We have had some reasonably settled weather this last couple of days so I took advantage of the situation and have spent the last two evenings up at Pendreich.
Tuesday
Tuesday evening was fairly calm and fish were rising all over the loch but they were very, very finnicky. I managed to catch one and missed about 3 others on small Klinkhammers, but I would not say this fly was setting the heather alight, I was probably getting attention out of curiosity or aggression rather than matching the hatch in any way. There were millions of midges and Caenis about and the way the fish were rising would suggest it’s these they were feeding on. The one fish I did get was a nice fish of about 1 pound and took the fly very solidly, in fact it was a right job to unhook him and get him back.
I tried little black and also olive “shit” flies at size 18-20 but got no takers. One angler I spoke to had a couple on a Pennel, and another had seven over a longer session on what to me looked like a size 18 Shipmans Buzzer, to be frank, it looked like a bit seals fur and wire wrapped around a minute hook- fairly non-descript.
As the evening wore on it started to get breezy and a little cold so time to call it a day. A little frustrating but not a blank!
Wednesday
The Sun sets and the fish rise
Went up again, the forecast predicted a nice evening and so I thought it worth the effort, while it was still a bit grey though mild. The loch was flat calm for the most part of the evening but most surprisingly there was not a soul there. I decided to have a go in the boat as I have not done any boat fishing up here for a while. I fished a Klinkhammer again for a while but got no reaction at all from the rising fish- many were leaping clear of the water suggesting to me that they were trying to catch something fairly fast moving and worth the effort. Quite what it was though I have no idea but this behaviour continued all night.
A stunning sky
The Klink was ineffective and I tried a small olive sedge pattern and this got me one refusal (never felt the fish but seen the swirl- the light was very hard to fish in) and eventually one savage take from a targetted rising fish. This fish was very strong and put up a huge fight holding very close to the bottom almost the entire time and literally pulled the boat into the reeds on the North shore. Once the boat stopped drifting I was able to exert enough pressure to get its head up and in the net. Arguably this is the best fish I have had this season up at Pendreich but also the one that’s left me with the most regret. I don’t as a rule “chap” Brownies, I always return them and have returned around 30 this season up at Pendriech, but I could not get the hook out this one at all- and it seemed to be pretty well stuck in its gills/rakers, despite being a barbless hook. The more I tried to remove it the more it struggled and though I thought of leaving the hook and cutting the line I reckon the fish would not have survived the location of the hook so I decided to despatch it.
Biggest Brown I have had this season so far
It weighed in at a pound and a quarter and was a cracker of a fish.
I tried a number of flies and only managed to get any sort of reaction to the sedge pattern. Over on the east side I targetted and hooked a second fish that went to the bottom and managed to unhook me in the weeds, it seemed like another decent fish, and in terms of fish that was it. They were rising everywhere but always seemed to be just beyond casting range wherever I went!
However, the evening turned into a stunner, with an amazing sky and sunset and fish rising in the flat calm. It was a pleasure and a privilege just to be there- the fishing almost became secondary – well almost!
