Fly patterns such as cormorant, damsel, buzzer, diawl bach, cruncher and bibio have been amongst the favorites during this last period. Interestingly the Hawthorns have now started to hatch along with a number of sedges and daddy long legs which could indicate that the dry fly season is starting to happen properly.

Club news included visits from Mid Lothian AA with 14 rods experiencing a cold day but managing some good fish amongst which were some very pleasing brown trout. Heriots made their second visit of the season and on a much warmer day their 10 anglers managed to catch 82 fish overall, the biggest of which was a 7lb 11oz rainbow weighed in the net & safely returned. Another angler was snapped by what he described as a broad backed double figure fish. And on the same day a 5lb 14oz rainbow fell to the rod of a non Heriot angler, John Pease.

Breadalbane AC visited on 9th May and once again experienced a bitter wind on a bright day which drove the fish down & made them difficult to catch. Norham & Ladykirk concluded the club visits during this period and all but a couple of anglers returned very creditable bags the best of which was the 4 fish bag of Ronnie Hek weighing 10lb 11oz with hiw best fish a rainbow of 3lb 11oz.

The best catch of this period fell to the rod of Coldingham Loch regular Bob Harrison accompanied by Judy and Ewan Whitelaw. After a long battle Bob successfully landed and weighed in the net an 11lb rainbow which is the biggest fish that has been recorded since we arrived last September. See main photo.

It was a pleasure to welcome Les Lockey and his fly tying friends and it was great to see them enjoy such a wonderful days fishing.

Other news of interest includes the sightings of some special birdlife including a Barn Owl, a Short Eared Owl and a very rare sighting of a Spoonbill which was verified by a number of anglers. Roe deer are now regular visitors to the loch and are often seen grazing.

Wild flowers are plentiful (see images added to gallery) and amongst those on display are a few wild orchids growing near to the dyke on the western shore.

During the next two weeks we look forward to seeing Benedictine AA and the Ashington Kingfishers who we hope the weather will be kinder to than the last time. We also look forward to welcoming the anglers coming to the loch for fishing holidays and hope the weather takes a turn for he better for their stay.

Graham Lilly - see end of loch report

Since our last report the weather has played a significant part in the mixed fortunes of our fishermen. For almost 10 days a stiff cold N/NE wind dominated conditions at Coldingham and latterly this was accompanied by a thick and stubborn haar which saw some brave anglers ‘lost in the mist’.

The first of the clubs to visit during this period was the Portobello club and their 12 fishermen experienced one of the better weather days at Coldingham enjoying some notable returns. Many anglers reached their bag limit and proceeded with a catch and release session of fishing.

Pencaitland were here the next day when temperatures had plummeted the evening before and remained cold during their days fishing, despite this a number of their members enjoyed an excellent days sport.

Most success for both clubs came whilst fishing buzzers of various colours and sizes and this was aptly demonstrated by Brian Palmer who when fishing the bank averaged 7+ fish on each of his three outings using predominantly a floating line with a variety of buzzer patterns. What he found was that the smaller patterns were working better.

Next up were our visitors from the Northumbria Police and again they were met with bitterly cold conditions and a stiff NE wind. Again fishing was generally difficult with the fish lying low in the water and generally reluctant to feed. However amongst the successes of the day were a 5lb Blue (Gavin) and a 4lb Brown (Douglas) trout, both safely returned to the loch. The average for the group was approximately 3.5 fish per rod which was extremely creditable given the nature of the weather. Quote came from Nathan who as he came off the loch at the end of the day said “Well  its a good job the weather wasn’t too bad”.

Our last 2 major clubs during this period were Earlston and Ashington Kingfishers. Earlston were fortunate to fish on Saturday 28th alongside a small group from the RBS organised by Brian Turner who co-incidentally landed the biggest fish of the day of approximately 5lbs (see photo below). Earlston had an equally productive outing and even managed to fish with the sun on their backs for certain periods of the day. Again successful patterns included buzzers, diawl bach, orange blob, yellow dancer, damsel and montana. A special mention must go to C Lyall for catch of the day having been reunited with his boat seat after a 3 year absence.

On the same day our youngest two anglers so far Fred and Angus had a successful outing with their Dad each landing their own fish (see photo below) their excitement was heard and enjoyed by a number of anglers close to them – well done boys!

On Sunday the Ashington Kingfishers had a fantastic turnout of 22 fishermen for their annual Bank Angling outing. From the offset the weather was cruel with bitterly cold temperatures and a strong steady easterly wind meant that fishing was always going to be tough. And despite the obvious expertise amongst the members the returns for many were disappointingly low. Scott bucked the trend with a haul of 8 fish three of which were brown trout and his 4 kept fish earned him first place. This was an occasion when just about every tactic was tried but conditions trumped expertise.

