Between work, which is mad just now, covering days and nights, and on call, and the hellish weather for summer, and having especially sore feet, the opportunities to get out have been thin on the ground. Days that looked promising turned into very windy nights.
But at last yesterday was a not bad day, and the wind that’s persisted for weeks relented to give us a break…. and it was my last night on call for a while, I decided to head for the hills, or at least Pendreich where I have been absent for quite a while. I dug out my gear but was damned if I could find any tippet material lighter than 6lb… if I spent any longer looking the night would be past without me wetting a fly. I decided to take what I had and go. This would prove an issue later. One angler was out on the boat and another ( a friend, Will Gregory) was wading on the east side.
I never seen a fish move until I was moving up the North bank and a fish leapt out near the weeds that fringe the east end. That gave me an idea where to start and as I was getting my line prepped to cast out , Will on the east bank hooked into a fish on a Black Pennel, and it turned out to be a big resident Brown of around 3lbs. A real belter it was, with a huge tail, kyped jaw and really bright markings.
Nice Brownie on the nymph
I seen the odd fish rise though not in reach for the most part, and it seemed nothing was interested in my Parachute Pheasant tail. I was keen to try a dry as I have had precious few opportunities to fish dry this year and have had remarkably few fish on the dry this season. After 10 minutes I decided to double up and removed the dry, replacing the top dropper with a small black spider and the point was a 47 Nymph. Will was making his way round and was nearly by me as I made my first cast, started a retrieve and bang fish on…. change of fly, change of luck!
The fish stayed deep right up until it was ready for the net, a nice brown of about a pound and a half maybe ( slightly generous there I suspect). Will helped me net it and take a quick photo before it swam off.
Stunning sunset at Pendreich
After a blether Will headed off, he had had two fish in a few hours, and said a number of fish had splashed at dries but he hadn’t netted any. I carried on here as the rise got underway but never had any interest. It was hard to be sure what they were taking but I had a feeling it was midges or Caenis, both of which were becoming evident. I tied on a Sedge ( another good pattern up her e in summer though to be fair I had seen none) but got no reaction. I had a box with small split wings that are good with Caenis about but had no suitable tippet for the job. I usually fish 4lb at most up here on dries sometimes lighter. Not finding those spools earlier was costly.
I decided to move to where Will had been fishing, and the odd fish showed and I managed to rise one but like he said, the fish merely splashed at my fly rather than take it. But little was happening here. As the sun set under a stunning cloud curtain I headed back round towards the car and fished down by the boat mooring. Some fish were close in. I tried a rather large split wing pattern and again rose a fish but no take. As light faded I decided to call it a day.
