Wee Jimmy and I were lucky enough to trouser a boat on opening day at Menteith - a first for both of us!

A flat calm start, and a cracking hatch of buzzers. Fish rising, and we both tackled up with dries. Starting on dries on 20 March - only 10 days since the last of the ice melted

The sun got up all too soon and the buzzer hatch quickly tailed-off... just as we were getting tuned into it. But, we had a good hour and a half of rowing each other about, out in the middle, taking turns to try and put each other on a rising fish. It was mostly odd oncers here and there, but with the occasional nodding donkey. So, we went after the nodding donkeys. They were V tricky, as they were very random in their movements - always going away from you and when you eventually did catch up with them, they would turn this way then that as you tried to put a fly in front of them. Our grand total for all our efforts on dries was... 1! Before you knew it, it was all over, and we had to concede that fact, put up the other rod, and pick some new tactics to try.

While we were chasing the risers out in the middle there was a Royal scone-fest going on from Hotel Bay to Sam's Pt. No surprise it was twiddling what was doing the damage. It was just about over by the time we went across, but we picked up a couple there. It went quiet, so we went for the grand tour. Headed down Kate's Brae direction and ended up fishing around the Gravel Pit point, Lochend and Tod Hole, both on fast intermediate and both catching with a damsel on the point and something small and orange on the bob.

As for getting some photos...

Well, March is about the worst month of the year for it. Everything is still dead, with no colour. The light was flat, then brassy sun. However, a bit of a tweak in ACR, and you can rescue a few by putting a bit punch in. Plus, the action shots are always an option. We actually missed several golden opportunities, as the fish were full of beans, what with the cold water. We were always just a split second away from the magical 'fish in mid-air shot' though.



The only day of the season when the boats are all lined up in numerical order... so we got 29



Quint brought everyone to order.



The combat zone



The Gravel Pit - a productive area on the day



Still a bit snow on Ben Lomond









One for Rob









Bogle Knowe. Spot how much less snow on the Ben, 4 hours later!








Cheers,

Col

First class as always Colin.
Did those hatching buzzers have doos eggs after banging their heads on the ice for the last couple of months?

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It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

Cracking pictures Colin, thanks for sharing

Aye, well, the temperature wasn't too bad. It was 6.5C when we arrived, but it warmed up quickly and plenty buzzers were in the air when the action was on. It brought back memories of a magical day on Menteith in the early 90s when there was snow in the air, and this species of buzzer, which is obviously tied to daylength (let's get it done before the swallows and martins arrive, sort of thing) was trying to hatch, but was getting stuck half-way out the shuck. So, there's all these miniature corks bobbing along, and the fish got tuned-in big-time. Absolutely baltic, and we had 3.5 hours of the most electric dry fly fishing we've ever had.

Col

First class report and pic,s colin thankyou

Excellent report and pics Col, thanks for sharing. Hope there will be many more.

Nice one Col. Glad you enjoyed yer day with Party Boy. Coulda been worse with the light too.

If you don't mind me asking........

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Too much Saturn, not enough Moon.

New Buzzer Colours for 2011

Fly Clips & Stands

Great pics Col, the weather was fantastic the fishing gods were with us on Sunday with some cracking fish caught

Derek

Great report Colin, as expected, keen follower of all your reports on the Heriots web page. Thanks for sharing.

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I've not lost my mind, it's backed up on disk somewhere.

Campbell

nice pictures mate