Fly fishers head to Yell
A good turnout of anglers checked in on Saturday morning at the Ulsta ferry terminal to compete for the annual Shetland Anglers Association Excursion Trophy (Yell Lochs).
This is the second fly or spin competition of the year. With spin fishers clearly dominating the trophy for the last few years, fly fishers were out in force outnumbering the spinners by two to one.
A bright and breezy day saw big baskets hard to come by. First place was a close run thing with Stephen Johnson ensuring the trophy went to a spin fisher for another year, with a basket of seven fish weighing 4lb 3oz. Frank Watt was a close runner up with four fish for 4lb 2oz.
Other successful anglers were Billy Reid, Magnus Reid, Bobby Irvine, Tam Terris and Barry Robertson. A couple of nice specimen trout were also caught, Malcolm Bowie with a nice fish of 1lb 12oz, and the heaviest fish of the day caught by Dave Wright weighing 1lb 13oz.
One incident of note was Billy Reid’s struggle to meet the six o’clock deadline, only making the weigh-in by a matter of seconds. Judging by his worse for wear condition, we may need to include trained first aiders and a defibrillator for future events.
The next spinning competition is for the Duncan Trophy on Saturday, 13th June, with a 10am check-in at the Collafirth Pier.
