DISTINGUISHED HISTORY & WELL ESTABLISHED TRADITIONS

HISTORY OF DUNDEE ANGLING CLUB

The Dundee Angling Club was instituted in 1862 by several of the most prominent gentlemen of the city. It was amongst the first angling clubs in the country and a founder member of the emergent national association (SNACA). The club has had a long and distinguished history and continues to flourish, maintaining its fine traditions.

Clearly, Dundee, at the time of the club’s formation, was a very different place to our modern city. There were several shipyards along the River Tay shoreline and many noisy mills produced linen and jute in vast quantities. Timber, fish and stone were exported in quantity and the docks were frantically busy. A little later, the railways would make their mark on the city, but the club’s earliest fishing outings would have been accomplished in horse-drawn transport. Dundee was a thriving, industrial and prosperous city . . . and is enjoying a huge revival presently . . . perhaps even reaching its earlier prominence.

Most of the club’s early outings were to local burns, rivers and lochs, then increasingly to the home of loch-style fly-fishing – Loch Leven.

Indeed, in the late eighteen hundreds and into the twentieth century Loch Leven was the only venue that the club fished and in 1873 one club outing is recorded as catching 225 trout weighing 201 pounds for its 39 anglers . . . a large turnout, and a large catch. In the earliest years the winner of each competition was presented with a significant prize demonstrating the eminence of the club and its membership . . . as an example, there is a record that in August 1862, William Dove won a silver-mounted reel for winning the competition at Loch Leven . . . quite a prize !!

In those heady early years, the club even hired its own train !. The club’s minute books show that the driver and guard of these trains were given gratuities of half-a-crown . . it may be a matter of some conjecture just how convivial these trips may have been for the members !!. From the railway station they would be taken to the pier in horse-drawn coaches where the two sturdy boatmen would row them around the widespread drifts of Leven . . . . no powerful outboards, no lightweight carbon rods – greenheart was the order of the day, and no breathable waterproofs – oilskins, long leather boots and ‘lum’ hats were the clothing of choice . . . it was truly different back then !!

Over the years an impressive assembly of fine trophies has been accumulated and present-day members compete for this array of silverwear in the annual series of competitions. A particularly fine example is the John P Robertson Challenge Medal presented to the club in 1887 . This fine Victorian silver medal in three parts has a wonderfully engraved scene featuring a boat fishing in front of Castle Island in Loch Leven.

Several of the club’s most successful anglers have represented Scotland in International Matches throughout the club’s long existence, some serving on the national governing bodies with great distinction. The club is amongst the most prominent in the country partly due to the excellence of its membership, and its fine traditions.

Celebrating its one hundred and fifty years in 2012 the club arranged a trip to Rutland and Grafham reservoirs in England, and a special anniversary dinner. The next fifty years are firmly assured with a buoyant membership who enjoy the club’s good-natured camaraderie and the wonderful Scottish countryside.