As we near the summer solstice the nights are remarkbly light if you can get a near cloudless one.
I was on the Carron for a couple of hours last evening enjoying a warm evening on moving water. The river was a little higher than its been of late and was quite coloured up. It wasn not immediately obvious in the slower shallower water but wher eit was fast moving over rocks the usually white turbulent water had a distinctly brown tinge and in the deeper water you could not see the bottom.
The stretch I fished was one I have visited in daytime a few times but decided it had to be good for an evening rise. I started on the deeper faster run here, and though I seen a couple of tiddlers jump and in fact rose a fish in the fast water on about my second flick out from the bank, there really wasn’t much rising. I quickly swapped over to fish with heavy bugs in a Czech nymph fashion though I have to admit I did no tbother removing the furled leader I was set up with first. I got a couple of tentative knocks but they never translated ito hooked fish and if I am honest might have been weed. Nope definitely fish!
Having edged up this slightly deep and fast run without the aid of a wading stick which I had stupidly left at home I found I could not exit out from the top of the run, the water was too fast and deep, so I had to gingerly edge back down the run and across again at the bottom.The river seemed very quiet, usually you are aware of the odd fish splashing or moving but not tonight.
I wasn’t sure whether to get in the car and move, go home or fish the lower, slower glide when a fish moved further down making my mind up for me. The lower glide it would be.
The moon rises over the River Carron
Having crossed over to restore a dry fly to my leader, I was fishing a wee pale olive dun pattern I tied last week to try to resemble flies I seen on my last outing, A fish moved right in front of me. I thought it was a small one but you need to catch it to be sure. Something I have learned a lot more this year is how the smallest rise doesn’t have to be a tiny fish. Again and again I have had half decent fish from the merest sip from the surface. My first cast over the water into the spot I seen this first rise caught be a tiny wee wild Brown. Little more hands breadth, in lenght. Well it was something, and not a blank. I covers a couple of other rises down here and got the odd flick at the fly but nothing else. Further up in the deeper water near the bough of an overhanging tree a few more fish moved and I was sure some were maybe a little larger. I could only wade to extreme casting range with my 3 weight as any closer was getting a bit deep. I covere one rise about 8 foot shor tof the tree and the gentlest of rises showed me a fish had taken. Initially I thought, tiddler, but no it was a fish in the half to three quarter pound range. and it put up a good fight. I was a bit slovenly in going for my net , had I done so I could easily have netted it on first pass, the river fish here have a right habit of coming right into your feet which makes line control a bit difficult and has resulted in some splendid tangles for me so i left the net while I tried to get the fish in an easier position to avoid a tangle. This then gave it the opportunity to have a wee jump and it got off my barbless hook under my near vertical rod. No problem it saved me unhooking it, “remote release”.
A decent wild Brownie on the Carron, on a pale olive dry fly
I managed a couple more steps forward that was enough to let me reach under the tree branch to cover the other fish. It took a few casts varying the area around the branch before I hit pay dirt a second time and had a third fish a similar size to the second that I did net and grabbed a quick picture. I am pretty sure this was a wild fish as it had its adipose fin, had no other marks and had a tail like the proverbial shovel. It went back fine. It was a great evening to be out, it was warm, there was a near cloudless sky and a full moon rising above the tree’s as I called it a day. The sort of night you live for in a fly fishing season.
