The Urban Fly Fisher

Stolen Gold

So I managed a couple of stolen golden hours after work to try and again tempt some Kelvin trout and to be quite honest I was almost going to be waxing lyrical about spooky trout and pricked lips.

Not my lips, the trout I managed to prick. You see the first few trout that I managed to tempt to my dry fly were pricked and away quicker than I could say “Ya Beauty” As it was I felt a deep thump thump and felt solid trout and then they were gone – the takes appeared solid enough, in fact the flies were pounced on like a tiger and a lamb. Maybe it was the downstream drift that caused the problems.

I walked, well scrambled, along the bank to where I had spooked some trout a few days ago. I would like to say this time I went after them in a different way however as expected with the exact same tactic of casting directly upstream and lining them they promptly fu*ked off.

I took a few moments to drill into my head again the need for stealth and wariness and then took a few steps upstream.

At this precise moment both soles fell off my Orvis wading boots.

At the next pool I spotted a tiny rise on the surface about the size of a saucer – the water was so clear that I could see the trout come up from the depths (a foot of water) to take stuff off the surface.

Clear Water!

There was a huge hatch of grannom I think hatching and for once the trout were feeding on them. Well, not every trout and in fact it turned out only the big ones as I proceeded to catch within the space of a few mins two of the finest trout I have caught from the Kelvin in quite some time , real proper rod benders that leapt all over the pool and back again.

I telephoned Paul in case we had actually stocked again by accident...

The second trout was in roughly the same pocket of water as the first, I only had one wee sedge thing left so knew that if this one got stuck in a tree (I had already lost a few flies) then my session would be over. The trout was dimpling the surface and I cast over it a few times, when it took the fly it shot all over the pool in an absolute fury before jumping out the water a couple of times – it actually flashed into my head that maybe we had accidentally stocked this year however again it was a lovely truly wild Kelvin trout in my hand ready to be returned to get even larger.

Rod Bender 2

Over the last few weeks I have been hearing great reports (and we have also been chatting about it in the Kelvin Forum) of the trout fishing on the fly being exceptional this year – you know what, folk said we were crazy to stop stocking trout and impose a catch and release policy for them however this year we are really seeing the benefits. Just wait another couple of years, guys who solely fish for trout on the fly should take advantage of the £15 trout only ticket and fish absolutely nowhere near me.

Anyway, on the way back to the car I spotted another swirly rise which was so easy to cast to as a tree had fallen down behind me and it was a rod length away it would have been churlish not to take it up on its offer, the trout appeared to be patrolling as it would boil on the surface a foot away each time it rose, I judged my cast and the fly was bored down to the depths before again another stonker of a trout came to the bank..

I was kinda getting sick of hand shots - the trout was on wet muddy stuff by the way..

All first trout looked like a lot of the trout that I catch from the Clyde with lots of small spots while the other two were your typical Kelvin bastards who have no idea who their parents are – probably a cod or something.

I had wondered where all the good trout at this stretch had vanished too and a thought occurred to me, last season I kept on meeting guys fishing downstream with wet flies (a lot of guys do this), the problem is this will ruin the whole stretch of water and the trout will be thoroughly spooked for a few hours anyway. It stands to reason that if someone is tramping down through pools then trout will be spooked. Another thing to keep in the head is that if you are fishing upstream then the trout will not actually see you – unless like me you cast your fly directly on top of their heads in a big tangled heap.

Raining tomorrow seemingly, and the a showery day on Friday.

Fingers crossed n’ all that I may well see you on the river.

Basic Entomology – NSFW

Kelvin Crazy!

The Kelvin trout were especially kind to me today even if the Kelvin itself was not, you see I managed a very quick session after work today and decided to fish an old haunt for quickness.

Yay - a burnt out car - they have been lacking of late!

As soon as I arrived at the river I spotted a rising trout so dashed downstream to where I wanted to start – this particular pool has been crying out for some Alistair Lovin’ for some time now. I was not disappointed as I found several trout rising in various parts of the pool, I jumped the rusty fence and got myself into position.

It was all downstream casts and roll casts to get to the trout as behind me there was high banks and trees – I quickly spooked a couple of trout and then caught two lovely ones in quick succession.

Sweet - on a Klinkhammer

As I was starting to get into position for the next cast I felt something in my wading boot, when I put my foot down it felt like a big stone . I thought that maybe the side of my wading boot had given way and a stone had managed to get in it however it would not budge for all the wiggling in the world – I had to kinda hop to the bank, occasionally putting some weight on my foot with the “stone” in it – when I got to the bank I was horrified to find the “stone” was in fact a sharp metal spike around 3 inches long that was attached to a piece of metal it was stuck a good centimeter into the sole of my wading boot. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had slipped and put my foot down too heavily - the thought of metal spikes through foots in the waters of the Kelvin just don’t turn me on. Thankfully the spike had not went through the sole of my neoprene booties so I got to fish on bloodlessly and dry.

