IT was a case of grin and bear it at Markle where the rain poured continually all day and a good soaking was in order, writes STUART FRASER.
Not as busy as normal, we found we could move around freely and set out on the main pond. Starting on my usual platform next to the lodge I was soon into a nice rainbow of around three pounds. As fish were up on the surface I plumped for a team of
three buzzers in black, olive and blue on the point.
After that, it got a lot harder as the trout, of which there were plenty, would not look at a thing.
Local angler Willie Brash managed to crack a method before they switched off again. He was on a floating line with a sight indicator suspending two blobs in orange and yellow a couple of feet below the surface. However, that method soon dried up and it was a case of slogging it out till something happened. With less than an hour remaining, I began to feel nothing was going to happen for me. So it was a case of upping sticks and trying the smaller pond round the back to jeers of fishing the baby pond. But I had the last laugh as I connected into two big fish.
Unfortunately, I dropped one at the net which I reckon must have been going on double figures. With less than five minutes remaining, I got my just reward for perseverance by stripping a mini Damsel along the surface. It was real heart-stopping stuff as the big bow wave homed in on my fly. Just as I was running out of room, the big fish grabbed the damsel and started to run. It was a good rainbow of more than six pounds.
Markle has some cracking fish and is well worth a cast, even though, on this occasion, the weather meant patience was key.
The full article contains 330 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
