Wellsfield Trout Fishery¬ Weekly Report for Week Ending: 19/5/2013
The fishery is open for evening sessions 8am – 9pm 7 days.
Another busy week at Wellsfield Fishery. All three lochans fished well again this week, for fly fishers and bait anglers. Many anglers bagged their limits with Rainbows, Blues and Brown Trout featuring amongst the catches. Average fish weight 3lb, with many specimen fish in anglers catch returns from 8lb in size. See photos below.
Most fly fishers caught fish using floating lines a few feet under the surface. Best flies this week: Ally McCoist Lure,. Gree Pea, PTN, Olive Damsel Nymph, Mini Dancers, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, fished with a floating line and long leader.
Bait anglers best methods was floated baits using bubbles and stick floats. Best Baits: Wasp Grubs, Brambling Worms and White Maggot cocktail
Fish of the week was a 9lb 8oz rainbow trout caught using fly by D Horne (Stirling).
One £50 Red Tagged Trout was caught by I Millar (Grangemouth) from the middle fly pond in his nag of 5 fish for 15lb using mini-lures.
Best Catches for this week:
J Irvine (Glasgow) 6 for 16lb in 2 visits,
A Gardiner (Bathgate) 5 for 18lb, best 6lb rainbow trout,
W Morrison (West Calder) 5 for 15lb,
J King (Falkirk) 5 for 15lb,
D Smart (Falkirk) 5 for 15lb,
T Neill (Kilsyth) 5 for 14lb,
J Syme (Fife) 4 for 12lb,
G Hogan (Stirling) 4 for 12lb,
P Killen (Moodiesburn) 4 for 12lb,
I McGregor (Doune) 4 for 11lb 8oz,
B Robertson (Cowie) 4 for 11lb,
J Esplin (Bonnybridge) 4 for 11lb,
S Nichols (Glasgow) 4 for10lb 8oz,
P Jack (Scone) 4 for 10lb,
S Brotherton (Alloa) 3 for 12lb,
J McNeish (Stirling) 4 for 12lb,
R Cook (Glasgow) 4 for 12lb,
R Ainsley (Glasgow) 3 for 9lb,
J Killen (Moodiesburn) 3 for 9lb,
J Brogan (Airdrie) 3 for 9lb,
J McKinley (Stirling) 3 for 9lb,
J Black (Bannockburn) 3 for 9lb,
C Bone (Wishaw) 3 for 8lb 8oz,
D Millen (Bothwell) 3 for 8lb 8oz,
J Scougall (Airdrie) 3 for 7lb 12oz,
R Johnson (Cornton) 3 for 7lb 8oz,
S Murray (Doune) 3 for 7lb,
J Peat (Bonnybridge) 3 for 7lb,
D Horne (Stirling) 2 for 12lb 8oz, best 9lb 8oz trout,
W Reid (Armadale) 2 for 11lb, best 8lb rainbow trout,
P Clark (Plean) 2 for 10lb, best 8lb rainbow trout,
N Graham (Plean) 2 for 6lb,
P McMaster (Armadale) 2 for 6lb,
J McNeish (Stirling) 2 for 6lb,
J Rankin (Airdrie) 2 for 6lb,
M Duncan (Denny) 2 for 6lb,
J Ingles (Denny) 2 for 6lb,
D Baird (Grangemouth) 2 for 6lb,
J Tang (Ireland) 2 for 6lb,
J Jack (Scone) 2 for 6lb,
J Buchanan (Bonnybridge) 2 for 6lb,
M Robertson (Tullibody) 2 for 6lb,
G Jenkins (Stirling) 2 for 6lb,
A McIntosh (Dullatur) 2 for 6lb,
J Cuthbertson (Glasgow) 2 for 6lb,
J Adamson (Larbert) 2 for 5lb 8oz,
S Lowrie (Airdrie) 2 for 5lb 8oz,
H Morgan (Denny) 2 for 5lb,
S Brotherton (Alloa) 2 for 5lb,
K Lowe (Falkirk) 2 for 5lb,
R Seivewright (Cumbernauld) 1 for 9lb 4oz,
J Gilroy (Dorset) 1 for 8lb rainbow trout.
Blue Banks fishing permits have been significantly reduced for 2013
Ticket prices
Day ticket 1st Feb to 30st June – £25.00
Day ticket 1st July to 31st Aug – £40.00
Day ticket 1st Sept to 31st Oct – £50.00
Contact the store for availability and bookings
It hardly seems like a month since Active Active held its best ever open weekend but time flies when you are having fun. Better late than never, I write to thank all our customers and supply companies for their support and help in developing the weekend into a successful entertaining and informative experience.
Chris and the staff put in lot of effort and extra time stocking/preparing the shop, the river access and the indoor arena for our showcase weekend and would particularly like to thank all those who came along, none more so than those caught up for 40 minutes as a result of a traffic accident on the main road.
The sun shone so strong on Saturday I was tempted into the lure pool to cool off but Sunday had me stretching for my fleece again – The neighbouring deli’ enjoyed the spin off trade in cold/hot refreshments etc..
Best quote of our weekend – “I came round to support my local tackle shop at its open weekend but there was a real buzz about the place and I felt I was attending a national event”. I sincerely hope that those who managed to attend agree with the sentiment and, to those who missed it, I would offer an early invitation for 2014 – some of our suppliers have already booked their space.
