[James Laraway]

I was hoping to get a few hours fishing late yestarday afternoon but ran out of time.

so the suggestion was made " why not try Saturday afternoon..."

Great thinks me - only to be confonted by 22 degrees celcius and a howling wind !

Arrived at my chosen hill loch that i have only fished once before ( an blanked)

no way was i launching the float tube, so the bank it was.

I had my #5 but thought - not in this wind so went for the #7 with my nice neon orange SLX

never saw a fish apart from the one that took my goats toe ( that had a small red tungsten bead behind the hackle to add a little weight.

as it was from a hill loch is was not in tip top condition but what lovely fish

[Hamish Young]

Belter👍

[James Laraway]

I really need to start taking a tape measure with me, as i seem to be hitting the better fish this year. I reccon that when in condition this fish would easily have been 2lb plus as it was very long.

I think i was lucky to hook it. It was one of those moments when you are just lifting off to recast, you feel a tiny bit of resistance, see the fish turn but you have rod angle to strike with as your rod is vertical already. In these cases i find i normally loose the fish as your cant set the hook. Unfortunately for the fish i got it right in the scissors