DATE: Sunday May 31st
REPORT AUTHOR Ben
NOTABLE CATCHES: 12 fish for Mark Wilson, 7 fish for Ian Ritchie & Digger
NOTABLE BAG: 2 fish for 5lbs 14oz Martin Kelly
BEST RAINBOW: 16lbs 5oz for Graham Bell
BEST BROWN: Several around 2lbs 8oz
BANK ROD AV: 12.0 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV: 3.1 fish per angler
Sport: Today we held a blind pairs fund raiser in aid Air Ambulance service. 30 anglers braved the windy conditions and took to the water by boat. They all fished between 10am and 5pm. They killed their first two trout and then were awarded 2lbs for each fish returned. When they brought their catches to the scales they drew a number out of the hat and were paired up with the angler that drew out the same number as them. So when we read out the results they had no idea who they had been paired with. It’s a great formula for a good fun event.
Amazingly Ian Ritchie and Digger (Jim Rigby) both caught the most fish with 7 trout and had identical weights making them first equal individually and then they drew out the same number from the hat so were an unbeatable pair.
Ian fished a midge tip line with a team of wets from Blackhouse Bay all the way to the causeway and then at Phil’s Flats. His boat partner Graham Bell also did well with 6 trout and he returned a rainbow of 16lbs 8oz. They said the fish were tight in and they both lost several others and returned half a dozen wild brownies that didn’t count in today’s competition or rod average.
Digger caught his fish tight in along the Northern Shallows short lining a Di7 with blobs. Once again his boat partner, James Vann, also caught well with 6 trout to 3lbs.
The areas mentioned were the roughest areas on the reservoir so they were rewarded for sticking it out in the rough conditions. Lots of other anglers fished in the relative shelter of the west bank and caught fish but not in the same numbers. Good angling fellers.
There were loads of prizes including Greys Strata Jackets, Greys and Wychwood reels, fly lines, fly boxes lots of whisky and vodka and much more. Thankyou to all who donated a prize and to Go Out Doors who donated a 4 man tent for the raffle and goodie bags.
We raised over £700 for the Air Ambulance so thank you to everyone who took part. A big thank you has to go to Derek Moore for organising this great fund raiser. The full results are shown below.
Back to the fishing: The wind hampered things and made presentation and control difficult, but we still had nearly 100 trout caught.
Stuart and Abigail Montgomery fished from a boat yesterday and today to catch a total of 19 trout between them, not bad considering the weather. Safe travels home to the both of you and see you again soon I hope.
On the shore we just had the one angler, but he did very well with 12 trout from bell point to 5lbs. He was gone by mid afternoon as well! His best fish was 5lbs but I am not sure how he was fishing. Tight Lines Ben
- Ian Ritchie was also 1st = individually and made up the winning pair with digger. Ian all his fish on a midge tip and wets.
- Digger was 1st = individually today and half of the winning pair