On Friday I had hoped to head down the Clyde for a wee bit Grayling fishing but as the week progressed it looked like it was going to be a miserable wet day. Come Friday morning it started a bit wet locally and my friend was similarly unenamoured with the current and forecast conditions so we decided to bin the idea and if Saturday turned out an option maybe think of going then.
Options
However after completing a few chores, the weather brightened up unexpectedly where I live and it seemed a shame not to be able to take advantage of it and so I headed to Swanswater just up the road, thinking it would be quiet and I might get a couple of hours on the wee ponds before closing time. I was surprised how busy it was and ended up taking a two hour ticket on the main loch. I started on the peg by the right end of dam wall which is a little restricted by trees. Today there was also a bit of a head wind which wasn’t helping. However I hoped the fish might be near at hand and had a standard sinking line on with a team of three flies, the point an unweighted small lure. Starting with a fireman, I moved on to a black and green tadpole then an Irish cat. Nothing was doing. There was a chap fishing out on a boat near me with something under an indicator. No idea what it was but it made a fir splash as it hit the water.
Bungers
The fog rolling in at Swanswater
He, I noticed managed two fish in fairly short order. But that was all I seen him or pretty well anyone catch when I was there. After trying a few small nymphs and buzzers under a dry fly acting as an indicator ( don’t say I don’t have optimism!) I moved round to the corner of the island. By now a heavy fog was rolling in and the water was mirror flat calm. Despite my best efforts still I had nothing. To my left on the corner of the island that faces the other smaller heavily wooded island the angler there fishing under a bung took first one then a second fish fishing up the narrow channel between the islands. His partner moved onto the hard to access peg on the bottom corner of the island fishing into the same channel and also under a static bung managed a fish before I decided to go have 20 mins on the bottom Mill Pond. Obviously there was a pod of fish in that wee channel.
Skunked
I never had a touch on my buzzers until my second cast on the Mill Pond but it failed to stick and unfortunately light was by now fading fast and it was time to call it a day with a big flat blank.
Through the Fog
I was though glad to have got out on what could have been a crappy day. It was foggy overnight and come Saturday morning while it was damp it was still and not that cold so I decided I simply HAD to get out for the Grayling on the Clyde. I already had plans where I wanted to try having spent some time looking at maps of an area I had not been before and knew little of. It was a foggy trip down to the river but I was parked near the river with it clearing by 11:00 and tackled up and crossing the fields by a large burn looking for any potential fish holds as I went.
Can’t Pass a Burn
I cannot walk past a wee burn, it is very possibly my favourite fishing type, and though in places it was quite silty from bank erosion I still ventured to run my bugs through the more gravelly deep area on the off chance there was something lurking below.
I HAVE to run my fleas through any lies in a Burn… my favourite type of fishing
Nothing showed up and soon enough I reached the main river, broad and wide. It was pretty deep and fast on the outside of the bend where I landed up and it was obvious there was a nice crease where faster water bounded slow that would be easier fished from the inside of the bend so I left most of my gear by a fence post and went to see if I could cross the river to the inside of the bend.
Gin Clear
About 5 minute walk downstream I found a broad flat section that looked fairly shallow and was literally gin clear. It was so clear that there was literally no indication the water was even moving and it appeared about 6 inches deep. In reality placing a foot in the water you realised it was actually about knee deep and was really pushing along at a fierce pace. I could really only get about half way out before it was waist deep and starting to nearly push you over. I did think though a bigger stronger angler than me might be able to cross. I kept looking and found a narrow gravel bar just upstream that did indeed allow me to cross the river, and start looking at fishing from the inside of the bend. However it was also apparent that it was really not shallower here and if anything the river bed was quite sandy and soft with a steep drop off which simply prevented you getting close to the likely fish holding area. Just then after I had tried a few casts two things happened, a Grayling rose in the dead water right behind me- the giveaway with a Grayling is the bubbles from their underslung mouth’s, and another angler appeared from behind me.
The Trotter
The trotter- a dank grey day but not cold. The trotter runs his worms through the run
We ended up talking, he was a regular here as he said himself you rarely see other anglers and you can with a little local knowledge cover a lot of different water on a circuit from the car. We discussed the area and I said he was welcome to fish where I was hoping to try as he was trotting and it was far more suited to his style that day than mine. I pointed him at where the fish rose and moved on downstream and found some nice fishable water where I also found another crossing point and was able to get across and go have a cup of tea before crossing back with my spare rod set up for duo fishing the deeper runs where I couldn’t reach with bugs. To be honest, had there been fish here I think you would pretty well have seen them the water was so clear. I fished as much as I could before it started to get dark. The other chap fishing worms hadn’t had anything either and after a final chat we went our separate ways and I headed home, fishless but having had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon on some new water which is a lot of what it is all about for me.
