Loch Report End of Oct 2026

I guess sometimes you’re lucky with the weather, and that was certainly the case for last weekends Coldingham Loch Cup Competition.

Great weather and a strong turn out of member competitors and we knew that we were in for a good day. This also became apparent when Bill Ferguson, fishing close to the bank, landed his first fish within 5 minutes of the start having missed one on his previous cast. A good opener indeed.

We saw lots of rods bending during the morning session and when people came in at lunchtime very little was being given away. However, James Gardiner who had had a great start to the morning with two very good sessions perhaps might have made the mistake of the day.

The fly that he had been catching on during the morning session and on which the hook was straightened out whilst playing a very large fish was very generously given to his boat partner. Need I explain what happened next? Of course his boat partner then used the fly during the afternoon session to very good effect indeed. So much so that he ultimately went on to claim this year’s title.

Fishing a fast sinking Jim Tierney line and literally bouncing the flies along the bottom with a white lure on the point and the deadly, donated pink lure on a dropper Zander Kennie had an exceptional afternoon. Finishing the day with 17 fish ( 3 in the morning)  to the boat and reporting losing perhaps as many again. James would no doubt say that line choice was a key component of Zander’s success although I’m sure that the fly had a say in things too.

For others, dries also worked well, particularly in the afternoon but on the day the lure patterns were a clear winner in terms of numbers landed.

The way the competition works is that the anglers fish three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. There is a point for every fish that is landed plus a session point for each of the session hours that they catch in. In other words if you catch a fish in each of the six one hour sessions you will get 6 sessions points. This rewards the anglers that fish consistently throughout the day and can often be the difference between winning or not. So, whilst James Gardiner landed the joint second most number of fish he only gained three session points which ultimately put him in fourth place on the day.

So here are the results:

1^st Place – Zander Kennie with 17 fish and 6 session points

2^nd Place – Darrel Young with 12 fish and 4 session points

3^rd Place – Robbie Bell with 11 fish and 5 session points

Our congratulations go to all the prize winners and of course a special mention to this years worthy winner, Zander Kennie who scooped up the cup plus a £100 voucher for Fishers of Penicuik and the right to have his name on the honours board. A huge thanks to all the people that entered and hope to see you again in next year’s competition.

As always, a big thank you once again to Mike Wilson, owner of Fishers of Penicuik. Each year Mike very generously enhances the prize fund for each of our competitions and we are very grateful for his continued support. Also, don’t forget, that as a member of Coldingham Loch Fly Fishers you will get a 10 percent discount on all purchases if you shop at Fishers (online as well as at the shop) and use the unique code which is available to all members.

Just a heads up …….. it is always around this time each year that we contact all of our current members to gauge who will be re-joining next year for the 2027 season. We will be doing this very soon through our Clubmate members portal so please keep an eye on your in-box.

For those of you reading this who are not already members, we have a list of people wanting to join for next year and if you wish to be added to that list then please don’t hesitate to contact us for further information or to get your name on the list. Thank you.

Best regards and hope to see you all before the end of the 2026 season, which this year is on Monday 30^th November.

Carmel and Gareth