Few fish to be found at Loch Watten Early Bird event
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One of the quickest Dounreay Fly Fishing Association competition weigh-ins on record took place last Saturday morning following the club’s Early Bird event on Loch Watten.
On arrival to prepare their boats for a 6am start, a light west-northwest breeze was giving a nice ripple on the loch but the wind increased considerably as the morning wore on. This gave crews fishing towards the south end of the loch a rather rough and wet trip back to the Oldhall berths for the short weigh-in after five hours of fishing.
With little fly life in the rough conditions, hardly any fish were seen and even fewer were caught in the well-stirred murky water by the 13 members.
Only two anglers brought a fish each forward for weighing to confirm their places at the top of the Boat League. The best fish of the morning, weighing 2 lb 7.5 oz, was taken in the Laid Bay area by Toby Bracey on a DI 6 line with a Red Tag fly. This gave him the Early Bird Trophy and 13 league points plus the bonus point.
A close second place fell to Alex Donald for a 2 lb 6 oz trout also from the Laid area using a DI Sweep line and an Orange and Blue Half Hog fly, giving him 11 points.
The result sees Toby reclaim first place in the Boat League on 65 points, with Alex close behind on 63. The top six remain unchanged with George Robertson on 40, Ian Cannop 33, James Simpson 30 and Billy Thomson 28.
DFFA’s next event is an evening competition for the KML Trophy, again on Loch Watten, on Wednesday, July 21.
