So if you have read my wee blog for a few years you might have spotted my typically only outing with my lad is around Father Day. “Fathers Day Fishing” we call it. My son ( 21 years old now) isn’t a big angler but he will do it now and again.
Usually, we head out for anything between 2-4 hours somewhere and give it a go. I usually get something and sadly he usually either gets a fish and loses it, or blanks- I am always rooting for him to get a fish. But if we are out in a boat he enjoys motoring us about. I spend a bit of time fishing and a fair amount of time changing his flies or set up to the conditions. He usually fishes one fly as any more results in tangles. His casting technique really isn’t bad but distance isn’t there. With a wee bit practice, I think he would actually be a very good caster. He is quite mechanical in his action and he can put out a straight line. He has decent rhythm probably why he is good at drums.
So Sunday was out as I was fishing on Saturday night and needed to rest the joints, and Monday he had something on. He asked me around lunchtime Tuesday if I fancied heading out for a couple of hours just locally in the evening and I offered the option of Loch Coulter ( with or without a boat) or Swanswater. He chose Swanswater.
My lad casting a line – not a bad effort overall
There isn’t a lot of point in fishing the big loch with him there as his casting range inhibits his chances plus with two hours you might not locate a fish in that time. Also, it was actually surprisingly gusty at times last night and the wind wasn’t making casting that easy all the time. We just fished down at the pond nearest the house, it tends to be clearer of weed at this time of year so fewer things to mess up flies. We set him up with a bung and a blob beneath initially about 4 feet below but shortened to about 2 feet as we could see fish moving around that depth from time to time. I started with a beaded nymph on point, a cormorant on the dropper and a blob on the top so covering most of the depth of the pond. Initially, I had a couple of tentative pulls but nothing solid. The water was pretty flat most of the time despite the snarly wind, and little was moving on top. There was though a Gold Trout which patrolled in front of my son and I even seen it rise confidently to take something off the top- I think it was just some sort of vegetation debris, not fly life. I suggested to him we pop a dry fly on so fixed a Yellow Owl on his tippet and he fished that for a bit. He was getting the odd show of interest but the fish were turning away. We had degreased his tippet and short of going for much lighter tippet ( a risk with his lack of practice playing fish) I opted to stick with his set up as was. For my part, I swapped the point fly for a Muddler pattern and took off the blob for a Diawl Bach. I was getting the odd rise but they weren’t taking. Then eventually a fish grabbed the DB. It was not a hard pull, just very subtle but once I set the hook a rainbow of about 2lb made itself known and kyted around in front of James leaping and splashing. Then it went slack. When I recovered the flies the DB had a serious chunk of the fishes face scales on it! So it ripped the hook.
He wasn’t getting a lot of attention again, but I noticed we had a few bigger flies coming off now and thought let’s stick on a dry with a tail. I had tied some Double Decker Deer Hair “Comparaduns” for the Lake on fairly beefy hooks and thought one of those might be suitable for him. Out he cast and bam! almost right away there was a colossal splash and he had a fish on!
With his Rainbow on the dry
I was telling him just to take it easy, keep things tight, let the fish run if it wanted and get it in but I think the adrenaline had really kicked in and he was bringing it in fairly quickly. Nonetheless, he did keep it tight and with the fish near the bank I went to help him net it but he pulled the fish away from the net and towards the bank! I think he was a bit excited! We did get it in the net though and both of us were overjoyed. A rainbow of about 2lb unhooked, a picture and returned.
It is funny, while he had fished quite steadily up to that point at times it was obvious his concentration was maybe not 100%. With one fish in the bag and the Goldie constantly coming back for a look at his flies suddenly the focus was there. I don’t think we quite have a new regular angler just yet but it definitely aroused his enthusiasm. He admitted it was very exciting.
I swapped to a Double Decker myself on the point and rose a fish that took pretty soon after. Again after some acrobatics, it came off. It was looking like the score would be Son -1, Dad-0 as we were getting on for well after 9pm now. I then spotted clouds of fairly big black midges appearing, not the wee bitey kind, and decided a wee black Bobs Bits had to be worth a go. I offered one to the lad but he was just focussed on that Goldie and anything that would look at his DD.
I chopped the bottom half of the hackle of the ‘Bits and ginked it up. I saw a fish move to my right and simply flicked the Bits out onto the water in front of it. No hesitation it came straight up and took it. A wee 2lb Rainbow. One all!
I offered my son a ‘Bits but he was steadfastly sticking with the DD – it’s amazing what a wee bit confidence can do.
I had got well splashed bringing in the Rainbow- in the later photo, I look like I must have swum in to catch it! Alastair came by to see how we were doing. We blethered then I dried my Bit’s off and re ginked it. I was watching out for a fish to target and seen out in the middle in front of my son, the Goldy was slowly making its way back in.
“…. that Gold is heading straight for you….”
A rare Gold Trout which took a Bobs Bits at first sight
“Tell you what I am going to cover it,” I cast out the Bits it landed about 18″ in front of the Gold trout.
No hesitation, just straight up and took it!
I laughed and laughed…. he was feigning being upset and said I could net it myself… but he did come over and we got it in the net.
Alastair was saying these Golds went in last year and are so wary they won’t take much. So I was pretty pleased to get one in the net, I could count on the fingers of one hand how many I have ever caught.
So that ended up being our evening. There were a few other anglers about but never seen anyone else catching, we had a right laugh and a lot of fun…what it’s all about really.
