2024 National
National
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
2024
Sponsored by
Fishers Direct,
7plus7 Construction Vision and R & E Hygiene
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 8 - Harray Loch 26th May
It’s that time of year again where the road to winning a place in the Scottish Fly Fishing teams begins with the Harray Qualifier on Sunday 26th of May.
23 anglers contested the Harray heat with a good representation made from anglers outwith Orkney. Great to see anglers from Shetland, Caithness and Angus choosing to fish the heat in Orkney. The match was run by Orkney Trout Fishing Association on behalf of SANACC, with huge thanks to Norman Irvine for weighing and measuring and Leslie Miller who did the recording and calculations to give a result in quick time, and to Paul Miller who stepped in as the Port Angler to even up the numbers.
There was a slight change of wind from South East to East, quite brisk at times but there was full cloud all of which helped the cause, providing some shelter down the east side. The middle third of the loch seemed popular for a starting point, with Ballarat, Ess Holms and Horse Shoe popular, only two boats chose to fish the open water of Biggings, all the others were fishing over skerries or on to shores.
Top rod on the day was Kevin Porteous of FNF Falcons, with a tremendous basket of 10 fish for 9lb 1oz, second was James Bews, with 8 fish for 8lb 1oz and third was Frank Watt, Shetland FFA with 8 fir 7lb 4 ozs. The match was fished to a 6 fish kill, then de-barb and catch and release. Others who found success on the day and qualification for the next round included, Brian Foreman, Stuart Leslie, Malcolm Russell, Ian Hutcheon, Kevin Imlach, Erlend Hutchison, Jim Adams, William Taylor and Ian Cannop.
Typical of Harray, there were numerous ways to catch your fish, with methods ranging from fishing Hedgehogs on a floating line to mini lures on a DI7. Kevin’s winning tactic was to fish the skerries and drop offs around the Ess Holms, using the FNF Arc line to great effect, short lining with the line giving the all important swoop up of the flies to the surface, it obviously made the difference. James fished mini lures on a DI7 out off Biggings taking his fish on standard Orkney patterns. Others reported peach or orange flies doing the business on Midge Tips, Slow Glass lines etc.
Tight lines and every success to those who qualified, as they proceed to semi finals at various venues across Scotland.
photo from left:
Kevin Porteous, James Bews and Frank Watt
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 7 - Loch Leven - 14th May 2024
Top rod, and winner of a pair of Vision sunglasses, in heat 7 of the National at Loch Leven was Robert Wilson of Glencoe FF. Robert netted 8 trout for 10lb 3.1oz. In second with 6 trout for 7lb 14.7oz was David Moore of Dunfermline Artisans. David Couper of Kilbirnie AC was third with 3trout for 5lb 6.7oz. 18 anglers took part and the top 9 qualified for the semis.
photo from left:
Robert Wilson, David Moore and David Couper
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 6 - Lintrathen - 9th May
The 37 competitors in heat 6 of the National were treated to a warmer wind for their session than had been experienced during the previous five heats. Lintrathen hosted the heat and provided a sunny day with some occasional cloud cover. There had been very heavy rain overnight and once again conditions didn't make the fishing easy. However the competitors caught a total of 115 trout and the top 19 of them qualified for the semis.
Top rod and recipient of a pair of Vision sunglasses was Ronnie Gilbert of Greys Menteith Ospreys. Ronnie was fishing in the sawmill area where he netted seven fish on a mix of cormorants and buzzers. The second placed angler was James Thomson of Perth Anglers who took 5 fish on traditional wet flies in the sawmill area. The third placed angler, Ed Brown of the Dundee AC also fished the sawmill area and netted 6 fish on crunchers.
The heats move to Leven on Tuesday 14th May followed by a break before the final heat at Harray at the end of the month.
photo from left:
Ronnie Gilbert, Ed Brown and James Thomson
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 5 - Lake of Menteith - 7th May
Conditions were a touch warmer for heat 5 of the National which was held at the Lake of Menteith. Forty four four anglers took part and caught a total of 343 trout. The top twenty three qualified for the semis.
Top rod and recipient of a pair of Vision sunglasses was Keith Logan of the Heriot AC who netted 31 trout. Keith won the Champion of Champions at the Lake in 2023 and looks to be on a roll.
