NEWS 2007

On the opening day of the trout season, 15th March, the weather turned cold and wet and only few hardy souls headed out to Loch Calder. Some fish were caught but were mostly small and thin. By the middle of April the weather improved to a balmy 18C and trout started to move to the natural fly hatch. Yours truly was lucky enough to land a specimen trout from the New Bay on the 14th of April :-

These fell to a size 12 Black Pennel Variant on a slow sinking line.

Calder Bank Competition (The Rusty Cup) 21st April 2007

The first competition of the DFFA 2007 programme took place on the 21st of April at Loch Calder. Competitors fished between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm. Eighteen anglers attended the competition, including three junior members.

Fishing conditions were far from perfect with the wind swinging from south to west and back to south. However the wind was not as strong as forecast as some reports were giving wind speeds of 30 mph. A light drizzle started around 1:30 pm and continued for the rest of the day.

The anglers who made the long walk into the west bank fared best as the weather conditions suited this area.

Tony ( Cobra ) Chalmers lifted the first victory of the season, putting twenty Calder trout into his basket. Tony concentrated his efforts on the west and northwest banks, fishing close into the edges. He caught six fish in injury time to secure the victory.

A distant second place belonged to defending champion, Alan Porteous, with thirteen fish. He fished the west bank area but moved south towards the New Bay.

Toby Bracey finished a respectable third place with nine fish, just ahead of George Robertson with nine fish. Toby fished the west bank and George, the New Bay.

The heaviest fish was, once again, caught by Ken ( Specimen Hunter ) Macleod, although it was not up to his usual standards, the fish was just big enough to secure him the prize and gain him the two extra points for the championship.

The winning tactics were the same as usual, with the use of a floating or slow intermediate line fished close into the bank. Tony caught most of his fish on a Clan Chief and a Kate Maclaren. Alan did well with a new fly to come off his vice, called the Mosaic Clan. The heaviest fish took a size 10 Clan Chief.

Not everyone had a particularly lucky day. Two of our older members ( I won't mention their names) were allowed to use one of our boats to get to the west bank but the outboard motor overheated on the way. They managed to get to the bank but, after a short time fishing, John's (oops, sorry ) rod broke near the tip. He courageously continued fishing with a shortened rod and managed to catch some trout. On getting back to the anchorage their vehicle was found to have a puncture. Things can only get better!

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP POSITION AFTER SEVENTH ROUND

1. Tony Chalmers 102 points

2. Alan Porteous 102 points

3. Toby Bracey 91 points

4. Dennis Macintosh 74 points

5. Edward Beattie 56 points

6. Jan Hughes 53 points

7. Brian Munro 48 points

8. George Robertson 47 points

JUNIOR COMPETITION

1. Rory Scott 26 points

2. Kevin Manson 17 points

3. Iain Dunnett 7 points

Thursday 26th April

New Lomond boat arrived to-day . The six boats on Watten ( all Lomond ) will be 6,7 and 8 at Old Hall and 11,16 and 24 at Lynegar

Monday 30th April

Boat launched on Shurrery this evening :-

Beautiful sunny evening but no fish seen

Saturday 5th May

PRESIDENT'S QUAICH ALL LOCHS COMPETITION

Twenty-one anglers attended the second round of the DFFA Championship. The all lochs can be very much of a lottery but with all the lochs fishing reasonably well for some, it provided all the anglers with a remarkably level playing field.

The conditions were, once again, challenging with a strong South Easterly wind blowing and sunny intervals.

David Cormack did his partner a great favour by picking Loch Stemster before George had arrived at the meeting point as George secured the win with 12 for 9.02 lb. George fished a ghost tip line and caught all his fish on black flies, Kate Maclaren was mentioned as one of the most productive patterns.

Runner up for the second competition in a row was Alan Porteous. Alan fished Loch Watten and boated 11 for 8.71 lb. He put his success down to pulling a fast sinking line quickly over the deeper water of the north shore. Alan caught on the Orange Blob and the Black Cat Muddler.

