Bracey is best in All Lochs fly-fishing challenge
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An evening of almost continuous, occasionally torrential rain did not prevent Loch Calder providing two thirds of the trout weighed in at the end of Dounreay Fly Fishing Association's All Lochs competition last Friday.
As the 15 anglers launched their allocated boats at 6pm on lochs Calder, Olginey, Stemster and Watten the rain had stopped briefly but the heavy cloud was still overhead. The wind was light from the south but after a short calm it returned as a light breeze that gradually veered to the west to eventually settle from the north-west, and this brought over some very heavy showers.
Thankfully the rain had almost ceased by lines up at 10pm as the drookit members made their way to the Brown Trout Hotel for the weigh-in.
Toby Bracey had steamed the short distance from the Loch Calder berth to the entrance of the New Bay to start his evening's fishing and on the first drift he was surprised (and delighted) to bag fish of 2 and 2.5 lb. A later move out of the bay to fish north along the west bank produced more trout to give him a total of seven for 7 lb 4.75 oz – a good average weight for the loch.
Toby had used a floating line with various black flies to secure the 20 Boat League points and the Ian Hanna Trophy.
Second place (17 points) fell to Anson MacAuslan, who caught two good fish in Loch Watten's Railway Bay in flat-calm conditions. Using a floating line and Hopper flies he bagged another near the Oldhall berths to finish on 3 for 5 lb 1.5 oz.
Bill Robertson spent the evening fishing in Calder's New Bay for a basket of eight for 4 lb 11 oz that gave him the 15 points for third place. He had also used a floating line – his first trout taking a Peach Muddler, the rest falling to small brown /green Sedge Hog flies.
James Simpson shared the winning boat and caught both his trout in the final 10 minutes of fishing – they weighed 4 lb 9.75 oz and gave him fourth place and 14 pts.
Robbie Hawken also fished Watten for his two trout weighing 4 lb 9.25 oz with his best one at 2 lb 14 oz adding the two bonus points for heaviest fish to the 13 for fifth place.
Alex Donald took sixth place (12 pts) for two weighing 4 lb 1.25 oz from Stemster.
Also with trout to put on the scales were Tony Chalmers (Watten), Dave Kinghorn (Calder), Scott MacColl (Calder), Peter Creasey (Stemster) and Ian Cannop (Watten).
Toby Bracey now leads the Boat League with 37 points. He is followed by James Simpson (31), Anson MacAuslan (30) and Tony Chalmers (25), with Alex Donald and Bill Robertson tied on 24 for fifth place.
DFFA’s next event is the Loch Watten bank competition on the evening of Friday, June 14.
