I cannot tell a lie, I have been going through a bit of a lean spell in my fishing recently. As I have said before, I don’t always make things easy for myself, as I sometimes go out with only a couple of hours to fish or maybe choose a location that hasn’t /isn’t fishing particularly well. My recent Grayling(-less) outings on the Tummel are probably a case in point- I don’t think I fished badly I just failed to locate the fish, though still had a couple of thoroughly enjoyable outings.
I also had a cheeky wee two hours at Swanswater a couple of weekends back, one rather dreich Sunday afternoon ( I was up to pay my entrance fee for this competition) and failed to contact a fish, but as I have said before, fishing for such short periods can rather leave you in the lap of the fishing gods if your timing puts you on the bank during a quiet spell.
Ending a Decade on a bang or a whimper
With probably my last outing of the year, the decade even, would my fishing continue to to be a Turkey, would Santa offer some piscatorial respite, or would I end up a bit of a Christmas Pudding?
The annual Day After Boxing Day charity competition (it’s not taken too seriously on the competitive front) at Swanswater was yesterday and I have done reasonably well at this in previous years. Always a good fun day for a great cause ( Strathcarron Hospice) I usually catch something and even managed to be consistent enough two years back that I bagged second. But it can all be in the luck of the draw ( when you draw your starting peg) and in the hope that there isn’t one spot that seems to be holding an abundance of fish over all others. Two years ago that was definitely not the case, I think I hooked a fish on every peg I visited and landed on almost all of them. But last year the peg on the east end of the dam wall was definitely “on fire” and I think if I recall correctly, all but one angler bagged up on that spot, which is a tricky spot to cast from sometimes, ( it wasn’t on my rotation, unfortunately). Interestingly, for this year, that peg wasn’t even included.
I had hoped for a day like Boxing Day, mild, dry if gloomy, but it wasn’t to be and for most of the day the rain tipped down, right from the off.
Luck of the draw?
I can’t blame the draw yesterday as I drew Peg 2, which is just up from the Dam wall. It is usually a spot that early on at least, holds some fish. I was also a wee bit jammie in that the angler on Peg 1 didn’t actually claim his spot until maybe 20 minutes in. Peg 2 can be a wee bit tight for room but without the restriction of not being able to cast to my right towards the wall, I felt I had a reasonable chance. An early fish always sets you up for the day. I think my second cast had a follow right into my feet but the fish ( a Golden Trout) just wouldn’t take the fly. I then had several pulls and tugs before I hooked a fish. I was fishing an Intermediate line and the take was super gentle, initially, I thought I had snagged some weed before I realised that actually there is a fish on the end of my line. The gentleness of the take and my hesitation in setting the hook was to be my downfall. The fish was on for merely 3-4 seconds before the line went slack.
Each cast I was getting pulls and nips but they were not taking confidently and I tried cycling through some flies. I had started on the Golden Damsel but then tried a white Apache (not a touch), and a Damsel ( nothing) before returning to the goldie which continued to get interest but no hookups.
When the lad turned up at Peg 1, he cast twice and was into a fish right away! No idea on what but interestingly his fish was a Rainbow and all the pulls and follows I had were Golden Trout. Whatever worked for him though wasn’t a “killer” as that was his one and only fish the whole day.
Island hotspot
Across on the island, it was clearly going bonkers as every time I looked up an angler was bent into a fish. It appeared the Channel was to be the hotspot for the day, especially the end peg facing the roadside pegs, on the corner. Up to lunchtime, I think there were several maximum bags from this peg. One of the successful anglers, Stuart Marshal told me he had 5 fish on 6 casts with an Ally McCoist lure on a floating line. “Cast, count to five, slow figure of 8 retrieve, fish-on…..repeat”. Another angler told me he dropped 4 there before going on to still get his 5 fish max bag on a peg at this spot.
I didn’t have this peg on my schedule and I wasn’t near it until my very last peg of the day!
At my next peg, number 5, I tied on a self-tied version of an Apache. Not a very good imitation I must admit, probably a bit too bulky as the Mink strips I have are a little thick, this was in Black with a chartreuse tail. Right away I had a follow from a Rainbow and then casting very tight under the tree to my left, I hooked into a fish. This was a much more positive take and I thought I was bound to get it to the net. I had the net to hand and was just leading it in when the line went inexplicably slack. No real idea why the fish came off, but maybe the bulk of the dressing was the culprit and the hook just never really got fully set?
From this point on until lunchtime I then never touched a thing. And to be honest it all went a bit quiet. The rain persisted down and everyone was well soaked. What little breeze there was dropped and at times the loch was flat calm with only the raindrops to disturb the surface. The odd fish was picked up here and there but other than the anglers on the island facing the channel, it kind of dried up ( which tends to be the way as the fish being pressured all-round, move out from the bank). Usually, lunch is a time to regroup and give the fish a bit of peace in which to move back to the edges again.
All Going Wrong
On my last peg before lunch, my day just seemed to be going wrong over and over. I started by snagging the chicken wire on the walkway, then in sorting that out I got my leader all tangled up in the rod tip. Then I was snagging the bankside weed, before finally getting my leader snagged in a tree losing two flies in the process. I decided to use the last ten minutes of this session to tie a fresh leader only to complete it as the whistle blew, and snap it again on the chickenwire as I stood to move to the peg I would start from after lunch!
On arriving to deposit my gear on this peg I then managed to hook myself somehow and spent lunch with blood running down my hand from the puncture in my finger!
A cup of warming soup and a hot roll made up for it though and suitably refreshed I hoped to make a best of the first island peg after the break. The chat at lunch was all about the early success on the back corner of the island, everyone was bagging up there. I don’t think any particular fly was more effective. Ally McCoists, Yellow Dancers and Damsels all seemed to be successful. I had tried all of these on both floaters and intermediate lines through my morning as well as the Apache and my wee Goldie.
A fresh start?
When I got back to the peg after lunch my first job was to sort my leader which I snapped. With this done seemingly satisfactorily, I was looking out on the water when I spotted three fish sat just off one of the boat mooring buoys. It was a long way out but I reckoned if I could get one or two decent casts I would have to have a chance. I would up my best double haul and fired a lot of line out, my first attempt was not far enough as I still did not have enough line off my reel. Another two metres, practically the entire line and I tried once again. The cast flew straight, true and the fly landed right in the midst of the three fish. I could not see the reaction as the slight ripple of the fly landing obscured the subsurface visibility but as I retrieved I felt a drag then a harder pull and I felt a fish on for a second then it went slack. At first I thought maybe the fish had let go but on getting my line in, both flies were gone! The leader had snapped above the knot of my first dropper. I can only speculate that when I snagged and snapped the leader earlier before lunch I nicked it and the take was enough to break me off.
All and nothing
What a miserable turn of events! Arguably I should have had three by now, and instead had nothing. Most of the afternoon session seemed to remain quiet, and even on the island though we all spotted fish and had them following regularly, they seemed well warned after the morning’s blitz and they were not being fooled again.
So I ended up the Christmas Pudding, with a big flat blank, along with half a dozen other anglers! Overall though there were some good bags, with I think 8 being the winning tally for Willie Nyguist who won the day ( he just tied on a Yellow Dancer and fished it all day, he said), equal with one other angler, Andy Smith but Willie had his fish from more pegs over the day so his score was higher. Swanswater regular Stuart Marshal was third with 6 fish. Of course the real winners for the day were Strathcarron Hospice who will receive £1000, the proceeds from the day, the raffle and the all year long tea box money from the fishery. Once again, well done all.
