What a hatch!

First day of my fortnights holiday, where will i go? It was windy so a good bet was my local, a westerly meant downstream rather than up. Dog walk out the way i got down for 12pm , flies were trickiing off, a couple of fish rising at the tail of a pool the one nearest looked the better one, (he was'nt really) the one further over took a biot klink first time , the nearer   one was a bit fussy, but eventually i got him on a cdc- flexi emerger. Further up i came across two trout rising side by side the near one looked small the further one was clearly a better fish ,by now loads of flies were coming down, infact i don't think ive seen a better hatch of large dark olives on this river. i chucked my fly box at them both , eventually i put on a para-dun rose the good fish, but  didnt connect. 

Moving on up plenty risers in the tails and main belly of the pool to throw a fly at they were  a lot less fussy   falling to the biot klink hammer , It was a fairly hectic 2 hours then by 2pm the hatch died , and barely a rise form was to be seen, though i did manage a few fishing blind, maybe head down again tommorow a few scores to settle.    

boyhood burns revisited

My midweek idea of going to a rather special loch up north for the first trip of the season didn't materialise ,i guess after another busy week at work i couldn't be bothered with the thought of an early start and a long drive, a more leisurely start to the day on one of the local rivers sounded a lot more appealing. Col was cool with this and the only decision left to make was which river, I fancied a session on Cols local and i think Col fancied a cast on my local river as it often throws up a big trout early season. As it turned out mother nature would have the final say and on friday we got some light but persistent rain, the first rain in weeks infact!, just in time for the first weekend of the season and enough to colour up both rivers and make them more or less unfishable.
Our plan B was to have a look at some of the burns in the area in the hope that they would be running a bit clearer.First we had a look at the burn i cut my teeth on as a boy, as soon as i set my eyes on it again i felt a strong urge to fish there again and rediscover all pools i used to fish regularily after school.But first we had a look at another burn a few miles up the road which contains some better than average trout , on arrival it was still running dirty and unfishable but in truth i was pleased when we found ourselves back on my boyhood burn!

 Rather than taking two rods we shared Cols wee 2 wt which was a joy to use and the perfect tool for  fishing the burn. It took us a while to get into our stride but once we discovered the trouts liking for a nymph with a wee bit of sparkle in the slightly coloured water we started to have some success  with the wee but beautifully marked trout.

in some tricky spots a catapult cast was required and when this resulted in a fish it was a great feeling!

wee picked up a few fish here and there

it was nice to rediscover such a gem of a burn, looking forward to next time.

With a couple of hours to spare we took a short trip in the car to the third burn of the day, another  boyhood gem with deeper pools and a peaty tinge to the water.  Col hooked up in the first pool we fished

and a few more followed

we must have a full day on this burn soon!

The glorious 15th

The winter past was mild, now as we head into spring the trees have been budding some things flowering, the daffodils have been out for weeks and the snow drops have passed there best, and..... the trout are rising! 

Today was the first day of the new season , spoilt for choice i couldn't decide which river to do, but opted in the end for my local, which i knew had turned the corner into spring with the numbers of fish rising.

Had a few things to do first , walk the dog and pick up a parcel but i was on the river by 12pm. it was a cold start with some light mist and a light wind , which was strong enough to be troublesome at times  casting a dry fly upstream. While waiting on a hatch or rise to materialise, i fished a couple of runs  with the nymphs unsuccessfully, then stumbled across a few risers in the  tail of a pool.

they liked the look of my olive flexi- klink.

 despite the mild winter, many fish are still coming into condition. It was now 12:30  , things were starting to happen

riser

with the odd olive Dun coming off,  though it was apparent  the fish had eyes for the emergers, i moved upstream as quick as i could to take out what was rising , missed a few , lost a few , but also caught my share.

 One memorable fish was one that refused again and again my biot klink, a wee change of fly to a  TB deerhair emerger did the trick.

 No monsters but good to get back in the groove, i packed in at 4:30pm fairly tired but contented.

a night for traditionals

With the possibility of a loch trip next weekend i thought i would tye up a few traditionals tonight.

First one was the jc ace of spades

next an olive dabbler

the clan chief

palmered march brown

olive straggle dabbler

and a good old bibio

what a mess i had made by the time i finished that lot!

birthday bass

It was Cols birthday yesterday so it was good to celebrate it today with another go for the bass!
fishing started of slow but perseverance payed of and Col was rewarded with the first bass of the day, a nice confidence booster!

Another fish or two followed before a short breather from the now increasingly high breakers

back into the sea for more action where the other Colin joined us, we  caught a few more wee bass and got a right good soaking in the process, magic fun!

we had a good blether back at the cars before heading home for a well earned beer or two.

Jack- attack

Went up the canal again , fished my usual bits took a few jacks , a couple to green bucktails, and a couple to the flash fly. I then  went and tried a bit i havent fished for good  while , and it was choked with jacks. The flash fly did the trick taking around a dozen jacks , none of them would have made 3lb , i was hoping for something a bit bigger but  great sport none the less. 

toothy critters

Not much of a chance for fishing this weekend, yesterday we went to Achingarrich wildlife centre near Comrie, it's in a nice area and was a fine enough way to spend a couple of hours, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves including Clyde!

i found these wee toothy critters quite amusing, they seemed to have tunnel networks all over the place

 We stopped at the butchers in Comrie on the way back home which was worth the journey alone, the sausages for my breakfast this morning were top quality! we also drove past loch Monzievaird which is reputed to hold a wild population of brook trout, no fishing unless you book the  accommodation, the loch looks magic, sorry i should have stopped to take a picture.
Today Ruth was working until mid afternoon, but when she got back Jamie and I went to the canal for an hour or so, not much happening to be honest, a take on the flash and eventually just as Jamie was loosing interest a wee but well fed pike on the clouser.