BOBBY BLACKLEY
Bobby is a founder member of the club and has many years of angling experience behind him, starting out like many of us chasing wild browns in the local burns and the Trossachs lochs. Due to work commitments he now lives in Wigton and is an active member of Newton Stewart AC. He is a very competitive angler and has won many trophies with different clubs and was Crown FF champion in 2001.
PREFERRED METHODS...."A drift on a big loch in a big wave pulling a team of wets for brownies, or fishing a Claret Dun hatch on Loch Ochiltree with dries. It's very hard to choose between the two".
TACKLE...."I use a variety of rods for different situations although my favourite is a Scierra SST seven weight three piece. For bank fishing i use a Leeda ten foot, for heavy boat work an Enigma ten and a half foot and a Shakespeare eight and a half foot for small rivers. A Danica 69 reel covers most of my general use and an Airflo Fast glass is my favourite line".
LEADERS....Fulling Mill fluorocarbon in six pound bs for general work and Drennan sub surface in three pound bs for brownies.
FAVOURITE TACKLE PURCHASE....TLD boat seat, " How i suffered all those days without one i'll never know".
VENUES....Loch Ochiltree, Newton Stewart AC water. "Having traveled far and wide this is a fantastic loch that takes away the yearning to travel when the fishing is so good near to home. I also like fishing new waters each year and love traveling up to Loch Rannoch, well worth it. The venue i love to hate is Loch Leven i'll stop before i get my soapbox out, enough said. The most improved fishery is Lake of Mentieth, what a fantastic place this has turned out to be over the last four or five years.
PET HATES...."Intolerance of other methods of fishing. Having used all methods in the past i am sure they have contributed to making me the angler i am today, hopefully for the better".
HIGH POINTS...."Winning the TFEO heat at Kielder Water and getting to the grand final at Grafham. In the same year having the best individual and team bag in the Tightlines competition at Kielder and again competing in the final at Grafham.
LOW POINTS...."At the above finals the behavior of some so called fishing personalities, it was the year Chris Ogborne wrote his Yobs with Blobs article in the angling press and i'm sorry to say was well founded. So much so that i have no great desire to fish at that level again".
FISHING AMBITIONS...."At club level to win the river championship trophy. I would love a chance to combine fishing in Iceland with wildfowling there".
"If for some reason i couldn't be fishing the next best thing would be lying in a ditch in Wigton Bay, ten bore at the ready and the clamouring of the 'pinks' getting closer".
At the famous Ridge Pool on the River Moy