Driving up, we were met with some frost and icy puddles on the approach road. It was cold, but still relatively calm, pending the arrival of Storm Dave, later in the afternoon. I was the lone ranger for the day, as Stewart Barnes couldn’t make it. I set off, and turned left down towards the sign/buoy on the South Shore. I started my first drift, heading back towards the Lodge. I was on a Di 3 and I had a booby on the point with a Diawl Bach in the middle and a Clan Chief on the top dropper. Within 5 minutes I had my first fish, a good 3 – 4 lb, to the cat booby on point. I fished away at this point, both sides of the buoy. It was calm, but the wind did swirl round on occasion. By about 10 a.m. there was some sign of fish starting to move, and I was able to cover one which immediately took my cat booby on the surface like a beautifully presented dry fly! As a result of the swirling wind, rather than drifting I continued to be blown around the area of the buoy and the fish stopped rising as quickly as they had started. I opted to try a quill-bodied cormorant, tied with coral marabou as the wing. With my first cast I got my third rainbow, which again was at least 4 lb. Great trout.
I continued to fish a small area, either side of the buoy, and quickly had another to the cormorant. It started to get a little busy along the south shore, so I went for a sail and moved up to the dam, starting to fish back to the lodge. The water was remarkably low, revealing rocky areas I had not seen before. A few of the bank anglers were up this end, which made it difficult to fish close in to the shore. The wind started to pick up, and it was icy cold. I fished on, drifting back towards the lodge until about 12.45 p.m., at which point the snow started and the lure of the lodge became too much. I retired early to the lodge for lunch by the new wood burner stove. The Bothwell and Blantyre club were already ensconced in there. We exchanged a few stories and all agreed we would not to be going back out. New boatman, Douglas McLeish would need to settle for a retrospective catch return. All the other club boats had bravely fished on but they did eventually submit and came off, early afternoon.
Despite the weather, the catch return was very respectable, with our 11 rods returning a total of 44 fish.
Keith Logan adds…
It was a surprisingly bright but unsurprisingly cold start for our outing to Frandy. The car park was busy which shows that the fishery remains a popular for many clubs and bank anglers at this time of the season. The forecast for the day stated that there was a strong likelihood of snow blizzards courtesy of Storm Dave later in the afternoon. There were a few outbreaks of patchy sunshine particularly in the morning but as the day progressed ominous clouds were gathering in the surrounding hills.
However, the conditions were OK as long as you were prepared and had a decent pair of waterproof fingerless gloves and several layers to protect against the wind chill.
Since Gleneagles have taken over running of the fishery there have been a number of developments, one has been the construction of a water sports facility, the addition of a stand-alone sauna and fairly substantial investment in the fishing lodge which now includes a seated terrace area overlooking the surrounding hills and loch. In addition the boat jetty has been significantly improved making access in and out of the boats much better. Access from the lodge to the boats though remains a challenge although it seems they will be improving the track as well.
I was partnered with Jimmy Anderson, last season we were paired together on a few occasions but each time the outing was cancelled due to the conditions so this would be a good chance to catch-up and hopefully catch a few fish. What was interesting to note once again even at this time of season that anglers seemed to have a preference for the bung, particularly the bank anglers which is maybe understandable.
It was another good turnout for the club given the conditions we had 6 boats, Mel was our lone ranger for the day.
The South shore tends to get fairly busy early in the season with bank anglers and they tend to congregate from the pier down towards the dam end. The water was in great condition, crystal clear and there was even signs of some minnows around the boats and evidence of a few buzzer shucks.
As is typical boats spread out fairly quickly some heading to the top narrows and some towards the dam. We started our drift at the beginning in the long stretch to the left of the pier heading up toward the buoy. We were advised that the fish unusually were not hogging the shore line but were holding 15-20 yards out. It was a pretty slow start but we managed to pick up three fish pulling early season lures and cormorants, black and green being the optimal colours. The fish were in good condition, there was even occasional buzzers hatching with the odd rising fish. Preferred lines were of the dark variety, Di-3 and Di-5 sweeps being preferred. However, a few mini-tips were being employed Jimmy started with a 6ft tip.
It was encouraging to see a few of our rods bending quite regularly, very sporting start. Allan and Peter disappeared down to the burn mouth in the top end and returned with a good bag of fish, mostly to the Di-5 working their way right down the North Shore into the main basin. Bob had another good day on Frandy pulling one of his unusual black fritz lures tied on his jig hooks, very effective pattern!!
We could see further along the shore Mel having a good bit of sport beyond the buoy and out into the open water. We thought we would go down and explore a bit further and sure enough there were fish holding in the shallows in the area and Jimmy and I picked away at them for the rest of the day, we dropped quite a few in the process but good sport.
Alas, the weather took a turn for the worse, the temperature fell away sharply and the blizzard arrived with a vengeance. Bothwell and Blantyre did the smart thing and had retreated to the log fire in the lodge for some respite and never returned to the fray, Mel did likewise. Most boats by early afternoon had finished sharp, the comfort of the heated front seat too much of a draw. Jimmy was better prepared than me with some decent gloves, I finally lost all feeling in my fingers so we also retired early. Nevertheless, the 44 fish for 11 rods, giving an average of exactly 4, was very respectable, given the Arctic conditions.
