Sunday, 18th June

Linlithgow Loch, Day Session

Stewart Barnes reports...

Regrettably, this report is missing any photographs, as our usual reporter has been enjoying the fishing at Blagdon and Chew Valley over the past week. Even more regrettably, the report is missing a lot of fish too, particularly from your substitute correspondent, who returned a resounding blank on his first outing in 8 weeks, indeed ending up without even an offer.  The fact that Club Champion Tommy Steven was in the same boat, in both meanings of the term, wasn’t a lot of consolation.

The day looked really promising - mild, overcast, steady ripple, exactly what you would have wanted on a June day at Linlithgow.  When John Robertson’s rod was seen bending seconds after he started fishing, hopes were high, particularly as he was fishing buzzers.  However, this turned out to be a false dawn and his first fish also turned out to be his last.  Gradually, the true picture started to materialise.  Firstly, there were a lot of boats still tied to the jetty.  Secondly there was a lot of boat movement about the loch, and thirdly, by lunchtime there were a lot of big zeros being signalled between boats.  It is difficult to put a finger on the problem.  The water was reasonably clear but was certainly very warm and a few distressed fish were seen jumping out of the water early in the day.  Linlithgow normally carries a good head of stock so that shouldn’t have been an issue.  The general opinion was that the fish simply weren’t in the mood, which, on what appeared to be such a good fishing day, was very disappointing.  The fact that the afternoon turned into a very wet one didn’t help matters, and, although this is the extended outing at Linlithgow, very few stayed the pace until 6.00 pm.

Some members deserve praise for their perseverance and did manage the odd fish.  Top rod was Trevor Gibson with three trout.  One was taken on a buzzer, but he stuck mainly to Hi D and booby tactics.  His guest Gary Heseltine caught two on DI3 and booby, making them by far the best boat.  Euan Cluness managed two on what one might have thought was an unlikely tactic -- traditionals and floater. Other anglers managed one fish, but blanks were all too common.  Needless to say no-one opted to stay on after the weigh-in.