Sunday, 25th June

Lindores Loch, Day Session

Having had plenty warm, overcast days recently, it was very frustrating to get a cold, stiff easterly, and bright sunshine, for our June trip to Lindores.  The word was to fish dries, regardless of the conditions.  I remembered that one of the reasons we had such a hard time of it on the ill-fated outing last year (when the club landed just 2 fish) was that we didn't fish high enough in the water.  On that occasion the water was very coloured, and it didn't seem an option to fish dries.  Perhaps we should have.  On this occasion the water was beautifully clear, and Stewart Barnes and I both opted to go with the advice and we started on dries.  I'm glad we did, as we didn't fish anything else all day.  A fish landed, and another turned on the first short drift put our minds at rest regarding the cool, bright conditions.

Stewart Barnes returns one that fell to the half-hog

Spooning the first one showed it had been feeding well, mostly on large buzzer shucks, but with some big pupae present, a few still kicking.  I like a ginger Shipman for a shuck imitation, and I put one on, together with a claret Klinkhammer and an Adams hopper (12).  Apart from a covered riser that took the Klinkie, it was the hopper that was getting all the action.  Probably the shucks had all been mopped up at first light.  The surface was pretty clean, with just the odd big buzzer hatching (the Adams was bang-on as a match).  At the other end of the boat, Stewart was doing equally well.  He had put on a hare's ear hopper and a half-hog (12), and was getting fish to both.  As the breeze was stiffening all the while, I changed the Shipman for a full-on sedge-hog (10).  Wow!  Instant success.  Should have changed about 3 drifts ago.  The Adams hopper and the sedgehog shared the work from that point on.  The sport was evenly spread throughout the day, with brief flurries when an odd cloud passed over the sun.

Nice fish, shame about the boat race

The fish were cracking quality residents, some of which let the backing joint see daylight.  The offers we got were an amazing array.  Some just sucked the fly down with barely a mark if you were not looking closely.  Some did the classic, slow, rolling head-and-tail, as if they had all day to take the fly.  Others came screaming in from across the ripple on an intercept course and hit the fly (or missed it completely) as if it was going out of fashion.  No idea what they were on about.  Our conversion rate was not very good, with many fresh-air shots, and others jagged, lost, pinged-off, etc.  We finished with 20 to the boat (most returned), but if we had done better with our chances, it could have been nearly double that.  If you like dry fly fishing, get yourself up to Lindores now!

Tommy Steven also spent the day on dries, taking 9 to Claret Hopper and CDC Daddy, both size 10.  The fish were essentially right down the middle of the loch, with a couple of hot-spots: level with the island, and about 150 yards directly the far side of the island.

Bob Norris gets pulled out his seat by a live one

Others had success with alternative methods.  Trevor Gibson had his fish to snatchers, while Dougie Skedd and Bob Norris both had a bag fishing Chew/Blagdon-style: floating line, with a team of Diawl Bachs, fished static on the drift -- just take up the slack as the boat moves forward.

Our 10 rods landed 45 fish.  Excellent, given the rubbish conditions.

Photos:  Canon 10D with 28-135mm IS lens and polarising filter