Finally on the fishing front we had what we believe to be our eldest female angler visit and fish the loch. Bridget Kennedy aged 85 successfully landed a well mended rainbow of approximately 3lb and her elation in doing so was videoed for all to share - follow this link to YouTube and enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LcZ2NclRZM

With May now upon us we are sincerely hoping for an improvement in the weather which should see an abundance of fly life visiting the loch. Bring on the Hawthorns!

We look forward to seeing many of you over the coming two weeks and also to welcoming Midlothian and Breadalbane clubs who are coming mid week and then Heriots and Norham and Ladykirk one on each weekend.

Our final piece of this report is dedicated to Graham Lilley who recently, sadly passed away. It is only fitting that two of his closest fishing friends Peter Hill and Peter Davies provide the following tribute

Graham Lilly (1935 – 2012)

We are sorry to have to report the death of Graham Lilly on 14 April 2012. Graham was known as one of the ‘Saturday’ regulars at Coldingham Loch; although he’d fished throughout the Borders (and elsewhere) Graham loved Coldingham and was always frustrated if other demands called him elsewhere on a Saturday. He was a regular bank fisher, and had particular affection for the casting platform, so much so that Ted Wise christened him ‘The Wooden Heron’ simply because when Graham had taken residence on the platform and concentration took over, nothing was going to move him from there; the only movement was to net the latest trout that had fallen victim to one of his fly creations – the JB, the ‘Yellowtail’ or his own beautifully-tied traditional patterns. Later, when scrambling around the bank became too much for him, Graham took to using one of the ‘blue boats’ and continued to have real success, including his largest rainbow of 8 pounds shown in the photograph here. The last few years were difficult for him, and he had to give up his loch visits, although he frequently reminisced with friends about ‘Coldingham Loch days’ and his regard for its landscape and wildlife. He will be greatly missed by many of his many angling friends (notably the two Peters), and deeply so by his daughter Diane, her husband Malcolm and his grand-children Cody and Jevon.

The Heriots Angling Club had their opening outing on the Loch on Sunday 8^th April and had a great day averaging just over 7 fish per rod. Weather conditions were changeable but judicious changes of fly at key times saw all anglers have a good day. The one blip in the day is that we didn’t provide Bovril for Ed! (we’ll see what we can do next time …). Thanks to Colin Riach a Heriots member for providing some superb photos with permission for us to attach here on the report.

The Border Bears had a rather different experience on Saturday 14^th when the weather took a turn for the worse & the temperature dropped significantly. Despite this they were able to use all of their fishing prowess to land respectable catches and all of them agreed that it had been a good if cold day at Coldingham.

Our youngest fishermen so far this season, Angus and Freddie Sloss braved the elements with their Dad and were rewarded with two great fish and are looking forward to coming back soon to see if they can improve on their tally. It was great to see such enthusiasm and hardiness from such young aspiring fishermen.

There have been numerous sightings of Roe deer around the loch & it’s great to see people enjoying the other wildlife which is in abundance at Coldingham.

Further work has taken place on the bank and all the Whin bushes have now been cut back to provide a walkable strip around the loch.

Successful flies have been Buzzers, Damsels, Nymphs, and for one angler Sunburst blob. During the cold period most fish were predominantly holding to the south end of the loch however more recently the fish have dispersed and can be found in just about all areas. There have been a couple of nice brown trout landed and safely returned along with a handful of hard fighting blue trout. The over wintered rainbows have also provided some fantastic sport for those  lucky enough to have hooked in to them. One such angler was Tony Avril who caught & released a 7lbs rainbow with his first cast followed 10 minutes later by one of about 5 lbs.

We look forward to welcoming Portobello this Saturday and Pencaitland on Sunday, next week we have Northumbria Police, Earlston Angling Club and the Ashington Kingfishers and hope that they all have enjoyable and successful outings.

Top performing patterns have included various Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Olive & Orange Fritz and Montanas. Tommy Oliver with his pal Douglas had  superb days fishing using a Beaded Daddy… in March! it just goes to show how unpredictable the success of fly choice can be.

The High Constables of Edinburgh enjoyed a good day at the Loch and despite the heavy mist coming off and on the loch they had a very creditable return and seemed to be enjoying their time …at least when we could see them they did!

