A beautiful looking Sunday looked to be beyond my landing window this morning with the sun shining brightly but once outside, unlike how the weather’s been a lot recently, it was pretty chilly. I had decided I would get out to a fishery, maybe somewhere I didn’t fish so often, and opted to head for Glenbervie. I was last there at the back end of last season and had a quite nice session in what was then gin clear water, when I fished dries with some success. I was kind of surprised to find it was pretty quiet when I arrived and one angler leaving as I set up told me it was pretty hard going, though he had managed a couple of fish all taking a small beaded egg pattern, he said he had tried buzzers and the like but the egg was the only one getting attention. I do have a couple of flies tied with egg yarn but they were not as small as his examples and none had beads. He said they were being taken almost static and the takes were barely perceptible and very slow. I thought probably a bung would be the best method but I had mentally set myself the challenge not to fish it today, I don’t know why, I just thought I should stick to a straight line method of some sort.
The water was pretty cloudy looking from rainfall during the week I gather but what seemed to be new was the margins were teeming with small fish, Sticklebacks apparently. I was asking the lass that owns the fishery and she said they had been stocked along with frogs!
I started fishing right in the middle with a floating line and bloodworm on point a Diawl Bach and a buzzer and had nothing though kept noticing fish moving in the margins further to my left so after 15 minutes I moved along to where I could see activity. There were clearly fish coming in to take the sticklebacks on hit and run sweeps. I should say at this point I did initially tie a egg pattern on but found it was acting like a bung and holding my line up which wasn’t the desired effect. Maybe need to tie these with beads. For now I removed it again.
Later in the afternoon when a few more anglers had arrived. The never ending house build seems to continue at the rear- it looks like it hasn’t changed since July!
After another 15-20 minutes of thrashing away where I knew there were fish but getting nothing I had a rethink. I decided to tie a floating fry pattern on point and a couple of flashback DB’s on and cast out. Almost the instant the floating fry ht the water a fish came to it and swirled at it but it didn’t take but I felt I was on to something. However again after a period I still had nothing. I made another change and put a sinking line on, and lengthened my leader. The idea now was the floating fry would hold near the surface while the line pulled the flies down, effectively a washing line in reverse. Initially I still had nothing but then after a move to the far corner I finally had a very subtle pull. Still not a fish but I was hopeful I was on the right track. Then the breeze got up and the snow started and it was very, very cold. I had to retire to the lodge for a welcome hot cup of tea to thaw my sore hands out. A few weeks ago I misplaced my fingerless Simms woolen gloves, I was suffering for it now!
A fiesty blur of pink , rainbow of about 3 lbs about to go back unharmed.
Back in the corner I then had a really hard pull, but it didn’t take. Shortly after another, but this time my fingers were so cold I never got a proper hold of the line and failed to hook the fish. Opportunities like this were going to be few and far between. Elsewhere I finally seen a chap who had not long arrived get a fish down the bottom. The cold was totally eating into me now despite all the layers I had on. This was without doubt the coldest days fishing I have experienced in a very long time. I moved once more, down to near the lodge, by now there were maybe 6 or 7 other anglers, all were fishing bungs and the few fish caught were all seemingly on egg patterns. I decided to leave my egg on the middle dropper and tied a fluo green blob on point and a biscuit blob on top dropper and cast out with my sinking line. It didn’t take long before I got a hard pull, then another. I was fishing the flies back on very short stripps, a couple of inches at a time but mixing it up and not letting the flies hit bottom. Then a pull that bent my rod, I lifted convinced I had a fish on but nothing! It wasn’t just me the chap to my right had the same thing happen at least twice on his bung/egg combo. I kept using this method then again another very firm pull, I lifted , the rod bent and nothing! Finally almost the next cast the take once again solid but this time the fish stayed on. A nice brightly coloured Rainbow I would estimate at about 3 lbs.
At least now I could call it a day without a blank! I have no doubt at all I could have done better fishing a bung, though those that were fishing it, were getting loads of takes but no fish, most were blanking as far as I could tell, all bar one youngster who I think had bee there all day and had apparently managed into the low teens, if not in fish at least in offers. I seen him land three fish so think it must have been takes. I was glad to finish in the end I was so cold. But not a blank!
