Superstition?

I must admit that as far as fishing and luck go, I am full of superstition, I have preferred hats , jackets. Etc, some which I can not be without whilst on the riverbank.The old lucky hat had to go to the bin before the start of the season as it was so worn , but I think I've broken in another?

So it was with a new hat, I headed of to do a spot of fishing with down the local trout stream.
I immediately realised I had forgotten my weigh net, something I'm rarely comfortable with but often a good omen.

I was set up by 1:30pm nothing was happening barely a fly hatching, and hardly surprising with the cold easterly and a faint sign of harr blowing off the sea. The river though was looking gorgeous , nice and low with reasonable clarity, just how I like it.

With in 15 minutes though the odd olive was coming off so I headed downstream to see if I could find a feeding fish, a fish rose , must have been 1:50pm , I got in position and left it to feed to see if it would start to feed a bit more intensely, by 2 pm the hatch was at it's peak, (and it was a really good hatch )the fish though seemed to feed in spells , taking 2 emerging flies and then having a rest, he was also a bit of a wanderer working a area but not rising twice in the same spot  , and after casting a Klink followed by a curved CDC , He was starting to get to me a bit. A fly change to a shucked CDC emerged did the business, it took 20 minutes to crack the code, but it was worth it with a stunning fat burnished trout being my reward blessed with ample pectoral fins ,I think the shucked cdc is  going to see a good bit action over this spring.

 shucked klink recipe
hook : sprite 14
shuck: small pinch of singed poly yarn
abdomen:;olive turkey  biot
wing: cdc
thorax: olives hares ear



Up in the next pool another fish was going steady, again in the lee of a fallen  tree, ignoring the Duns and taking emergers.

again he was a wanderer , but with the study done on the first trout , It wasn't long before I struck into him, then there was fireworks as he jumped and pelted off below me downstream , eventually though he tired and i brought him to hand .

That was my lot, only another fish I spotted which surfaced twice, despite covering it I could not tempt it. Looks like what few fish are feeding at the moment are generally of a good stamp though the fore casted change in the weather this weekend should help bring more fish on the feed. Now i have to question myself is it  my new hat ,or is it leaving  the net that  brought  me good fortune?

Back down the Ditch

I was intending on fishing a different river today, but by the time I'd walked the dog , I was a bit pushed for time, and a bit concerned I could miss the hatch, so I kept it local and ended up fishing the burn I fished with Brian last weekend. the sun was out with a light westerly today and as I sat stringing up the rod the woodpecker drummed a chorus , and before long olives started to float down the ditch. No risers in sight though  , I had to go looking for the first fish, which came blind to the trusty biot Klinkhammer.                      

                                         

                                                                               

It wasn't long though before I  found a riser or two and although I caught a few , it would also be fair to say I put down a few and missed a few as well, they seemed so much more edgier in the bright conditions.

of the fish I caught, only one fell to the nymph all the rest to a dry.

Heading further upstream I came to the end of the main river, and continued up a tributary we recced on the Sunday. Not much happening but I got to one big pool and a riser was going steady, I waded up slowly into casting position and cast my fly to him when all hell broke loose as he thrashed on the surface then unfortunately  went round a rock and shredded the tippet. looked like  really good fish, especially for a wee burn.

The beasts lair

,Moving on up there was a riser on in a strange place in the extreme tail of a pool or in the head of the other hard to decide , after a few duff casts I finally got the presentation right and hooked this yellow stunner, just under the pound.

It had been a great way to spend a few hours and I will be back to try the upper burn again , a few demons to put to bed there. Need a fresh venue for my next trip, dying to give the big rod a wiggle.

Slowly but Surely

Slowly but surely i think we are getting there i counted 5  risers today,i pricked 2 and landed 3 of them , nothing spectacular but whats worth mentioning was the hatch that was very good , and if it keeps up i can see great sport to be had ahead over the next few weeks. A few tricky customers today , shunned my klink but a curved cdc and a shucked cdc proved to be there downfall.
A few pictures.

Seek and you will Find

Still quite cold , top temperatures have been 6 degrees C as the cold easterly continues to blow.  I found myself sitting by my local stream at 2pm today. I don't think i missed anything as the flies started to go downstream, i sat by my  favourite pool for five minutes or so , usually at this time of year you find the tail of the pool has rising fish but despite a decent hatch not a fin stirred. I decided to head upstream realising that minute by minute time was passing by and as the hatches can be short lived went to look for a riser. I passed about 6 long slow pools which you might normally bank on but still not a sausage. Was it the sunshine putting them off, had the cold nights made them lethargic?

