I have not fished my “local” Swanswater for a while, between having the “free” fishing through the club at Pendreich and being committed to the Carron Valley MacMillan competition a few weeks back my resources have a finite limit to afford other pay as you go fisheries.
But last night seemed like it was to be a nice evening and I fancied a change of scene so went along for a 2-hour stint.
There were few anglers about and Alastair said that there had been fish moving near the dam wall but it had in the last half hour gone quiet. The omens were not good- I almost had second thoughts had the cash not been in my outstretched hand at the time.
I decided to keep moving and try locate some fish and started at the roadside fishing a fairly long leader with a Damsel on point, a flashback PTN on the middle dropper and a Kate McClaren on top dropper. A fair mix to test the depths from a floating line.
There were fish moving but all looked to be the small brown trout that inhabit the loch and I never saw a sign of a single rainbow or stockie.
The water was also very brown up here. After 20 mins of nothing I moved round and stopped for a speculative cast near the lily pads at the top. Its shallow and weedy here as a rule but I always have the hope that one day a monster will be pulled out here as it does not get much fishing pressure.
I saw a decent fish splash in the lily pads and one or two promising riseforms but no takers and I moved on round to “Nan’s spot”. This is an area I fare quite well at, at times but again nothing showed and the mats of blanket weed in the shallows were constantly getting on my flies. I never lasted long here before moving to the island.
It was surprisingly quiet here too and I only seen one fish caught from the boat moored near the dam wall. I decided to change tack and went to a string of buzzers, a weighted black one on point, and Okey Dokey on middle and a Shipmans on top which would stay near the surface.
and then it rained- Swanswater in the gloom
I fished this very slowly for a few casts but again nothing. Then a huge blue swam into the area in front of me. It was amazing how it stood out in the water and was behaving in a very odd fashion swimming in large circles though not obviously feeding. It was just like a shark with its dorsal fin proud of the water. I cast my buzzers to intercept but got no reaction at all- I thought the Shipmans might be useful- nope. Probably a dry fly would have been better here but time was against me- then the rain came on and it came straight down in buckets. I did get a few tugs towards the main loch area but nothing like a solid take- it might have been the small Browns playing with the buzzers.
I don’t know- I think these two hour stints do make things hard as you are so limited in time and the clock is ticking so you know you need to do something in a time window. It doesnt make for the best fishing when its like this.
I don’t know- I think these two-hour stints do make things hard as you are so limited in time and the clock is ticking so you know you need to do something in a time window. It doesn’t make for the best fishing when it’s like this.
For my last quarter an hour I went down to the ponds where fish were visible but again I never got a touch, trying both the buzzers and a quick change to a Damsel on point again.
I went home wet and dejected.
Dire, dire, dire.
