COLDINGHAM LOCH  2nd May

JSB reports... Conditions were mixed for our first visit of 2009 to Coldingham, with clear water and a temperature of 15 degrees, but only occasional cloud cover and a strongish NW wind.  This meant that the fishable areas were restricted and anchoring up was the order of the day, mainly in or near Boathouse Bay.

Although there weren’t many buzzers showing, Trevor Gibson managed 8 with this pattern on the “tache”, while his boat partner Bob Whyte took a different route, figure of eighting Diawl Bachs and damsel for 6.  Tom Steven went with buzzers for 5 and Boyd Scott also took 5 with again a figure of eight retrieve at various levels.

The Club’s 13 rods took a total of 39 rainbows, most of which were returned.

 

 

LINLITHGOW 10TH MAY 2009

This outing used to be a full day outing, but due to lack of interest for the evening session we have gone to a 4.00 p.m. finish for 2009.  The day was no more than reasonable for the time of year.  We had a medium wind which varied in direction, but was mainly a North Westerly, which meant it was chilly at times.  Likewise, cloud cover was there for most of the day, but we also had a few sunny spells. 

The word was that the fish were in the Town Bay and virtually all the boats anchored up in this area, fishing the usual mixture of buzzers or lures.  However sport was spasmodic early on, which encouraged the boat of Tommy Steven and Stewart Barnes to head off to the East end where they hoped to contact some of the more residential inhabitants.  This proved a good move as they finished up as the top boat with 9 fish, most of which were lovely residents in the 3 to 4 lb class.  Their total should have been better as Stewart lost 4 fish including 2 breakages. Buzzer pupae did the business in Tommy’s case, while a mixture of Diawl Bachs and small damsels worked for Stewart, both on floating lines.  Meanwhile, the only member to do well at the West end was the ever reliable Ian Macdonald, who used a mixture of buzzers and lures to finish equal top rod with Tommy Steven on 7 fish.

The club finished up with a rather disappointing total of 36 fish for the 15 rods.

 

 

Lake of Menteith, 18th May

Thankfully, the problems experienced recently by the Lake management seem to have passed.  Don't know if the exact problem was ever identified but, fingers crossed they have seen the last of it!

We were not sure what to expect in they way of stockies vs residents.  Conditions were good at the start, and Quint recommended Sam's Point as a hot spot, so Bob Allan and I headed there.  Quint also recommended buzzers as a method, so we started with them.  We had a couple of early fish to size 10 buzzers, but all the while there were fish starting to rise between Sam's point and Hotel Bay, and I got fidgety for getting onto dries... and before long I had set up the dry rod with a black Klinkhammer on the dropper and an Adams hopper on the tail.

The number of rising fish continued to increase and, with Bob switching to dries as well, we set about getting tuned in.  The risers were very oncey, so covering them got one take in maybe 20 covers.  Best bet was to play zonal marking.  We had the leccy motor with us and it was invaluable in being able to sidle into little areas where the fish were showing.  Once in position, it was a case of putting out a cast and letting the fish find the fly... which they duly did.

We had great sport with this technique until mid-afternoon, when the breeze got up a bit, the buzzers diminished and it turned bright too, resulting in everything petering out towards the end of the day.

We had a good mix of residents among our catch, so it seems like there are plenty survivors!

Top boat on the day was Dougie Skedd and Ed Green (pictured bottom left).  Dougie had the majority of his fish on a fast glass washing line rig, with cormorants on the droppers doing most of the damage.  Ed took his fish on a size 12 black nymph on the good old Kelly green.

The club's 14 rods caught 56 fish.

  

 

 

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CARRON 24TH MAY 2009

This was a very poorly supported outing from the word go and, with further call–offs in the week beforehand, we ended up with only 4 rods.  It just proves how difficult it is to get things right in booking.  Having booked 6 boats for both Carron outings we were looking for an extra 3 boats for the first one and then had to cancel 4 boats for the second one – who would want to be a secretary?!

Anyway, the four rods that did turn up had a respectable day, considering the conditions.  We started in bright sunshine, in a strongish south westerly wind with a bit of an edge to it.  Happily, we did get some cloud cover later in the morning, but the wind direction meant that if you were fishing the south shore you were faced with swirly conditions, making a steady drift difficult.

Both boats headed up to the west end of the reservoir.  Tommy Steven and Adrian Coats were on Di5 and Di3 respectively and having tried the various bays, ended up at the dam.  Tommy fished Viva and Black Tadpole to finish with 3 browns and 1 rainbow.   Adrian took 3 browns on traditionals.

Bob and Stewart followed a similar route up the south shore, both starting on intermediates with a mixture of traditionals and mini lures.  They did have a go at the north shore for a brief time but this wasn’t productive and they went back into Carron Bay. Bob ended up with 1 rainbow and 1 brown. Stewart had a lovely 1 lb 8 oz brownie within his first couple of casts on a Dunkeld, but within a short time changed to a Di3, which proved the better bet as he finished up with 3 rainbows and 2 browns.  The Dunkeld was responsible for 3 fish while a Yellow Dancer took the other two.  Dougie Skedd’s much vaunted Clan Chief was his only blank fly!

The four rods totalled 5 rainbows and 9 takeable brownies, plus a few small ones.

 

GLENCORSE 31st May 09

On this Sunday the secretary was enjoying the wall to wall sunshine and flat calm conditions of Gifford Golf Course, not too sorry to be missing what he assumed would be a very difficult outing at Glencorse.  However he couldn’t have been more wrong, as the club had a very good outing indeed, proving that the right tactics can overcome the most unwelcome of conditions.  Yes, the major catches fell to the sinking line and lure method, but at least two rainbows fell to a dry fly. 

DI 3 was the main line of choice with the usual selection of popular lures. Dancers and tadpoles of various colours did well, while black and orange appeared in several catches.  A slow draw or figure of eight seemed to be the best retrieves.  The ever popular Road Shore was the best area, although one successful boat stuck it out in the Boathouse and Dam Bays.

Top rods with 10 fish each were John Robertson and Trevor Gibson.  John used a DI3 with black and orange lures, Trevor switched between DI3 and sink tip with a number of different lures.  Tommy Steven was only one fish back, again on a DI3 and tadpoles in black and in sunburst.

The outing was a relatively small one of 9 anglers, but no-one was blank and the four boats with two rods all reached double figures.  The final total was 57 fish and a rod average of  6.3.