Top spots were around Tod Hole and International Bay where dries and buzzers were the tactics.
photo from left:
Alex Grant, Keith Logan and Mark McNaughton
The next heat is at Lintrathen on Thursday 9th May.
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 4 - Frandy - 2nd May 2024
That cold north easterly wind that has been there for most of the heats was back again for heat 4 which was held at Frandy on 2nd May. Just to make things harder there wasn't a cloud in the sky and fishing at Frandy was difficult. There were 26 competitors for the heat and between them they caught 55 fish. The top 13 qualified for the semis.
Top rod and recipient of a pair of Vision sunglasses was Martin McCafferty of Future FF who netted 9 fish.
Ronnie McKean of East Kilbride AC was second with 6 fish and Kenny Finlayson of Strathgryfe AA was third with 4 fish.
The top three rods fished the southern end of the reservoir and used di3 and di7 lines with a mix of boobies, fabs, blobs and cormorants.
The National returns to the Lake of Menteith on Tuesday 7th May for heat 5.
photo from left:
Kenny Finlayson, Martin McCafferty and Ronnie McKean
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 3 - Lake of Menteith - 25th April 2024
Heat 3 of the National was at Menteith on 25th April and the competitors had to contend with a chilly breeze throughout the session. The day started off bright but gradually clouded over to give a mix of cloud, sun, rain and hail. However the fishing was good with the 51 anglers netting a total of 414 fish. The heaviest four trout at the scales weighed 6lb 13oz, 6lb 4oz, 6lb and 5lb 2oz. A further four were over 4lb. With 51 competitors the top 26 qualified for the semi-finals.
Top rod and recipient of a pair of Vision sunglasses was Gregor Fleming of Albacats FF who had 22 trout for 45lb 1.5oz. Scott Pozzi of Rainbow AC was second with 18 trout and Calum Clark of Firecats was third with 16 trout. Our thanks to all of our sponsors for supporting the Championship.
The top three rods took their fish at Dog Island, Cages Bay, Sams Point, Hotel Bay and the Road Shore fishing cormorants, diawl bachs, fabs and boobies on floating and midge tip lines.
The next heat is at Frandy on 2nd May
photo: from left
Gregor Fleming, Calum Clark and Scott Pozzi
Scottish National Trout Fly Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene
Heat 2 - Harelaw - 12th April 2024
Thirty eight anglers contested heat 2 which was held at Harelaw on 12th April. It was dry and blustery when they set off at the start of the session and they weren't far into the day when the rain came in and the temperature dropped. The rain was on and off for the rest of the day and fishing conditions were difficult. However the fish were there to be caught and between the 38 of them they caught 127 fish.
Top rod and recipient of a pair Vision sunglasses was Alan Harvie of Greys Menteith Ospreys who netted 8 fish for 15lb 11.8oz. Close behind in second was Wayne Cram of West Lothian FD who had 7 fish for 14lb 4.9oz. Third place, also with 7 fish but slightly lighter at 14lb 4oz was Kyle Courtney of Flybox. The top three were fishing a mix of lines and varied between pulling and twiddling blobs and boobies. The top 19 qualified for the semis.
The next heat is back at Menteith on 25th April.
photo from the left
Alan Harvie, Wayne Cram and Kyle Courtney
Scottish National Trout Fly
Fishing Championship
Sponsored by Fishers Direct
Heat 1 - Lake of Menteith 9th
April 2024
The 2024 National Championship is now up and
running with the the first heat being held at the Lake of Menteith on 9th
April. 43 anglers took part and had to contend with torrential rain as
they set off at the start of the session. The heat was fished to a two
fish kill with 2lb being awarded for each returned fish. A total of 363
fish for 772 lbs were caught and the top 22 anglers progressed to the
semi-finals.
Top rod on the day was Kevin McCabe of Change
FF AC with 21 fish for 42lb 14.8oz. Kevin received a pair of Vision
sunglasses and we wish to thank Vision Fly Fishing UK and Fishers Direct for
sponsoring the championship. In second place with 16 fish for 32lb 12.4oz
was George Telford of Avonbank Fishery CIC and in third with 16 fish for 31lb
15.1oz was John Simpson of Glasgow Post Office AC.
Heat 2 will be held at Harelaw on Friday 12th
April.
