Summertime..........And the Living is Easy

I was considering  going to the lower reaches of a river but with the sun splitting the sky decided against it, seems it's best in the evening . So i headed to my local and fished a wooded stretch that has produced a lot of small fish  , better fish have been largely absent today proved no different , the water for once though had good clarity and was low . A good number of flies hatched , mainly yellow may duns and olive uprights and bwo's. so there were plenty fish to aim at , first fell for a curved hook flexi- CDC.

 About 30 fish fell mostly to dries best was a size 12 dirty Polly a  few on a bugger fished in the pockets in a almost Czech style controlling the retrieve with a high rod rather than by hand.

  A few fell to nymphs too in the deeper runs.

In the Land of the Big Skies

Saturday 11th

Brian picked me and Garry up at 4:45am , we were bound for Caithness, are plan was to concentrate on dry fly fishing ! We stopped at Golspie for some sausage and bacon rolls , and arrived in Wick to collect our permits from Hugo Ross, for two days fishing on a choice 6 lochs was only  £10 !

wee pair of waders

The first loch we went to had been drained many years ago and refilled only twenty or so years ago, quite a wee peaty loch with reeds in the edge.

Whilst setting up our gear we viewed a interconnecting burn which flowed down to the second loch we fished and you would swear it was running uphill, but it's just the lie of the land, an electric burn!

It didn't take long for Gary to hook a trout on his olive Turks tarantula . A nice one too!

 Brian was doing well with a black dirty Polly corrie killer  hybrid . Including missing a fish around a pound. It took me a while to get into my stride , but i eventually managed a few, my  best fly being a claret hopper fished on the edge of the reeds. We had some lunch at the back of  1pm , scotch eggs, pork pies , chicken drumsticks and wings washed down with some iron brew, then we headed for loch number 2.

Loch number 2 was no distance away at all, just over the brae. Setting eyes on this loch showed lots of character , big sheltered  bays with cliff faces , infact me and Brian seemed drawn by these bays and headed over to explore whilst Gary fished the near shore. We were ushered by a herd of coo's . on the way , running over the hill top.

 
We decided to put on a wee competitive match which was quickly forgotten as wee extracted fish after fish from the bays, black flies were being blown off the surrounding vegetation , and the troots were going daft for them . Great fun for a few hours each trout a heavily spotted beauty.

We then headed for some dinner before heading onto the main event, Brian definitely looked like he'd chosen well with his steak pie,my Cajun chicken looked a bit like a mackerel, but the chips were good, Gary settled for the scampi!

We were on the "main event" for a bit after 6pm. When we walked around swathes off buzzers that had hatched off through the day took off. Hardly a fin broke the surface though , infact it was quite dour, this loch is known as an evening water. Gary lost a fish he reckons was between 2-3 pound  whilst starting a retrieve his dries. Brian was doing OK too with a couple of fish too the corrie killer fished static.

I was toiling. Gary cursed , a few times through the night at missed fish , but was rewarded with what must have been the fish of the trip a fat fish , in and around 2lb mark.

As the night drew on these thing s started to emerge , the nymphs crawling up my waders at first they were one or two but with ten minutes i was covered in them from head to toe, the dreaded caenis, or anglers curse!

At his point the trout didn't seem to be interested but as the night went on the spinners fell on to the water and that's when the trout started sipping them in , it was amazing to watch fish cruising under water surfacing yards from the last rise , and it was also fascinating too see how fast they moved it gave the illusion that there were loads of fish feeding but  it would be the same fish moving fast, some of them were big fish too! There window of vision must be tiny so you've got to try and intercept them almost to the inch , on top of that they have to like the look of your fly. I read years ago that a hatch on Corrib you were best if you could see your fly a clipped Adams was one reccomended fly, the closest thing i had in my box was a simarly coloured dirty polly, the important bit i think about seeing the fly is because you must actually see the fish take it   otherwise you could be constantly striking into thin air as i did  a few times that night  ,  spooking them on the surface in doing so.  I did manage to intercept a couple though, the first took a corrie killer , just yards from me , shot off into the loch like a steam train ripping line off the reel then stuck the fly into the weed!

