Par boiled Trout

First off, I just want to say thanks to a number of my regular visitors who have offered to accompany me on short fishing trips recently. ( You know who you are). I’ts very kind, and I hope to be able to take you up on the offers sometime. My big problem is I rarely know when I will be fit and don’t want to make arrangements I am either forced to pull out of, or where I force my self along ( against my better judgement) and spoil your night through being sore.

Last night was a sort of case in point, I had a pretty good day yesterday ( in relative terms) and thought I should try to venture out for a few hours. At dinner time though it started to go a bit Pete Tong and serious aches started,  but I decided if I could get seated I could probably fish, so went along to Swanswater ( who now offer Catch and Release tickets by the way!) and Alastair very kindly let me have a wee boat so I could sit out on the main pond for a cast. It wasn’t busy and to be frank it was probably too hot a day and evening to be successful trout fishing but I have to take my chances when they come along.

After a wee blether with Alastair and his wife Morna ( hope you get well soon Morna- I could see you have given given yourself a sore one with the fall from the horse!) I was able to park at the main gate and drag my boat box, a couple of rods, and my sorry ass, along to one of the waiting boats. A gentle paddle out, and I moored ( after missing it twice , Duh!) at the buoy over the deeper end of the main lochan.

Late evening fishing in shorts and t shirt. This can’t be Scotland!

Nothing was showing and I decided to rig one rod with an intermediate line and a FAB Blob and Diawl Bach combo and try a slow retreive  hopefully to lure any lethargic fish in the deeper holes. The other lighter rod was rigged for dry flies that I hoped would be successful later on as the sun disappeared. It was a gorgeous night to be out, I don’t think I recall being able to fish into late evening in tee shirt and shorts from a boat before.

Sunset over the channel at Swanswater

There were no takers and I was getting snagged in a lot of weeds at times, I never realised how shallow Swanswater is even from a boat, you have mental picture that it gets progressively deeper when you stand on the bank but you could see the weed and the bottom in places that surprised me. No doubt the water is a bit lower than usual too. I tried varying tactics, from different colours and retreives, I tried a few different lines, lures and bushy wet flies, too  I moved the boat to another spot, and later as one or two fish showed not far away, I swapped to dries in the hope maybe I could tempt a cruising fish, but it wasn’t happening, despite trying, sedges, parachute flies and a Bobs Bits.

I only seen one angler get a fish, near the tree on the east bank, I think he spotted it and cast to it and was ultimately successful, but really the fish are probably struggling in this heat. I never realised how warm the water was, until later when with the sun behind the trees and it cooling off, my hands were feeling a wee bit cold with handling the wet line. I went to rinse a fly that had picked up some weed and putting your hand in the water was like putting it in a bath that had been allowed to cool somewhat. It was still very warm! I think the best chance to catch will probably be early on when there is still a chance of a bit early morning haar about and the air is a bit fresher. Typically as the session drew to an end and I was paddling back a fish jumped and rose a few times near where I was fishing, typical! But frankly I am not complaining, just nice to get out.