Competition time at The Tarn

There will be a full house at Allandale Tarn on Sunday when the Scottish National Stillwater Bank Angling Championships hold centre stage with 28 pegs booked.

Therefore, the popular water is closed to walk-up fly fishing anglers on the day and owner Iona Allan has been busy this week with entrants popping down for a practice session.

Iona said: “There has been a big need for a national competition to represent bank anglers and we have not had anything since the Sunday Post competition ended many years ago.

“I have pegged it off at 28 so there is no cross casting on the day and it is a full house so all good to go for Sunday.”

She added: “We have just re-opened for the season and every day has seen different weather patterns, blowing a gale one day and heavy rain the next plus overnight lows and we don’t know what to expect for Sunday. If anglers nail the depth then they should do really well.”

Iona said a lot of big fish have been tempted in recent days and she added: “We changed suppliers and a record number of big fish are in there.”

PICTURE: busy water even in low temperatures as anglers practice ahead of Sunday’s competition. Picture by Nigel Duncan