The one that got away

 The corrie killer was missing when i took it in. the next fish i hooked up i landed , he took a size 12 dirty polly and went 1.5lb.

I had a few really small trout as i made my way back to the car as low  mist started to form , the trout calling it a night.

Back to the hotel for a few pints and a blether before , getting our heads down for some kip.

Sunday 12th
Was up for breakfast at 8am , breakfast was OK , the sausages were crap the bacon greasy the eggs under done , we sort of forced ourselves to eat it.  Payed the hotel and were back on the "main event" . Not known as a daytime loch we didn't know how it would fish. When we arrived the weather looked great cloudy with a light breeze , but with obvious rain approaching . And that was the way it was 2 short showers were the worst the weather gods threw at us. I didn't even bother with the jacket. I put on a size 10 CDC and elk on the point and a corrie killer on the dropper , as did Brian and we had  some sport from the bank pulling up fish to the CDC and elk. Brian got a nice fish of 1 3/4lb , we lost a few good ones too. 

Brian's best 1 3/4lb

 

Brian in his tube

As the day went on the sun came out , me and Brian decided to pump up the tubes and go afloat for the last hour, where we took a few fish , then at 2pm we called it a day the loch seemed dead , so we headed home all content , it had been a great trip , looking back it might have been worthwhile doing a bit more tubing as there were a lot of fish out of range , but thats for next time,  i can't wait to return,  in the future !

The Heron (Gary)

Night and day

An evening session followed by a day session , nothing spectacular, about 15 or so fish in the evening session a few to nymphs but most to a dirty polly it was quiet in a few pools , later found out i'd been following my pal Gary  up the river who had a good night on the dries .

The reverse was true in the day session about 20 fish mostly to nymphs but the risers took a size 12 DP nothing big the best going 13". Not a great deal of fly life mainly yellow may duns and mostly in the air,  i'm still trying to get a decent picture of one , if only they would'nt  fly away!

In Praise of Polly

Me and Brian had another trip to a bigger river, a river where trout are educated, the water is crystal clear, but there are monsters to be had , and that is what keeps us coming back for more torment.

When we arrived we set up by a long pool one of the best on the stretch, unfortunately a family came by walking high on the banks downstream with there bandy nets , spooking the whole pool, it's a pity cause there are big fish to be had in it.We headed off upstream.
The hatch was not huge today lots of smallish olives , and a smattering of everything else , brook duns , and even a few of these big fellaes. I love the sight of Mayfly , but ive yet to see trout feeding on them on a scottish river.

I took a wee trout here and there the first wee trout was on a dhe emerger with a biot body, as we headed up to the next pool i tried the bugger -no response , so put on a NZ rig with a big size 10 dirty polly and a nymph on the point, i got 3 takes missed every one , the biggest rolled over the dry , maybe a pound or so.
 so we continued upstream , the next pools was another quality pool where Brian had a big fish last month (3lb 12oz), lots of takes by small fish attempting to take the dirty polly. After spending about an hour in that pool fishing every corner and keeping our eyes and ears peeled for the sound of a rising fish , Brian decided to head downstream to the long pool and i went upstream to another long pool . Nothing stirred in my pool so i headed up again to the next pool, and there a tail pattern combed the surface , like a shot i covered him with a single dirty polly and he took, after a acrobatic scrap i landed this fellae a fat short trout of 1lb 1/4 , the dirty polly has been great over the last few weeks , it's probably had as much as 50 troots from various waters.

Then at the smooth head of the run  a dimple riser was continually feeding . I was'nt sure if it was a parr, but then i realised i could see the fish . He looked around 2- 2.5lb . I covered him and he took but immediately the hook sprang back. A few small fish followed.

Dollies river

Today the weather was forecast to be hot  , 25C, so i decided to avoid my original planned venue and picked a tree clad river for shelter from the blazing sun.

