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Now Playing "Mull Of Kintyre" Music Sequenced by Barry Taylor Newsletter After the Irish Country Fair the Academy attended the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston near Edinburgh and despite atrocious weather, went very well. Good crowds and a great deal of interest in the new Paraflex rods and of course, the demonstrations. It was nice to welcome Ghillies and farmers from as far off as Caithness, Easter Ross and Sutherland. Meanwhile on the angling front, the salmon fishing was slowing down, trout fishing was still a bit slow and results from the natural fisheries pretty poor! Carron Dam – under new control, has come back with a bang and we had several very successful trips in both boat and bank days. Nice fish two! We had them up to 2lbs + and in excellent condition. Strong fighters! Certainly worth a visit. My fishing companion, Peter Mallan – our well loved tenor, has been off form lately and is just getting back to normal. We all wish him well and hope to hear from him again soon in his popular record program at 10p.m. Radio Clyde, Friday nights! We meet up with him early September in Glen Strae by Dalmally. Salmon fishing on the River Eire & Orchy will fill one week and we compliment this with excellent trout fishing on our, well stocked, little lochan – just five minutes from the Lodge. Last year one of our guests threw dog biscuits into the loch and within minutes the water erupted. We had no idea that there was such a head of huge trout. When they came on the feed we started to get lots of offers and a lot of good 2-3lbs fish. When gutted, most had a belly full of dog biscuits. No they weren’t dogfish! Looking forward to a few days then on the famous Rock Pool where Lt. Commander Woodrow had his best catch of 5 salmon – all 20 to 30lbs each. Last year after a hard, fruitless day’s casting – not even an offer, I stayed on till dusk and hooked seven salmon in one hour, just before dark. Landed four – lost three! All over 10lbs, best fish 15.5lbs – made the whole week! Back to this season - We were three times in Ireland and fished the River Moy in late June and early July. We had Mark O’Meara and three other golfers with us on the Ridge Pool, the Cathedral and Wall Pool. One day at the Wall Pool the salmon went take-crazy and 32 fish from 5 to 8lbs were landed. The river was up and down and often badly coloured when we were there and it made the fishing quite difficult. However, the Americans bought some of the Paraflex rods and we can only quote Mark O’Meara’s delight, when fondly stroking his new 12 foot paraflex he said “this rod is awesome.” We wish him well with it when he returns stateside and is off to British Columbia for two weeks. Mark invited us to the Troon Open Golf and gave us complimentary passes to the golf and the members’ enclosures. He was most kind and very thoughtful and has our deepest thanks. We will report his success – or failure – next letter. This week 6th September we are off to the I.C.F. World Tournament, merely to view and watch the World’s best casters in action. There are nine events covering all aspects of trout and salmon distance and accuracy. The salmon distance on grass is an enormous 90 metres, this record is held by a Czech. Trout distance is equally amazing at 72 metres, again held by a German caster. Casting as a sport, both in Europe and the States is so popular and they cast against each other in a casting league – similar to football. They are just so involved and so skillful that it makes the U.K. look a bit woeful. I was looking at photos of the Swiss team, practicing in three feet of snow, that is dedication! My record in salmon fly distance on water was gained in Switzerland in 1968 and at that time was an admirable 78 yards – Now 90 metres – some difference! Beine is the venue for this year’s world event and we will bring you up to date after the 12th September when the results will be known. Tight Lines Peter Stewart Anderson |
