Winter League 08/09

During the cold dark winter months the competition fever is kept alive with the winter league. In reality it’s just another excuse to keep the fishing urge at bay with regular outings around the highland rainbow fisheries. The chosen venues for this winter were Achagour, Stoneyfield, Glen of Rothes and Loch Insch. There were 7 outings in total with each individual counting their 5 best finishes to decide the overall winner.

The 1st weekend in November saw 11 hopefuls line up at the Achagour Fishery, which is just off the Nairn to Grantown road. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny, early winter day with trout rising in all the lochs. Rising they might be, but taking with gay abandon they were most certainly not. Some were catching reasonably freely and releasing good fish back in the expectation of the biggie. Lesser mortals quickly came to the conclusion that to catch the 2 fish limit would be an achievement in itself. As it turned out, only 3 anglers returned a 2 fish bag and because there were no monsters caught, filled the first 3 places. Top of the league, at this early stage was Neil MacRitchie, with Ali Hunter in 2nd and Dave MacGregor 3rd.

The 2nd outing saw the squad turn up at Stoneyfield, near Invergordon. This was the combined adult and junior leg. As usual the juniors attracted some atrocious weather with sleet and snow falling on to wet muddy banks. As it turned out the fishing was excellent fun especially trying to play fish whilst sliding down icy banks on ones derriere. Everybody quickly caught their limit and retired to the weigh in where hot pies and sausage rolls were put on courtesy of Isobel Hunter and warmed up by the fishery owners. Top rod was Dave MacGregor, with Neil MacRitchie 2nd and Ali Hunter 3rd. This left Neil, still heading affairs at the top of the league.

Winner of the junior winter league was Stewart Shearer (2 fish for 5lb 8⅝oz) with Callum Taylor 2nd (2 fish for 4lb 1⅜oz) and Emily Ross 3rd (2 fish for 3lb 9⅞oz). Well done to all the juniors who braved the conditions, who in all honesty, toughed it out far better than the adults.

In December the winter league moved on to Glen of Rothes, near Elgin. This fishery has the advantage of aerator pipes sunk throughout the big loch. This guarantees fishing even in the harshest of frosts. The 3rd leg saw the weather turn cold but luckily, both the lochs were accessible. Glen of Rothes usually gives up big fish and the 1st winter league trout of over 5lb fell, to that jammy git, Dave MacGregor. This fish helped Dave to top rod for this leg and moved him to the top of the league. 2nd was Okain McLennan with Ali Hunter 3rd. The lochs have also been stocked with Orrin blues and these attractive trout made up a few of the bags.

After the festive season cobwebs had been blown away the league was back at Glen of Rothes for the mid January leg. By this time the small loch was frozen solid and only parts of the big loch were accessible. The outflow from the bait loch to the big loch seemed to be the area where, large numbers of blues and rainbows shoaled up. This proved to be to the advantage of Ali and Isobel Hunter who caught fish after fish in this corner. Needless to say Ali won that leg with Alex Mark second and Okain McLennan 3rd. Another low finish saw Neil MacRitchie fall further down the league and losing touch with the top 4. Shame, shame for Neil, out with the violins.

When the snow came it arrived with a vengeance, blocking all access roads to the fisheries throughout most of February. With its aerators, Glen of Rothes was our only hope. At the end of February the thaw finally came and with it, renewed enthusiasm. By this stage of the winter league the main contenders line up knowing that a good day or bad day can make or break there chances of winning. On arrival at Glen of Rothes it looked as if half of the highland’s angling fraternity were out to get their fishing fix, the car park was chock a block. Looking out over the lochs, it was obvious that the fishing was exceptional with rods bent into good fish around both lochs. Generally, it takes skill and knowledge to catch good numbers of fish but it’s only the lucky that catch the big ones. Centre stage then for Dave MacGregor who caught a beautiful rainbow of 8lb 6oz, easily the best of the winter league so far, o/k he needed the help of a 7 year old boy to net it for him, but that’s undiluted spawn for you. The weigh in saw Dave 1st with Ali Hunter 2nd and Alex Mark 3rd. This left Ali and Dave tied at the top of the league, with Alex Mark and Okain McLennan battling it out for 3rd.

Into March and the gang drifted back to Achagour for the 6th and penultimate leg. It was great to think about some nice early spring weather in anticipation of better things to come. Well, it’s not called the winter league for nothing, as a strong Northerly wind, blasting horizontal snow across the lochs, greeted out heroes. Thankfully the fishing was good with most getting into fish reasonably quickly. There were reports of trout around the 10lb mark breaking lines but none appeared on the day. Only 2 weighed in their limit of four fish, Ali Hunter & Dave MacGregor, filling 1st and second places respectfully. This pushed them further in front of the field, nicely setting up a head to head for the finale at loch Insch. Okain came in 3rd which meant it was a straight contest between himself and Alex Mark for 3rd and final podium place.

The final leg was held at Loch Insch which is between Huntly and Inverurie. This fishery consists of 4 lochs which are renowned for their big trout in excess of 10lbs. For those that were out of contention for the league prizes, beating Dave Macgregor’s biggest fish was a real possibility. As it turned out MacGregor’s luck held out again with both Alex Mark and Okain McLennan loosing double figure fish. The best trout turned out to be a nice fish of 5½lb for Isobel Hunter. This of course meant that the 8lb 6oz trout, Dave had caught previously at Glen of Rothes took the biggest trout prize. The fishing at Loch Insch proved to be exceptional, with many rods getting into double figures even though the near gale force westerly wind made casting awkward. The main contenders, even though they caught well, had no big fish to weigh in. The tension mounted at the weigh as Ali and Dave, both with their 3 fish limit was expecting the other to take the day. As it turned out Dave was top rod with 7lb 12 oz for his 3 fish whilst Ali could only come 5th with his 3 trout bag to 6lb 12oz. Isobel Hunter came 2nd with Alex Mark coming in 3rd.

Congratulations go therefore to Dave who, along with the trophies for the winter league and biggest trout had £75 of tackle vouchers for the Sports and Model shop in his hip pocket. 2nd was Ali Hunter and 3rd Alex Mark who each won a bottle of McCallan.

Click here to see the full senior league results

Achagour First Round	Loch Insch Final Round & Prizes 1st - Dave MacGregor (centre) 2nd - Ali Hunter (right) 3rd - Alex Mark (left)

On a parting note, it was encouraging to see some new faces at our winter league, hopefully more hardy souls will come along next winter. The winter league letter detailing the venues and dates will be sent out with the end of season newsletter around the beginning of October 2009. If you want more detail then please give me a bell on 01349 863315 or e mail me at macgregors@rosshill232.fsnet.co.uk

David F MacGregor

Competitions Secretary