Saturday 28 July 2012
Donald Patience is Prizewinner in National Troutmaster Final
08:46 | 
Posted by
Mike Fitzgerald
For the second year running, Dunlichity Trout Fishery was the top-placed Highland Fishery in the National Troutmaster Fishoff at Grafham Water when our 2011, Champion Donald Patience finished an excellent 7th out of 107 competitors. As Dunlichity Champion, the Fishery contributed towards Donald's travel costs, and he made the most of the trip by achieving a personal best finish.
Here is an extract from Donald's report of the day:
"I arrived at Grafham Lodge at 8am, greeted by bright sunshine and a strong breeze - not ideal conditions! All of the competitors were split into two groups in the morning, with one group boat fishing and the other group bank fishing. We would then swap around for the afternoon session.
I was on the boats in the morning, and ended up in a boat with Robin Berry (who was representing Achagour). As Robin had never fished Grafham, I was left to decide where we were going to fish. So off to G buoy we wentas I had caught a couple of fish there is a practice session the previous day. We anchored up and on my second cast, I caught my first fish of the session, a cracking 2lb bar of silver on a hot head damsel - excellent start! I then managed to hook and lose another 3 fish before the wind dragged us too near the shore. We went further down the bank and tried again - this time the anchor took a good hold and I was straight into fish again, landing 2 in 2 casts with the damsel.
It was quiet for a while after that with the fish just hitting my fly short without being hooked. I changed to an orange blob and was rewarded with another Grafham resident on the first cast. I managed another 3 fish on the blob over the next half an hour taking the tally to 7 fish by lunchtime. At the Lodge, I discovered that only one other competitor had managed to land 7 in the boat and the bank anglers were struggling. At this stage, I was in 2nd place (the other guy's 7 fish were heavier than mine).
"After a quick bite of lunch in the Harbour View Restaurant, I headed off to the Dam for the bank session. The session was due to start at 1.30pm and by the time 1.30pm had arrived, the Dam was covered with competitors almost standing shoulder to shoulder! After about an hour thrashing the water at the Dam to no avail, I decided to get away from the crowds and go and fish in to the strengthening breeze at G Buoy as I knew there were fish holding there. I arrived with an hour left to fish, so the pressure was on!
I put on an orange gold head to try and punch through the breeze and hooked a fish within 5 minutes, which I lost after a short battle - gutted! I continued to plug away and was eventually rewarded with another fin perfect rainbow of 2lb 3oz. That was it for me from the bank, so I headed back to the Lodge for the weigh-in. There was quite a buzz at the Lodge and I was delighted to be awarded a lovely engraved hip flask for my 7th place finish. The winner had 6 fish from the boat, and had his limit of 8 fish from the bank.
I thoroughly enjoyed the event and hope to return one day for that first place trophy!"
All of our congratulations go to Donald on his great performance.
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Donald Patience with his engraved hip-flask
Here is an extract from Donald's report of the day:
"I arrived at Grafham Lodge at 8am, greeted by bright sunshine and a strong breeze - not ideal conditions! All of the competitors were split into two groups in the morning, with one group boat fishing and the other group bank fishing. We would then swap around for the afternoon session.
I was on the boats in the morning, and ended up in a boat with Robin Berry (who was representing Achagour). As Robin had never fished Grafham, I was left to decide where we were going to fish. So off to G buoy we wentas I had caught a couple of fish there is a practice session the previous day. We anchored up and on my second cast, I caught my first fish of the session, a cracking 2lb bar of silver on a hot head damsel - excellent start! I then managed to hook and lose another 3 fish before the wind dragged us too near the shore. We went further down the bank and tried again - this time the anchor took a good hold and I was straight into fish again, landing 2 in 2 casts with the damsel.
It was quiet for a while after that with the fish just hitting my fly short without being hooked. I changed to an orange blob and was rewarded with another Grafham resident on the first cast. I managed another 3 fish on the blob over the next half an hour taking the tally to 7 fish by lunchtime. At the Lodge, I discovered that only one other competitor had managed to land 7 in the boat and the bank anglers were struggling. At this stage, I was in 2nd place (the other guy's 7 fish were heavier than mine).
"After a quick bite of lunch in the Harbour View Restaurant, I headed off to the Dam for the bank session. The session was due to start at 1.30pm and by the time 1.30pm had arrived, the Dam was covered with competitors almost standing shoulder to shoulder! After about an hour thrashing the water at the Dam to no avail, I decided to get away from the crowds and go and fish in to the strengthening breeze at G Buoy as I knew there were fish holding there. I arrived with an hour left to fish, so the pressure was on!
I put on an orange gold head to try and punch through the breeze and hooked a fish within 5 minutes, which I lost after a short battle - gutted! I continued to plug away and was eventually rewarded with another fin perfect rainbow of 2lb 3oz. That was it for me from the bank, so I headed back to the Lodge for the weigh-in. There was quite a buzz at the Lodge and I was delighted to be awarded a lovely engraved hip flask for my 7th place finish. The winner had 6 fish from the boat, and had his limit of 8 fish from the bank.
I thoroughly enjoyed the event and hope to return one day for that first place trophy!"
All of our congratulations go to Donald on his great performance.
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Dunlichity Cup Heat 4 - Saturday 14 July
On a day when the competitors welcomed back regular visitor, Dennis Strange from Barrow-on Furness, the day's competition was all about tactics! Although over 50 fish were caught, only 14 fish were taken as competitors held back waiting for "the big one"! A number of people ended up "blanking" after having caught fish.
