Roach in the sun

2nd,3rd

The dog needed walking the sun was high in the sky, so i grabbed a few hours. Roach a plenty were in there shoals, the nymph scored well.

 

I really enjoy fishing for them , i think there a worthy quarry for the fly fisher.

My New Addiction!

Sun was out today, had to satisfy my new addiction. Some wee size 18 kamasan B410 arrived in the mail, so I tied up some tiny nymphs. They did work but not on the big fish, i don't think the slow descent attracts them like the size 14 turkey biot nymph. So ive decided this is going to be my go to fly despite the lack of hook-ups with smaller fish, in anycase i'm not really interested in catching the wee roach, if i wanted to do that i'd just fish with a waggler float and some bait. For me this is becoming a selective method, a way to get the better fish, and how satisfying it is when all go's to plan!

On the Cut

As luck would have it i had the afternoon to myself. So i decided to go and See if the roach were up for it. It was a overcast day with occasional light showers and occasionally the sun would come out. The sun  is useful for spotting the shoals, the cloudier it gets the deeper the shoals seem to go.

Theres plenty perch amongst the shoals they behave exactly like the roach until the nymph is presented and on the retrieve they have a go.

Jack pike

I had plenty roach most took on the descent of the nymph missed a big one, in fact when a decent roach shoal came into view it was exciting these roach seem to take a nymph fairly confidently, i did manage to get a substantial roach plus a few good quality ones and a few wee ones. It's a very selective and effective way of fishing , cant wait to get up there again. Some pics:

wee fellae

fin perfect (looking at the anal fin looks like it has a bit of bream in it)

specimen roach

A wee handful

The Crystal River

Saturday25th

Today me and Brian fished one of my favourite rivers, it's a river with two different characters , a typical lowland river in it's lower reaches and in it's upper reaches very rugged ,and boulder strewn . Described by some as one of the most challenging trout rivers waters in Scotland. I don't think it's the case at all , nothing a long leaders and long casting , does not sort out , the fish are spooky but they are in reasonably good numbers . We fished the usual NZ set-up a big size 10 klink and a wire nymph did the trick , in a few shallow runs we fished the klink on it's own and in the faster runs we fished stimulator's, the takes to the dries on occasions were explosive!. We had around 30 fish in all 8-9of them over the pound mark a couple going 1 1/4lb, but the big fellaes proved elusive , one thing about the fish we caught though is they fight well above there weight , probably  some of the hardest fighting fish Ive ever caught ! It had been a grand day in great scenery.    Must return before the seasons out!

Crystal!

1 1/4lb

flower power

fat trout

rocky section

A change of Coarse

I walked the dog along the canal today, where i spotted a few shoals of roach here and there ,a  few perch amongst them and the usual jack pike in the margins. Was thinking about going for the pike but decided it would be a nice change to target the roach.  So at 2:30pm i grabbed the gear and had a go. I tried the dries, first  a shuttlecock buzzer i briefly hooked into one, but they quickly sussed it out. so tried a few various dries , including a size 14 black klink but they weren't fooled, so into the fly box and i selected a small size 16 brown turkey biot nymph with a black(actually called gunmetal) 2.4mm bead. With instant results.

Shoals that seemed to be sleeping suddenly woke up there was a good mix of sizes with a few big ones amongst them. The important thing was seeing the fish take the fly so Polaroids were essential , this would be either by seeing a flash of the flank or one in the shoal shooting forward out of suit with the rest of the shoal. I'm convinced the plop of the fly was a trigger as was the decent as i further experimented hanging the fly off a large klink , the minute the decent stopped the fish lost interest  the , klink you might think would be good for showing takes but if i was looking at the klink i would have missed fish it never moved though a few fish did show interest to the klink , they did not take it properly a bit like mullet mouthing bread, a better presentation was a single nymph, takes were within seconds of it hitting the water.

A few fish. I reckon fly fishing is a good way of getting the better roach . Or atleast it was the case today. 

A good one!

Mains burn

22nd June
With the main rivers in spate, few options were available locally. The mains though was carrying more water but it didnt look that dirty, so i decided to take the dog and wee burn  rod out for a wander tonight . There is'nt much of the burn thats accessible at this time of year most is very overgrown with fronds of grass breaching the stream . But there are a few pools, one in particular , where ive had loads of fish his season , produced this fat wee trout, on a glister nymph a cracker for the burn.

 That was my lot on a nymph tried the bugger but nothing then i put on a big turk variant, and got a offer, but nothing else took in that wee pool. So i headed downstream , to a few other bit's i know. Alfie was finding it difficult to keep his paws dry.

I stuck with the dry and got another and missed another two.  And that was it i'd ran out of fishable water, a good way to spend a hour.

In the Glen of Troutquility

Saturday 19th

Nothing was planned for the weekend until, Brian phoned me at about 9:30am , he was planning a day on a highland stream , quickly ok'ing it with the wife she allowed me to go! Result! Another visit to the Glen, it was dry when we left so i didn't bother with the jacket, half way down the road though it started pouring down, then thankfully by the time we arrived it was all but a spit or two. We walked  downstream to our starting point, the river very low and crystal clear ,It was about 1pm before we  started fishing. the typical NZ style is good here, it's not the sort of river that you see a lot of rising fish , tends to be a bring'em up or nymph'em type river.

Theres a pool where we have never caught trout , it looks great, always does . Today was the day.
First cast to the very last signs of the bubble line produced a nice pounder to the nymph, they don't half fight hard!

 Further up the pool i missed a take to the klink then i broke off in another, then at the very head of the pool i stuck on a g and h sedge to try and "stimulate" a fish in to taking in the fast water., Another pounder obliged.

We kind of started to get a feel for it and although we felt the trout were not really on , we were doing not bad. Fast water was a place for the big dries, and although many pockets were empty.

G&H sedge

A big pool that's been good to us in the past , produced a fish for Brian 1lb 6oz,here's a video of the action.

A fine fish . This next one took a nymph in a turbulent lie hung under   a big stimulator. One of the rivers  signature brownies beautifully marked . 

Loads of water to cover yet before we got to the car, so we were optimistic. A heavy shower came on, i was beginning to regret not bringing the jacket   , but the wet was quickly forgotten when i hooked into a nice trout.

The fight was short lived as he did what many better trout do , he'd wrapped himself. A long trout that went 1 lb 120z.

 

Still a few pools to go we missed out some water, we hadn't the time, another banker pool, Brian took one wee fish from a spot, then almost whipped one of the smallest trouts in the river into another stream whilst striking. Then he got another good fish! Seems birds of a feather don't always flock together.

1 1/4 lb

One last pool to fish , a good one at that ! But only produced the one fish to Brian's mammoth stimulator.

We finished up at 6:30 pm , it had been a grand day fishing.