Championship leader, Tony Chalmers, maintained his lead with a strong performance on Loch Calder boating 12 for 6.99 lb. Tony's tactics were the exact opposite from Alan's in fishing very close to the bank in the New Bay and West Bank areas. Tony reported black flies reigned supreme on a wake saver line.

The biggest cheer of the day went to the Heaviest Fish winner, Iain Dunnett, the junior angler fishing in only his second event lifted the prize with a beauty from Watten weighing 1.65 lb.

GEORGE AND IAIN ( George is the one on the left )

Saturday 26th May

DFFA Win Highland Federation Competition (2007)

Saturday the 26th of May saw twenty five teams of three anglers meet at the Royal British Legion (RBL) for the annual Highland Federation Competition held on Loch Watten.

The weather conditions were once again challenging with a very strong westerly wind mixed in with rain and hail showers.

The anglers representing DFFA, given the task of wresting the trophy away from consecutive champions Ruthven Fly Fishers, were Bill Robertson, Alan Porteous and late substitute Toby Bracey.

On competition day the team headed out and concentrated all their efforts at the east end of the loch with long drifts across the deeper water looking for shoals of fish. With only two fish spotted rising the whole day, fast sinking lines were used teamed up with Gold Muddlers, Claret Clan Chief and Mr Twinkle.

After a long tiring day the team boated an excellent 34 fish with all three anglers fishing well in such tough conditions.

The weigh in was once again held at the RBL and it was clear that only two teams were in the running, DFFA and Ruthven Fly Fishers. With Ruthven having dominated the competition over the last few years it was no surprise that the outcome was close.

Final Standings

DFFA 34 Fish weighing 26 lb 4 oz

Ruthven FF 27 Fish weighing 19 lb 14 oz

Loch Achonachie 16 Fish weighing 12 lb 6 oz

Alan Porteous (DFFA) secured the title of Highland Federation Champion with 19 fish weighing 14 lb 13 oz. In second place was J. Craib (Ruthven Fly Fishers) with 15 weighing 10 lb 4 oz and in third was Toby Bracey (DFFA) with 12 weighing 9 lb 7 oz. The prize for the heaviest fish went to J. Gardiner (Ruthven FF) weighing 2 lb 2 oz.

DFFA would like to thank the Federation of Highland Angling Clubs for running the event and the organisers John Blake and Norman Macleod.

The victorious team, from L to R. Toby Bracey, Bill Robertson and Alan Porteous

Saturday 2nd June

Fifteen hardy anglers made the hour- long drive to fish Loch an Alltan Fhearna ( near Kinbrace ) for the third round of DFFA championship.

The weather conditions could once again be described as challenging with a 25 mph gusting to 35 mph SE wind and sunny intervals.

Toby Bracey continued his run of good form, making light of the bad conditions, catching nine fish to secure first place. Toby changed from the southeast to the southwest corner of the loch, which proved to be an inspired move as most of his fish came late in the day. The successful fly pattern was never disclosed, Mr Twinkle perhaps !!!

Second place belonged to Mr Consistent (second in all three events ) Alan Porteous. Alan put seven fish into the bag before leaving early to attend a wedding. ( No, he wasn't the groom ) The bride and groom were none too impressed when he attended in his waders -- they will have to learn that every second counts in this game and nothing should get in the way of a good days fishing. Alan caught six of the seven on a static gold shuggler ( never heard of it, Ed. ) gold muddler crossed with a humungous.

A deserved third place went to Tony Cobra Chalmers. Tony and Jan fished down the Northwest bank and took a real pounding from the waves. They were the only two brave or mad enough to try it. Tony's determination landed him four fish and thirteen valuable championship points.

Jan Hughes caught the heaviest fish of the day at 0.82 lb. Jan is under steward's investigation as there is a rumour circulating that that he took a duck dive into the big waves and came up with the fish between his teeth. Jan will neither confirm or deny this accusation but did appear at the weigh-in more than a little damp.

