Saturday, 29th July

Butterstone Loch, Day Session

Cardney House provides the backdrop for John Gibson and Stewart Barnes (though they probably can't see it from there!)

Heatwave time -- and a good one too.  Must be the hottest July in Scotland for some years.  Many fisheries are starting to suffer, with temperatures going above the critical 21-22 degrees that causes trout to become inactive and/or head for cooler, deeper water.  Butterstone was just about keeping it together.  The word was to fish the deeper water with sinking lines.  In fact, fish were caught in water of all depths, and by our boys on the following lines:  Floater, intermediate, WetCel II, DI-3, DI-7 and DI-8.

There were a few genuine rises in the first half hour or so, and I put up a rod with dries and gave it a good drift of a try, but to no avail.  There wasn't much on the surface to tempt them back, despite perfect conditions, and the only feeding reported was by Stewart Barnes, who's first fish was stuffed with Corixae.

As mentioned, conditions were to die for: dull and slightly misty, not too hot, in fact fresher than of late, with a light to moderate easterly breeze.

Tommy Steven with one to the booby and DI-7

Flies-wise, boobies seemed to be the order of the day, accounting for at least 65% of our catch.  Size and colour was about as varied as it gets.  Our boat took our fish on small, 10s-ish ones, in black, orange and white, while Tommy Steven said he got his on a huge orange and yellow one (it must have been big!).  Tommy stuck to anchoring in shallower water, and he and boat partner John Dewar took 6 fish, with John's successful pattern being an orange tadpole.

Dougie Skedd and Bob Allan had a brace apiece to boobies, anchored on the drop-off to deep water on the east shore.  Adam Marr and I had 5 of our 6 fish to boobies as well, though we found we did much better drifting than anchoring, and we concentrated on doing long drifts straight down the middle of the loch, over the deeper water (18-24 feet).  Adam had more success in the morning with a CetCel II, while I did better in the afternoon on a DI-8, so it seemed that the fish went deeper as the day wore on.

Another on the booby -- this time to Adam Marr

It wasn't quite all lurid stuff, though.  John Miller had a fish on a buzzer, and Stewart Barnes took a brace to a small damsel on DI-3 and intermediate lines.

Although 6 was the best any of our boats could manage, the other club that was out had one boat with 9 and I suspect one boat may have had more than that, judging by the number of times we saw their rods go over.

Our 12 rods caught 20 fish.

Adam Marr was over on his annual holiday from his home in Hong Kong.  Adam likes his digital photography.  He was looking forward to some nice light for shooting -- he was saying the air in Hong Kong either gives you harsh sunlight, or damp and murky conditions.  Added to which, there is no 'golden hour' like we get -- twilight lasts 5 minutes.  So, what did we get for his one trip with the club?  Dull, flat, cold light all day!  Not to be put off, Adam brought his Nikon along, plus at least 3 more lenses than I take on fishing trips.  There's dedication.  I've put a few of Adam's shots on a separate page.  I would have put up more, but most of them were of me!  Need to pick a better-looking model, Ad.

Photos: Canon 10D with 28-135 IS lens