While my fishing, and specifically dry fly fishing has not been without success this year on stillwaters, my success on rivers has been- well woeful probably isn’t too extreme a description.
I decided to sign up for a days dry fly tuition on the Clyde with Alberto Laidlaw of Game Angling Scotland to see what I am doing wrong. Alberto has the prestigious credentials of also being chairman of GAIA.
The plan was to fish the Hozier section of the Clyde, just upstream of the Hyndland Bridge near Lanark. The day started with introductions, there was myself and another chap, Gordon, on the day and of course Alberto. We started a review of leader and line set up and interestingly Alberto prefers the “traditional” needle knot method of attaching his tapered leader to line. This is a method I used to use on my old dry fly fishing line. After fishing the day I think I can see the advantages of this method over the more common braided loop, which starts to absorb water and sink as the day goes on.
The lower section of the Beat fished on the Clyde
I think for summer fishing I might well employ the needle knotted leader, but for winter I think I might stick with the loop as it allows me quick change of methods for Grayling.
Alberto prefers the Varivas tapered leaders which certainly look the part having a camo butt section and he says are very supple, which is what you want for dry fly. I have recently been using copolymer tippet for suppleness in my dry fly fishing on an Orvis HyFlote leader though have been having issues with knot security at times in Co-Poly, Alberto uses Stroft nylon mono for his tippet sections.
It looks like Orvis might be discontinuing the HyFlote leaders as they were not in their latest catalogue and my recent order for heavier ones was unfulfilled.
So….. onto the water, we made our way upstream along the bank and spotted a few fish rising, very possibly Grayling judging by the bubbles they were leaving. Not obvious what they were rising to, there were some flies on the water but the obvious upwings did not seem to be the target of these fish. But they were there and consistently in the same spot, we decided to leave them for now though and move upstream to faster-moving water as it was slow and deep here.
Alberto’s Comparadun sedge pattern
Crossing over we spread out over about 100 yards and began fishing. A single dry went on my 12foot leader, a Comparadun type deer hair “prospecting fly”. I have similar of my own though not as nicely tied and I tend to use CDC which while floating well, gets slimed up when you take a fish and seems to take a lot of reviving. Alberto’s were much nicer tied than mine I have to say.
Wading the Clyde- it was hard work at times! But worth it.
I wasn’t on the water long and we were approaching a hot spot of Alberto’s when I saw a fish rise in the lee of some overarching trees making a noticeable crease ahead. The crosswind was quite gusty so long casts and accuracy were somewhat compromised, so we worked upstream allowing all areas to be fished in no rush to cover the fish that was still rising. As I cast about 2 yards short of the spot we seen the fish, there was a splash and a fine half pound brown was very well hooked. A forceps job to release in fact, and I had my first ever dry fly caught fish on a river, and in fact my first Clyde fish too! I was chuffed to bits, and still had the rising fish to cover. This I did and was soon hooked in again, this time a very small fish, too small for the net and it popped off the hook as I hand lined in the leader between my legs.
Alberto split his time between myself and Gordon and this was good as it gave you both time under scrutiny as well as time to fish the sections out in your own time. As I moved up the river I never seen or touched another fish but there were by now occasional Yellow Mays (Heptagenia sulphurea) coming off so I swapped the fly for a more targetted yellow pattern, though it has to be said we never seen any fish rising to them.
The Yellow May imitation ( a bit bedraggled through use)
The next section was called the Clyde Shoals, and I have to say I found the wading hard here. On the whole its not especially deep but there are some big potholes and its very up and down, I struggle in this type water with my knees.
The obvious lower fishy sections revealed no fish and so after a break for a bite to eat it was up to the next section. I swapped back to the more prospective Comparadun pattern. We seen fish rising quite far over but beyond casting range in this gusty wind.
However I did spot one fish fairly nearby albeit at a rather shallow angle to me to cast drag free, it was though looking like if I could just get a few more yards over I could cover it. Alberto did not see it or thought it was further than my own estimation but I persevered, and made a couple more yards over the river. I cast above the fish and maintained a drag free drift right over the spot. I was shouting “Take it! take it! take it!” and it duly obliged!
Laugh! I nearly bought a round! The fish had other ideas- it sprang from the water and looked to be maybe a little larger than the first fish of about three quarters of a pound I think. After a short play though, the line went slack and it evidently came off the barbless hook. A shame but still a success. Alberto left me now to go see to Gordon, and as I worked up this run another fish took in the faster water, again it appeared quite small this time, it was on for a few seconds then the line came pinging out the water into a tree. Dam!
It was knocking on by now and Alberto had to go so we said out farewells and we fished on upstream but it became quieter on the fish front and more blustery so I decided to retreat back downstream to the area I seen the fish from the walk up the bank.
It was deep and slower here but with the wind now behind you could just about reach the far cut away bank. The fish were not initially moving but as I cast and worked over they started to and gave me a target to hit. It took me a fair few casts but eventually, I was getting the range and the drift and one of the fish rose to my fly but I was too slow this time and missed it as it turned away. I don’t think I touched it but it was spooked and the surface activity ceased. Time to wrap it up!
Still a great day out, I learned a lot, my casting definitely needs work so a lesson with Alberto is on the cards maybe in the summer, and I think I will be maybe meeting up again for a spot of Grayling chasing in the winter. Big thanks also to Alberto for helping me break my long time duck. Nice one!
