A famous Scottish writer once wrote “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant”.
I thought this quite apt after a week of changeable weather at Lochter where the ability and willingness to try different tactics and flies, sometimes on an hourly basis, bore the most fruit in the end.
Nymphs, particularly gold head or olive were consistently found to be working well, Terry Daniels from Ythanbank got 15 fish. Raymond Alexander from Aberdeen 9, and E Ross from Stonehaven 6 for his day.
Another stand out during the weeks was the fritz in either black or green hue.
The fly box in the bothy, for these lures, has been constantly ravaged and Bert, who expertly ties them, has been pulling his hair out to keep up with demand.
Using these deadly lures during the week was M Lewis with 13 fish, John Gault from Banchory with 9 fish and Ian Ironside from Dyce with 8 fish.
A selection of other flies that worked during the week were- Ian Findlay who got 11 on a green eyed devil, Kevin Martin with 8 on a black WSW, G Addison with 13 on a selection of buzzers and S Argo with 12 on a cat’s whisker.
A special mention to ten year old Craig Stuart from Ellon who caught a lovely 4lb 2oz fish while on an outing with his grandfather Ron Reid. A junior trout master badge will be winging its way to him in the near future.
Sunday saw the annual Inverurie V Kintore competition when 18 anglers fished the Muckle Troot in a competitive but very friendly encounter,
At the end of the day Inverurie were the victors this year, and well done to all those who took part.
A reminder that the Winter League starts in November with the same format as last year. It is a singles competition whereby you fish one day of your choosing a month and the weight of the two best fish you catch is recorded. There is a capped weight of 5lb per fish.
In April there is the final where all the competitors get together for a ‘fish off’ where the weight of your first two fish plus any other fish you catch that day are added to your accrued weights to determine the winner.
Dave Taylor was last year deserved winner and I’ve heard he’s already looking out his thermals for the challenge ahead.
I conclude as I started with another famous Scottish writers take on fishing which I think is very apt.
“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope”.
