I had a few hours due to me from work so took a fly half day ( official ) and decided to spend a couple of hours back at Swanswater, time is short and its very local, and I like it there though my catch rate isn’t the best.

Bitter Cold

It was VERY cold, the air temp was around 1 degree above freezing but the easterly wind was bitter, and it felt a lot colder, it said on the Met Office APP  “Feels like -6 and it did. The flip side was the wind was keeping the ice from forming on much of the main loch. Only the shallow area behind the island remained frozen. Frozen rod rings though were to prove a difficulty.

Now its true to say arthritic conditions and cold don’t generally  make good bed fellows however my particular condition does not so much improve with cold as I seem to feel it less so other than nippy fingers towards the end of my 2 hours, I could probably have managed another couple of hours had there been light.

If the wind had not been so bad it would have been a gorgeous winters day though. I started near the other anglers on the East bank but a sinking line and a selection of buoyant flies made no impression so I moved over to the dam wall and the far peg in the trees. Casting is difficult but it does offer access to deeper water and so I feel you can get away with a shorter cast. With an hour in nothing, not a touch. By now I had changed up to an intermediate line and was trying a hothead damsel on point with a bloodworm on the dropper. Still nothing.

Finding the fish

I was saying to another blogging angler just the other day that Swanswater sometimes can be very patchy- there are places where all the fish sit and others totally devoid. I felt today was one such day- you need to find the fish and not expect them to come to you…… how right I was.

I moved to the roadside pegs and had a few casts, there is clearly still some weed hanging on in there and it was snagging my flies a lot but nothing was taking then a fish moved directly opposite the left most peg to my left, but at the far side of the channel. The wind was utterly howling up the channel and a) it was  very hard to cast into, b) absolutely Baltic, and c) my rod was constantly icing up during casting causing the line to snag.

Iced up

Ice on my rod rings

Ice on my rod rings

I moved down to the left most peg and awaited a break in the wind, casting into it was pointless- I could get the line out but even with a low delivery the wind was blowing the flies way over to the right and no where near my quarry. As the wind stalled, I cast over the  spot where the fish had risen, half way back with my retreive and I felt a bit drag on the line- it was hard to feel as I had my fingerless gloves on with thin neoprenes over the top! Would I take them off….. would I buggery, the two exposed fingers, of my thumb and forefinger of each hand were almost shining like red stop lights with cold.

I cast once more as the wind stayed at bay, and again as I retreived and was getting to the point I suspected I might not have their attention, the line tightened and I had the fish on. My net was at the other peg so I tried to get there and maintain the tension , and luckily it stayed on for me to net it. A very lean but fit 2.5lb Rainbow. It had maybe been in a while this one, taken on the Bloodworm.

The overhanging branch

I decided to remove the damsel and put a second bloodworm pattern on, I cleared the hard ice from the rings and cast again, two casts later I was in again, this fish was staying right down and it pulled right then left- I never seen it at all, there was the briefest of swirls and the line went slack. Damn! As I was fighting it another fish moved in the spot on the far side, there was clearly a pod of fish under an overhanging branch, they weren’t moving for you but if you could cast in amongst them you had a chance. My biggest problem was maybe that my bloodworm patterns have all been debarbed from fishing a few competitions last year.

I never swore at all.

A few more casts, a few tangles caused by wind and ice and I was in again. This fish was going mental and having none of it. A decent size Rainbow it was jumping all over the place, however it felt well on, as I started to take line on it…. then again it was gone!

A quick check of the two hooks, both seemed OK and were plenty sharp, maybe just the lack of barbs was my problem again. These were also quite large hooks, the flies being tied on buzzer hooks which have quite a wide gape. (Too many excuses methinks).

Keeping the gloves on

It was really cold now and nearing the end of the session, the wind was barely relenting. I stopped to de-ice again and await an opportunity, then I cast, bang on target and almost right away a fish on, a smaller one this time, I decided to trust my fairly heavy leader and bully the fish. I got it to the foot of the platform when I realised my net was lying by my bag at the other platform (duh!) There was no choice but to try get it, I let the fish have a little line to give me a bit scope to move, as I did the fish seemed to come right in to the foot of the platform, I am not sure if the top fly snagged in the marginal weed, it didnt feel like it, but the fish seemed right under the platform, and suddenly it too was free just as I reached my net.

I never swore at all.

Good sport on a cold day- but still glad I kept the gloves on.