Sunday, 20th April
Linlithgow Loch, Day Session
A nice ripple for swinging buzzers
We might have created a new minor tactic today: white-water buzzer fishing! It was bad enough that we were still cursed with cold easterlies in late April. Oh well, at least easterlies don't get up to much strength. Enter us. Bugger! Given the sort of conditions illustrated above, the wise move would probably have been to stick to something on sunk line -- boobies on a DI-3, a damsel on a slime line... that kind of thing. However, most of us went out for a days buzzer fishing -- as you do! And we were damned if a little thing like a 20 mph easterly was going to deny us. There were a few of the big Linlithgow buzzers coming off, and spoonings showed that at least a few of the fish were feeding on them.
Trevor Gibson and Fraser Gault with an early 2s-up
In fairness, it wasn't too bad at the start. And Trevor and Fraser were straight into action in the west bay. Trevor was on his usual 'tached-up buzzers, while Fraser took his fish to Diawl Bachs. Dougie Goddard and I were just a bit further into the shallows and we started to pick up fish after we added a bit weight to the tail fly (in my case a Blakeston's buzzer). Except Dougie dropped his first one well into play, then the next, and then the next. Then the wind really got up, and we lost our anchorage (both anchors!). Then Dougie's hat blew off, and we thought we had lost it. Then... and this is spooky... it came back towards the boat! It really did. Never seen anything like it. We netted it out. Dougie was so relieved. By now, any attempt to cast out to the side for a swing was instantly turned into a straight down the wind job. The fishing tailed-off anyway, and we knew we should be trying something different, but also knew that any attempt to change would be fankle suicide.
Another 2s-up. This time for the Macs
Meanwhile, Ian and Gavin Macdonald had gone up the east end for a bit of shelter, but had had a wasted 2 hours up there. When they came back down, Gavin got one of those spells that buzzer fishing can produce when you get tuned in. He took 5 fish in 5 casts! Gav was on black buzzers and a wee damsel. Boyd Scott took 3 more to buzzers, while boat partner Hugh Thomson went with what was probably a more sensible approach to the day, taking 4 on a cormorant and sink-tip line.
Boyd Scott's trusty fibreglass rod is put to the test
John Levy and Eric Singer gave up on town bay and tried tucking-up close in to the north shore. They also switched from buzzers and that did the trick, as they proceeded to take a bag to green fritz lures. By mid afternoon most of the boats had tucked up under the Palace bank/town bay area to get as much shelter as was going. But the whole area was dead. Things were not looking good for Dougie, and he was ruing those lost fish earlier in the day. We gave up on buzzers ourselves, and tried some different stuff -- washing lines, boobies, goldheads... nothing. Then, with the last few minutes on the clock, success! A fish on a yellow goldhead fritz lure broke Dougie's duck with his last cast of the day!
Dougie Goddard - with fish and hat - a happy man
Tommy Steven and John Miller had fished until early afternoon in the west end, then made the brave decision to fight their way upwind to the east end. A bold move, but it paid off in spades. Having had only a couple of fish before their move (and given that the afternoon was a total write-off for the west end), they got into fish in the north east bay. Time ran out on them when they were still catching, but they finished top boat with a dozen, taken to buzzers and bloodworm patterns.
The club's 14 rods had a highly creditable 52 fish (and, thanks to Dougie's yellow fritz, no blanks!)
Photos: Canon 40D with EF-S 55-250 mm IS lens.
Most shots taken at ISO 200 or 400 -- even with IS, there was a bit too much rock and roll to risk anything but fast shutter speeds!
