On The Longest Day

Since I got back from holiday other than our wee fathers day outing last Sunday my fishing motivation has been kind of, well frankly, not there. Not sure what is wrong with me but I have felt tired all week for no particular reason- I put it down to my health condition as it is a known problem and I get it from time to time.

That said the longest day arrived and it was about as close to wall to wall sunshine as these days get to be honest. Many years recently, the longest day is marked by rain clouds and no inkling that the sun has either risen or set! I was determined to “celebrate the Solstice on the water and enjoy the longest day….well at least the latter part of it.

While its a nice place to have to yourself, it was also good to see quite a few members out enjoying the water. Also the water level is very nearly back to normal, being about 50 centimetres off full I would reckon. A dry June it hasn’t been, and every little helps.

When I started one of the guys leaving said he had been up about 6 or 7 times in the last few weeks and had no less than 3 fish each time and often many more. Tonight he had blanked and said it was hard going. Maybe the bright sun? Another angler I spoke to hadn’t had anything either, but not long after I started he ( Tim) got a fish on I think he said on a black Daddy Longlegs pulled along the top. ( a pulled fly to cause a very clear disturbance is often a great method here in summer).

I fished up at the corner in the margins and the biggest hatch of Sedge was going on while I was there, just loads coming off and landing on the marginal plants. But barely a fish was bothering to move, I think I saw about 3 or 4 in an hour and a half, and I always question if “leapers” are feeders. I tried quite a few tried and trusted patterns, a few I had heard were doing well ( Crunchers) and tried matching the hatch fishing caddis pupa on the point and sedgehogs and Kates on the top dropper. Not a touch.

I decided to take a break and moved down the bank and went for a blether with Tim while I waited on something to happen, as I felt sure it eventually would. As it almost always does, the wind dropped around half nine and right on queue with the light less bright the fish showed up. I changed to a single fly, LTD sedge and first cast over a rise and I was into my first fish right off the top. It took about two more casts and I was into a second but like the first fish, I suspect the fish was nipped in the lip and while I was lucky to get the first in the second pulled out as I was bringing it to the net.

My first fish, just nicked on an LTD Sedge

It then became clear we were into a big hatch of Anglers Curse. Caenis. In my experience up there, you can sometimes nearly walk over the fishes backs such is the density of risers but trying to tempt one to take a fly when there are so many spent Caenis spinners on the water is practically impossible.

Spent Caenis — The water’s surface was littered with spent Caenis, why should a fish take an imitation?

And so it was, there were fish rising, rising, rising, every 6 inches or so, supping them off the top, all you could reasonably do was try to predict where their path would take them and put your fly in front. They lost inerest in the sedge though I managed one half hearted tug at the LTD fished back wet. I was then onto the small split wings. I rose a few but they never connected on a size 18 so as a last ditch effort I tied on a size 24, about as small as I could manage on my 4lb tippet.

A rise ring- you can see the spent flies on the water — The ring of a rise and loads of flies on the water.

By now the sun was setting and the sky was a riot of colours in the west, and the Osprey turned up to ride the light… and catch a fish. Duty done by the bird and photos taken I resumed fishing. After a lot of perseverance and a few offers that didn’t quite connect, I had a good take on the tiny fly. I could barely see it in the light, it was always more an estimation of its position rather than knowing where it actually was, so I just had to react to anything that seemed like it might be an offer. The second fish to the net was a chunky fish over a pound and a half, that looked like it had been eating all the pies….or caenis.