While we always offer fly tying, casting demonstrations and casting tuition, the new ventures of a Juniors class, smoked fish tasting and distance casting competition were particularly well received – wasn’t it a delight to see two boys from the Scottish Youth Team on the score sheet for the casting competition.
Any feed back on this year’s event would be welcome, particularly if there is something you would like to see in 2014 – we have already started planning.
Martin Grantham
Director
Lake of Menteith 6th May
Clarity 3.1m 6ft Water temperature 9 C
Another week of white horses (except for today Tues 7th which is 15C and sunny at 10am) with anglers again looking for shelter and fish in the Lochend, Tod Hole and the Butts. They were not disappointed!
The first heat of the Scottish Club Championships took place on Saturday 4th May. Championship Secretary Kenny Miller Reports: Briefing was held indoors due to blustery winds and threatening rain. All boats out ok and by 7pm the wind was settling and conditions greatly improved. 27 anglers caught 131 trout of which 81 were returned. Once again Change Fly Fishers showed their consistency with a first place catch of 30 trout for 59lb 50z. 2nd place went to Greenock & District with 20 fish for 40lb 8oz. 3rd place to Caley Liners with 17 trout for 33lb 8oz. These clubs to semi final on 23rd August. Top 5 rods on night progress to “Champion of Champions” final on Friday 11th October: Andy McKay Greenock & District 12 trout 24lb 5oz. Andy was fishing a midge tip with a cat booby on the point and cormorants further up. Kevin McCabe Change Fly Fishers 11 trout 21lb 9oz, Andy Dunn Change Fly Fishers 10 trout 20lb 1oz, Colin MacDonald Dunoon and Dist 9 trout 18lb 8oz, Jock Kettles Change Fly Fishers 9 trout 17lb 11oz. Heaviest fish on night was a lovely rainbow of 3lb 5oz caught by Ardrossan Eglington angler Davy Boyd. In Club Championships Captain of Change Fly Fishers received a bottle of Speyburn Highland Malt, courtesy of “Inverhouse Distillers” Airdrie. Captor of heaviest basket on night also received a bottle of Speyburn Highland Malt. Heaviest trout on night received a bottle of “Famous Angler” from Grouse. SCC welcomes for 11th year involvement of Angling Active, Stirling, who sponsor the tackle prizes, and on the whisky front, “Inverhouse Distillers”, Airdrie and “Famous Grouse”.
Pictured left: John MacLean from Livingston (fished with the Tap Shop AC and in the boat league), passed away at the weekend. John, who was in his sixties, was a regular at the Lake and had been visiting for twenty years or more. John put up a long fight after his diagnosis. Words are as usual inadequate but hose that knew him will know what I mean when I say that his smile, stories and his sense of humour will be fondly remembered.
Left: In heat 4 of the National Trout Championships, Chris McAllister (centre) of Raemoir TF was top bag with 20 fish. Chris was fishing a blob booby on a midge tip with dials and buzzers in Lochend Bay. In second place was S.Leask of Neilston FF and 3rd David Kemp David Kemp of Stanley and Dist.
If you are new to fly fishing or just looking to pick up a few tips, this series of 7 short videos from Greys offers a beginners guide to fly fishing.
Well am I glad to see the back of April, we have had horrendous weather conditions throughout the month with almost continuous high winds and very low temperatures, at the beginning of the month I was still breaking ice daily. This has made the fishing become almost unpredictable, one day lures on a slow retrieve, next day super fast retrieve, next day buzzers, next day something different, it also pushed the fish all over the place and no two areas have been consistent for any more than a day or so over the last few weeks, from an owners point of view, very frustrating!
B Eadie with a nice 6lber – Check out that tail!
Generally when the fish have came on, they have been very happy to take strongly, some days they’ve been suicidal and almost “too easy” other days they’ve just switched off! As the water and air temperatures have finally risen the fish are now feeding far more contently and settling down, when the conditions have been right some of the rises have been incredible with the water literally boiling, but unfortunately the winds have spoiled these rises most of the time. For the lure guys a floater, midge tip or intermediate has been the best teamed up with, yellow dancers, black dancers, rabbits or hot head damsel. For the buzzer fishers, black buzzers with red, yellow or orange cheeks or sometimes just a plain black buzzer has been the best, although at times they have had to be fished either washing line style, or shallow under a sighter for the best results.
Best dries have been cdc shuttlecocks in black, claret, harelug or olive but generally as small as a size 16 as the buzzers hatching are still the small winter size, only the last few days have we started to see the larger black buzzers hatching- hooray!! Another really consistent method has been the apps bloodworm and the okey dokey either stripped fast, or static under a sighter.
Beautiful 7lb Rainbow Trout for S Finlay on a Buzzer
The big fish don’t seem to have switched right on just yet, hopefully the heat and hatches will bring them into feed mode now. Some of the best fish of the month were a 15lb rainbow to regular angler Tony Pryde on a buzzer, a 16lb 4oz fish to another regular angler Ronnie Weir on a buzzer and a superb 18lb fish to A Hannen on a bloodworm, in all there were 22 fish over 5lb taken in the month with 7 doubles landed and an average fish weight of 3lb.
Thank you and regards,
Steven Reid
Bangour Trout Fishery