Jan and Toby

Thanks to Brian Lyall of Badenloch Estate for his help in organizing this event.

Friday 8th June

Fishing on Heilan with Ronnie Mackenzie, Ramie Millard landed a 10lb 11oz trout which took a size 10 yellow bumble :-

One of the largest if not the largest brown trout recorded in Caithness.

Congratulations Ramie!

Meanwhile Ronnie landed a 4oz trout on the dap. Possibly the smallest recorded on Heilan. Sorry, I don't seem to have a photo of this specimen.

HOSKINS TROPHY

Clear skies and a cold north-easterly wind greeted the twenty anglers fishing the all lochs competition on the evening of the 8th of June.

Dennis Macintosh, fishing Watten, won the fourth round of the DFFA Championship. He managed to winkle out four fish for 3.04 lb to claim the twenty points and the Hoskins Trophy. Dennis was the only angler to report that he could have had many more fish as he moved a lot of fish throughout the evening. The successful tactic for the evening was a Peach Muddler on an intermediate line. The win came at a cost as Dennis managed to chew his line in the outboard. He has a new line on express order so that it is received on time for the All Night competition on the 22nd of June.

Toby Bracey, fishing the pre match favourite location Stemster, also caught four fish for 2.67 lb to secure second place and the narrowest lead in the championship. Toby's report from Stemster was " weed, weed and more weed ". Toby fished the ghost tip line and Claret Straggle Clan Chief in the channels between the weeds.

Tony Cobra Chalmers was third also on Stemster with three fish weighing 2.40 lb. Tony also struggled in the weed but there were plenty of fish in the spaces between. Tony fished an intermediate line and the good old Loch Ordie.

Heaviest fish and fourth place went to Edward Beattie fishing St. Johns. Edward's one fish weighed 1.82 lb. Well done Edward as many consider St. Johns the hardest draw with the 12 inch limit and travel time required to make the weigh-in.

The championship is now at the half way point and with things so finely poised, it will be whoever conquers Watten that will emerge the victor as it is the venue for three of the last four competitions.

Friday 22nd June

WATTEN ALL- NIGHT COMPETITION

Eighteen anglers attended the fifth round of the DFFA Championship.

The Watten All-Nighter can be the best competition of the year but can also be the worst depending upon the weather.

Luckily the conditions were not too bad in the early part of the competition with a light northerly wind and overcast skies but, with the wind dropping off completely at 02:00 hrs, the anglers who made the early running were in good shape for the final result.

Tony Chalmers gained the lead of the championship with a fin perfect performance of 17 fish weighing 14.95 lb. His basket included the heaviest fish of the evening weighing in at 1.72 lb. Tony fished the wake saver line ( floating line with a foot of clear intermediate on the end ) paired with soldier palmers on the bob (12) and tail (10). Tony found his fish on the shallows in Laid Bay and spent the whole night fishing a distance of no more than a hundred yards such was the concentration of fish.

Runner up for the fourth competition of the season was Alan Porteous. Alan fished at Pat Grant's boat shed and boated 18 for 12.17 lb. Alan caught on a slow intermediate line and the Shetland favourite Norski Lad which accounted for most of his fish. Alan's boat partner, Kevin (big fish) Manson, thought he had spotted a monster fish cruising up to the boat but was disappointed when an otter popped his head out of the water. Lucky you did not catch it Kev. The otter has a good set of teeth and you would have been on your own mate!

Third, and always near the top on Watten, was George Robertson. George boated 10 fish weighing 6.90 lb. George, like everyone else, had been catching fish consistently until the calm arrived. More spectacular than George's fishing was the amount of bacon rolls in the Brown Trout after the weigh. Well done George. By any chance can we have them delivered to the village end about 03.00 hrs next year ??

Tony with heaviest fish 2 am (Oops, forgot the flash)

DFFA Team for the DFFA v SAA in Shetland 13th + 14th July

John Briskham (Cpt.)

