Loch Report Early Nov 2024

As we move steadily in to the last month of the 2024 season we are once again blessed with some very good, if somewhat unseasonal,  weather which also seems to be set for the forthcoming week. During the last few days bright sunshine and quite warm temperatures have encouraged the fish to top-out in just about all parts of the loch and there have clearly been large midge hatches on regular occasions.

The water seems to be covered in green flies (aphids) and my guess is that this is what the fish are fixated on. However, attempts to match the hatch have been largely futile for most anglers with most people scratching their heads over just what the fish are taking. I have been out there recently a couple of times too and can testify as to just how tricky it’s been.

Despite many fish showing on the surface, most of the success stories have been from anglers who are fishing below the surface with tactics ranging from DI5 lines to hover tips and flies including a range of lures such as humungous, apps bloodworms (red or orange), cats whisker, black zonker.

Unusually, as yet there have been no indications of fish turning their attentions to the plethora of small fish swimming in the margins. In previous years we have seen fry patterns working extremely well around this time but this has been an unusual year in many respects and I guess that the trend just continues.

Boat and bank are fishing roughly, equally well and all areas of the loch are holding good numbers of fish. The best of the catching seems to be happening towards the end of the day.

Other news:

• A couple of weeks ago we held our members Inter-Club pairs competition which in reality is more of a social event than a serious competition. Carmel graced us all with a lovely lunch of home cooked venison stew which was well received by everyone. On the day, which turned out to be quite a windy one, it was the lads from Kelso AA that ran out winners this year with 16 fish to the boat and many more lost and missed. Interestingly, both anglers fished completely different methods throughout the day and had equal success – one using a DI3 and largely fishing a black zonker, the other fishing a floating line with a long leader and two apps bloodworms. Thanks to all those that took part and we’ll try to do the same again next year.
• With all of our new boats ready for launching next season we now have a number of boats to sell over the closed season. If you or anyone you know may be interested in purchasing any of them please get in touch for more information.
• There are no more visiting clubs for the remainder of this season.
• A reminder that we will end the season on Saturday 30^th November and look forward to the start of next season which will begin on Saturday 15^th March 2025.
• Very sadly we had to say farewell to Nell our 10 year old cocker spaniel last week. Most of you will have met her at some point or other and she was the sweetest of souls. We and many of our regulars will miss her not being around as she was an integral part of the team here. A working dog in the winter months, she made many a gun, particularly myself, look far better than we deserved to be by retrieving game that should not have been retrievable. She lived to be a great-grandma ……… What a dog!