Just one month left of the 2023 season. It doesn’t seem two minutes since we were opening. As it’s drawing close to the end of the season this will be our penultimate loch report before we post our last one towards the end of this month.

The loch continues to fish well although as with any days fishing there are always the “haves” and the “have nots”. Just the other day a club came in with the first boat announcing that they had had 18 fish to the boat whilst the next boat lamented that they had not touched a fish all day ….. good luck, good angling or a bit of both? Who knows?

One thing that is being commented on though is that the fish are there and the quality and diversity of the fish is superb.

All areas of the loch are holding good quantities fish and it is largely the wind strength and direction which dictates where and when to fish. Over the last couple of days a fairly brisk easterly wind has dominated proceedings which has made the catching a little more tricky than normal.

Lots of people are using a combination of sinking lines such as a fast glass or DI3 with a team of lures pulled fast in order to temp the fish, whilst others are often using dries around the margins. See a rising fish and cover it quickly is still a very good tactic to employ.

Flies used have included: popper minkie, cormorants, damsel, humongous, FABs and blobs as well as daddies, sedge patterns and foam beetle.

Bank and boat are fishing equally well and with the water still at a reasonable temperature it’s well worth having a shot from the bank if you haven’t already done so.

Club News:

There is only one club day over the next two weeks and it is as follows:

• Saturday 11^th November – Eyewater AC

Let’s hope for a good day weather wise and catch wise.

Other News:

• Last week we had the pleasure of donating the monies raised on our annual Charity Day to St Abbs Independent Lifeboat and it was great to see crew members coming along on a cool damp evening to have a cuppa and a few pictures of the lifeboat. The final tally raised was £1585 which the Lifeboat crew were delighted with and thanks again to all those of you who gave money, time and raffle prizes etc to help us raise for this worthy cause and of course to all those who participated on the day and dug deep to buy raffle tickets and bid for auction prizes…as always very much appreciated.
• With all the recent rain that we’ve had the boat jetties are currently under about 6 inches of water. If you are using a boat it is advisable to wear wellies.
• Anyone who is not currently a member of the Coldingham Loch Fly Fishers but might be interested in joining next year should contact either myself or Carmel at the loch on 01890 771960 as we will shortly be gathering information about next year’s (2024) membership.
• Sadly, we had word this week of yet another fish farm that will soon be closing but thankfully we have already been working with a new supplier and are well set for next season. The quality and range of fish being supplied will continue unhindered. It’s very sad to see so many farms and fisheries (6 in total that we know of) closing this year and we can only hope for better times ahead for everyone.
• On a brighter note, the 2000+ trees we planted in 2017 (along with a gang of volunteers from the fishers amongst you, thank you) have  really become established – see a couple of photos below taken in early October….in some places they are a good 10ft high and it is really  starting to feel like a woodland. With the advice of the Woodland Trust we planted a mix of Downy Birch, Bird Cherry, Pendunculate Oak, Rowan, Hawthorn, Hazel, Scots Pine and Crab Apple and it is already starting to provide food and shelter for birds and insects.