Monday, 19th May

Lake of Menteith, Day Session

Still stuck in the run of cool easterlies that used to occur once per decade, but now seem to occur every other year.  I just checked the 5-day forecast.  Tuesday - it's to be out the east, Wednesday - east, Thursday - east, Friday - east, and Saturday - east!  However, the remainder of the conditions for our May trip to Menteith were not at all bad.  Wind light and variable, and apart from some sunny spells mid morning, a good, overcast ceiling.

Bob Allan - into his first of the day on a dry gnat

And though it might have been a bit on the cool side yet, one could not fault the effort put in by the fly life -- buzzers - big ones and small ones, olives, mayflies, and loads of tiny scrot were in evidence.  One also could not fault the effort put in by the fish to feed up top.  The main item apparent in the surface film was big buzzer shucks, although the only fish we chapped had but a few small buzzer pupae in it.  Bob Allan and I set out our stall to fish dries, after finding a good number of early risers up the side of Dog Island.  However, it quickly became clear that it was not going to be case of 'Help-yourselves, lads'.  We found it tough.  Not impossible - we did catch fish, but it seemed like you needed to cover 200 to get one to take your fly down and hang on till you lifted.

Early action between Stable Point and the Malling Shore

From our perspective, it seemed that the main stumbling block to us filling our boots was that almost every fish that rose was only up the once.  Didn't matter if you covered it or not.  Watch one rise and wait for it to come up again to get a bead on it...   no show.  No second show, again and again and again.  And nothing coming to you out the blue, either.  Eventually, a fish would take the fly down, but when you lifted - fresh air!  Start again... The best of what we had was to black Shipman and black Klinkhammer.  Great challenge though, and it's what fishing is all about.  I would not have swapped it for a day pulling them out on a cat's whiskers and sinking line. 

The Menteith Hills and Port of Menteith

It became clear, when we analysed it all after the event, that the fish in different areas had behaved differently.  Our boats, by happenstance, divided into those concentrating on fishing dry fly and those concentrating on fishing nymphs.  Best boat was that of Boyd Scott and Trevor Gibson, who went with buzzers on a washing line set-up (booby on the tail to keep them high in the water).  They concentrated on the Tod Hole to Butts area.  Dougie Goddard was another to catch on the washing line.  John Levy and Hugh Thomson did nearly as well as the washing liners, just fishing buzzers and Diawl Bachs, slowly, on floating lines in the Road Shore/International Bay area.

Dougie Skedd and Ed Green meander into Sandy Bay

Stewart Barnes and Eric Singer got off to a great start at Road Shore/International Bay, though they dropped more than they landed.  They mixed it up more than the others, wish a fish or two to floater and intermediate... lure, buzzer, damsel, cormorant.  They lost their way a bit as the day wore on (I can sympathise!).

One for the Diawl Bach

That left a couple of boats who, like us, had concentrated on dry fly.  Dougie Skedd and Ed Green fished at the Heronry, Stable Point and Lochend, and did about as well and Bob and I did over the day.  Best of the action to dry fly went to Tommy Steven and Bob Whyte.  They had second best boat, fishing at Sam's Point.  Flies on their list (size 14): black Shipman, CDC hare's ear, sparkle gnat, sparkle dun and olive comparadun.

The Club's 15 rods landed 55 fish.

Photos: Canon 40D with (images 1-4) 24-105 mm IS and (images 5 & 6) 55-250 IS lenses