Getting the Right Peg

Today (Sunday)was the 2nd running of the Lex McCrindle Trophy for Stirling Castle AC at Burnhouse Lochan.

While I was aware ahead of today that it would be wet, I have to be honest and say I never anticipated how windy it would be. So windy in fact that part way though the afternoon half  a  small tree blew down ( it was one of those trees where the trunk is in two parts like a V from just above ground level) narrowly missing one of the anglers car’s.

In pretty well all small stillwater competitions, the peg draw is crucial. My drawn start was rotten. I was on peg 23 which was apparently a patch of chicken wire on the Bridge up the top end of the lochan.

Le Mans start

You would have to say it was a bit of a Le Man’s start, the bell was rung and everyone headed to their alloted peg. Mines was the furthest from the lodge!  As I walked up the far bank, one of the anglers, I think it was last years winner Russ, netted his first fish. By the time I reached my peg he had already netted two fish. I had not even wet a line. My peg was in a rubbish place, yeah you might get the odd fish right at the very top but it’s shallow and pretty murky at the top and as it went I never had so much as a touch. Bobby on the next peg on the South bank missed one fish ( that was to be the story of his day really) so there was the odd fish nearby but it definitely wasn’t teeming there and the wind wasn’t helpful. Down the water there were anglers bending in to fish all round the main basin. My first flies were a beaded Diawl Bach on point and  2 buzzers up the leader. I also gave a Bullet a swim on point but though it definitely turned a couple of fish they weren’t keen to take it off the top.

When I got to the big platform just outside the lodge I changed my small cat zonker for one of my favourite small lures, a copper bead Cats Whiskers. Almost right away I hooked my first fish. It seemed to be coming in fine then Stevie Plank who was my immediate neighbour to my right for the day with an equally rubbish peg draw, said to me, “I think you have two fish on!” Initially, it felt normal, but then suddenly there were two fish on the surface trying to swim past each other then heading off in different directions.

Then when they come, they come in pairs.

Ping! away went my  point and middle dropper. I have no idea if the two fish were tied together for a good wee while as a result. I was left to tie on two new sections of tippet and flies. And my one remaining copper bead Cat was gone. I had tried a wee black cat zonker for a while, not so much as a touch then back on the Cat zonker I again had a few more pulls before finally at extreme distance I had a very soft take. With the line stretch, it really did not feel well hooked and I felt like I was stripping in line forever until I had the fish about 20 feet away, but it was still strong and keen to head deep to my right. There is an old fence line here and its notorious for snags so you really want to discourage them going that way. I was trying to get rid of the slack line piling up at my feet and as I spooled it up a knot formed in the running line. I was now afraid the fish would pull more line and take the tangle through the rod rings with the risk of breaking the rod! It did manage to get the knot through the first eye on my rod but I quickly took line on it again and managed one handed to get the tangle out and I was able to try get the fish on the reel. I literally had just got the slack away, when it made one lunge and the line went slack. All my flies were good, it looked like the hook pulled out the fish.

Casting here was a nightmare, the wind was swirling and  even casting backwards wasn’t always successful. Then the rain came on, not just any rain, no. If Carlsberg made rain, it would be this rain, the heaviest torrential rain. However the rain seemed to liven things up and suddenly Stevie to my right ( who had finally crossed to the dark side and put on a wee lure) was into a fish, then another.

Then I had one, with a peculiar take that felt quite gentle but it transpired once netted that the fish had totally swallowed the fly. Bear in mind I was retreiving the fly at the time albeit a slow figure of eight, it wasn’t static or on the bottom.

My first cast once ready to fish again resulted in a good pull right away but no second fish. My next move took me up the North bank and the woes began as the wind was horrible, initially it was OK as in essence it was coming in off my left shoulder and you could cast across it, but then it turned right into my face. Everyone was struggling. But close in I had not one but two further fish, one more on the cat ( and again totally swallowed) then a second ( my third) this time on a Olive hopper, it was a bigger, near 3lb rainbow. Then I lost another fish before the next move which was literally impossible to cast from, though one of my better but pitiful attempts did rise a fish also to the hopper and would you beleive it took  the fly leaving me with a dropper!

By now I think I was the only angler bar one other left on the North bank, everyone else had given up as it really was severe.

So in the end, no prizes but a creditable three fish for just over 7lb with the winner being 4 fish for 9lb and time bonuses. But for a wee bit luck, I might have got my 4 to the net and a few more to boot though time wise I wouldn’t have got anything near what the early scorers managed.