I was in two minds to go fishing today ( Sunday) when I went to bed on Saturday, but the weather while looking decidedly milder wasn’t looking particularly settled and my weather app at least suggested it might be a bit of a wet and miserable day. Between freezing cold, bright sunny days with no heat to speak of or deluges of rain, hail, and actual snow and a total lack of anything approaching warmth for 99% of the time, this Spring is eminently forgettable, I am sure you will agree.
I had thought I might chance taking a trip up to Pendreich for the first time this year, though a lot would depend on that wind, as being high up it can be very exposed at times, and the recent cold winds I just can’t tolerate exposing frozen fingers to just now. It’s a miserable way to fish with very cold hands.
But decisions were kind of taken out of my hands when friend Radek messaged asking if I was up for a bit of stockie bashing “somewhere” around here. I wasn’t even out of bed so had not dared to look out the window so I said I would definitely consider it and once I was up assess the conditions. The conditions weren’t looking too bad, there was definitely rain threatening but not much wind for now, but the temperature was nearly into double figures!
Meeting at the “AA”
He was heading up to Angling Active with a friend (Marcin) to buy some wading boots and then they were hoping to get a couple of stocked fish for the pot. I gave Radek a list of possible venues and arranged to meet up in Angling Active and we could go somewhere from there. Most likely were either Orchill or Swanswater. I was quite fancying the former, but while at the tackle shop a huge downpour and quite a blustery wind got up and Radek said he fancied Swanswater more, so that was the decision made, and it’s not any distance really from the shop, so off we went.
At Swanswater
While the car park was busy looking it must have been bait anglers on the bottom pond as when we got onto Swanswater itself there was one boat out, and two or three anglers on the island and that was it. The pegs near the dam wall were all clear so we pitched up there and started to fish. I had on a floating line and an Orange blob, green Diawl Bach and a wee Goldie lure on the point…it’s become a bit of a regular starter for ten for me, if it is going to work it works quick, if not then move on.
I think I was on about my fourth or fifth cast / retrieve cycle when I had a soft but definite pull and I tightened into a fish. Everything seemed under control, the fish was played onto the reel and I was playing it out ready for the net when with no real warning, it simply came off. Likely the hook had just nicked it in the mouth and had pulled through. Not to worry. I kept fishing and soon had a couple of pulls but still no fish.
While visible fish were few, those that there had been moving, had been tucked in close to the dam wall and I opted to go and fish from the metal cage on the wall where there is an old sluice type control screw. It never took long at all before I had signs of interest, with small plucks and dragging on the line then finally hooked a fish, and this time got it to the net. A Rainbow of about 2lbs. Radek and Marcin had not had any interest on their Intermediate lines so I most sportingly ( I thought) helped them out by giving them a Goldie each.
Radek cast out and immediately was into a fish. It initially seemed like a decent-sized Tiger Trout but in fact, was a fine Brown Trout weighing in at just over 4lb! Obviously, as it was on my fly it was half shares to me 😉
Radek then proceeded to make a fairly reasonable stab at emptying the Lochan. He had three fish in fairly rapid succession. One was a huge Golden Trout. For my part, I was getting lots of wee pulls and plucks but none were converting to actual takes. I decided to swap to an intermediate line like Radek, and almost right away had a good pull before I netted number two, this time a Blue Trout.
It would be inaccurate to say it was action all the way, the weather kept changing, from fairly still with a tiny bit of noticeable heat in the air, to e blustery with choppy winds and heavy though short-lived rain. Fishing conditions changed between each bout. After a heavy burst, there was a period of calm and the fish noticeably showed on top and sometimes were quite visible. I watched a couple of big Golds turn away from both my point fly and the Orange Blob. I even tried a dry fly, timing my line change during a downpour, predicting a period of calm behind it and I actually managed to hook a fish, I would guess a Rainbow Trout, which unfortunately came off on its way towards being netted right near the end…it never took the dry, but took the Diawl Back suspended between two dries, I was barely aware of a take at all, to be honest.
Before that on the Intermediate line, I watched a decent-sized Golden Trout follow my Cats Whiskers ( by this point I had changed point fly after a period of no action from any of us) and was pleased to see the following Trout eventually stop and take the fly. A Golden trout of about 3 and a half to four pounds. While it was a strong fish it was showing some signs of damage may be from either a Cormorant or perhaps an Otter.
Radek managed a total of six fish ( so half of those “points” were mine clearly ; my fly, and Marcin had one I think on the fly I gave him as well, so that’s three and a half points plus my three to the net, six and a half points to me 😉 Not that I am competitive.
It was a fun afternoon though and good to see Radek after over a year with the Covid crisis, hopefully, it will not be so long until we meet up again next time.
