The whole "big stillwater" / "small stillwater" thing is fascinating!
There aren't any waters in Aberdeenshire that one would call a big stillwater, so local anglers tend to do most of their fishing on our local small stillwaters and rivers. But they do venture further afield sometimes too, fishing the likes of Menteith, Leven, Northird, Lintrathen, Carron Valley etc, where in my experience they enjoy their fishing very much. There are also a fairly good number who venture down the road to take part in some of the bigger competitions on the likes of Rutland, they certainly seem to enjoy their fishing on these waters too and frequently do well in the competitions
I think one of the funniest ( although worrying
) things that I have had to deal with this year, was one of the days I had two visiting anglers on the water who appeared to be experienced enough, they had boat boxes, badges on the back of their vests and they had two rods set up each with different lines etc, they showed me boxes and boxes of all the latest flies that they had tied and they certainly were not beginners. They had taken the 6 hour fishing session, but came storming off their boat after less than 4 hours, proceeding to raise their voices and swear about the fishing on small fisheries like this one being far too easy and they would not be back. Now, one had caught 3 fish and the other had caught 4, so what was all that about? ...... and they wouldn't give me their names for the catch return sheets either, off they went, back to their cars, never to be seen again
A couple of the regulars had been doing rather well that morning and one of the juniors had netted around 20 fish before they left, so yes, three anglers were enjoying some good sport ....... but just why this should annoy the two visiting anglers is totally beyond me
There are far too many opinions and preconceived ideas about "big stillwaters, small stillwaters, wild lochs, wild rivers" etc etc .......... forget them .......... and enjoy your fishing!
Best wishes
Mike