Alan Porteous

Bill Robertson

Toby Bracey

Tony Chalmers

Brian Munro

Come on lads !!! About time we brought the trophy back from Shetland.

Saturday 7th July

Nice basket of trout from Stemster. Caught by Ian Cannop with a Bibio but he struggled to find open water between the prolific weed growth.

13th / 14th July

Inter Club Competition SAA v DFFA

The top six anglers from Dounreay Fly Fishing Association and Shetland Angling Association assembled at the Research docked in Lerwick harbour for the annual inter club competition. With the draw made onboard, the competing pairs made their way to various lochs in Shetland to do battle over the two days of competition.

With the DFFA losing out by a mere 6 oz two years ago and the number of wins poised at 5 to 4 in favour of DFFA, the Shetland team were a little nervous ahead of the event. The DFFA were also nervous before the start as two practise days on the Shetland lochs had brought little success due to bad weather conditions.

Day 1

The conditions were much more conducive to good angling with a south wind and a couple of degree rise in the air temperature. Things were looking better. The first day saw the DFFA taking a 5 lb 3 oz lead with outstanding performances from Toby Bracey and Tony Chalmers -- both bagging nine fish apiece. All competing anglers managed to return with fish.

Day 2

The conditions for day two were awful, with a strong easterly wind and driving rain, most anglers would have preferred to stay in the Research. The old saying "when it gets tough, the tough get going " and Shetland proved their Viking ancestry with a 9 lb 9 oz victory. All six Shetland anglers were up on their DFFA partners, which was an amazing team performance. Jeemie Sandison, Magnus Reid, Bobby Irvine, Alec Miller, Billy Reid and Barry Robertson all fished their waders off to dominate and secure the tenth inter club title and bring the score back to five all.

SAA 59 fish weighing 36 lb 3 oz DFFA 48 fish weighing 31 lb 15 oz

DFFA did not leave empty handed, though, as Toby Bracey finished a mere two ounces ahead of Jeemie Sandison to claim the individual prize. Toby also caught the heaviest fish of the match at Kilka Water, weighing 1 lb 9 oz.

The DFFA would like to thank SAA for their friendship over the last ten years as the competition is as much about making friends as it is about angling. the trip alone was full of moments that will be remembered for a long time. Bill and Alec's lunch break, John's monster 10 inch fish and the joy on Tony's face when he spotted a naughty video lying in his cabin.

John's unusual trout

Toby Bracey Heaviest Fish and Heaviest Basket

The Second Place Team

The Winning Team

THE RESEARCH

Friday 27th July

K.M.L. Trophy on Watten

Nineteen anglers competed in the sixth round of the DFFA championship on Loch Watten. The competition was fished to a different format with anglers allowed to leave the berth at 6.30 pm and lines were to be wound in at 10.00 pm. This was introduced to give all anglers the same amount of time on the loch, independent of the berth location.

The weather on the evening was not ideal with a cool but light north-east wind and sunny intervals.

With this competition so short in duration, every minute counted as anglers who managed to find feeding fish early stood a good chance of winning.

The best angler on the night was Brian Munro, who landed five good quality fish for 6.28 lb. This was Brian's first win and was well deserved as Brian has improved greatly over the last few seasons into a regular top six finisher. He also bagged the heaviest fish of the evening at 1.85 lb. Brian fished near the surface with Sedgehogs and Diawl Bach's being the successful patterns.

Second equal were Alan Porteous and Bill Robertson, both having seven fish weighing 5.45 lbs. Bill had a good start to the evening with three fish on his first drift in Railway Bay, Alan on the other hand finished strongly around Pat Grant's berth. Both Bill and Alan fished close to the surface with the Peach Muddler and Norski Lad catching well.

Fourth place went to Ken Macleod with four fish weighing 2.71 lb on a Loch Leven Spider -- a good achievement as Ken tends to fish the other DFFA lochs more than Watten.

