Not as busy as normal, we found we could move around freely and set out on the main pond. Starting on my usual platform next to the lodge I was soon into a nice rainbow of around three pounds. As fish were up on the surface I plumped for a team of three buzzers in black, olive and blue on the point.

After that, it got a lot harder as the trout, of which there were plenty, would not look at a thing.

Local angler Willie Brash managed to crack a method before they switched off again. He was on a floating line with a sight indicator suspending two blobs in orange and yellow a couple of feet below the surface. However, that method soon dried up and it was a case of slogging it out till something happened. With less than an hour remaining, I began to feel nothing was going to happen for me. So it was a case of upping sticks and trying the smaller pond round the back to jeers of fishing the baby pond. But I had the last laugh as I connected into two big fish.

Unfortunately, I dropped one at the net which I reckon must have been going on double figures. With less than five minutes remaining, I got my just reward for perseverance by stripping a mini Damsel along the surface. It was real heart-stopping stuff as the big bow wave homed in on my fly. Just as I was running out of room, the big fish grabbed the damsel and started to run. It was a good rainbow of more than six pounds.

Markle has some cracking fish and is well worth a cast, even though, on this occasion, the weather meant patience was key.