The misery continues.
Friday being a day off on the long weekend, I decided to have a couple of hours on the river though decided to scope things out a bit first as it has been hellish low of late. A few wee overnight falls of rain I hoped might lift it even a little.
I drove down all the way from Dunipace to Larbert stopping for a look and to be frank it was still low and to add insult to injury, the weather seemed to be taking a turn for the colder and more damp with showers intermittently falling and a cold wind. I got to Larbert and thought I might give it a look over the bridge once I got to a place to park through the heavy traffic I encountered.
It seemed pretty quiet with only a couple of cars parked nearby and no one visible on the river so I tackled up with a set up suitable for nymphing but able to switch to a dry fly if the occasion arose- fat chance it seemed in the conditions. I fished the wee run through just above the bridge as much to get a feel for the conditions as anything , with a two fly set up of nymphs. My 3 mill beaded point fly was clearly too heavy for the conditions and was just stopping dead in the water so on with smaller and lighter until I found a set up that kept pace with the water.
Another angler was fishing the flat above me, apparently swinging wet flies by the looks of things. So I moved up past him, he hadn’t had a touch, to fish some of the pockets further up. It was then I realised maybe the river wasn’t so quiet after-all, as there were about half a dozen anglers huddled under a makeshift shelter with rods set up along the bank. I was able to get a little space above the top rod of this group but I wasn’t hopeful of my chances as these guys had clearly been bait fishing here a while ( though apparently with no success).
I fished the water here as best I could just below the limit line that marks the area around the falls and despite a few fly swaps again never had anything so decided to maybe move again. As I got back to the car I remembered someone telling me about another access to the river so decided to set of over the fields past the young cows that live there. They decided I was the dinner lady and followed me across, but were friendly enough, just curious.
A new stretch to fish
I found a stretch I was totally unaware of and seen a fish move a few times in the flats above where I made it to the bank-side so I decided to give a dry fly a go, and put a wee F Fly on something colour-wise at least reminiscent of the pale looking olives that were lifting off here and there and hopefully which were the subject of the fishes attention. Despite staying low below the line of the fairly high bank all activity ceased as I neared and so I stopped again awaiting more activity. It took a while but it came again upstream so I decided to sit it out and eventually a few hesitant rises appeared in casting range. My initial casts were rubbish to be honest, with the downstream blustery wind playing havoc with presentation and again it seemed to spook the fish so again I stopped. After a period it started over, usually when the wind abated, and eventually I managed to rise a fish though it never contacted my fly as far as I could see as it was barely a rod length from my rid tip and directly across river from my position on the bank. I rose a second a few casts later, as the fly swung downstream of me, but it was so unexpected I was slow to lift in time, though I suspect it never touched the fly either.
It was clear the fish were very spooky in the slower water and any activity seemed to cease either when the wind blew or when I moved position despite staying well downstream of my quarry and out the river as much as possible. In the end I grew a bit cold and bored to be honest and decided to make my way back to the car scoping out other routes and spots to fish on other occasions.
A Sepia Dun drying out on the Dam wall
Saturday I was up to Pendreich early on, on the pretext of taking in late renewals fees from anyone that cared to show up. It was a fairer day than I initially anticipated but was pretty windy and cold all the same. There was a group of anglers leaving ( one fish between them) and another just starting out. I had to stay up by the dam wall in case anyone appeared to get their ticket which probably wasn’t ideal in the conditions, with a very stiff cold northerly sweeping left to right across me. There were quite a few Sepia Dun’s coming off at times and I did see one fish porpoise in front of me but despite trying various wets, nymphs and buzzers wasn’t able to register any interest.
My early season has been abysmal, it has been so long since I last caught a fish I feel I have lost my mojo! Its getting pretty desperate like I have forgotten how to fish!
Next weekend is the club outing to Lake of Menteith, a venue I enjoy but one I have to say I have had mixed results from in the past. Not sure it will be the best place to break duck.
