Been going through a wee productive spell on the bench recently, i think the mild spells of weather have made my head rush for the anticipation of the new trout season. Still a few patterns to tie and also a few i still have plenty of stock from last season. Heres a medley of what ive been up too.
Col and me headed back down to the river we were on last weekend hoping for some more grayling action, it was a fine sunny morning and our hopes were high.
The nice morning didn't last long though and by early afternoon the weather took a turn for the worse with rain on the horizon and also no grayling to show for our efforts. As the rain was about to start we spotted a sheep which must have slipped in further upstream and was clearly having difficulty getting out of the river, col saved the day though and waded across the river to help it out, that was one lucky sheep!
Soon after the sheep rescue i landed a nice grayling on a pink beaded wire nymph but as much as we tried there was no further action.
perfect!
the rain didn't help with the river taking on a slight ting but i dont think the grayling were really in the mood today anyway.
A new venue, another day. First thing to do was purchase another season permit. The river was crystal clear but still carrying a wee bit extra water than low levels, which can effect grayling location and make wading difficult in places. We fished a while , but with a few other anglers on the water we decided to move. Virgin water next, at least to us. we made our way to a likely looking pool. whilst fishing away a fish rose on the far bank giving the game away on there location, i never real thought much about it and decided to head upstream, i fished bits but walked mainly, noticing Brian wasn't moving very far. When i returned he was sorting his flies and a fish rose out in front of him, i asked how he was doing half expecting him to have had a fish, he'd just lost one. So i joined him on the opposite bank. No much was happening apart from the odd sporadic rise from fish to tiny midge , there was the odd olive coming off too. Brian did try a dry but it felt a lottery. I decided to put on a wee size 16 PTN with a black nickel tungsten bead on the point to accompany my heavy bugs a pink shrimp and tan bug , first cast i was in , it had taken the wee fly on the point.
About half an hour later Brian was in , a similar sized grayling on his big pink shrimp.
I then took a quick brace of wee ones both again too the ptn.
. Brian then lost a fish then it went quiet , so i decided to try a assault from the other bank, which was tricky wading i hadn't left long and Brian was in, then it got off, next cast again he hooked up and landed his second fish of the day.
I then rejoined him on his bank. Fished a while then after feeling the cold we decided to get out a while and go or a short walk .
Warmed up a bit we got in again flogging the water, my indicator went down i struck i thought i'd hooked bottom , but no it was a fish , a nice one too!
A belter! 2 3/4lb and the fattest humpback grayling I've seen ,at least for a while.
big shoulders
What a fish! A great way to end a great days fishing. Can't wait till next time must get tying some bugs.
Brian phoned at 10:15, i'd just got out of bed, by 11am we were heading for a grayling stream, got our season permit, and got tackled up, with a couple of tungsten bugs to get down ,hung under a indicator . few things forgotten probably due to lack of preparation, or the spontanity of the trip, Brian forgot his fly boxes , i forgot my jacket , so was a bit cold. The snow drops were out very early for the time of year. A grayling each for our troubles both hard earned.
I'm mainly a fly angler but now and again i do a little Coarse fishing and as the rivers were still high for doing our preffered grayling fishing , Brian suggested it would be a good option . So it was off to Eliburn reservoir was fair looking forward too it, on the way we planned to get maggots, but the tackle shop at broxburn didnt open , so it was a drive into edinburgh to country life , after buying a few floats , hooks and the maggots , we eventually found ourselves setting up.Gradually the loose feeding began to kick in and we were into fish, first a perch each,
Perch
Ide
then an ide each ,then i lost a carp, infact i hooked two , lost both, in the session, mid way through the day the gudgeon joined the perch in the feeding spree,
Gudgeon
and even the roach put in a appearance ,the ide put in a late appearace again.
I love Turkey biots. Been filling the boxes with a few biot flies of late.First off a comparadun i use for March browns brook duns and in olives olive uprights.
Comparadun
DHE
Next a Deer hair emerger.
biot nymph
And a nymph which in olive or brown is geat for trout, it's also my favourite fly for roach.
biot klink
Klinks also get the biot treatment, mainly olives and brown again are preffered.
Being doing quite a bit tying recently , no fishing though the weatheres been shocking! Got some size 4 longshank hooks today so thought i'd tie some big G&H sedges, i'm hoping they could stir up a few stubborn fish next summer.
