Now is the time of year when heather flies should be out and about.

Some years these chunky flies appear in really good numbers which is good news for us anglers but last year for instance was a poor one and I hardly saw a single heather fly. Perhaps after a bad year, this year will be one of great bounty because one thing is for sure brown trout and rainbow trout just love them. I remember one day, many seasons ago, when I was fishing up at Barcraigs Reservoir on a still hot August afternoon. I had picked a couple of fish up from the Spit on a cinnamon and gold but generally speaking the fishing was testing.

The wind dropped and I was immediately aware of insects dropping onto the water and hitting me on my fishing hat. A fish appeared, and then another, then another and suddenly the whole water erupted with feeding fish. A quick look around the bank brought the answer as literally hundreds of heather flies had dropped out of the sky and landed on the bankside and the surface of the water.

The heather fly is easy to spot with flat shiny wings and bright red legs. In fact there is a pattern for such times known as the red legs but I did not have anything that looked similar.

After a bit of head scratching I put on a size 10 bibio and cast it out towards the feeding fish. Seldom have I came across fish that were less fussy than these ones.

Fish after fish swallowed the fly giving me an hour of the most frantic fishing I have ever enjoyed.

Nowadays I am a bit more prepared and I carry a few patterns in the hope that heather flies will once again fall out of the sky in front of me. My favourite is a black hopper tied with six bright red knotted pheasant tail fibres as legs. A small application of Gink is all that is required to keep this little fly floating all day.

I have caught fish from Loch Leven through to the Lake of Menteith as well as a variety of small stillwaters on this pattern. I have found it best to fish it static during a fall of heather flies leaving it out there long enough for the fish to find it. Heather flies play a major part in August in bringing about seemingly hopeless days into special ones.

The rain that fell on Saturday was roundly cheered by all river anglers in the area.The near drought conditions have made for impossible fishing but at last levels have risen. The Gryffe rose by at least one foot which helped flush out rubbish from the river and hopefully entice a few salmon into the system. Of course in Scotland there is no Sunday fishing for salmon which meant that anglers had to wait until the Monday to try their luck.

Please remember to email me your photographs of you and your fish catches to john.milne53@gmail.com Fishery Tales Lawfield Trout Fishery near Kilmacolm: When I spoke to Billy at the weekend he said that the fishing had been hard at times. The water that fell on Saturday helped things a bit but more is needed to cool the water down. Good catches have been made though by those that ventured out. Notable catches include Jordan Smith from Elderslie 27, Derek Langfield from Paisley 16, Bobby Quinn from Linwood 11, John Rae from Beith nine, Bill Eadie from Lochwinnoch nine, Joe Currie from Paisley seven, Jim Goodwin from Renfrew five, Eddie Thomson from Paisley five, Andy Rodgers from Greenock four, Colin Docherty from Bridge of Weir four, Mr McCloy two for four pounds 11 ounces, Mr Young two for four pounds 11 ounces, Mr France four for eight pounds 13 ounces, Mr Goram two for four pounds 12 ounces and two released, Mr Finnie two for five pounds, Mr McCombe two for four pounds 10 ounces and Mr Quinn three. The best flies were CDC`s, olives, sedges, bibio, hoppers, buzzers and damsels. Contact Billy on 01505 874182.

Lake of Menteith: The temperatures rose quickly up to 23c in three days. This hot weather put the fish up in the deeps of The Rookery and The Cages. So it’s a case on fast sinking lines counting to twenty then a slow retrieve using blobs, boobies and buzzers. Thankfully the coolish weather over the weekend has cooled the water slightly.

A reminder that the evening fishing times will change to an earlier finish of 10pm.

Heat number 12 of the Menteith boat league sponsored by James Bayne tackle shop and Glen Garioch whisky: On an extremely hot and difficult night Brian McKenzie came out top with 11 fish. He was fishing a Di7 and two boobies in Cages Bay. With only three nights to go it’s down to a three horse race with Bill Ramage still in front with Keir Hardie and Brian McKenzie snapping at his heels. Tam Buchanan gets this week’s £25 tackle voucher and a bottle of Glen Garioch.

In the 13th and last heat of this year’s Scottish Club Championships 10 teams took part and caught a total of 68 fish. Top team and winner of the sponsors bottle of 12-year-old Glen Garioch Malt were last year’s winners Change FF AC “B” team of Wullie Leach (three fish), Carl Nixon (six fish) and Jim Crawford (six fish) which had 15 fish for 34 pounds 10 ounces. All three took their fish on boobies fished on either a Di5 sweep or Di7. Second was Newton Mearns FF B with 15 fish for 32 pounds eight ounces, and third place went to Moncrieffe AC with 11 fish for 24 pounds seven ounces. These three teams go forward to the second semi-final on the August 29.

Top rod of the night was Alasdair Mair of Newton Mearns with eight fish for 16 pounds five ounces he got a bottle of the 12-year-old Glen Garioch malt whisky. Second was Alasdair’s teammate David Mateer with seven fish for 16 pounds three ounces. Third Ian Robertson of Tweed Valley Tanglers with seven fish for 15 pounds six ounces. Fourth Jim Crawford of Change with six fish for 13 pounds 10 ounces. Fifth Carl Nixon with six fish for 12 pounds 12 ounces They all qualified for the Champion of Champions.

Other notable catches include Jim and Gail Annal (Irvine) 17 fish all returned, A Mair/L Bually four for 10 pounds 12 ounces and eight returned. D Murdoch (Leven) three for eight pounds 12 ounces and eight returned, C McGlone (Dunfermline) 12 fish returned. Saturday A.C. 33 fish for 75 pounds plus 22 returned. Contact The Lake on 01877 385664.

New Haylie near Largs: When the watercools down George will announce the dates for the four angler Summer Cup. The winning team will win £400 with the top rod pocketing an additional £100. The Winter Snowball Competition will have three qualifiers with eight anglers going through to the final. The first three in each heat will win a Charles Jardine line. In the final the lucky winner will pick up £600 with prizes of £300, £200 and £100 for the runners up. There will also be places for five wild cards. Contact George 01475 676005