Outing Convenor's report on 2025 Season
Published on 2nd February 2026
Outing Convenor’s Report For 2025 Season
As an experiment, after some discussion at committee, the first outing for the Stan Tuer Tankard will be held on the first Saturday afternoon of May, from the hours of 1pm to 5pm. This stems from having poor and cold weather, consistantly over the last few years on the first Friday evening in May. This change may gives us slightly milder conditions during the afternoon and hence maybe more feeding activity.
The remaining June & July nights will remain as the first Friday night of the month.
We had further discussion regarding the cost of these nights, summarised by the fact that potentially, if you had your limit each night, these six fish for £10 seems (say an average weight 1.5 to 2lbs) was very cheap fishing indeed, and very much less than it costs the club to stock them in the first place, at an average of £ 8-33 each.
The proposal from the committee is £15-00 for the three nights or £10-00 for individual nights.
As the weather in it’s various forms, dictated the outcome of our bank nights at Lannsaidh, those fish that were recorded were of a good size. The bigger fish that were stocked, made each night an unknown quantity as one decent fish could change everything as new member Chris Hardy found out. This was also apparent throughout the year when conditions were suitable. Again my thanks to all at the May night for their commitment in paying for the three outings in advance.
The club outing to L Brora was reasonably well attended, although conditions were not in our favour. Once again the dreaded perch were a feature of the day, but did not interfere with the result.
The Clarkson Outing also at L Brora was another hard going day and the best placed Dornoch member was Bill Rose.
Weather conditions played a big part in our season with very dry and sunny spells throughout the spring and summer giving rise to low water levels on Lannsaidh & Laoigh particulary. So far this year Lannsaidh in now full, with Laoigh not far behind, which gives some hope for better fishing and not so much hard graft in getting boats in and out of the water. Our other trout lochs fished reasonably well, given the conditions and well worth the trek to them.
Can I cordially invite all members, particularly those who have won our various categories of prizes to the AGM (2026) to be presented with their rewards.
D&DAA Event Winners 2025
The Stan Tuer Tankard winner;
Richard Dickenson (best basket) 3 fish for 7lb 15ozs
Runner-up Michael Banks 2 fish for 6lb 6ozs
Same outings for the Willie Skinner Priest, best fish Michael Banks, 4lb 4ozs on the June night.
Runner-up Richard Dickenson at 3lb 7ozs on the May night.
The three evening winners receiving a complimentary bank ticket are;
May – Richard Dickenson, June – Chris Hardy, July – Ian Miller.
The annual club outing on Loch Brora;
Winner James Mackay with 32 points
Runner-up Willie Sutherland with 12 points
Same outing for the best fish on the day for the Eric Robertson Priest was Willie Sutherland
The Sandy Banks Trophy for the best recorded rainbow of the season.
Winner – Jill Sharp with a fish of 4lb 8ozs on the 15th April
The Ken Whitson Trophy for the best fish from Loch Brora;
Chris Kirkbride with a salmon of 5lb on the 1st September.
The Bill Hives Trophy for the best fish from Loch Ghuibhais
Martin Wells, a brownie of 2lb on the 1st of September.
The Judy Gozzett Trophy for the best Brownie/Sea-trout of the year
Andy Sturrock with a brownie from Laoigh @ 3lb on the 5th of July.
Due to the unfavourable conditions on the Lagain weekend there was no outstanding catcher of trout.
Dates for this coming seasons outings are as follows;
Stan Tuer Tankard; as detailed above.
Loch Lagain weekend for stock in May. Further info will be given out later.
The Loch Brora, D&DAA club outing the 3rd Sat in August. Up to 15 places available on a first come basis.
The inter club outing on L Brora, the 1st Sat in September, looking for up to 6 members.
Please get in touch with Richard or myself.
Plus all the end of season verified fish from our lochs.
With best wishes and tight lines for the season ahead.
Michael Banks
