New Season is Upon Us. Happy New Year, I’d like to wish you all the very best for the new season, and hope that Santa has been good to you and answered all your prayers. In that respect he was for me and I got a brand new Gary Loomis fly rod, with a label attached to it stating happy Silver Wedding anniversary and Merry Christmas.

Now when I think about it, I’ve had to put up with a lot and had to make a lot sacrifices over the last 25years to be rewarded with a such a fly rod, for instance forfeiting those holidays you see in the holiday brochures, like Crete, Antigua, and the like, for a couple of weeks camping up the Tap end. Then there was the time I was told to stay out over night as it’s was a girl’s night in the house, and that I wasn’t welcome. That was in October when it was pouring from the heavens and freezing. Only kidding Isabel the rod will be much appreciated.

Over the Christmas and New Year period we were the brunt of some severe gales and apart from me hanging onto the perspex roofing on the pergola at 3 am one morning because the wind insisted it wanted to move it from Renfrew across the river Clyde and into someone else’s garden in Scotstoun I was relatively lucky. Not so Sandy Macfarlane at Balmaha, apparently between the extremely high water levels and the gales, the boatyard suffered quite a bit of damage. Mostly the sheds and the pontoons. On the 14th of January the water level was only about a foot or so from going over the built up embankment where the old Garage used to be at Tarbet, and that was when the rain was beginning to stop. So lets hope that the redds where the fish have spawned will have been okay.

I was recently informed that Eddie Ventisei has after a long illness sadly passed away. On behalf of his many friends at Balmaha and the members of the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association, I would like to pass on our deepest sympathy to Eddie’s family. We will miss seeing Eddie sitting in the driving seat litterly, of the boat he shared with his long standing pal Robert.

Now not to out do Dame Ellen MacArthur and her magnificent feat of circumnavigating around the world single handed in a new record time. I’ve been checking back in my personal diary and found some similar statistics. In 1980, when I began fishing the loch, I was out approximately every 7 days from April onwards and it was 4 years later, on the 4th October 1984, when I first felt the pull of something at the end of my line which turned out to be a cracking 6lb Sea Trout. Gerd Elsweiler who was my boat partner that day could hardly believe it as I had just finished a night shift and was half asleep when it took. Gerd still remarks that it was only because I was nodding off that I managed to dibble the fly in a more attractive manner to the fish, I still tell him it was down to sheer determination and skill. Four years worth of determination.

In those days I only fished the fly and was some what blinkered as to what the rest of the Loch offered northwards of the Pilot Bank. When I finally got my own boat in 1988, and this is where I see the similarities with Dame Ellen MacArthur, I single handed with sheer determination, complete exhaustion at times, not to mention braving all that the elements can thow at you, circumnavigated the Loch from Balmaha to Ardulie for, I’m sure, a record two years catching sod all. All this I did without all the help and backup team that supported Ellen and certainly without the sponsership of B & Q .

Okay, I hope you all took the time to complete and return the questionnaire forms we were all sent out, because at the end of the day it’s in our interests to get across our word, and hope that someone will listen and get rid of the disturbance on the Loch. Complacency is a terrible thing, we just cannot allow the fishing’s on our Loch to be placed in jeopardy.

Opening day was on Friday last and another season is under way. I visited Balmaha on Saturday, and was not surprised not to see anyone out fishing as it was blowing a hooley, I met Denis McLaughlin working on his boat, oops sorry Denis, cruiser, which is the way to go in the early months. Sitting in the comfort of a cabin job, out of the spray, cold and rain with the kettle boiling away on the stove, heaven. Just think, driving your boat into a freezing cold north east wind and getting soaked into the bargain, running out of hot tea, and trying to get the stove lit with sodden matches you managed to find at the bottom your fishing box, because you forgot to bring lighters. I say lighters because I mean 4 lighters, the first one is for every day use, whilst the second is kept as a as a spare in case the first one got soaked or something, the third one is used in case the first one ran out of gas and the second one is soaked and finally the forth one is for Willie Caldwell who never has one at all. Don’t do what I did on a days fishing on Loch Tay with Alex Bowie a couple of years ago. Stuart Ingles was out with Syd Gath who needed a lighter, so holding out their landing net towards me in order that I grab it and pull the boats along side to exchange the said lighter. Well, miss reading the situation I casually tossed the lighter into the net and watched it fall through the mesh into the Silvery Tay. The lighter was nearly followed by Syd, Stuart and Alex who all fell about the floorboards in stitches. I have to admit it was funny, apparently the look of surprise on my face was priceless. Just as well I had my other three spare lighters to fall back on, eh Syd.

On a safety matter remember it’s a good idea to check the weather forecast before venturing out, especially in the early months. Another good idea and one that’s becoming more apparent on the Loch is the wearing of a life jacket. I’ve looked out my water wings of a few years back and will be keeping them in the boat just in case.

Finally with the AGM approaching, let’s get the fees paid without the expense of reminder letters having to be sent out. So have a good season and I’ll hear how you’re doing out there.

Please reserve any comments about what Willie Caldwell is actually doing in the picture below. The truth is he’s pumping away, sorry I’ll re-phrase that, he’s getting rid of excess water from the boat.

Tight Lines everyone.