Down Lochter way last week amongst the tranquil Winter surroundings gilded with some seasonal sunshine there could be heard throughout the week the unmistakable noise that every angler hopes for:- that of line being stripped from your reel at an unestimatable speed towards the centre of the loch.
This is usually the point where you find the line is wrapped around your finger, you are standing on your line and the tangle in your line in the reel that you were going to sort comes into play with many a pinging noise being heard followed by assorted oaths and utterances with the occasional rod being thrown down onto the grass.
However our loyal band of Lochter regulars seems to have this now sussed as there were some fine fish landed throughout the week with minimum of fuss.
Colin McDonald led the line with 23 fish for his session with one of them being a splendid 15lb 3oz specimen. He also had a couple in the 10lb and 8lb range all taken on cormorants.
Simon Ruddiman from Aberdeen had one of his best sessions ever at Lochter as he brought 21 fish to the net using bloodworm and diawl bachs, his biggest being in the 6lb range.
L Cromar had 18 fish; his biggest being 8lb taken either on the black blob or mop fly.
Matthew Reilly from Ellon, no doubt itching for the river season to open again, fished a buzzer and bug combination, which got him 17 fish for his day.
Rod Palmer came out in fine fishing conditions and he was rewarded with 17 fish skilfully caught using the apps bloodworm and diawl bachs.
On the dozen mark were Peter Young who left nothing to chance by using blobs, bunny leeches, buzzers and assorted other lures and Keith Little who used black nomads and semtex lures and he was well chuffed when he managed to land a well wintered 8lb fish.
Eleven fish seemed to be the lucky number last week as R Michie had them on the pink bunny leeches, Bill Wood on the mop fly, diawl bach and dancer lures, John Maybury on the buzzer and mop fly, C Murdoch on the blob and buzzers, Billy Ferries on the mop fly including one at 11lb and Keith Bruce on cormorants with his biggest fish being 10lb and 2oz.
G Naylor had 10 fish for his session on the WSW and blob. Brian Ross fished the bloodworm to get 9 fish one being a lovely 9lb specimen and Keith Wilson had 8 fish and he kept 2 fish for 12lb in weight destined for the smoker.
So all in all an exceptional week of fishing for the time of year and with another stocking of fish this week to reward the loyalty of our customers then things should keep ticking over which is in keeping with our more understated Lochter style.
Tight lines,
S.P 28/1/20.
