I ventured out to Orchill yesterday for my first 4 hour session in almost 2 months as it’s the first time I felt up to it. Had it been a nicer week before hand I very possibly may have headed off in pursuit of the Grayling but the rain this last week has been biblical and the rivers are high and brown.
Orchill on the other hand was fairly clear in the circumstances, OK not like Gin or anything but certainly fishable. And fish were rising- and boy were they. From the minute I arrived to the last vestiges of daylight as I left fish continued to rise. But what were they taking and could they be fooled? That was another matter altogether. My opening gambit was a floating line with a beaded Diawl Bach on point, and two buzzers on the droppers, and a very slow retrieve. No indicator just straight lining the flies. I started up the far end, as the main loch while not busy seemed to have a largish group ( maybe a small club) and while I don’t mind this in itself I feel awkward fishing between people who talk across you.
The top end was empty and there were fish there.
Probably about 20 minutes in as I considered a change my figure of eight retrieve was met with a solid tug and I struck into what seemed like a decent fish. It wasn’t deep either and it turned on the surface showing its white underside. The line slackened in that sickening way that suggests the leader has parted.
I pulled in the flies and they were all there, but closer inspection revealed the size 16 glass buzzer on the top dropper had not been up to the take and the hook bend had opened out slightly. Had it taken a bigger pattern I would probably have been Ok but on the relatively fine small hook the power of the fish and the hard take was enough to allow it to make its escape. One nil to the fish.
I replaced the fly with an identical pattern but never had any further offers despite covering several moving fish. I then started varying things a bit, I tried a few other patterns, tried some lures in various sizes but other than what might have been a few tentative drags on the fly ( and to be frank it might have just been some soft weed- but there was no evidence to confirm it) . I had nothing. I decided to up sticks and move to the opposite bank where a couple of fish had been rising consistently all afternoon. I tried a good few more flies ( I was keen to avoid overt lures as I am not a lure fishing fan though will use them) but still had nothing. I thought maybe the closeness to the bank of many moving fish may indicate fry feeding but never saw any fry to support this theory and they never touched any of the flashback pinfry type patterns I tried. A couple of very polite spoken, wee boys maybe around 8 year old, came by with their fishing rods. They went to where I had just been fishing and the “leader” of the two, called Harry, cast out over the same spot I had just fished. Harry number one could obviously fish a wee bit as he was sorting out all his friends problems). First cast and he was into a fish, his wee chum ( also it seemed called Harry) went running to help. Harry ( the first one) was shouting “Dad, Dad, get a net!”. From round the corner behind me two more wee boys came running. They two it seemed were called Harry, and then soon after one of the “Dads” appeared shouting words of encouragement. “Well done Harry, keep the rod up, make sure its tired…. Get Harry to help you land it”.
Most of the flies I tried yesterday- one bent Glass buzzer was the only sign a fish was even interested in them
The first Harry though was managing just fine on his own and landed the fish of about two and a half pounds. I quipped to his Dad that they were showing me how it was done. His reply was ” There’s no finesse, they just have a couple of blobs tied on as the guys at the bottom said cast them out on a short leader and an almost static retrieve”. It was clearly working as they had 3 fish by the end of the afternoon. Maybe I was thinking about it too much! The one remaining Harry who was fishless, got one that was left from the weighing room so they all went off content.
Unlike me who remained fishless!
I am not sure maybe they were not all Harry’s it just seemed like it.
At least you were out ken! unlike me for the last two weeks. I feel your pain with regards to Harry etc. Its that sort of stuff and groups of anglers which puts me off fisheries.
The wee boys never bothered me at all- it made me laugh in fact. Glad to see kids enjoying the sport. I do prefer to go to fisheries when its quieter though and tend to avoid them more in the summer unless I can get out maybe midweek or maybe a midweek evening when its quiet. In winter its always quieter and as its my only chance to get out, I will venture to them more at weekends. If I could in winter I would be out for the Grayling as a first choice- utterly love it, but the walking/standing has been a problem though hopefully I am making a wee bit progress on that front. Its not cheap driving best part of a couple of hundred miles round trip either so I have to limit it on that front too. I think I could manage a 4 hour stint on a river- just need some settled weather and I think I might be heading for the Annan sometime soon. (fingers crossed)