For some reason i decided to head back down to where i started   . I looked downstream and there in the tail of the pool a fish was rising intercepting    every Dun that floated in its patch. i got almost level with it and after a couple of short falling casts , he nailed my brown biot klink. He fought like a demon. what a toothy critter!

That was my lot for the day, i never thought i'd be in for such a grueller ,the fish just didn't seem  in the mood to feed today.

easter weekend trouting

We decided on a local burn for Saturday afternoon,not a normal burn mind you, but one which seems to produce better than average trout. we arrived at 1.30 pm to find a few dark olives hatching already and more importantly the odd riser to go for. In the first pool i put a fish down, col pricked a fish in the next pool up and then i struck  far to late for the third , start of season rustiness! Col got it spot on with the next fish though and landed this lovely trout.

another trout for me on the klink before the hatch died,  from then on we fished blind  NZ  style, where we lost and landed a few more

  including a fine trout of 1lb 10 oz for Col on his new nymph

last of the day

on sunday we were back for more, arriving a wee bit earlier than yesterday we sat and waited for the hatch to get under way, soon the odd olive was coming down and we spotted the first riser of the day which took the klink

we had a great time for an hour or so targeting risers before the hatch petered out

  

col landed another on the nymph before we walked to have a look at another wee burn in the area, there wasn't much doing on this burn except two risers in the same pool which i put down, still it was worth investigating, maybe another time.

  

Stick or Twist

I shook the dusting of snow off my wading boots and headed down river for 1:30pm . The  sun made a rare appearance today and although it was cold , i could feel the heat from its rays. I sat looked at a few pools the odd olive came off but not a fin stirred i wondered if i should just sit it out , then i decided to gamble and head away a mile upstream over the brae to a  familiar early season pool.

I passed  a few slowish typical early season pools before arriving at the  pool  just after 2pm .

 A fish conveniently rose in front of me with what was a fair number of flies hatching  .  A cast in front of him and he obliged taking my  biot klink , just a wee silvery fellae, but perfect.

As i was returning the fish another fish rose almost where i took the last one, then a dog walker passed and i never saw it rise again despite allowing time for it to return to the feed and covering the general area.

I decided to head back downstream in the hope that the pools may have the odd riser,  where i met a fellow angler , he hadn't seen a fish , hardly a fly , and that was pretty much  it for the day. Not the most   productive of fishing days , but any fish just now is a bonus.

Its Spring , but not as we know it

There had been yet another fall of snow last night , not as much as the night before but enough for concern. The sun though did its magic and  it thawed quite quickly .3 degrees today at its warmest point not warm but i was feeling fairly confident i would catch after seeing a riser yesterday in a blizzard. I had a lot of nasty jobs to deal with so didn't get down the river until 2:30pm.

I set up quickly with a fresh 9ft  tapered leader  , attached to that went 4 feet of rio powerflex , and my chosen fly a size 12 brown biot klink.

The river looked great,but it seemed that  i might have missed the main bought of the hatch by about 30 minutes or so as a fair number of duns  were collecting in the eddies including these. At first i put it down as a  brook dun , but now after looking at the picture  i'm convinced its a march brown.

As i headed to my chosen start pool a fish rose in the pool in inches of water. At the point of spotting it i was a good distance away and could not pin point it on the featureless flat, i waited for it to rise again , but nothing stirred , another fish rose further up the pool. I covered where i thought fish "A"  rose   and on my 3rd speculative cast he took my dry, but i missed him, as i did with fish "B"  further up the pool.

On to the next big flat pool.

Scanning for risers i saw out the corner of my eye a fish kiss the surface in the crease made by a fallen tree  on my near bank in the picture above.
No mistakes this time as i felt resistance on the strike and after a good fight i landed a fine trout , perhaps a tad lean , but otherwise in great shape just over the pound.

 Despite looking at other spots i didn't come across any other visually feeding fish , the last 20 minutes "fishing the water"  proved fruitless as it often does , at this time of the year. Hopefully get out again tomorrow and try another spot.