I haven’t been out fishing for a few weeks, the weather has been rubbish, and then the last few weekends we have had stuff going on that have kept me in doing small amounts of DIY.

I had more DIY to do on Sunday ( just small jobs that don’t take too long I can about manage) and with the weather actually offering some respite, I almost felt obliged to try get out the house and have a cast. I have to be honest though and say I was a little bit on the sore side- the stiffness has been returning unfortunately over the last week so I wasn’t sure how I would manage. I didn’t want to go too far and as it was about 14:00 by the time I was ready to move, so I popped my son’s rod ( remember I broke my rod at Xmas and haven’t replaced it with something more suited to me, ) in the car along with my tackle box and just nipped round to Swanswater. It was a really nice day though fairly cold- not freezing though, but you know? almost as soon as arrived I knew my heart wasn’t really in it. As I tackled up I felt quite half hearted, I was pleased to be out in the fresh air but I just wasn’t motivated to fish. Very odd and unlike me.

Anyway I headed for the top south west corner of the main loch at Swanswater, as Alan who was working in the lodge said most fish were being caught up there. The wind was actually a little gusty and to be honest fishing from this corner was ideal for the wind direction. I was going to head to the platform just before the bridge to the island, however as I was about halfway round an angler on the island moved down there himself and so that was that plan scuppered. I decided to go to the adjacent platform but to be honest it’s not a favourite fishing spot for me as it tends to be fairly shallow and frankly I haven’t ever caught a fish there in the few times I have fished there. It wasn’t helped by the angler next to me on the platform I had hoped to get to, casting across in front of me with his backcast as he tried to fish the channel under the bridge. I was feeling distinctly nervous watching the line fly right across in front of me at times. Don’t get me wrong it never looked like it would hit me but it was unnerving.

Almost right away it became evident to me that the fish were in fact off to the left of the platform next to me, out towards the point of the channel beyond the bridge. The angler to my left was well placed to cover them but they were miles from me. I fished round for a while and had a few fly changes but never seen a thing. My neighbour on the other hand clearly had a couple of knocks before he eventually caught a pretty decent Rainbow I would guess of about 3-4 lbs. It certainly seemed to put up a good fight as he was playing it for ages.

Hot spot

The arrow points to where it seemed all the fish were sitting

I decided to have a move as in 2 hours you don’t have much time to move around. I went round the back of the island and fished a couple of small heavy nymphs but again nothing showed interest. I tried more fly changes but still nothing .  I finally headed back round to the main basin to the peg right at the top opposite the shelter. The guy at the bridge was still pulling out fish that were clearly all shoaled up right at the point as the odd fish moved there with a splash. Fishing here with the wind now right behind me and a sink tip line on and some wets, I think I did get one follow. It was kind of hard to see but I am pretty sure a fish followed the flies in to about 20 feet from my position before turning away, and that was the sum total of the action.

Wet flies, nymphs and buzzers

My Wet fly, buzzer and nymph box. looks quite full but I am needing some Bibios and a few other patterns

With about 20 minutes to go the guy at the hotspot decided to leave, and I was in the middle of changing fly lines at the time. Had I been really keen I could have flung everything in my bag and raced ( relatively speaking) to grab the peg but I could not be bothered. Had it still have been free once I was set up again on my intermediate line I would have moved but by the time I was ready and old boy had moved in and was immediately into a fish! I fished for another 15 minutes without a touch- maybe the fish could sense my half heartedness! As the time moved on it was the end of my two hours and I packed up and headed for the car. Being out though did however give me the opportunity to see what flies I need to be tying for the season coming, I can see a few patterns I am short on so will need to get the vice out and give them a go soon.  I have been really fortunate to get a membership to Larbert and Stenhousemuir AC and so hope to be fishing Loch Coulter and the River Carron over the course of the coming season provided I am able, as well as still being in SCAC and fishing Pendreich. Everything crossed!