, to the two bays up beyond the spit near the far end dam.  They immediately hit on a large concentration of fish.  Fishing gold headed Dunkeld, Clan Chief, Hare’s ear palmer and black tadpoles, on DI-3 and Hi-D lines, they took the majority of their 27 fish from this area (although they also picked up late fish in Binns and Burnhouse bays).  Stu ended up as the day's top rod with a nineteen.  By the time we finished (6 p.m. after a generous 2 hour extension by the new fisheries management) the westerly wind was so fierce that it was becoming a bit unsafe.

Yet another unpredictable day on Carron, but the new management seem to have risen to the challenge and the club enjoyed a pretty successful day.

 The Club's total for 16 rods was 16 weighed in for 15 lb 4 oz, plus 59 returned.