Highland Park Trophy & Gordon Grant Memorial Trophy
SWANNAY COOLS DOWN FOR HIGHLAND PARK TROPHY
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Kevin Muir delighted to retain the trophy for the second year |
Weather conditions last Sunday, the 3rd of May, were very poor. Bright sunshine, coupled with a strong, cold, westerly wind, curtailed sport to say the least. To catch a fish an hour, you would think, is quite possible on many of our lochs, but not Swannay when she turns off. The eventual winner of the Highland Park Trophy managed 7 in the eight hours, which was a commendable effort under the circumstances
34 anglers gathered for the 12 noon start, most filled with trepidation and unsure how the day would unfold. For two anglers it got off to a very bad start when they discovered they had travelled all the way from Kirkwall to Swannay only to find out they had forgotten their boat seats. Not a problem in most boats, but these seats were the type that fitted over a tube protruding from the floor of the boat. I guess they didn’t fancy 8 hours pole dancing on Swannay, so a return trip to Kirkwall was required.
Angling was very poor for the first few hours, with only a few anglers taking an odd fish, but as is quite often the case, things improved about 6 o clock, and the competition was basically won in the last couple of hours. Typifying this was eventual winner, Kevin Muir, fishless at 4.30 and finished with 7, good going on the day. Kevin’s fish weighed 5lb 14 oz, well ahead of second place, Kenny Adam, with 5 for 4lb 10ozs. Other anglers to finish up the table were Jimmy Grant with 4 for 4lb 2ozs and James Bews with 4 for 3lb 14ozs. 10 anglers failed to land a fish, indicating how the weather had adversely affected sport.
Fast sinking lines were the order of the day, imperative in getting your flies right down to where the fish were holding, even in the shallower water. This means that you tend to hook Swannay’s stony bottom on a regular basis, and occasionally lose flies. One angler admitted to losing 13 flies on Sunday, it will take a few evenings at the vice to replace them! There were one or two flies other than the Ace of Spades which were mentioned in the chat afterwards, Petersen’s Pennell took a good few of Kevin’s fish, Christmas Tree, Peach Palmer and Viva. There were definitely no spots you could describe as “hot”, but there were a few fish taken at the Long Points, the Slats, the Knowe to the Island, and open water drifts way out off the Island.
After the opening two competitions, it certainly proves the old saying, “horses for courses”, as the same few anglers come away from Swannay with major points. Again, Kenny Adam, Jim Adams, Ian Hutcheon, Sandy McConnachie and Malcolm Russell plundered most of the spoils as the rest of us are left wondering where we went wrong.
It’s barely a week before the next competition on Harray, little time to check it out, and the weather forecast is poor for the week. It could be very interesting.
KK
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