Ian Young's tactic of tacking early fish proved successful with two early fish weighing in at a total of 7lb 2oz, a weight which was not bettered. Magnus MacDonald came second with 4lb 5oz and Liam Skinner came third with 3lb 15oz (including a fish in the last minute of the last peg!). The bottle went to Dennis Strange with a fish of 3lb 7oz.
In terms of the league, Colin Keith increased his lead at the top after Bill Greig's noble efforts to join the competition after the first peg due to work commitments failed to bear fruit! Big movers were Ian Young and Magnus MacDonald.
The next heat of the Dunlichity Cup is on Saturday 4 August.
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Ian Young's tactic of tacking early fish proved successful with two early fish weighing in at a total of 7lb 2oz, a weight which was not bettered. Magnus MacDonald came second with 4lb 5oz and Liam Skinner came third with 3lb 15oz (including a fish in the last minute of the last peg!). The bottle went to Dennis Strange with a fish of 3lb 7oz.
Liam Skinner, Magnes MacDonald, Ian Young and Dennis Strange
In terms of the league, Colin Keith increased his lead at the top after Bill Greig's noble efforts to join the competition after the first peg due to work commitments failed to bear fruit! Big movers were Ian Young and Magnus MacDonald.
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Thursday 5 July 2012
Richard Irvine Works Fishing Outing 2012
Dunlichity was pleased to host the recent Richard Irvine Works fishing competition for the second year in a row. Consisting of a number of pegs with a refreshment break in the middle, the group enjoyed reasonable fishing conditions.
Ian Wooley kindly sent us the following report:
"The competition winner was to be the heaviest fish caught on the day. A major stroke of luck I may add as it was caught in the first minute of fishing. It was caught by Sandy Macarthur who was not really trying to fish at the time, but had dropped his leader on the water as he was pulling his flyline off his reel when the fish took his fly. The fish was played, netted and dispatched, weighing in at 5lb".
The guys seemed to enjoy themselves and Dunlichity was very pleased to be able to host them.
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Ian Wooley kindly sent us the following report:
"The competition winner was to be the heaviest fish caught on the day. A major stroke of luck I may add as it was caught in the first minute of fishing. It was caught by Sandy Macarthur who was not really trying to fish at the time, but had dropped his leader on the water as he was pulling his flyline off his reel when the fish took his fly. The fish was played, netted and dispatched, weighing in at 5lb".
The guys seemed to enjoy themselves and Dunlichity was very pleased to be able to host them.
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Big Fish at Dunlichity
Some big rainbows have been caught recenly in the lochans. In the recent Heat 3 of the Dunlichity Cup, Colin Keith caught a superb 12lb 1 oz fish and Bill Greig caught a 10lbs 5oz fish. In addition, fish at 7lbs and a 6lb 12oz were also taken.
Large fish have also recently been released in both lochans.
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Large fish have also recently been released in both lochans.
Colin Keith with his 12lb 1oz fish
Bill Greig with his 10lb 5oz fish
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Dunlichity Cup 2012 - Heat 3
In variable weather conditions and soon after a major stocking, this heat had everything - big fish, varied tactics and frequently changing heat leaders.
Gary Patience led the way with a fish of 6lb 12oz, a fish that would have been in contention to win a heat by itself. On this occasion, however it was the 4th largest fish of the day.
Largest fish (12lb 1oz) went to Colin Keith with Bill Greig getting a 10lb 5oz fish and Barry Skinner landing a 7lb fish on his first heat of the year. The fish sizes mirrored the eventual heat positions. The biggest fish will be the subject of a separate blog.
Everyone other than Colin and Bill will have been pleased with the new rule that was introduced prior to the heat: The exact weight of taken fish count for the individual heat prizes, but a maximum of 8lb per fish is counted for league purposes. Consequently, whilst Colin won the heat first prize with 14lb 2oz (12lb 1oz + 2lb 1oz), only 10lb 1oz counted towards the league position (8lb + 2ln 1oz).
The results of the heat allowed Colin Keith to consolidate his position at the top of the leaderboard, with Bill Greig, George Skinner and Hendrik Cornelius all making moves up the league.
Gary Patience led the way with a fish of 6lb 12oz, a fish that would have been in contention to win a heat by itself. On this occasion, however it was the 4th largest fish of the day.
Largest fish (12lb 1oz) went to Colin Keith with Bill Greig getting a 10lb 5oz fish and Barry Skinner landing a 7lb fish on his first heat of the year. The fish sizes mirrored the eventual heat positions. The biggest fish will be the subject of a separate blog.
Everyone other than Colin and Bill will have been pleased with the new rule that was introduced prior to the heat: The exact weight of taken fish count for the individual heat prizes, but a maximum of 8lb per fish is counted for league purposes. Consequently, whilst Colin won the heat first prize with 14lb 2oz (12lb 1oz + 2lb 1oz), only 10lb 1oz counted towards the league position (8lb + 2ln 1oz).
Colin Keith, Bill Greig, Gary Patience, Barry Skinner
The results of the heat allowed Colin Keith to consolidate his position at the top of the leaderboard, with Bill Greig, George Skinner and Hendrik Cornelius all making moves up the league.
The next heat is on Saturday 14 July.
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Wednesday 4 July 2012
Dunlichity Cup
The next heat of the Dunlichity Cup is Saurday 14 July. Report on the last heat is coming soon.
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If you have found this post interesting or, you know anyone who might, please use the share buttons below to tell your online community about it. Thank you.
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