Two outings, two totally different sets of conditions, when it was literally blowing, cold and hot.
Thursday, Cold
Thursday, seemed set for a nice evening sat on the doorstep around four’ish, though there was a bit of a breeze. It can be deceptive though and sometimes what can be a stiff wind here can be fine elsewhere ( or vice versa ) . Prudence however played a part as I did toy with heading somewhere like Lake of Menteith and I decided to stick with the free option and go up to Loch Coulter. While it was moderately sunny up there it was pretty cold and very windy.
Not really enjoying the conditions of the fishing on Thursday night
Having gone to the trouble of getting there I thought I might as well go give it a go. I looked at the catch return sheet and there were a lot of blanks recorded and one commented “fish lying deep” with 2 caught beside it. So where to go and what to fish. I decided to leave the sinking line on and initially headed towards Burn bay and reassess the situation there. The water level was lower than I think I have seen it at the pontoon and as I entered the bay and slowed the motor I was shocked when the prop hit the bottom out in the middle. A quick stop and a very cautious reverse got me out of trouble. Looking over the side I could have waded to the shore! It was shallow.
I then headed towards the far bay, North bay and set about fishing there. I had a bog chain eyed Humungous on point, not something I fish a lot and a nymph and Kate McLaren on the droppers. My first drift through was way to fast and I realised I needed to slow it down so put out the drogue. This was better but it was still drifting quite quickly but I did get my first touch right on the bottom. As is so often the case I find with a sinking line I could not stay in touch with fish and it came off. Another drift through nothing and I changed the point fly for a Yellow Damsel and the line for a Di5, and almost right away contacted another fish which seemed better hooked but alas came off before I seen it too. It wasn’t however enjoyable fishing and after about 90 minutes I had had enough.
Two other boats had gone out about the same time as me, one also had nothing the other had 6 between two anglers, across the other side of the bay from the boathouse where apparently the fish were rising. I never seen a fish all night.
Sunday, Hot
The first fish, with a tail like a shovel- hence why it fought so well
Second fish exactly to the minute one hour after the first, almost identical but for a few more red spots. Again, check that tail!
Today it was much more settled, almost no wind at the house and the forecast set for a hot day. I wasn’t out for a long session but decided a few hours up at Pendreich might be nice before the sun fully burst through the high hazy cloud layer. I set up with three flies on a floating line, a gold beaded Hares Ear on point, a wee black spider on the middle and a Kate McLaren on top dropper and headed for the south side to try get the still cold and quite harsh easterly behind me. I waded onto a promontory and began fishing gradually lengthening my cast as I covered the water in front of me. I had only fished for about 15 minutes when after a few tentative touches I hooked a fish, it fought in a way I thought meant it was sure to be a decent size so was quite surprised when I got it to the surface and it was a bonny Brown trout of about 1lb. I let it go and cast out and immediately got another touch but it didn’t stick. After about 5 more minutes another pull and I recovered my flies to fish I had lost my point fly and bottom section of tippet so had to retire to fix it. Once sorted ( with a slightly smaller red butt version of a Hares Ear on point) I was back fishing again. It was getting bright and hot now and the wind had slackened right off which was helpful. Eventually one hour to the minute after the first, I hooked a second fish again on the point fly and quite deep again and it was a clone of the first fish.
Once safely returned I had a few more casts but somehow caught my leader on something on my back cast and broke off the middle and point flies and try as I might, I couldn’t find them! I decided I had had long enough as it was pretty hot now and not ideal fishing conditions so decided to call it a day satisfied with my two fish in a fairly short session.
