2024 Veterans Cup Round 6 Lake of Menteith
Update from Jock Royan on 6th Round.
A very dreich day for the penultimate Round of our Veterans Cup today at the Lake of Menteith. The rain began as we set up in the Car Park and following a Lorne Roll generously provided by JP Maestri and the Rose House Cafe, we all donned a full set of waterproofs and battened down the hatches!
The majority of boats headed to Gateside Bay due to shelter from the Southerly breeze. Rain aside, the fishing conditions were excellent with complete cloud cover and a 10mph wind.
Some early fish were boated with Allan Macleod and Eck Moffat first off the mark both landing fish at 09:04.
The big match of the day was Glen Lamont v Large Water expert Byran (Calamity) Yip. Glen lost the toss for control of the engine which interestingly was the first coin toss in Military Veteran’s history! Byran had his game head on right up until the time he took a photo of Glen’s first fish then subsequently dropped his phone into the dark depths of Gateside Bay! Whoops!
We met at 12:30 for a delicious lunch once again provided by John Maestri and the Rose House in Perth and a catch up on successful methods from the morning session. I’d highly recommend a visit to the Rose House where I can guarantee you will be spolied for choice.
Unfortunately one of Byran’s guests had to leave at lunchtime so he honourably moved boats and fished with his other less experienced guest. This left us with the single boat conundrum for the afternoon session and although Magic was chomping at the bit and had his kit ready for the move within seconds, Glen was already halfway to reedy bay before anyone could blink! I’ve yet to be shown the algorithm for single boat anglers however Glen has clearly been to Magic’s Circle and caught double figures in the afternoon session. Thankfully we all know Glen very well and absolutely no-one doubted his catch 🤔😂
Incessant rain throughout the afternoon certainly tested all the waterproof and by the time 5pm came we were all akin to drooned Rats!
Some very good catches were recorded which makes the leaderboard very interesting with 1 match to go. Last years Champion Graeme Ferguson won by a single point and I’d suggest that this years result could be equally close.
I spent the day with Eck Moffat and would like to thank him for an excellent day. Lots of laughs and banter with a few fish thrown in which essentially sums up the ethos of the Military Veterans Fly Fishing Club.
The Lake of Menteith continues to produce an amazing standard of fish. Not only was the average size 4lb plus today, all were fully finned with shovel tails. I make absolutely no apologies for repeating that in 35 years of Competitive Fly Fishing, I have never seen anything to match the quality of fish. Quint, Douglas and team, you should feel rightfully proud.
Glen Lamont - 15 Fish = 1 point
Al Gamble - 11 Fish = 2 points
JP Maestri - 10 Fish = 3 points
Eck Moffat - 9 Fish = 4 points
Graeme Ferguson - 9 Fish = 5 points
Jock Kettles - 9 Fish = 6 points
Jock Royan - 8 Fish = 7 points
Stevie McArthur - 7 Fish = 8 points
Allan Macleod - 6 Fish = 9 points
Byran Yip - 6 Fish = 10 points
Ian Howland - 5 Fish = 11 points
William Shepherd - 3 fish Fish = 12 points
Eddie Fullerton - 3 Fish = 13 points
Jim Watson - 2 Fish = 14 points
Jim Carruthers - 1 Fish = 15
points
Dave Penny - 1 Fish = 16 points
Graham Fulton - 0 Fish = 20 Points
Lake of Menteith Fisheries
The Rose House - Perth.