Welcome. On behalf of the committee, can I take this opportunity to welcome our new club members. We had eleven new members joining this year, which is just under 10% of the club, a healthy turnover in numbers. Being a member of the Beauly Angling Club allows you to enter the club competition, take part in other club's competitions as well as make use of several exchange tickets and discounted fishing on lochs and fisheries in our area.
River and Fish News. Half way
through June, I have no reports yet of fish being caught on our waters. There
are fish about though with both salmon and sea trout having been spotted. Traditionally
we don't have much fishing effort in spring/early summer. By all accounts, the
warm spring weather and water temperature has played havoc with this year's
spring runs throughout Scotland. A couple of times during May, the water depth
gauge on beat 1 was showing river levels we'd normally see in a hot dry August.
On the 1st July at 10.00am we will be undertaking our annual bank clearance.
This involves a small amount of strimming and pruning back overgrown trees and
usually takes about 2 hours. It is also a good chance to meet up with other
members and have a chat about all things fish. Some refreshments will be on
hand for consumption after the work has been completed. If you'd like to help
out, see you at Beat 1 at 10.00.
Competition Updates. The Loch
Achonachie club held their annual competition on Loch Meig on the 5th May. The
competition benefited from being held a couple of weeks later than in previous
years with the all but a few boats blanking. Beauly entered two boats with Frank
Durdle in boat 2 winning 3rd place.
The Highland Angling Federation held their annual competition on Loch Watten
at the end of May. The Beauly boat had an unusually unproductive day with the
three anglers only catching a pair each. Anglers were buffeted by a cold wind,
which did nothing to help catches on the day.
The "Clynelish" Highland Wild Trout challenge, held on Loch Shin,
this year takes place on the 14th and 1St July. BAC has consistently won prizes
at this competition with two second heaviest bag prizes over the last 2 years.
This may be the year for a BAC member to win this very popular event. Lairg
Angling Club run this competition, with more details as well as an application
form available from George Morgan at georgemorgan@lochviewlairg.fsnet.co.uk.
BAC Competition. Each year we
run our own club competition. This year we are trying a change of venue, Achagour
Fish Ponds near Nairn. This is a new bank fishing venue, stocked with both rainbow
and brown trout. The junior's event is on the 27th June. A bus will leave Beauly
square at 5.00 and return at 10.00 - 10.30 pm. The senior's event will be held
at Achagour the following night with fishing from 7.00 - 10.00. Adult members
can travel by bus, which will leave Beauly square at 6.00. If making your own
way to the fishery, from Nairn, follow the A939 to Grantown on Spey for just
over 7 miles, turn right on to the road marked Ardclach Bell Tower. Carry on
a few hundred yards and turn into the access roadway marked Achagour Fish Ponds
and follow this road to the end. If you would like to book a seat on the bus,
contact Frank Durdle on 782749 or myself on archieap@tiscali.co.uk
Club Open Day. The club is running
its first Open Day on Saturday the 7th July from mid-day until 3.00. To keep
us sustained through the event, some dodgy looking chefs will be serving up
delightful burgers and sausage rolls beside Beat 1. Refreshments will also be
available. There will be the chance to enter competitions, find out about fishing
the firth area as well as learning some new casting skills in the coaching session
that will be run in beat 3. Having gone through your paces with the coaching,
you can test your skills on an accuracy casting competition. The event is an
informal chance to find more about fishing and is free. We hope you get a chance
to pop along. Any donations will be passed onto Macmillan Cancer support.
Fishy Stories 1. I heard recently
of a freak fishing accident that sent an American angler to hospital. As the
angler and his friend leaned over the side of their boat to reel in a small
fish, a larger 26kg king mackerel jumped into the boat and bit the angler. The
result was trip to hospital to have over 100 stitches in the angler's hand and
leg. This reminded me of a similar experience several years ago I had when pike
fishing. We leaned over the side of the boat to retrieve a small jack pike only
to find a much larger pike had followed its younger relative to the surface,
probably with designs on eating him. The larger pike vanished back down to the
depths in a swirl and a splash while we reflected on what could have happened
to our hands and fingers had we tried to unhook the jack in the water.
Fishy Stories 2. A wee story that
1 think sums up the competitive streak us anglers can have. At a recent competition,
anglers were paired off in twos for the day. At the end of the day, one angler
returned alone, staggering under the weight of equipment, waders and 12 beautiful
trout.
"Where's Henry?" the judges and other competitors asked.
"Henry broke his leg. He's a couple of miles back up the shore" the
successful angler replied.
"You left Henry lying out there and carried the fish back to the weigh-in?"
the others inquired.
"A tough call" replied the angler. "I thought no-one is going
to steal Henry".
Happy fishing
Archie
Prentice
Newsletter Editor
archieap@tiscali.co.uk