Here be belters ...

I walked up the river to pools I have fished a lot more of in the past and caught a couple of belters in some slow water, I only managed to creep up on them as I came up from the pool below in some fast water – anyone else walking up on the bank and they would have been off like a shot.

Throughout all this time there was a steady stream of Large Dark Olives hatching – there were plenty in the air and plenty on the water. The rises were good confident boiling rises – it felt good to see rising trout consistently again.

I moved on and found a pod of a few trout rising at a small pool, these trout are usually guaranteed to me on the take, there were three or four risers and they looked like good trout too – I managed to spook every one of them with my first cast. I stayed around for 10 mins until one started to rise again and spooked it properly this time. I moved back down the river heading for home and watched three or four trout rising at the tail end of a very long slow pool just before it starts to get fast before tumbling down into another pool – I always walk by these trout as they are very spooky in the slow water however today decided to give it a go – I am mighty glad I did. I hooked three and in my hand was one.

A real Kelvin rod bender...

All three trout were real rod benders and caught on a downstream roll cast that had to be right in the correct place so as not to spook the trout, close enough that drag was not going to effect the fly before the trout saw it and far enough away that it was not going to be spooked by the line.

The water was like glass....

All in all a bloody good session considering I was only out for a couple of hours, the final tally was maybe a half dozen trout with many more pricked and around a few hundred spooked. I believe we had some north wind action going on today however the Kelvin trout could not care less as they were totally going for it big style.

You guys been fishing?

Ugh! The dangers of spinning.

Bridge Work – Challenge Completed!

I posted this over on the FishKelvin site however thought you guys might like to see it as well.

Essentially, the Kelvin legend Jim Burns took a walk up to the infamous Balmore stretch of the Kelvin and noticing the ditch that everyone complains about only goes and builds a bloody great bridge at home to help everyone out.

Last Sunday we went and put it up.

Good session – phew!

After some back breaking work on the Kelvin putting a bridge across a ditch * I found I had a spare couple of hours to fish the Kelvin.

I arrived at a spot I have only ever glanced at as I hurried past towards other pools however while I have been out for a run I have spotted some trout rising in the area so decided to give it a bash.

As soon as I arrived at the river side I noticed a few rises, it turned out that they were silver smolts heading out to sea. It took me a further five mins before I located some actual trout in the most tricky of places.

Tricky !

It was a tricky cast upstream and I had to allow my line to lay across some river debris (you can see it on the right hand side of the photo). The debris in this area is pretty bad and the banks are made up of rubble,weird bits of metal pole that stick out the ground, heavily rusted shopping trolleys, invasive plants and broken glass – not nice !

Also because the water was a bit murky I could not see the bottom which was a bit dodgy!

Out of that water I landed two and lost a couple, essentially I just felt their weight and they were gone.

Returned...

I moved up to the top of the pool and thought it would be a good time to try a nymph on a dropper – it was one of the nymphs that I had been sent the other day (it is now stuck on a tree so a good job he sent me a few) and with the first cast a I was into a lovely rod bender which after a brief tussle was placed back in the water!

A nice rod bender...

It was just where you would expect a bigger trout to take station, right at the top of the pool in between two tongues of water – there was really no mistaking the pull of the dry under the water for anything else. I thought I might have got another trout from the pool however nothing showed up at all.

I spent some more time trying to tempt some wily trout with a downstream drift however they were having absolutely none of it with my shenanigans.

I showed the pictures to some teenage girls who couldn’t believe there were fish in the river, they giggled as the touched the camera as if they were touching the fish themselves.

How dare you touch my fish and giggle...

As I wandered under the Kelvin Aqueduct I wondered about the tons of water and stone above my head. The Aqueduct carries the Forth and Clyde Canal over the River Kelvin. It is 400 feet (120 m) long and 70 feet (21 m) high, and when opened in 1790 was Britain’s largest. It is protected as a category A listed building.

Not many people see this view…

Not many people see this view...

At around 3pm(ish) I called it a day, as I wandered back up the path some guy pointed out his drunk girlfriend who was peeing in the bushes – he was holding a bottle of wine and he informed me of the many good pools he had seen on his wander up the river.

I wished him well on his travels.

* That I took photos of.

Like an early birthday present…

It is my birthday this Wednesday and I shall be over a hundred years old (late thirties with two young kids).

After my post last week when I posted my wee batch of flies Marcel Karssies through Facebook said he would send me a few in the post – what arrived was a huge goody bag of every fly a guy would need to catch a trout!

Oh man!!!

