Saturday, 28th May

Portmore Loch, Evening Session

On our 4.00 pm arrival at Portmore, we were met by what has been an all too frequent sight in recent years - large white capped waves crashing against the dam wall.  An earlier ‘phone call had given us the information that the high winds were dropping and that there were some boats out.  This may have been true at the time, and certainly there were a few boats tucked up in Laird’s Bay which had obviously gone out in easier conditions, but it was now clearly too dangerous to try to launch further boats.  At 4.30 pm the management agreed that the outing was a non-starter.

The secretary had brought his waders as a back up and, having a) driven a fair distance and b) heard that fish were being seen, decided to take out a catch and release bank ticket.  This encouraged another couple of hardy (foolhardy?) souls to do likewise.  Parking in the other car park we walked up the far bank towards Laird’s Bay.  It was not a cold wind and, nearing the bay, a few fish could be seen moving within casting distance of the shore.  Our courage (stupidity?) was rewarded, by 8 fish caught and several others lost in the next two hours, to dries and buzzers.

Unfortunately, the hoped for calm didn’t materialise and indeed the wind continued to get stronger and colder.  Common agreement led to a cessation of hostilities at 8.00 pm, however we were all pleased that we had made the effort and were very impressed by the quality of fish caught.  Let’s hope that the July outing affords us kinder conditions.