We had a cold fresh end to 2019 at the beginning of the week and I hoped it would hold up until the end of the week when I had some free time. I don’t head back to work until tomorrow ( Monday) and my Mrs was back on Friday and so that gave me a chance to do as I wish knowing I wasn’t disrupting anyone else’s plans. I will add in here that my Mrs doesn’t stop me fishing on any level other than she thinks I am mental going out in winter!
No Grayling yet
I wanted to get out for Grayling but as the end of the week loomed it became decidedly unsettled and we had a lot of rain here on Thursday. When I turned in on Thursday night I was looking at the RIver Clyde levels and the Clyde Valley was looking surprisingly stable and potentially a fishable height but the upper river had risen dramatically late on.
As my wife rose for work on Friday I looked at the river app and noted the Clyde Valley had risen markedly now too…..I turned over and had another couple of hours in bed. I was still thinking about trying to get out, though the sky was fairly broken, it was clearly a little breezier than forecast, watching the clouds, though on my drive it seemed perfectly still.
Find me somewhere to fish…
Somewhere near it would have to be, I have fished Swanswater a lot recently, and so wanted to go elsewhere. I pondered Burnhouse but with the rain suspected it might be fairly murky so opted on Cloybank. The big bonus here is that there is one fixed price for Catch and Release, just fish the hours you want.
Top Lochan
There were two anglers on the middle lochan when I arrived so I went onto the top lochan initially. I saw the two anglers were having some success and seemed ensconced for the day on their spot. I like to move around started on the top lochan, and spotting fish move above the small patch of marginal reeds, moved there over some relatively shallow water and right away was into my first fish. A very gentle take on the goldie fished on a full intermediate. With this fish returned ( spotted a second round the other side of the reeds and tried for this), It took me a good ten or fifteen minutes of trying different retrieves but I did strike lucky a second time and had another fish that twisted and turned just like a grayling and was a total nightmare to unhook from my debarbed fly.
Spare Part
I could have stayed here and fished on but there were by now a few more anglers on the water, all here as a group. I felt a bit of a spare part in the midst and decided to try the lower lochan which was bereft of angling pressure. I must be honest and say I have never caught a single fish on the lower lochan, not even so much as a pull.
Bottom Lochan…..is there anything in here?
I fished right round the entire fishable part of the bank ( you can only access about 2/3rds of it) and not a touch did I get. I tried the Goldie, White Apache, Ally McCoist, Cats Whiskers and a Black Apache “variant” of my own, nothing. What I had not factored in also on my outing was the cold wind. It was coming right down the length of the three lochans. This combined with wet fingers and occasional wet downpours had me struggling with my hands. After a couple of hours, they felt stiff and immobile and I was toying with calling it a day. The light was low as well at times, even though it was just after midday it was decidedly dark as the clouds rolled over to dump their wet payloads.
Final middle
I opted to have a final hour on the middle lochan. The two anglers were still in the same place and seemed to be getting fish after fish from the one spot. Clearly there was a pod of fish sat right in front of them and they were not for giving up their spot. I only had the bottom pool below the small island and my first casts went unrewarded. I decided to try the Black Apache variant and gave it a go, second cast I had a thumping hard take and was pretty sure I was into a bigger fish but actually it was only maybe a 3lb fish when it got to the net, but a very strong fighter.
I thought I might get more but had no signs of interest before another massive cloudburst came along. My hands were by now actually hurting and I decided not to be stupid and keep doing what I was doing. Last time my hands got really cold they became very sore for days and I could barely move my fingers, so I decided to call it a day. Even then, getting my fingerless gloves off was a nightmare, as they wouldn’t stretch over the swollen finger joints, but luckily the problem didn’t persist over the weekend so I got away with it this time. But at least I have three on the scorecard for the third decade of the 21st Century.
