The “TROOT in the SHED” blog has moved and this current blog will no longer be updated after March 21st 2014
We have moved to another location!
For the latest news, visit:
http://trootintheshed.wordpress.com/
Category Archives: General info
AFYD angling trip to the Mainland (13th & 14th June 2013)
June 13th and 14th saw plenty of angling action along the shores of the lochs of Kirbister and Harray. This was part of the Stronsay School’s annual AFYD fishing trip to the Orkney Mainland which involved S5 pupils who had recently transferred to Kirkwall Grammar School and the S2 and S3 pupils who joined the seniors on the Friday.
The weather which had been very pleasant for the last few days had decided to take a turn for the worse and by Thursday morning, a stiff cold north-westerly breeze was sweeping across the county. Even though the original plan was to head for the Harray Loch and spend the day there, the weather conditions were not ideal and fishing the Kirbister Loch first was a tempting option which could help hook a few trout before moving to Harray in the afternoon. A quick vote took place on the minibus and trying Kirbister first gathered an overwhelming majority of 1 vote to nil (3 abstentions…)! This, however, doesn’t mean our anglers didn’t care, they were just too happy to fish either loch!
- Decision time for Keith…
By 9:45, the flies hit the water and no long after, the first trout were caught. dark flies such as Bibios and Black Zulus seemed to be the favourites on the day. Jim Erskine, who had kindly accepted to help us for the two days and myself could not help but noticing how much more mature and confident our anglers had become; they were covering a lot more water by taking a couple of steps between each cast, they could deal with most tangles themselves, change their own flies, etc…
After a few trout had been safely landed and that everyone had grabbed a sandwich, it was time to head for the “big water”… The Bochan Skerries, situated within walking distance of the Ring O’Brodgar car-park seemed like a good idea, considering that by then, the wind had backed to a force 4 westerly. Keith and Craig managed to hook a trout each in what was very tricky conditions indeed.
Day 2 didn’t exactly run according to plan… As the minibus was on its way to pick up the junior Stronsay anglers off the pier, we received a phone call from Mr. King informing us that the ferry would be late: the Varagen was involved in the rescue operation of the Lady K off the Calf of Eday… However, the kind weather made up for the delay and by 11:00, our four senior anglers were giving the Kirbister brownies a hard time around the wee island and the younget team were casting their baits in the loch’s peaty waters. It wasn’t long before Thomas reeled in a typical Kirbister trout but it’s not so much for this angling feat that Thomas made himself noticed as for wearing the latest fashion article: a pair of home-made safety glasses using a coat-hanger and bits of clear plastic! James, Jack and Matthew gave fly-fishing a good try but the finicky fish were out of range and very difficult to lure. Daniel and Ieuan preferred to stick to bait fishing. Thanks to Jim, some of the older pupils were shown an old trout fishing method called “dapping” which consist in using a floss line and letting a big bushy fly skip across the waves: Kevin managed to master the technique and landed a nice brownie.
Everybody enjoyed the trip which wouldn’t have happened without the support of Mr. Erskine who spent both days coaching our young anglers, Mr. King who accompanied the junior on the Friday, Linda who is always so helpful when it comes to bookings and paperwork and the KGS management who agreed to release Cameron, Craig, Keith and Kevin for the two days. Finally, I want to thank all our pupils whose politeness, respect for each other and sense of humour make every school trip so enjoyable.
Mr. P
OTFA/AFYD Junior Competition – 31st May 2013 – Full report
With a very late spring and strong winds battering the islands the previous week, there was no doubt that the Kirbister Loch would struggle living up to its reputation as a “beginner’s water”… From the information that could be gathered, Harray had been very cloudy lately, the competition on Hundland had been won by fishing “on the stones” where the water was just clear enough for the fish to see the flies and the near gale force winds had not spared Kirbister either.
On the Wednesday and Thursday, the Kirkwall Grammar School pupils were out on their annual angling trip, part of their end of term activities and they tackled the east shore of the loch. The going was tough and the Kirbister brownies were shunning flies and bait alike resulting in baskets which were certainly not what you would expect from this lovely little fishery at this time of year.. The shore which was chosen on the day of the competition was the west shore even though the wind direction was yet again uncertain, just like last year, and what was supposed to be a WNW ended up more like N…
At 10:30, after the 13 pupils from KGS and the Stronsay School gathered by the shore and were instructed about the rules and safety, the young fishermen started spreading along the bank; the fish were active and a few opportunistic fly-fishers made the most of it, like Craig Stout who landed two fish in the first ten minutes! However, this bonanza was to be short lived and soon after, the trout disappeared, not to be seen again for the rest of the day! It was interesting to see our young anglers using an array of different techniques: bait with bubble-floats, flies using spinning tackle and torpedo floats, flies on fly tackle, etc…
At 2:15, the whistle was blown and it was time to put away the rods and head for the weigh-in where Stuart Topp, the OTFA secretary, had set the scales. The competitors were split into 4 categories depending on age and fishing technique: Marcus Scholes was the winner of the Junior Bait section for the second time and his basket included a beautiful 1lb2 sea-trout. Logan Harcus won the Junior Fly section, Gareth Holmes won the Senior Bait section and Craig Stout was the Senior Fly section winner for the second year, with yet again a basket of 7 fish!
