BUTTERSTONE 20.3.10

Butterstone was due to open on the 13th March this year, but after weeks of cold weather was still frozen.  Luckily, thanks to some higher temperatures at last, it thawed and allowed us to take part in a re-scheduled Opening Day.  And what a day it was – for the second year in succession we had excellent overhead conditions with reasonable water clarity and a good ripple.  The club made the best of the conditions and we had an excellent catch overall, totalling 102 fish from 12 rods.  For most anglers it was a case of finding where the stock fish were and then enjoying a bonanza, but some stayed away from the crowd and picked up good baskets too.

 

One of these was Tom Steven who, with Bob Temple, drifted the South Shore before anchoring up in Lunan Bay. Tom was easily the top rod with a total of 27 trout, fishing black and yellow lures on a DI-5 with varying speeds of retrieve.  The two Johns – Levy and Miller - had the top boat with 32 fish caught, mainly at Reed End on the South Shore.  JL was second rod, netting 18 fish with a variety of lures, blobs and  buzzers on a floater.  JM wasn’t far behind with 14, mainly on a damsel tadpole with a midge tip line and a very slow retrieve.  Tam Forrest and Len Newby managed 9 each, mainly on Montanas and a slow retrieve on intermediate and slow sinker respectively.  Bob Allan and Stewart Barnes opted for the Road Shore for the early part of the day and thought they were doing OK, but eventually realised that the Lochend Bay held more fish.  They ended up with 15 trout, but managed some of the bigger ones from the Road Shore on intermediate and DI-3 lines.  Stewart caught his mainly on a hot head damsel including a lovely, fin perfect, overwintered 3 pounder, while Bob was successful with the evergreen cat’s whisker. 

 

Just to remind us all that fishing is very unpredictable, one boat with two of our best and most consistent anglers (who shall be nameless) finished clean!

 

LINLITHGOW 28.3.10

Last September’s outing to Linlithgow was completely ruined by a pea soup like explosion of algae, therefore it was with some trepidation that we ventured out on this one.  The algae had finally died out only a few weeks ago, however the water was in reasonable condition, given the fact that it had been stirred up by a strong wind on the previous two days.  Overhead conditions were not attractive as there was still a brisk and cold West wind.  Only the brave few ventured down the East end, despite hearing that there were some good fish to be had in that area, because the temperature had dropped to about 6 degrees minus wind chill.  The day remained dry until about an hour before the finish, when rain set in, sending most boats in for an early finish.

The club had a hard day as the fish did not seem to be in the mood.  The majority of anglers stayed in the Town Bay and that is where most of the fish were caught.  Top rods with 5 fish apiece were:  John Robertson fishing Montanas and a Green Fritz on a DI-3; Trevor Gibson figure of eighting a Mini Cat on an SSI line, mainly from the North Shore area;  Stewart Barnes with his trusty Damsel on the point and a Black and Green Blob, anchored just out from the car park.  Black and Green seemed to be the best colour with a slowish retrieve.  In general, the fish caught were in excellent condition with full tails.  There were several over 3 pounds, the best being caught by Adrian Coats at 5lb 7oz. Top boat with 8 fish was that of Trevor Gibson and Alan Holbrook.  The total fish caught by the club was 33 from 14 rods.