We hope the Herriots & Border Bears Fishing Clubs both due over the next two weekends have an equally successful time. Unfortunately the Northumberland Police AC have had to cancel their trip due tomorrow due to the wild and wet conditions that have blown in last night. We hope they can find another date when the weather is kinder.

On Saturday the morning was very windy so some of the fishermen booked into boats went around the bank instead and had a good few catches between them. We continue to get good feedback on how well the bank fishes now and although waders are needed to enable anglers to get into some good casting spots, the Loch is now accessible right the way round.

Opening Day photos are now on the site with many thanks to Aaron Wilson for taking them and passing them on to us, some great shots thanks Aaron. 

Also we now have holiday guests staying in Lochside Cottage which is now completed (and internal photos are on the website if you go to the Holiday Cottages pages) and so if you are a bank angler please be aware that we ask that you don’t fish from the garden area around Lochside Cottage which is defined by a fence and includes the jetty so as not to disturb the guests staying in the Cottage. If any of you would like to book a weekend or weeks stay (it comes with its own boat for fishing) it is still free during April just contact one of us.

Last but not least we would like to wish Bob Cockburn a speedy recovery to his shoulder so himself and his dad James can get back out again – it was unusual to have a week or two go by without seeing them both out there.

Best wishes to you all, tight lines

Gareth & Carmel

Welcome to the first of our fortnightly Loch Reports for the 2012 season here at Coldingham Loch.

Over the winter period we have been busy getting ready for the new season and one of the key  jobs was to get the bank cleared to improve access for the bank fishermen. A number of you took up the offer of some winter bank fishing in late Feb & early March and were duly rewarded with some great fishing and good catches of over-wintered fish giving one or two anglers a good fight. One comment was ‘That was the one of the best days fishing I’ve ever had’  and we hope many more of you will be able to say the same over the coming months.

OPENING WEEKEND

We had a great start to the season over the weekend, with both the Opening Day on Saturday 17th March and the Sunday having the bonus of glorious sunshine enabling the anglers on both days to enjoy some lunch time chat by the BBQ.

We had Simon Usher piping us on Saturday as we tucked into toast, tea and wee nip which gave a good start to the day and a lovely atmosphere, thank you Simon. Dave our good friend and helper fired the shot to mark the start and Alan Willis was the first to catch at 9.30 a.m a nice 2lb rainbow off the bank.

The rod average for the weekend was 4.4 (5.2 on Saturday and 3.6 on Sunday) with Robbie Bell being the top rod of Opening Day with the most number of fish falling to his rod. On the Sunday Bob and James Cockburn brought in the highest score off their boat.

On Saturday the weather was a few degrees warmer than the Sunday and the boat fishermen did well with fish just below the surface. The Sunday morning was harder going as the water was much colder. There were a high number of bank anglers with a strong representation of Tweed Ghillies enjoying the bank which fared better in the afternoon as the water warmed. The north westerly on Sunday kept things cooler with a max temp of 10C on the Sunday whereas Saturday was around 13/14C.

Successful fly patterns over the weekend were Black Spider, Buzzer, Pheasant Tail, Diawl Bach and Green Olives fishing just below the surface.

Thank you to the boys from Ashington Kingfishers, Anchor Inn, the Tweed Ghillies, all the regulars & all the anglers who came and supported us over the weekend and to those who sent their good wishes too.  It was great to see so many out there enjoying the Loch the fishing and the company. Thank you to Dave for all his help over the weekend, Simon for the piping and Norman for not drinking all the whiskey.

Our thanks too to Gus and the Anchor Inn for their kind gift of the old photo of Lochside Cottage which they kindly gave to us to mark Opening Day & which is greatly appreciated.

We look forward to seeing some of the High Constables of Edinburgh Angling Club this Saturday. The weather today is glorious and the fish are there waiting to be caught… we look forward to seeing you all soon.

Many thanks to Aaron Wilson from the Anchor at Coldingham for taking some great pictures of Opening Day and allowing us to use them here. We will also upload some on to the main gallery. Much appreciated Aaron thank you.

The Opening Day

If anyone would like to come and fish from the bank during the winter months and the weather permits it, then please ring us to see if we are open and you would be very welcome. Please be aware however that the Loch will not be stocked again until late February when we will start stocking in preparation for Opening Day.

Opening Day will be March 17^th 2012. All the boats are already booked for Opening Day itself however if you wish to be on a reserve list for a boat or you would like to book a place on the bank then please let us know.  We also have some boats left for Sunday 18^th.

We really look forward to meeting you all in the coming season for what we hope will be some great fishing days at Coldingham Loch.