With stable dry weather, a river outing was on the card. I was looking to go somewhere different (initially on Saturday) but the place I was considering ( the River Isla- a tributary of the Tay) I suspected might be low. I posed the question on my Facebook page and am very grateful to the anglers that replied and confirmed on the whole that indeed it was on the low side. So once again the Isla returns to the back burner as a future place to wet a line.
Plan A, B…C
I then considered a beat down the bottom of the Annan…. But really could I be bothered getting up at about 6 on a Saturday morning to get there? Nope!
Or the RiverTummel, where I have not fished for a wee while. Not sure I fished there last season, and in airing this idea to my fishing chums I was persuaded to go on Sunday.
So, Sunday morning found me up early waiting on Radek to arrive so we could head up to Perthshire.
Sunrise in Perthshire
We were on our way about half past eight and apart for a brief stop to get a few photos of the sun shining through low clouds on the hills, were at the river by about half nine.
Ticket check
As we tackled up, a car pulled up and it was a Bailiff, coming to check tickets. Both of us had booked online so with the important credentials checked we chewed some fat with him to find out where might be good. The Bailiff while friendly and having plenty chat was a canny soul and never gave us any real clue where the fish might be. I welcome the Bailiffs asking for tickets, it shows the club that runs the water actually cares and shows your money is benefitting fishing.
We did note however the new signage at Ballinluig indicating the boundary of the fishing being about 40 Yards upstream of the bridge which used to be considered the lower point of the beat. Apparently there are new owners on the beat below, and they were “enforcing” their territory which seemed kind of pointless as above the bridge wouldn’t really be a great Salmon spot ( I would think, but what do I know?)
Faster than it looked
The river was higher than we anticipated but more, it was really pushing along even in fairly shallow water, and above knee depth you felt the rocks wash out beneath your wading boots. Not fun. We also had a few flecks of snow for the first couple of hours on the river.
Blank broken for Radek
It was hard to reach the ideal places to fish but Radek, recent winner of the Earlston Angling Association Grayling competition on the Tweed, managed to persuade a small yearling Grayling to take his fly in a slower spot right at the foot of the beat. So blank lifted for Radek the Grayling finder.
Upstream
We decided to walk upstream and tried some water that was a better pace and depth and spent most of the rest of the morning here trying different sections right across the river. Neither of us had so much as a touch. There were two other anglers out trotting here and I never witnessed them catch a fish either. Around midday another angler appeared, and he stopped to talk to me. I was flying my drone at the time and Radek was mid river. It struck me that he seemed to know Radek though never said so directly then when Radek came to the bank they were talking in very familiar terms. It transpired that Andy ( for that was his name) had been a controller for Radek on the Tummel at a SNFFL heat.
Beat 15
We all decided to head to another section on foot and so made our way up river. By now the sun was shining and it was getting pretty warm with the walk in waders. We found another area Radek referred to as Beat 15 which was a SNFFL section id. And we fished here though both he and Andy said it was higher than last time they fished it so was less easy to cover…. And still no fish.
It was getting too late to consider a full move to another area ( I think Andy had started at Pitlochry earlier in the day and had not found fish there either anyway) so we headed back and tried again in the most promising looking area.
Radek hooked two out of season Brown Trout which to save from the scourge of the Internet Police I will spare you dear reader from the photos, because we know photos kill out of season fish. They were unhooked and kept in the water before being let go. I tried another area new to me, and as the sun dipped below the treeline decided to give the area Radek had his wee early grayling at.
I fished here for maybe 10-15 minutes with no indication I was going to get anything and as Andy then Radek joined me, on a cast a wee bit further out in the run I had a solid hookup and knew I was in to a decent sized grayling which I was able to swing round into the slow water beneath me then bring upstream to be safely netted. Pleasingly caught on a caddis pattern I tied just the night before.
With one decent lady accounted for I could happily call it a day as I was a bit physically shot, after a lot of walking and wading. Radek stated in competition terms I won on place points with the biggest Grayling. As ever it wasn’t about points it was about being out in the fresh air in good company with challenging fishing. It was also good to be back on the Tummel a river I have missed having not fished it in a while. I don’t know why I don’t fish it more often.