A first visit to the river for me. I'd walked it's banks through the winter 2 yrs ago , and always meant to get  round to fishing it and today i finally did. I arrived at 11:30ish , was set-up and fishing by 12am. Had to work out the tactics today so went of to look for a feeding fish  , a few were feeding together i cast but they they turned there nose up at my size 14 klink , i imediately went down to a 7x tippet and a smaller size 16 klink and hooked a fish , but he got off heading for a sunken tree, and leaving my fly in the branches. Somehow the next 3 fish also shed the hook, but i'd found a rythym. A big pool then produced  a few trout some on klinks  and a brace on a nymph.

Plenty fly life around. heres what looked to be a hatch of grannom, though  a few spinners were falling on the water every so often. I headed up to a weir pool fished a little further but only got one fish above the weir . it was pretty dead.

So i headed back downstream to  fish well below where i started. As it was a country park and a nice day there was kids playing in certain pools, groups of neds , pumping out music, was starting too think it was a mistake, coming down here. I started walking through a gorge section tried to walk down to the river side but they were shear cliff faces. so i carried on down river until i could access the water. This section was a bit daunting to fish , i was in a corridor with walls of  towering sandstone cliffs , here and there ledges were visible ocassionally plunging into unknown depths an element of rockclimbing is required here and there whilst clasping a rod with your teeth. With the difficult terrain I dont think many of this water will see a fisherman from one season to the next despite being a stones throw from a major city.

It was not the most productive stretch, maybe the lack of light , is a factor, the nymphs drew a blank even where it looked ideal, but the dry did sort out those rising fish. I was glad to come out the other end without a ducking. coming out the gorge the fishing improved again . It had been a great day, challenging enough at times to  hold my interest, i'll definitely return, but i think i'll give the gorge  a miss!

gorge fish

Back log of fishing trips

Tuesday daytime
A visit to the river of trollies , was full of expectancy, clearer water etc, but unfortunately the hatch was slow to get going and the water was still a bit dirty . The wooly bugger was the saviour of the day ., a couple lost on comparaduns was all i could get in the way of "insect" action.

Of recent my local water has been fishing poorly, but the spate seems to have breathed life in the water and stirred up the fish the only problem is it's still carrying colour. A visit on Tuesday night (yes the evening after fishig the trollie river),provided sport with the dry and between 20-30 wee trout fell for the  big dirty polly, and comparadun. Later as the night went on i tried a huge chernobyll ant on a size 10 2x longshank , and still the had a go at it!

Thursday night

A hot day for a change , kind of tired but headed for the troutstream for 7pm, the water still coloured, i set up newzealand style with a goldhead harelug with a pinch of pearl through it's body. A few decent fish succumed to the nymph.

As the night went on a few fish fell for the dry, but in lesser pools. most of the pools were dead. It became aparent at 10pm . i'd been following another angler up the river. Sloppy seconds! I guess with river fishing becoming more popular , it's a thing we just have to get used too.

Piking in the Hills

The forecast wasn't great heavy showers max of 8 C as i planned a trip to some of my favourite pike lochs .Up at 6:30am  float tube stuff packed , 5 hours later i was at my destination setting up my fly rod. A reedy bay was my target,i worked my way round a weedy bay casting in wind and hail and around the reeds but after 45 minutes i drew a blank.

It was  then i decided to head down to a second lower lying loch , ditched the tubing stuff in the heather to pick up on my way back, the tube was a waste of time today ,really and added weight i could do without, next time i think i'll leave it and take some trout gear just incase the piking is poor as the trout fishing can be good. After a good 2hr hike i found myself at loch number 2.

I could not beleive the ammount of water in it and with submerged trees , bog myrtle, and flowering gorse bushes i'm guessing it had only come up in the last few days.

It's the river mouth i usually like, in the loch but the river didn't look right far too big. So i fished round the bays with  the grass edge limit being  4ft underwater in places ,   before plummeting into the abyss. I chose to put on a fly with a rattle to try and stir something from the depths .

The closest i got to a pike all day was a follow to my feet by a low double which at the time was a great pick me up why he didnt take , well only she knows that, i just dont think they were in the mood. Nevermind , i'll be back!