Feels like Summer

Summer for me means finishing work, getting my tea down my neck ( dinner if you are posh/English ! ) and if the weather is fair, trying to get a few hours in on the water. In the past I have always headed up to Pendreich ( last year wasn’t much of an event due to my health issues). I have managed up two nights on the trot this week for a couple of hours. It’s funny how it can be so different in just 24 hours.

Wednesday

It was the first really nice night I have been able to take advantage of, the sun was shining and while the wind turbines on the distant hills were making a few kilowatts there wasn’t a breath of wind at the house. I took a run up to Pendreich and it was fine and fairly still with a nice ripple on most of the loch. From the dam wall there was a line where the calm met the ripple parallel to the wall about 20 yards out. There were plenty anglers on the water too, and soon after I was tackled up and fishing , more arrived. You might think it had been stocked recently.

A fine early summers evening at Pendreich

There were a few anglers out I knew and I learned the place had been fishing well this last few weeks. There were fish rising here and there, even right in close to the dam wall so on with the dry flies and start fishing. Nothing not a sniff. I decided to change to a dry with a Buzzer beneath ( Coulter midge). This got me a very hard pull that I was astounded did not connect with the fish as it came at least twice and really pulled back. But no, nothing. By this time one of the other anglers, Will, who has made an appearance in these pages before, joined me on the wall. He was relating how some nights he had been slaying them on a hares ear, but hadn’t had any interest tonight despite the activity. In fact the whole evening, and despite there being 7-8 anglers out, I seen one fish caught from the bank eventually, and maybe one by someone on the boat. The fish continued to rise all evening, quite regularly but what they were wanting, eluded us all.

Thursday

It was mild (ish) but grey and overcast, and I decided to go give it another go. Back up to Pendreich, again it wasn’t oo windy, a slight breeze coming left to right on the dam wall, a nice ripple but no fish showing and no anglers to see. My first few casts were with a dry and a buzzer below, but nothing. I could see a few fish rising steadily up the north bank though so I decided to head there. What happened for the next hour or so was possibly the most frustrating evening of fishing I can ever recall. I don’t think there was a dry fly I put on that never got a look. The fish swirled, turned rose under, lunged at and moved the fly nearly every second or third cast, but did I hook a fish? Not one. On one occasion the fish came at it, as slow as you like, from below, its mouth agape, it was like a large black hole appearing from the water’s surface, it seemed to hover at the fly then snapped shut with a loud plop before slowly receding back into the depths. No rush, no swirl, nothing to suggest spookiness. I couldn’t fathom it. I was fishing 4x ( 6lb) fluorocarbon, yes I guess I could have come down to 4lb but last season 4lb ( which I used to use here all the time) just became a liability, I was broken off a few times as the fish are a bit bigger than they used to be. I was degreasing the line well so had nothing to suggest they could see it, it wasn’t putting them off coming for it initially at least. I tried emergers, full on dries, klinks, and tiny f fly/midge patterns. All the same. If I fished a buzzer/nymph I got nothing, no interest at all. Dries it had to be.

Grim and grey looking but actually more fishing action than the nicer night before

By about half nine it had quietened off and I slowly made my way back to the car having a cast here and there but another disappointing blank albeit with some excitement.