Lochter Fishery Oldmeldrum played host on Saturday to the Scottish final of the Royal British Legion angling competition. Eight teams from as far apart as Orkney in the north and Dumfries and Galloway in the south,gathered for what turned out to be a highly enjoyable,comradely and closely contested day.The venue was the Muckle Troot Loch and the fishing was steady all day long making it difficult to spot the winners.It was no surprise that when the scores were tallied up at the end of the day the margin was the tiniest possible.The winners with 48lbs were adjudged to be Aberdeen and Banchory with Highlands and Orkney one ounce behind on 47lbs 15oz.Borders and Kelso were third and a nice nine pounder won the prize for the largest fish. Well done to all the ex –servicemen who participated so enthusiastically in the event.
During the week the fishing remained very steady with everything from lures to dries to buzzers to blobs working well at various times. In the early part of the week smaller flies were good. Sandy Reid had nine on diawl bachs and Graham Johnston nine on buzzers then on Thursday John Parsons tempted fifteen with his green and yellow blobs and fishing compatriots Dave Simpson, Dave Ewan and Graham George landed forty seven between them using a shellback olive spider,a black wsw and cormorants.On Friday the three Macduffers caught and released forty three on a white fritz. At the weekend with the temperatures rising the was much more surface activity and John Freeland using dries had the rewarding experience of tempting fifteen up from the depths.
The heatwave affecting the south will not stretch this far north which is bad news for holidaymakers but good news for anglers .The water temperatures remain low ,the fish continue to be very active so prospects, as we move towards the end of June ,remain excellent .
HH 27/06/11
