Hi folks
It's been a cracking week for many reasons, Autumn has arrived in all its splendor and even though I'm there every day, I still get that "wow" feeling sometimes when I see the loch in the morning! There have been a lot of personal bests this week too, Ewan Lindsay releasing a cracking 5 lb Brownie which is the largest one caught since Haddo opened, Tammie from Alexandria (USA) catching her first trout on the fly, young Jay Scott catching 35 fish New Zealand style, Dave Davies netting a nice 12 lb rainbow ( a "Hamlet" moment Dave ) and Jim Adie's Winter League entry of 47 fish in a 4 hr session!
Now before anybody gets a tad excited at these numbers and suggests that the fishing might be too easy
The fishery has been very busy this week and a good number of anglers have found the fishing frustrating. The leaves are falling on the water and these are carrying all manner of beasties, the fish are feeding hard near the surface obviously and they are not easy to catch, on the days where one or two anglers have enjoyed fantastic sport, there have been other fishers on the water struggling to catch a couple of fish!
I'm sure many of you will have read comments about the fish at a "catch & release" water becoming impossible to catch ......... well in my experience and my humble opinion, these are the fish which can produce such fantastic sport to the angler that finds the answer to the jigsaw puzzle on the day
Top rod this week was obviously Jim Adie with 47 fish up to 9 lb for his session, Jay Scott tempted 35 up to 7 lb, Dave Batty 21 up to 3 lb, Jim Ryl 19 to 5 lb, Dave Mackay 15 to 3 lb, Ewan Lindsay 14 to 9 lb, Dave Davies 12 to 12 lb, Colin Grieve 12 to 6 lb, Marc Brown 12 to 4 lb, John Grieve 12 to 3 lb, David Bruce 11 to 7 lb, Steven Grant 11 to 7 lb, Geoff Crowson 11 to 5 lb, Fred McAlley 11 to 5 lb, Graham Herd 10 to 6 lb, Greg Langan 10 to 5 lb and Irvine Ross enjoyed some good sport too with 10 fish up to 3 lb.
So what has been on the menu? A good variety of flies really, with Spiders, Crunchers, Diawl Bachs, Bloodworm, Damsels, Black Pennells and Buzzers all proving productive, especially if they have some sort of lime hot spot
This wee family of swans paid the loch a visit on Friday and the adults spent the whole day puffing up their feathers, sticking out their chests and chasing the two resident swans round and round. The battle went on for most of the day and in the end, the two residents gave in and flew off
Now these birds had used an amazing amount of energy to gain this new territory ......... and when I arrived at the loch on Saturday morning they had gone! There has been no sign of the residents returning since then either, nature can be very strange sometimes
Best wishes
Mike
( edit = add photos )