So I have two weeks “paternity leave” and two weeks “annual leave” – of course before number two child was born I was sneakily thinking about fishing opportunities however the best laid plans are always totally blasted out the water by sleep deprivation and a doubling of family duties.
It has been a bit of a double whammy in that not only has the weather been pretty rubbish for fishing it has also been rubbish for fishing – the wind has been coming from the East and has been cold – this does not bode well for nice family days out and barbeque’s either. Still, being Scottish we do not let some crap weather get us down eh?
Anyway, there has been lots of walks down around the pond at Victoria Park. The pond may actually look nice however seems totally dead – I have been assured there is some Sticklebacks in it however it is not like Binghams Pond which is stuffed full of huge minnows which would pull on a zero weight. I remember not too long ago there being sailing boats on the Victoria Park pond – obviously the council budget cuts of yesteryear totally wiped out that fun activity.
One fun activity we could do is to try and catch some of the wee fishes with a handy net that just so happened to appear on the scene.
To cut a long story short we caught bugger all in the pond although we will keep on trying – we then decided the next place to try would be the canal. Oh boy this place was a treasure trove of water beasties. He was getting those bugs out the water as if he was being paid by Willie Yeomans – first of all I showed him how to get those bugs into the net, you try and get your net as close as possible to some reeds and the vigorously pump the net up and down. As the old man was hogging the net the boy wanted a shot and was pumping that net like a pro…
In the net was some tadpoles, some water snails and some nymphs – I think one of them was a dragon fly nymph however I am not sure. This getting back to basics is not only good for the boy it is also good for me as well – it reminds me of what exactly fishing is all about you know?
Talking of back to basics we popped into Kelvingrove Museum yesterday – afterwards when number two son was being away being fed number one son and myself headed over a fence and down some paths to get to the weir in the park.
The river is at a lovely height for trout however while we were there we did not see any trout rise – their is a pretty vicious cold front sitting atop us at the moment and this gives rise to a cold wind coming from the east – this generally puts off all fly activity – this can be looked on as a guideline more than a rule as I have had some great fun during times of cold fronts and east winds. At the moment the thought of cashing in brownie points and suffering intense sleep deprivation (thus putting me in the risk of migraine territory) do not seem worthwhile if conditions do not seem at least leaning towards the positive side of catching trout. However he who waits n’ all that jazz.
Eventually we got bored looking for fish and decided to throw stones in the water to see how big a splash they make. Which is something as an angler I have not done for quite some time.
Of course this being the Kelvin I had to guide his wee hands away from broken bottles and he helped me stuff my pockets with some “anglers” left over fishing line – “whats that?” he asked pointing at some empty mepps and maggot boxes next to some discarded Glasgow Angling Centre plastic bags.