I’m writing this on a rainy day in May which is following 3 days of thick haar during which we have rarely been able to see the loch from the fishing hut. Not quite what we might have expected for what is usually the best dry fly fishing month of the season. A persistent east wind, which is apparently being driven by a shift in the gulf stream, is certainly keeping things on the cool side and as a result the plant life around the loch is definitely less advanced than it usually is. We’ve also noticed far less toads this year and as a consequence far fewer tadpoles. These are normally very obvious around the margins by now. Less swallows and house martins too adds to contributing to a spring which feels far from normal at the moment.

Despite this, we have noticed the odd hawthorn fly starting to put in an appearance, alongside the occasional daddy. On the water there have been very large hatches of small black flies which the fish have been hoovering up and which has made catching quite a challenge on some days. Yesterday for example, the south shore was alive with rising fish that were transfixed on the hatch of black flies. Dries worked for some people but they commented on how particular you had to be with your choice of fly and with the presentation and method. Cast and left alone seemed to be the best method. The best of the flies seemed to include, Griffiths gnat, Nothing fly (black), black foam beetle and olive emergers.

The best of the rest of the flies are as follow:

Pink apps, hot-head damsel, northern spider, FAB, blob. These have been fished with some success using a combination of floating or sink tip lines, twitching the flies as you retrieve.

It’s great to see so many brown trout being caught alongside the rainbows and blues and I think that everyone is enjoying the diversity that is in the loch. “You never quite know what you’re going to hook” commented one of the anglers “and therefore your set-up and skills in landing the fish is always put to the test.” No doubt the browns will become somewhat elusive during the warmer months but have no doubt that they will still be there and should be very keen towards the back-end of the season.

Despite there being an obvious show of fish in certain areas from time to time, which is undoubtedly down to a localised hatch of some sort, the fish remain very well dispersed around the loch. This will no doubt alter once we start to see the better weather, but for now, all areas are worth trying. Access around the bank is now very good with the boggier areas at either end of the loch having almost dried up completely.

Zander Kennie had what he described as a ‘Red letter day’ catching two tremendous browns amongst a hatful of fish – see photos gallery for pictures of the two browns.

Ken Wood’s grandson, Ethan also had what we guess might be a red letter day for him when he fished here on a cool & windy day last week – he had a lovely brown trout which you can see in the photo gallery

Visiting Clubs:

The clubs visiting us over the next two weeks are:

Norham and Ladykirk – Sunday 14^th May

Liveline FFC – Saturday 20^th May.

A warm welcome to both clubs