Down Lochter way last Sunday saw unending piscatorial action as 24 local and dedicated anglers took part in the Lochter Spring Pairs Competition held on the Osprey Loch.
There was a fairly stiff cold north wind keeping a constant ripple on the water and with very few fish showing on the top surface there would have been many thoughts that it was going to be a tough day for tempting trout.
However these thoughts were quickly dispelled as many competitors were into a fish on the first peg and Cliff Collie was the first to land one and was the lucky recipient of an excellent bottle of vino for his effort.
Fish were being caught in all areas of the loch throughout the competition so interest and excitement was maintained through to the final whistle and Rod Palmer was rewarded with a bottle of ‘fizz’ for catching the last fish.
After the final whistle the score cards were handed in and the competitors then enjoyed a warmingly welcome lunch as the scores were totalled up.
With £500 in prize money to be divvied up between the top 5 pairs there was much anticipation for the result.
The competition was on a catch and release basis with 2 points allocated for the first fish caught at a peg then one point for subsequent fish at the same peg, then consistency at each peg would greatly pay off.
Lochter’s Fishery manager, Stuart Patterson had the pleasure of announcing the results and with a resounding victory were Paul Sharp and Andy Barrowman on 63 points, 2nd on 46 points were Neil Scowen and Matthew Will, 3rd on 43 points Stuart Crockett and David Fong, 4th on 17 points Ronnie Ewen and Pete Green and 5th on 16 points Stuart Howie and Mike Skene.
So well done to all the competitors who took part in the friendly and fun event!
During last week the cooler conditions kept the hands a bit cold but this was offset somewhat by some eager feeding fish, which led to some fine sports.
Peter Young fished the Muckle Trout Loch using a combination of lures and blobs and he was rewarded for his all day session with 23 fish. Albert Trail from Aberdeen had 2 sessions during the week and he had 19 and 10 fish respectfully using buzzers, diawl bachs and mops. Neil Garden landed 17 fish skilfully presenting a team of buzzers and Dave Mackay used a buzzer and spider combination to lure 13 fish to the net, his biggest a nice 5lb specimen.
Graham Duthie was well chuffed landing a 7lb fish on a buzzer and he had a further 17 fish by the method for this session. Other returns were Michael MacPherson with 16 fish on okay dokay’s, Jim Gilmore with 15 fish on buzzers, Andrew MacPherson with 11 on squilmies and Jim Reynolds was 9 on cormorants with one of his fish being 11lb and it led him a merry dance all around the Muckle Troot until he successfully got it to the net.
So all in all, buzzers and small nymphs seemed to be the most effective method of last week and we are now open in the evenings to extend your potential for piscatorial pleasures with added hope of an evening rise.
Tight lines,
S.P 9/4/19.
