Not much of interest to report from this outing. However, my observation is that in general if it’s still too hot to enjoy a BBQ and a couple of cool beers in the back garden it’s definitely too hot to fish. However, our conditions were almost perfect on our arrival, with a gentle south-westerly breeze and finally some cloud cover: definitely more comfortable than our most recent outings! The Lake car park was unusually quiet, which was maybe a combination of holidays or just tough fishing – we suspected the latter. It’s going to take a long period of cooler weather to trigger some fish activity: one day is clearly never going to be sufficient.
Again, little evidence of much insect activity. Thankfully, this also meant few midges and even fewer horseflies!
Fly life didn’t really come into our thinking. Tactics from our hardy bunch of anglers were clear from the outset, with Di-7 the go-to line. The areas of interest to most were the deepest parts of the loch. Keeping your flies fishing in front of the boat while fishing static with the prevailing wind was going to be tricky. Ed and June thought they might struggle getting down to the fish with their Di-4’s, but you just never know.
Most boats headed up towards Gateside, or towards the gap between Arnmach point and Inchmahome Island. After my recent struggles, I thought today might be the Di-7 day, its last outing was Loch Leven a few seasons ago, where I probably blanked! My set-up courtesy of Jimmypedia was three buzzers: two size 10s, a size 12, and a sunburst blob. His advice was to cast as far as you can, count down to infinity and back, and then sort of hold on. I joined the armada in Gateside. Boats were spread right across the east end of the bay from stable point to the rope. Most boats were using drogues, which would not be the case on a normal day. There were occasional fish showing, but only oncers. It wasn’t at all tempting to consider coming higher in the water, since we were desperate men looking for desperate fish.
There was all sort of stuff going on: roly-poly retrieves, fast stripping, very slow and static. But some fish were being caught, right across the bay. Something about Di-5 sweep with snakes was being muttered… damsels and buzzers almost as much! I didn’t feel comfortable with my Di-7 approach, but enjoyed some promising drifts, albeit with little or no encouragement. I saw Dougie Goddard (surely now becoming our deep water expert), out fishing with Alan Duncan, net what looked a good trout, fishing along the rope. I managed my first trout to a simple black/silver buzzer on the point that I reckon must have been hanging about 30ft down. It was very quiet, but there was enough interest around, with a couple of other boats catching consistently from about half-way, across to the burn mouth… where the odd fish was still showing!
I got another to the same buzzer, then changed to Di-5 sweep with a booby on the point. In what was an effort to keep me awake, another two fish and a good pike were accounted for, from a short-lived sortie up Mallin Shore. Bob Whyte managed a couple out from Inchmahome, also on Di-7. Ed and June both caught one each, while Dougie definitely got the prize for most species: a trout, a perch and a roach!
The club ended with 9 fish for our 9 rods.
