Perseverance pays off in all-lochs competition
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A few days of "May gobs" had left some Caithness lochs well stirred up, so members of Dounreay Fly Fishing Association decided to restrict fishing during their all-lochs competition last Friday evening to just Calder and Watten.
This worked out well, with half of the 16 anglers on each loch, although those who had drawn Calder were a little apprehensive about getting away from the boat berths at the south end due to the fresh north-west wind blowing onto the berth shore at the 6pm start time.
However, perseverance paid off for Toby Bracey as he turned up at the Brown Trout Hotel weigh-in, after four hours' fishing, with a bag of seven trout weighing 4 lb 10.25 oz. He had fished in the New Bay using a Slow Midge Tip line with a Peach Hog fly until the wind eased off around 9pm when he moved out to the West Bank where he added the final fish to his catch.
This gave Toby the Ian Hanna Trophy and 16 Boat League points.
Billy Thomson fished Loch Watten and used the same tackle that he had employed to win the competition there three weeks earlier. His Fast Glass line and Erlend's Cat flies accounted for four trout weighing 3 lb 11 oz from Kiddies' Corner and secured the 14 points for second place.
George Robertson had also struggled to get away from the Calder berths but was rewarded with three nice trout for 2 lb 13.75 oz from the New Bay – enough to give him the 12 points for third. He had used a Cortland Blue intermediate line with Orange Sedge Hog and Silver Dabbler flies attached.
Completing the top six, a 2 lb 3.5 oz fish gave Bill Robertson 11 points for fourth place, plus the bonus point for the heaviest fish, while Robbie Hawken and Alex Donald had the same weight (exactly 2 lbs) but as Robbie had four fish to Alex's two the former took fifth place (10 points) and the latter nine points for sixth.
Also putting fish on the scales were David Cormack, Peter Creasey, Scott MacColl and James Simpson.
After two rounds of the Boat League, Billy Thomson leads with 33 points and Toby Bracey is next on 30, with Bill Robertson third on 25. James Simpson and Alex Donald are tied on 21.
DFFA's next event is the Watten Bank competition on the evening of Friday, June 3.
