Saturday I had arranged to go with a friend, John ( known to many on fishing BB’s as Rainbow Warrior for reasons too long to bother with here) , who I have fished with before in the Jedburgh Round Table Grayling Competition just over a year ago and have kept in contact with since. We were sort of  acquaintences anyway via various fishing websites. John fishes the Clyde a lot and was keen ( as was I ) to fish a stretch unfamiliar to us both.

First off after picking up John on the road down I stopped off at Abington to get a day ticket. John ( a holder of an annual permit on the Clyde)  harassed me relentlessly forcing me to leave the shop £45 lighter but in possession of a season ticket too. So I guess I will need to head to the Clyde a few more times to get my moneys worth!

There was a biting wind and a few large snowflakes as we headed for the Clyde Valley, but once down there it was not bad at all and to be honest I never really felt the cold all day, the wind was a wee bit nippy at times but there is no such thing as too cold, just under dressed!

The section we fished was totally new to us both and so after tackling up there was the usual quandary when you reach the river bank- do you go up-stream or down stream? Aware of my limitations walking far we looked down a section immediately downstream and stepped in for a few casts in a few spots that had adequate depths of water but turned up nothing on our three nymph rigs.

The water was pretty clear and I think we both felt that if there were any fish of significance in these small “holes” you would probably be able to see them. Nothing was apparent.

The Rainbow Warrior at play

John searches out some deep pockets with a trio of bugs but gets nothing for his efforts, I reckon the hat scared ’em off.

So after fishing all the fishable pockets we moved upstream. Someone had said to John that where we were planning on going could be a bit desolate and like the surface of the moon. Indeed it was ( though the big lumps of grass reminded me more of the planet of the Clangers….. I digress), the ground round the river made normal walking pretty hard. However we did find loads of likely fish lies and proceeded to fish them all but without so much as a sign of a fish.

At one spot- it was very deep and there were constant splashes like the sound of a fish rising, but I was having difficulty locating where it was. On one occasion I was sure I seen signs of a fish out in the middle of the run. There was very little life on the water- the odd passing midgie, but the sun was bright and it was fairly pleasant so just for a change popped on a tiny wee dry fly and gave it a run over the pool. The swirling currents made a drag free drift very hard and nothing was interested. As I sat on the bank there was a proper splash beside me and then I twigged what the splashes were and why we couldn’t locate them.  The bank was very undercut and the ground was breaking off into the water, I don’t think there were fish rising at all! it still looked a very fishy spot but it was time to move on.

We found lots of holes and obvious fish lies all the way along the river but not once did we encounter a Grayling, not even an out of season Brown, it all seemed very odd in the conditions and river topography.

We must have chucked the best part of 20 different bugs at the water for no response.

Still, I really enjoyed my day out and managed about 4-5 hours which is exceptional for me with the walking involved too. In a sense it’s what fishing is about, good company, fresh air, new water and the hope but not the promise of fish. I will return here another time.