Sunday, 26th August

Coldingham Loch, Day Session

Bob Allan and Ed Green, with the loch to themselves for the first 10 minutes

A game of 2 halves, well 3 halves really.  Weather-wise, the first 2 thirds of the day were bright and breezy, though the sun added some much needed warmth.  Although it clouded over nicely later on, with the wind dropping into the bargain, these improvements were offset by a drop in temperature when the sun went in.  The conditions were reflected in the way the day went, fishing-wise.  Early on, both dries and nymphs were working well.  As the sun climbed, it got a lot quieter all round, but as the cloud came over the dries came into their own.

Greg Milne readies the net for Bob Whyte

Douglas told us that Saturday had been good for dries, with a fall of small Bibionids coming down the top arm and getting the fish on the pop.  That was music to my ears, as the weather on Saturday had not been anything to write home about.  I went with a size 14 mkII black Klinkhammer on the dropper and a black pearly-wing bits on the point.  The Klinkie worked really well, and while the Bits did a... er... bit, it wasn't holding its place in the team and was subbed, firstly by a daddy-long-legs (offers, but nothing sticking), then an emerger-style claret Klinkhammer (worth a fish), and finally a black hopper (worth a couple).

Hugh Thomson with a nicely conditioned fish

In the boat with me was guest Hugh Thomson.  Hugh fished hare's ear nymphs and slim, nymphy-style wets, giving them a slow retrieve on the floater.  This worked very well in spells.  Hugh and I (who remembers 'Hugh and I'?)  spent all day drifting from the very top of the west arm, down the arm until we ran out of fish.  That seemed to happen quite quickly, causing us to concentrate on short drifts.  Bob Whyte and Greg Milne did likewise, with Bob tuning into the dry fly action on olive Klinkhammer and deer-hair emerger.

Greg and Bob get into a bit of a strammash

Bob Allan had got off to a flier, having boated 2 while I was still settling up with Douglas.  He and guest Ed Green parked-up above the cages and had early sport to nymphs (Diawl Bach).  As nymphing lost its way later in the day, they came up to join us at the top of the arm.  Bob tried his hand at dry fly fishing, and had his first success with the method, taking 3 on an emerger pattern.

Tommy Steven and Dougie Goddard fished down towards Swing-gate Bay early on, but without much success.  Later on, they came up the west arm (getting busy by now!) and got tuned-in, figure-of-eighting dries at anchor.  They returned 11 between them, mostly taken to a dry Bibio.

Tommy Steven with one in the corner

Euan Cluness took a long time to get tuned in, but he had a really good late run on dry fly, tucked in to the quieter water behind the copse.  Euan's fish came to an olive hopper and a Klinkhammer.  Boat partner Eric Singer would have done better if he had realised he was fishing his daddy-long-legs on a broken hook!

That left Trevor Gibson and Adam Marr.  They fished at anchor against the eastern high bank early on, where Trevor's 'taching technique worked well with Diawl Bachs.  Later, when nymphing was struggling, they went on the drift with dries, and Adam then got into top gear with a hare's ear CDC.

The Club's 12 rods landed a total of 59 fish

Photos:  Canon 10D

Image 1 = Sigma 10-20 mm