It’s been freezing lately. Not just the usual winter cold, frosty mornings, sun low on the horizon, but fresh and tolerable with enough layers on. Nope, its been almost perma-snowing, my son described it as being like ‘Nuclear Winter’, with the most bone chilling easterly wind for a good couple of weeks now. Ironically for all that its snowed pretty much round the clock for days not a drop is to be seen lying locally at ground level. Head east towards Edinburgh or into the higher ground and the lying snow becomes apparent.
Fishing though, has as a result of this been neither attractive nor an option really. Since the season started I have not been able to get up to the loch at Pendreich which is hugely disappointing. I would usually have the first few browns on the scoreboard by now.
Today though the sun actually shone, and I was out this morning at Angling Active in Stirling to buy a new jacket for fishing in the crap weather that seems to becoming the norm and I noticed it was actually tolerable in the sun with little breeze. By the back of lunchtime the wind had got up again and I had had to stay in to wait for the gas board to arrive to fix the central heating that died last night. Not ideal in the current weather conditions.
A Detached body Yellow May dun. An experimental dry fly made using micro booby cord for the body. I reckon it would catch on the right day when these flies are around on the Clyde in Late April, early May ( if indeed we get any semblance of a spring)
I stayed in and tied a few more dry flies ( am I doing the right thing will I ever be able to use them?) and by then it was time to pick up my son from high school and take him to his work at Bridge of Allan. On the way over the sun appeared again and the wind seemed to ease, the traffic was terrible heading back the way I needed to go to get home, so I decided why not head up to Pendreich and have a wee hour, just to say I had wet a line in March. Climbing the hill it was getting quite grey looking and I thought the snow might make another appearance but it appeared to pass. The track up to the loch has changed a fair bit, the Forestry Commission look to have been in and cleared a lot of vegetation from the sides of the track all the way to the loch. Its a big improvement, however the track appears quite muddy in places and less firm than it used to be, I am not sure if its merely loose soil from the tree clearing compacted onto the track or if its actaully quite cut up. In my Landy it was irrelevant but if I was in a wee car I might be thinking carefully before heading up there if its not dry, until we see how it wears.
It really seemed OK when I got up there though and I decided to go up and have a look at the water, it felt like I could manage an hour maybe. Then I stuck my head above the level of the dam wall.
It was like the entire force of an arctic winter was thrust at my forehead, it was bloody freezing! No way could I have stood and fished in that. The water looked grey, quite chopyp and uninviting and there was snow still lying in the hollows . I did not need to reconsider and headed right back to the heat of the car.
Bleak and cold with an unforgiving wind straight from the arctic.
Sod that for a game of soldiers. I about turned and headed for home via the supermarket.
For some reason I got home with a food processor. Go figure.
Kenny, this Spring weather is terrible and one of the worse I can remember and it isn’t great for old aches and pains either.
My brother and I have made plans for a visit to Orchill Fishery three times over the past month and had to cancel each time due to the weather. We have made plans to fish Orchill next week as the forecast looks a little better, hopefully the bitter easterly wind drops or changes direction but it will be good just to get out and wet a line.