Now that is me totally fixed on the nymph front (as well as numerous dries) all I need to do is actually go fishing. This weekend (as in yestreday and today) I was planning on hitting the river however after a rather disastrous DIY lawn situation I have had to take a pass, so it looks like my next trip out will be next Sunday. Today I am hitting the Kelvin with some guys from the committee to build a bridge over a ditch (commonly known as dead mans jump) up at Balmore. I will take some photos and post them on the Fish Kelvin site as well as here.

If any of you guys fancy buying me a birthday present you can have a look at my Amazon Wish List where you shall see I am a simple soul with simple pleasures!

A wee batch!

Cup of flees!

In my hour that I had to get my gear out the attic, get suitable materials sorted and make a coffee my final tally was four wooly buggers and just over a half dozen skinny nymph things !

I told my women that if the weather is good I have some serious man shit I need to sort out at the weekend involving waders and big trout !

Trout in Dirty Places – Smashing!

Look, I have kinda given up on reviewing books (although if someone wants to send me one then I am not saying no) however now that “Trout in Dirty Places” by Theo Pike is out I really want you to buy it.

I received my copy on Friday..

My Copy...

As I flicked through it I realised what I held in my hand – it is a manual of all the rivers that you see on City breaks and wonder whether they have fish in them – now you will know and also where to buy a permit – sweet! Already I have spotted a few rivers I should have fished in the past and will do so in the future when I pass that way again.

I looked at the Kelvin page and wondered just who that hunk of sheer raw manliness was in the photograph, I mean look at the sexy pose, the steely glint behind the shades …

If you look closely you can see some manliness on the page...

Goodness gracious – IT’S ME!!

Just in case you did not know (I have been bleating on about it for a year) here is the original post when I took Theo to the Kelvin.

Anyway, obviously if you fish the Kelvin you will not buy it for that as you will buy it for the other 49 rivers – obviously useful for long distance lorry drivers and other times folk who are near urban rivers and fancy a spot of action.

There are two ways you can grab a copy, one of which is free for someone – the publishers “Merlin Unwin” are having a competition on their site to win a free copy – the question is:

Question: Under which major British airport runway does a fishing river flow, in which beautiful 17-inch wild brown trout can be caught free of charge?

Just in case you are unable to use google – you might find this link kinda interesting: River Bollin

You have until the 30th April so hurry up.

The second way and if you are unlucky enough not to win a free copy is to actually buy the book – you can buy it from many bookshops however if you buy it from Amazon and through my link I get a bung – so here is a picture that takes you straight to the Amazon page where you can buy it..

If you click this picture you go to Amazon....maybe!

In other news I happen to have a shit load of flies that need tied up – a kind reader got in touch to say he was going to send me some (the absolute gent) and they will get used over the coming coming season however I happen to have a free 2 hour window tomorrow morning – on the cards are simple pheasant tail nymphs (with no thread used), some Wooly Buggers (a few colors) and some stupidly sparse dries.

I also have some red wine to drink – I think I am going to enjoy it!

What a difference a week makes!

Last Friday after work I managed a couple of hours searching for some elusive rising trout action. All I appear to be reading just now on the blogs I visit is the rising trout people seem to be connecting with – meanwhile on the few hours I managed to steal away I did not witness any trout action whatsoever. Of course this week we are back to freezing conditions and no flies although I hear today there were some olives coming off on the Kelvin despite the -4 temp when I got in the car this morning, by 3pmish it was up to 11 degrees.

And the wind was cold – I think the cold wind was killing any surface action whatsoever. The air was still warmer than the water however those little olive boats just did not arrive.

I watched a guy fishing down the river in front of me – fishing down and across. I wandered about looking at likely pools and runs until eventually I stuck on a copper nymph and fished it like a mini streamer probing all the knocks and crannies on the opposite side of the river – I may have got a knock however it was more probably a boulder.

Following a guy downstream...

I wandered further down the river and spoke to the guy who had been fishing – he had not had a knock on his wet flies either. We spoke for a bit about the weather, about tackle, about dry fly set ups and also about association business – the usual stuff that decent members of the association want to gab about.

We parted ways and I decided to call it a day – the wind was stronger and was very chilly, you could see the wind breezing up the river making it difficult to cast the 4 weight.

A handy sign!

I scrambled up the river bank to the path back to the car and looked again at the corner of the pool where I expected to see some trout rising – there were none. In the car it was warm and it felt good to be out the cold. I cannot help but feel the weather has kinda fooled us into thinking that we should be having a bonanza when really bright sunshine with a cold wind coupled with intermittent fly hatches can be quite difficult. Saying all that I am pretty sure that on other parts of the river some action could have been seen.

It just depends really.

The Urban Fly Fisher

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