Dounreay Fly Fishing Association: Alex has best basket at breezy Loch Calder
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A breeze that increased as the day wore on plus wall-to-wall sunshine didn’t give the best angling conditions for Dounreay Fly Fishing Association's boat competition on Loch Calder on Saturday.
As the 13 competitors prepared their boats for launching at 9.30am the wind was as strong as anyone wanted, but by lines up at 4pm conditions were pretty rough in the north half of the loch. One unfortunate even had a tasty sandwich completely ruined by a lump of spray.
The weigh-in at the berths showed that the total catch was only about one third that of last year's event, with one more fishing this year. Unusually for Calder, a few reported that all the trout they caught were under the minimum size – good news for future years but frustrating on the day.
Alex Donald was last to weigh in with what proved to be the best basket of the day at eight fish for 4lb 13.5 oz. This gave him the Parry 66 Trophy and 13 Boat League points.
He had caught most of his fish on early drifts past the mouth of the New Bay, plus a couple in the Bay and one from near the dam that resulted in a wet return journey. His choice of tackle was a Midge Tip line with sparkly Black Hog, Clan Chief and Cahill flies.
Second place was taken by a bag of six trout weighing 3 lb 12.25 oz caught by Toby Bracey in the New Bay area and then further along the west bank. He had used a floating line with various Olive Sedge Hogs to secure 11 points.
A delighted Neil Clyne took third place with four fish for 3 lb 2 oz from the opening into New Bay and a wet trip to the dam. He had put Clan chief and Loch Ordie Hog flies on his trusted intermediate line to secure nine points plus the bonus point for best fish of the day at 1 lb 8.5oz.
To complete the top six, Aivis Kreslins had four for 1 lb 15 oz and eight points, Kevin Imlach bagged two for 1 lb 2 oz and seven points and another pair from Robbie Hawken at 1 lb 1 oz gave him six points for sixth place.
Others weighing in were David Cormack, Bill Robertson, Peter Creasey and William Plank.
These results leave James Simpson still leading the Boat League with 33 points. The rest of the top seven are closely bunched with George Robertson, Kevin Imlach and Alex Donald tied for second on 29, David Cormack fifth on 28, and Toby Bracey and William Plank tied for sixth place on 27.
The club's next event is the Early Bird boat competition on Loch Watten on Saturday, July 15.
