Bullen Cup
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A PEACH OF A DAY ON HARRAY
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| A record breaking catch by Sandy McConnachie |
Following a week of brilliant sunshine and harsh wind, the weather turned
very favourable for the Bullen Cup, fished on Harray last Saturday, the
10th. Anglers were champing at the bit, as the cancellation of the competition
on Swannay the previous weekend, due to high winds, meant that most of them
hadn't’t had their rod in their hand for at least a week! Harray was
to provide some much needed therapy as the improvement in the weather brought
the trout on the feed.
Anglers were well spread out a for the 11am start with Merkister Bay, Bochan,
Nistaben and Josey’s being most popular. It was noticeable in the
car park that most anglers were fishing floating and intermediate lines,
a sure sign that the trout were in shallow water, over and about the skerries.
The fact of the matter was that the fish were in very shallow water, and
if you could not see the stones on the bottom where you were fishing, you
wouldn't’t catch.
To win an OTFA competition, you sometimes need that bit of extra, call it
the rub of the green, luck, whatever, but sometimes the decisions made,
make or break your day. A typical example was that of Sandy McConnachie
and Ian Hutcheon on Saturday. They were still undecided where to start as
they were motoring to the north end of the loch from the site, but plumped
for Laithe. On passing the point at Pontooth, they found two boats already
on station there. Next choice was the corner of Josey’s, again, the
prime position was already spoken for. The wind was wrong for fishing the
Sword, so that was out, so, as there were no sign of a boat at Bankhead,
they decided just to start there. They fished there all day, and both had
red letter days, with Sandy eventually coming out on top, beating Hutch
into second spot by a couple of fish. Call this “luck” if you
want, but it is no coincidence that Sandy and Hutch are luckier than most!
There were some other cracking baskets weighed in, most coming from the
north end, Andrew Morgan and Jim Harcus found loads of fish at Scarating,
Colin Sutherland scored in Merkister Bay and Norman Irvine enjoyed tremendous
sport in Bochan. Indeed, the whole loch fished very well, and most anglers
had top class sport. As this was the Bullen Cup, the annual east/ west thing,
the average weights for each side had to be worked out, with the east coming
out on top, so Sandy took the silverware as well. Heaviest fish was a very
nice specimen, probably a sea trout at 1lb 9ozs, weighed in by Billy Thomson.
Tactics as intimated previously were top of the water, although, some anglers
did very well with a medium sinking line or fast intermediate, just to give
your flies that bit of “swoop up” that the Harray fish seem
like so much. Flies were predominately Peach, whether it be in Muddler,
Palmer
or Hedge hog style. Hutch’s Pennel, Watson’s Fancy, McKay, Coch
Zulu, all in smaller sizes, also accounted for many fish. After the
calculations were complete Kirkwall had won the Bullen Cup with Sandy McConnachie
collecting the Trophy.
I heard mutterings of another fly called “The Naked Spur”, but
no one was prepared to tell me anymore about it, but don’t worry,
I’m on the case, watch this space.
Next on the calendar is the annual expedition to Stenness, where, as an
SSSI, you are quite liable to encounter, seals, cormorants, mergansers,
and various other wonderful sights, but will you see a trout? You might,
if you’re “lucky”.
KK
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