Congratulations to the young fishermen who had to show perseverance to land a few of those moody brownies! Thank you to all the helpers, volunteers and leaders: Mr. Erskine, Dr. Hall, Mrs. Heggarty, Jim Pettit and Stuart Topp. We also want to thank our sponsors for the prizes: WS Sinclair’s, Stockan’s and William Shearer’s.
Another angling trip is planned next week for 13th & 14th June on Harray and Kirbister with a group of anglers from the Stronsay School (including some S5s who recently transferred to KGS).
Mr.P
Results of OTFA / AFYD Junior Competition at Kirbister Loch (31st May 2013)
Here are the results of the OTFA / AFYD Junior Competition which was held on the Kirbister Loch on Friday 31st May 2013. A detailed report will be published shortly.
WARM WEATHER WARNING
After the St. Andrews incident which wiped out all the alevins, and some concerns from other schools regarding the rise in water temperature caused by a few warm sunny days, Mr. Erskine, who has been overseeing the project on Hoy, has come up with a few simple steps to cool down the tank and prevent water quality from deteriorating; here they are:
KEEPING THE TANK WATER TEMPERATURE LOW
Ideally, the tank temperature should be less than 7C and never allowed to exceed 10C.
On sunny days, the shed temperature will be higher than the outside air temperature, due to heat transfer from the walls and roof. Opening the shed door and windows will keep the tank temperature down. Wetting the shed floor and the sides of the tank will also help. Windows which are not facing North should be kept shaded from the sun.
If the temperature is very high, ice made from bottled or burn water could be added to the tank, keeping it as far away from the ova or alevins as possible. The pump should be kept running to avoid water much colder near the ice.
To calculate the amount of ice needed:
Measure the length and breadth of the tank and the depth of water in centimetres.
Multiply length X breadth X depth to obtain the volume of water in cubic centimetres.
Then, assuming that the ice is at freezer temperature of -18C:
Divide the volume by 98 to calculate the weight of ice in grams needed to lower the water temperature by 1C.
For example:
V = L x B x D
= 60 x 40 x 20
= 48000 cubic centimetres
48000 / 98 = 490
Add 490 grams of ice to lower the temperature by 1C.
Once all the ice has melted, another batch could be added. Try to lower the temperature in 1C stages to avoid thermal shock.
Troot in the Shed 2013 starts off at North Walls!
Thursday 17th January saw the first trout eggs delivered to North Walls Community School. Jim Erskine, who has trained generations of Orcadian trout anglers, gladly took on the challenge of transporting the fragile cargo from the Kirbister hatchery to the Hoy school and explained all the mysteries of the trout life cycle to a captive audience. The journey can be a perilous one as the ova can be very vulnerable at certain stages. Once at the school, Jim was welcomed by a very enthusiastic group of pupils and staff who had prepared themselves for the demanding task of hatching eggs into little alevins and then releasing them in the local burn. If all goes well, the next two months should see the eggs, first showing eyes and then hatching into translucent orange alevins which will be losing their yolk sacs after a few weeks, ready to be released by mid-March.
Looking forward to reading how things are going!
Mr. Pietri
Stronsay School Trout Fishing Trip (30th/31st May)
- The Stronsay boys in action on the Kirbister Loch
When the ferry from Stronsay landed at the Kirkwall Pier, on this beautiful spring morning, hopes were high amongst the Stronsay School angling team… After boarding the minibus, the strategy was exposed: the light northerly winds and bright skies would almost guarantee a blank on Harray and it was decided at the last minute to switch to the old faithfull Kirbister Loch whose trout can always be that wee bit more obliging than anywhere else…
The party headed for the north end of the Kirbister Loch and in no time, fly lines were shooting through the rings and rods started to bend! From the shore, it was difficult to tell that only a year ago, 4 out of these 5 anglers had never handled a fly-rod before! Their casting technique, their fly retrieve, right down to their watercraft skills meant that they wouldn’t have been out of place amongst well seasoned fly-fishermen. You may wonder about the 5th angler though… When Cameron joined the trip, he had hardly fished before but managed to learn the skills of spinning with fly and bubble-float very quickly and had a trick up his sleeve for the next day… Wednesday 30th ended with a respectable total, considering the weather conditions, of 16 Kirbister trout including a beauty caught by Keith at just over a pound. Then, the minibus headed north for the Birsay Youth Hostel and later on, once the last strand of pasta had dissapeared from the huge pot of spaghetti bolognese, it was time to get a good night’s sleep and start dreaming about the big Harray trout, as the Harray Loch was to be the destination for the next morning.