Saturday 4th August

The B.F. Trophy, Toftingal.

The Mack is back in form to take second win of season.

Twelve anglers took part in the penultimate round of the DFFA Championship on Loch Toftingal.

There were two different schools of thought on how to be successful on the loch, with some anglers choosing to fish around the large weed banks and others preferring the open water and easy wading of the west bank.

Dennis Macintosh proved that the roving approach was the best tactic on the day, bagging fish early on in the competition from various locations around the north end. Dennis used peach and orange flies to tempt seven fish weighing 4.54 lbs and secure the B.F. Trophy as well as 20 championship points.

Runner up position belonged to Edward Beattie who landed five fish weighing 2.58 lbs. Edward's swap from the east bank to the west bank proved a good move as he finished the competition strongly after a slow start.

Toby Bracey continued his good Toftingal form with four fish weighing 2.31 lbs. to finish third.

Fourth position and heaviest fish belonged to Tony Chalmers. Tony finished with the same bag weight as Toby but had one fish less, resulting in the lower finishing position. The heaviest fish weighed 0.97 lbs which was caught around the weed patches on the west bank.

Alan Porteous claimed fifth position with four for 2.23 lb. and Evan Park completed the top six with two fish weighing 1.3 lb.

Iain Hanna, Kevin and Bruin Porteous, who have all been absent from the competition scene for a while, joined the competing anglers. It was good to see them return for the social aspect of angling and we hope they enjoyed the day out.

The DFFA would like to thank Pieter Hovig and Hugo Ross for the use of the loch and boats for the competition.

With only one competition to go, Tony, Alan or Toby could win the championship. With a coveted fifth and sixth place still open at the last competition (Parry Trophy on Watten on the 17th of August ), the results could make or break the competing angler's season.

Saturday 18th August

Parry Trophy

Eighteen anglers attended the final round of the DFFA championship on Loch Watten. With the championship and top six places still up for grabs it was all to play for.

With pretty miserable conditions present for most of the day it was surprising to see many of the anglers returning good baskets of trout. The strong northerly wind and heavy rain did not deter the trout from taking close to the surface.

The clear winner of the day was Denis Macintosh with a tremendous basket of 16 trout weighing 11.09 lb. Dennis fished the north end of the loch around the weed beds catching his fish on a Norski Lad, Pearly Dabbler and Dunkeld Dabbler. Competition fishing is becoming an expensive for Dennis as he once again managed to chew up his intermediate fly line with the outboard motor.

In second position Toby Bracey managed to bag eight quality trout for 7.67 lb. Toby caught most of his fish at the north end of the loch and finished his basket around the island. This second place has secured his place in the top three and a place in the DFFA team fishing the Highland Federation Competition.

Tony secured third place, heaviest fish and the Club Championship with nine fish weighing 7.25 lb. Tony's heaviest fish weighed 2.31 lb. Tony also fished the north end of the loch and caught using a slow glass line and Silver Butcher. Tony has fished his waders off all season, doing well in every event he has entered. His consistency, dogged determination and ability to catch the big one means that he finishes a worthy winner for the 2007 season.

George Robertson rescued his terrible start to the day with a superb afternoon fishing. He boated seven fish weighing 5.49 lb. He bucked the trend and caught most of his fish from the east end of Watten.

Angler of the day had to be junior angler, Kevin Manson, finishing in fifth position and retaining the Junior Championship. Kevin put some manners on last years champion by boating six fish weighing 4.81 lb. Kevin managed to sneak ahead of Rory Scott by one point to finish the season on a high.

In sixth position was Alan Porteous with four trout weighing 3.46 lb, which proved to be his worst result of the season.

Thursday 27th September

Brian Munro out fishing on Watten to-day captured this fine specimen weighing in at 2 lb 12 oz. The weather was a cool 10C with a light NE wind and mostly cloudy.

This is the heaviest fish caught on Watten this season from a DFFA boat so you will have to hurry if you wish to beat this -- only two days left!!