Dougie Skedd reports…
Ah, the joys of our Scottish climate! Last weekend at Harelaw we suffered atrocious conditions of high winds and cold. This weekend we got flat calm and benign temperatures and an odd bit of drizzle. As we were tackling up, fish were moving just beyond the boats. Things were looking better. I was paired with Davy Syme and we started out. Our last outing to Glencorse had been another victim of the weather and we endured trial by ordeal that day. One snippet of information from then was the presence of a large number of fish at the “knuckle” on the reservoir, so that’s where we started.
We both set up with similar stuff. Davy was on a slow intermediate, muskins, a Diawl Bach and a tadpole on the point. Me, a three foot tip, a Diawl Bach, a UV cruncher and a cat booby on the point. It wasn’t long before fish started to come aboard. Mine were coming on the Diawl Bach: a gold holographic ribbed example. Davy’s were on a green-ribbed Diawl Bach. Davy hit a purple patch as we drifted very very slowly down the bank. By the time we had travelled past the hot spot we were ahead of quite a flotilla, with no chance of repeating. So, we decided to try pastures new.
We motored up to the top end of the reservoir. There was the slightest whuffle of breeze raising a pin ripple. There were some fish rising in the ripple, so I thought a wee change of approach might work. I set up dries with a sedgehog on the dropper, as much for a sighter as anything else, and a small shuttlecock on the point. We kept working away and fish kept coming into the boat. Davy’s were now on a muskins, mine on the shuttlecock. The fish were absolute belters. Most two and a half to three and a half but with several quite a bit bigger… and extremely fit and scrappy. Some had personality issues and thought they were tarpon. It’s quite a while since I’ve had fish jump so much. By the end of the session we had nineteen to the boat and that’s a good day’s sport in anyone’s book. More of that please!
The Club’s 14 rods landed 69 fish.