- Respect for the quarry takes a new dimension with Keith..
Following Mr. Erskine’s expert advice, the chosen location was Kirkness in the north end of Harray, an area offering safe shallow wading conditions and plenty of fish. By the time, the anglers were in action, fish were showing in a few inches of water, but unfortunately they would simply ignore the flies presented to them. Keith and Craig were covering fish after fish very well but their size 14 Dunkelds didn’t receive the attention they deserved… I could barely stand the suspense, borrowed Keith’s rod and tried my best to cover the rising fish… with no more success! It was time for a change of tactics and I tied on a size 12 black & blue buzzer and two casts later, after a few small tweaks on the line, the first Harray trout of the morning was hooked! The traditional flies (Invictas, Dunkelds, Muddlers) were swopped for buzzers and Keith and Craig managed to hook a fish – no mean feat – as we’re talking about very “educated” trout here who see flies retrieved by the best fishermen in Europe on a daily basis! Also a special mention to Andy Rose who accompanied the yougsters all the way from Stronsay, who caught his first Harray trout as well!
That’s when Cameron pulled out his secret weapon, a ” Peach Muddler”, retrieved slowly behind a clear torpedo-shaped float… There was a sudden tension on the line and the light spinning rod double-bent but Cameron kept his cool and managed to lead his fish over the net like a pro. The beautiful trout tipped the scales just short 1lb 1/2, the best fish of the trip!
- Craig, well chuffed, posing with his Harray trout, with the Hoy hills in the background.
Around midday, the wind picked up from the north-east and the trout seemed to move into deeper water, out of casting distance, so decision was made to move back to the Kirbister Loch and enjoy a bit more practice for the next day OTFA/AFYD Junior Competition.
Sport on Kirbister was slightly slower than on the previous day and the trout seemed to take the flies a bit short, hence a lot of fish missed on the strike. Kevin and Daniel still managed to catch fish though, and this was a good confidence boost for the next day!
The whole group would like to thank Mr. Erskine for spending those two memorable days in our company, Andy Rose who was a very precious help and The Orkney Trout Fishing Association and the Merkister Hotel for their financial help towards our trip; without their generosity, this trip would almost certainly not have happened. And last but not least, I would like to thank the youngsters who were a model of good behaviour all through the trip and made it a success.
There is a full report of the OTFA / AFYD Junior Competition (1st June) which you can access by clicking on the following link: http://www.orkneytroutfishing.co.uk/
- The one that fell to a Peach Muddler
“Troot in the Shed” in the Orcadian
Following the release of the alevins hatched at the Sanday school, Stronsay School and Kirkwall Grammar, the Orcadian (19th April issue) dedicated half a page to the “Troot in the Shed” project.
(Click on the picture to zoom in)
KGS release their alevins in the Wideford Burn (Inganess)
It was on March 18th that Mr. Ewing and his dedicated team from KGS met at Inganess Beach to release the alevins they hatched in the school shed. Spring was in the air and it was a glorious day which seemed just perfect to set the small trout free in the crystal clear water of the Wideford Burn. This burn not only holds a small population of brown trout but is also one of the main spawning burns for our migratory sea-trout.
However, what should have been a great start for the small trout ended in a rather tragic way when last Monday night, merely a week after the fish were released, we were alerted about a severe case of pollution in this very burn. Most if not all of the fish population in the Wideford Burn was wiped out and the source of the pollution is still being investigated. This is a serious blow to the environment but also to our project as we were planning to come back in June or September to monitor the growth of our trout using electro-fishing equipment.
Fly-tying on Sanday with Primary 4,5,6 & 7
Over the last two days, the primary 4, 5, 6 & 7 learnt the basics of fly-tying, while working on the Arctic Explorers. As you can see on the pictures, the results of their first attemps at tying flies are pretty spectacular! Most of the flies were tied on #1 hooks which are much too big for “troot” (especially the ones we currently have in the shed! ;-)), but were a bit easier to work with. However, the P7 pupils even managed to try their hand at tying a proper trout fly, the Black Pennel, on a size 10 hook and there is no doubt that some of these flies would be trout catchers!
Well done to all the pupils involved in these activities and who have shown great skills in listening to instructions and in concentration and generally a very positive attitude.
Feel free to leave your comments!
Mr. P
