Originally, when I looked into booking my trip to Scourie, and the Scourie Hotel, it was a cancellation I was picking up, that run from Sunday to Sunday. The problem with this was it clashed with the annual running of the Lex McCrindle Memorial Cup event run by my club, Stirling Castle Angling Club which has been at Burnhouse Trout Fishery for the last few years.
Luckily, Richard Campbell the manager at the hotel was able to nudge my booking one day to the left, which meant I could get down the road on the Saturday and be available to fish the Sunday at Burnhouse. ( I knew I would be knackered but it was a bit of fun, and I like to turn out in support of the club whenever possible). The event usually gets a reasonable turn out and we had I think about 18-19 anglers on the water, with 23 pegs in total available.
I was allocated peg 14 which is in the main basin area diagonally opposite the lodge as my starting point, and while the back cast can be a little restricted with the slope behind, isn’t a bad peg to be drawn on.
Neighbours
My “neighbours ” for the day were Lake of Menteith Boat League angler Bill Campbell on the left and active competitive angler for Team Costa Ecosse Murray Hunter on my right. The field also consisted of Bill Ramage, this years winner of the Lake of Menteith Boat league and Pete Forrest who fishes in that league too. I don’t consider myself a competitive angler by any means as I don’t think my ability to fish hard regularly can be relied upon, my current state is very much steroid assisted….would that disqualify me for performance enhancing drugs ?!!
A flying start
Murray was in to a fish almost from the sounding of the starting whistle…. I, in contrast was into the bank with my first cast catching the high bank behind me. By the time I recovered my flies Murray was netting his first fish.
I had had two or three casts of my three fly team consisting of, an Orange Blob on top dropper ( I noticed it had featured in recent catch returns), a holo green Diawl Bach on the middle, and a wee Gold Damsel with my recent variation of a red straggle hackle collar on point. Nothing that big, only about a size 12.
Murray was reporting pulls nearly every cast, and it wasn’t until my 4th or 5th cast that I too connected with my first Rainbow of the day. In this competition the first three fish need to be taken for the weigh in which is time stamped. Once three fish are taken and booked in, you are on Catch and Release for the rest of the day, your competition is effectively over and you gain time bonuses of half a pound for each subsequent full 15 minute period.
On the scoresheet
After my first fish, a fairly regular 2lb plus Rainbow that put up a strong fight…not what you want when competing and against the clock, I cast out again. The first fish had taken the Diawl Bach. Almost immediately I was into fish number two, this time on the Goldie. This was a bigger fish and very powerful. My arm ached fishing this one and I had to change hands as my forearm was cramping up, but it did eventually come to the net. I think Murray beside me dropped a fish at this point ( I wasn’t watching so closely and assumed he netted it). I had only cast out maybe three of four more times again when I got into my third fish and this one while less sizeable than number two still managed to get me more arm ache. Again on the Goldie, this fly really can be a fish magnet.
Nonetheless, it came to the net and I was away to the lodge. Passing Murray he was into another fish and I thought he would be following along behind me so getting clocked in ASAP was important. There was a bit of a look of surprise in the lodge when I turned up with my three fish so we got organised and weighed in and my time recorded at 09:35. So I could fish for fun for the rest of the day! I was though quite keen to keep fishing and hopefully show a degree of consistency as some competitions are notorious for being won from a single peg and in particular from the first time segment when the fish are less pressured.
Consistency
So I was pleased to land a fourth fish on my next peg ( Goldie again), then at the very top of the North side of the Lochan before the bridge ( an area that can be very hit ad miss- I landed number five this time on the blob. All three flies had by now caught. With that fish returned and moving on to the other side of the lochan over the bridge number 6 was landed again on the blob. While there had been a few sporadic showers up to now, the rain really took hold and was pretty heavy for the next few hours right through lunchtime. My next peg, I think it was #7 I got a few pulls but failed to hook a fish ( the shame!) .
After a wonderful lunchtime game BBQ provided by the fishery- the Venison burgers were exceptional, and the pheasant Kofta, I decided to give the dries a wee go. Murray, who had weighed in earlier, by now, had managed one fish on a dry and while they were not rising regularly, there were buzzer hatches all day. My small black Shuttlecock did the job and number 7 was netted.
At my last but one peg ( right in front of the lodge) again I had a few pulls but failed to land a fish. Bill Campbell on my left though finally got on the score-sheet here with two fish and when we moved to the last pegs just adjacent to where we started he too got his third and I got a token 8th this time on a slow fished black buzzer.
Around the rest of the loch there were a few anglers who struggled to get a knock all day but Pete Forrest was having a similar day to my own and had his three fish, slightly heavier than my bag, booked in about 50 minutes after me. He also I think caught one more over the course of the day. That 50 minutes though proved crucial as it added one and a half pounds more to my weight than Pete’s and so the result was I pipped him to the trophy by a hairs breadth.
A fun day despite the bursts of inclement weather, though the sun made a hesitant appearance by the end of the day.
