So yesterday was my “traditional” birthday outing, I usually have a day off around my official birthday- you can’t have failed to notice the parades of soldiers, volleys of cannon fire and coverage by the BBC. However I ave to admit I was not feeling that fit, having definitely over done it trying to do a wee bit DIY at home on Sunday and finding I could barely move Monday! Anyway I decided to head out yesterday down the Clyde for a couple of reasons.
I have seen pictures of River Valleys in far away places that this view reminded me of- and yes the river did have a very green/blue tinge from above.
Number one I guess was to go fishing though I did not reckon I would be lasting that long anyway, but a close second on the list was to have a recce of some other bits of the river I have not visited before. It is easy to become stuck in a rut and the Clyde is a long river and arguably I have fished barely a couple of miles or so of its length in all my time on it. So I took the car following the water as best I could and scouted out a few areas not known to me. Eventually settling on one to try fishing. Finally I had with me a bundle of camera’s and I decided to try make a wee video on Cz Nymphing and associated methods, not because I am an expert, far from it, I am pretty much a keen enthusiast and little more. But I do get a lot of questions on the subject and sometimes I feel- “if only I had a video to show….” So I have not had the time to review my footage really though a quick glimpse suggests it might not be that good as a) I had a lot of battery problems, and b) the lens on the GoPro I was using for some shots kept steaming up, as I foolishly forgot to take my desiccant pads for the case, on a coldish day….excuses excuses ( actually it was pretty mild if damp! So I won’t be getting nominated for any Oscar’s on this occasion.
Anyway putting the video issues to one side I found a section of water that initially on first inspection looked suitable for mountain goats or mountaineers with roped access equipment but then I spotted a route to the riverside that was accessible even to an old creaky like me and once I was tackled up I made my to the bank. It was till fairly over grown and I decided not to rig up my rod until I was by the water as it was a dead cert I would end up with bugs tangled round the rod on the way there.
Faster Water Upstream
If only I had noticed that steamed up lens earlier.
By the river it was not a bad height, a good pace, with fast water leading to slower downstream. There was a little tinge of colour too, which wasn’t a bad thing with the lower levels this winter, helped no doubt by the rain that had been falling all morning. I decided to commence my fishing between fighting video camera’s etc in the faster water and I soon realised that the wading here was a little tricky, in fact arguably too tricky for this old duffer. The rocks were quite flat sided and sharp edged and there were big differences in level a mere footstep away at times, so you might be knee deep then suddenly up to your waist. While I managed to stay right side up, I was grateful for the reassurance of having a life preserver with me should I take a tumble as at times seemed likely.
I started in this fast water, with bugs that were clearly not hitting bottom and it took me several changes before I finally got something that was definitely striking the riverbed with reasonable regularity. I made as best of the fast water as I could using the reach of the 10ft rod and light line to try cover water around some big rocks not far in front of me. I worked my way down and about half way stopped for a rest and to fix a broken tippet having snapped off on some submerged debris. I then fished down until I reached the slower water but didn’t touch anything reminiscent of a fish.
Leading to slower water downstream, through steep banks
As light was already getting poor I decided to give fishing with braid a go, again for the benefit of the camera but again batteries beat me and I also never had my proper braid line with me- I thought I did but closer inspection of my leaders showed I had likely left it at home. But as I explained for the camera sometimes you need to adapt and so I made up a braid set up from some line backing and a section of tippet and was soon back again in the slower water “feeling for takes”. None happened though and as light was now pretty poor depite it only being the back of four, I headed back to the car and it was dark by te time I got there.
Still nice to try somewhere different. If the video turns out to be of much use I will post it up.
Until next time…..
