Out with The Rod Again

[Wildfisher]

A wee trip to The Backwater

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Etb33EMb0

[tomcatin]

No fish ....... but a hell of a nice way to spend 15+ minutes 

I had a Saturday out there in early June, never having been therefore before. My principal purpose was to go there was to get a few photos of the dam, the spill way and the memorial plaques at the car park. It seemed rude, being there not to also pick up a permit and have a cast. I was blown away, despite the easy access along so much of the reservoir, by what a quite spot it was and of course the scenery. I only ended up with a couple of wee trout but it was a lovely outing.

Oh and the photos, were to accompany a short piece I writing on the construction of the dam by Balfour Beatty (my employers) having stumbled upon this film put onto YouTube by Scottish Water to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQN3uGXwMYE

Engineers may find it interesting, I did!

[Wildfisher]

Nice video. The old East Of Scotland Water Board organised and provided some good fishing opportunities, unlike Scottish Water.

[caorach]

Haven't had time to reply Fred but watched it all, tricky fishing. However it was great to see the drone feature :-) Hopefully there will be a lot more drone action soon. Did your river get any water recently with the rain? Seems to have fallen out quite patchy. Unbelievable that Lewis has had, basically, no rain since mid-May and at that stage you were having a flood. Hopefully you got enough for a few days on the river with the drone.

[superscot]

Loved the video Fred yes, no fish but it's the getting out that counts and looking forward to more drone footage is this a new purchase and if you don't mind make and model to further investigate

[Wildfisher]

I have absolutely zero confidence piloting that drone over water and as such the footage is far from cinematic. Needs a lot more practice. Our river went up a foot last Friday but fell back quickly as is the way with thunderstorms.  No reservoir of water in the ground to keep it up.

[caorach]

I have absolutely zero confidence piloting that drone over water and as such the footage is far from cinematic. Needs a lot more practice. Our river went up a foot last Friday but fell back quickly as is the way with thunderstorms.  No reservoir of water in the ground to keep it up.

It is a shame you didn't get a bit more water just to keep you going as we are into August now and there is usually more water about once we get to the end of August and into September. Hard to believe the season is winding down already and that the summer is pretty much over on the moor and places like that.

I don't find flying the drone over water an worse than over land as if it goes down either place I've pretty much no chance of ever seeing it again. A chap I work with had his go down in a field he was standing in and despite a lot of searching he never found it, it wasn't far away or especially difficult ground or tall grass and he saw exactly where it dumped but he just never got it. One thing I will say about water is that, certainly in the past, some drone's sensing became confused if they were flown low over water. I don't think anyone ever completely worked it out but it looked like the disturbance on the water caused by the down draught from the rotors caused the drone to think it was rapidly gaining altitude and so it corrected by going lower, into the water. This is the problem with automatic systems - they are great but they will do what they are programmed to do no matter what the operator would like to happen. I don't know exactly what sensing yours has but don't fly it too low over water, especially a still loch or similar. In saying that if you are like me then I imagine you have no intention of flying very low over anything, I usually allow 4 - 5 feet just in case of a mistake on the controls or a gust of wind.