Jeez Sunday was a windy day. Itching to get out all weekend though a bit limited by aching feet right now I was like a bear with a sore head looking outside over the weekend for that wind to drop a wee bit. Saturday was supposed to be windier than Sunday according to my Met Office App, but in actuality Sunday I think was worse. Most locations ( for me) were ruled out by the wind and after some serious coaxing ( really!) my Mrs pushed me out the door with instructions to go to Swanswater. When I got there it was most odd, the two small ponds were almost flat calm and utterly gin clear. Clearest I have ever seen, but there was a fair old Southerly wind blasting over the main loch. I opted for the main loch ( it was very quiet maybe only three anglers on it) and also added a boat so I knew I wouldn’t need to fight the wind. Howeer Alastair warned me that anglers were finding it a wee bit hard going with fish apparently switching on for very short periods then vanishing again.
Time for a fishy tale. As I tied up my flies ( buzzers) and leader I flicked the point and first dropper over the side of the boat, mostly because the wind was blowing the line about lying beside me and I thought it would tangle, and I got to work tying on the top dropper- a third buzzer. As I did so I thought I felt something tug on the line but it seemed like the nylon had snagged a wee splinter of wood on the outside of the boat. I felt over the side and as I unsnagged it , yes definitely there must have been a fish at the point fly, the wee black buzzer, I could feel it- though it was likely a Perch. I still had the top dropper and hook in my hand and wasn’t wanting to end up with it stabbed suddenly in my finger, so very quickly got the fly tied on and dropped the rest of the leader over the side of the boat. Was there really a fish there? Yeah I could feel it, so I pulled up the leader now hanging straight over the side of the boat and there it was not a Perch at all but a Rainbow maybe of about 2lb and as I pulled up the leader it simply seemed to let go- it did not appear hooked as it really just seemed to roll off the line and swim off. Kind of glad as I have had the odd occasion when handling line that a fish has taken and it can be very awkward to control, not to mention hazardous!
First wild brownie fell to a foam arsed blob in Cats Whiskers colours. How bizarre
So the fishing started in earnest and really the wind made it very difficult, the back casts were being flattened right onto the water by the wind and it wasn’t terribly elegant. I tried Buzzers, wets, lures and even blobs! I think I had one slight pull when I went to lures and eventually covered a fish that seemed to swirl in front of me and though on by now a sinking line, the fish, a decent enough sized wild Brown took the fly- a foam arsed blob just after it hit the water and I started to retrieve. Not quite what I was expecting. Not a huge fish though if I had caught it on a river I would have been perfectly happy.
I fished for about three hours, and moved the boat up the loch and maybe around five thirty the odd fish was rising. Up to this point the only fish activity I had seen was the odd fish jumping, nothing you could seriously equate with feeding behaviour. I was by now fed up pulling flies and decided to try a dry and put a couple of dry patterns over the odd rising fish but they showed no interest. I think though as the fish were rising only occasionally it really was a bit of a long shot. I decided with an hour to go, to come ashore and I put on a wee stalking bug and plopped it down into the burn near the foot bridge. Almost right away I got a take but would you believe it, another decent sized wild Brown! I managed a couple of pulls along the burn on this method though they were likely also wee fish and finally after exploring the margins near me called it a day here and thought half an hour on the pond might be my best chance for a fish.
Second wild Brown on a stalking bug by the bridge over the burn.
Down at the pond it was dead, and the water was gin clear, you could see fish moving. Now, when I had been heading up to the main loch as I walked by the wee mill-race that runs down the side of the fishery I noticed a 2lb Blue in the stream and it bolted when it seen me. I decided to look and see if I could see it. I kept back behind the reeds and weeds and peered into the water but nope I could not locate it. I turned and peered between two trees into the bottom section of the pond and there was a fish right below me. Without really giving it much thought I bow and arrowed my stalking bug right in front of the fish. It looked at it and started to swim for it, but then seemed to lose interest, I gave it a wee flick to impart some movement and it turned quickly and took it! Ah, but now I had a fish on how on earth would I get it out? I played the fish for a minute and in normal circumstances I could have easily netted it out here and now…. but my net was lying 20 yards away and there was no one about I could ask to pass me it! So with the fish reasonably subdued, it wasn’t huge maybe a pound and three-quarter Rainbow I tried to lift the tip of the rod high enough to clear the top of the adjacent tree. By some miracle I managed and now only had a broader but not as tall bush to clear to get up the bank to my net. I reached as far as I might but not sure if I dropped the tip or just let a bit too much slack in but the line went loose and the fish remote released. I am counting it though as I did the hard bit hooking it in the first place!
For the last twenty minutes I stalked round the margins of the pond and few fish seemed as eager to take my bug though some did look at it before swimming off. A final few casts with a dry-fly rose a few fish in the middle but they never took and I had to content myself with the end result of 2 and a half fish.
