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.

Piking Old School

Before i started fly fishing for pike most pike flies i saw  were tied with buck tail, then the synthetics such as supreme hair , ep fibres etc kind of seen buck tail as old hat . I recently received a few buck tails variety of colours so thought I'd give them a bash . This is what i came up with tied on a 4/0 hook.

This weeks been really mild, for the time of year, so mild that yesterday afternoon whilst having a stroll by the river i saw a few trout rising to a smattering of olives, the trout season though is still to get underway! Back to chilly weather tomorrow   even possibly with snow, with this in mind i was keen to get a cast in today so this morning a 9am i slung a few flies , including the buck tail in a pack, along with all the other gear and by 9:30 i was casting out a flash fly on the canal. What a pleasant day overcast, but nice !

The pike were very much in the mood, a wee count down on the intermediate line to 15 then a slow jerky retrieve saw 4 jacks succumb to the charms of the flash fly a few more close calls.

flashed

After flogging the water i decided to move to another spot, which has recently been good . But despite my best efforts with the flash fly followed by a Fire Tiger Bait fish, i couldn't get a take. So i returned to the basin . Cast a bigger flash fly but that didn't work, i then remembered how much success Brian has been having with his Clousers recently, so decided to look one out , that's when the buck tail caught  my eye. 3 casts and a jack and then a few more casts and another. I think I'll tie a few more up ,especially in roach colourations,  it seems these pike become wary of a pattern after a while but a complete pattern change seems to generate fresh interest.

Happy with my morning fishing it was home for some beans , bacon and eggs on toast.

Bass-tastic dude!

A flock of Dunlins

We Arrived at low tide revealing a almost lunar landscape, the flies tied during the week were tied on and we fished, remarkably after half an hour Brian hooked up and  landed the first bass  of the day! He was over the moon understandably because prior to the trip we wereboth bass virgins.

Just then Colin joined us , and he was quickly into fish after fish . His experience on fishing the salt clearly shone through.

Ripping them out

Brian was getting in on the action too!

Meanwhile i struggled on , i'd had the odd take , lost a  fish  , but i finally did get a fish.halleluja!

soaked we retreated for a coffee,  soaked  by the odd rogue wave,  before colin headed home and we had a few more casts. And no more luck. A big thankyou to Colin for showing us the ropes, without his guidance  i'm pretty sure i would still be waiting for my first bass!