I ventured off again to the Clyde yesterday, again out to fish a stretch that I have not wet a line in before. I was in an area I have visited previously but generally have fished upstream, this time I wanted to try fishable looking spots downstream.  The river was at a reasonable height for easy wading and you could in places cross the river which meant you could thoroughly cover a section pretty much bank to bank, but also meant you could fish downs one side seeking out all the accessible sections and on the way back up the other bank pick up the sections unreachable on the way down.

So pretty much perfect fishing conditions and by the end of the day I felt like I had really covered this section well, I really don’t think I could have done much more to find a fish. What wasn’t so perfect was the weather, as I left home it was dry and cold but not as cold as Friday which was utterly Baltic around here. According to the temperature gauge it was a mere 1 degree C warmer but truthfully it felt mild in comparison. As I drove down to the river however the weather turned bleaker and bleaker. Rain turned to sleet. However there was no wind to speak of and as long as you were properly dressed for the conditions it was perfectly OK to be out in. Getting outfitted in undersuit and waders was actually the wettest process of the day out! I decided to fish a method I have only tried a few times and to be honest isn’t one I go nuts on, but I have been asked about this and standard Czech Nymphing a few times recently, so decided to make a wee video on how I do it. More on this later.

Getting snowed on

Snowy and wet but not actually bad conditions

The first run through was gin clear and just perfect for wading with a nice gravel bottom and not really much over waist deep for the most of it.As I reached the furthest end of the glide, where the “pool” started to shallow out a guy shouted from the bridge, a) to ask if I had caught anything, and b) to tell me I was mental!

Yeah the sleet and snow were falling pretty steadily but really it was not a bad day to be out in. I have been out in a lot worse.

Having made some clips for the video I moved further down stream. Some sections started with nice gravel but became quite sandy with deep shelves off that were hazardous to wade. But I stuck at it, covering about 4 pools really well on the way down and then one other on the way back up the other side.

By about 3 o’clock the sleet was gone to be replaced by proper snow. However it gave way to rain and then it actually went off and looked like it might brighten up. I was actually quite warm by the end of my session. Bugs wise I was trying to keep to pretty small patterns, 14’s and 16’s where they were adequate to get on the bottom. I gave both attractor and imitative patterns a go but if there were fish there, they did not show any interest. A couple of times I had a few bumps but honestly think these were just obstructions on the bottom, weed or bits of stuck bush/branch that had become lodged in the river bed. Some days you go out, you go through the motions and really you know you did not fish well, or hard enough and really you did not deserve a fish. ( you might still have got one!). This was not one of those days. I often say I cannot fish hard, and indeed I still can’t compared to many, but on this day, I really felt I tried my very hardest, I fished all the water that I possibly could in the time available, and in some pretty horrid looking conditions, and even if I say it myself, I deserved more than the blank sheet at the end of it.

Anyway. I did get the video clips made I wanted and will be trying to get this on the site maybe next weekend ( I am away with work for most of this week so won’t be in a position to do the hours of editing necessary). However I am just at the tail end of editing the first video of this series, and will be hoping to get it on the site today. It won’t be of interest to the majority of regular Czech Nymph fishing anglers and indeed many might disagree with my views, but for the utter beginner I hope they prove useful.