Not to sure where it all went wrong today – good temps (above 10), the water at a nice height and some olives floating around. Mike, Alex and I fished a city stretch and Mike was the only one who contacted a fish.
The water was looking brown rather than the classic green Kelvin tinge and once more I wondered at how lovely the Kelvin is when it runs through Glasgows Parks.
It was nice to be out, the parks were full of people and at times we had an audience of several people watching us fish with the usual “any fish in there pal?” comments. I must admit I was beginning to ask that myself before we left. Still it was nice to see people out and about again after the miserable winter, there was even people out painting on the wall at the underground station – I think it is some kind of legal community wall for people to show off their art rather than on the side of trains etc.
Anyway, I ended up very far upstream on one of the Kelvin tributaries – caught two parr on a Comparadun. I would not call it a disappointing day – we went out, had a bit of banter, fresh air, cast some dry flies and got skunked honestly and fairly.
I have also been browsing one of my, well the only book about the Kelvin – it gives a fascinating history of the river from its source to the Clyde.
Looking forward to next week already.
Alright Alistair i was on the Kelvin today too just at the science park same thing with me rises happening cast out nope no joy then i tried an olive buzzer emerger thingy first two casts sot me two takes off the surface but never got to land any of them 🙁 tricky these little brownies.
I really need to learn how to tie some dries
Hey Paul, we did not see any rising fish so you were lucky..what was the colour of the river like where you were?
Did your fish come off or did you miss the takes?
the water was a litle browner than usual but not too bad ,both fish came off first one felt small but the second one felt decent.I only managed to catch a glimpse beneath the surface ,also spotted an otter or something like that on the little island across from the sandy bit where i was and a few kingfishers.
Hmmm, it must have been clearing just nicely that far up river. There are a few kingfishers that zip up and down that stretch – little blue spitfires !
How big was the furry animal? – if it was big then it may well have been an otter – if it was smaller then it was possibly a mink.
I managed to get out onto the river at 2 o’clock yesterday and was awarded with rising fish and a decent hatch. Howecver, it was interesting to note that fi9sh were rising to a very localised hatch and in fact the rest of the stretch that i was fishing seemed to be devoid of life. Anyway, after several fly changes i managed to land two and loose 2 nice trout on the comparadum. Lessons learnt, at this time of year the action will be confined to sheltered spots and will often happen later than you may think, ie between 2 and 4. It can only get better from now on in !
Fished the river today and was rewarded with my first fish of the season. Nice trout of about 1.1/4lb. Some kids dressed in their orange nursery vests were passing when I caught the trout so gave them a quick look before releasing it. A few mums and dads being told of their day at the park.
I had a shot at Kelvingrove for an hour last night (Sunday) but nothing doing. Some insect activity on top of the water, but nothing rising.
Thanks for commenting chaps- as usuall I was sitting in work today looking out at the splendid weather. What did you get your fish on Jim?
Olive campara dun size 16 on the second attempt then it was game on .
Sounds like that fly should be promoted to Second Lieutenant 🙂
fished the kelvin for the first time ever on Monday, saw a fish flop about (maybe sunning itself, it was beautiful weather) but no rises. Seems like a few are catching on the olive comparadun, I gotta learn to tie that fly!
Never heard a trout rising being called “flop about” before……love it!
Fished the river yesterday and seen couple of rises. Then a nice trout about 3/4lb jumped clean out of the water in front of me and that was as close as I got to conecting with a trout. There’s always tomorrrow.
🙂 I guess it’s a descriptive term! I’m certainly new to the world of fly fishing and not yet indoctrinated into the all the lingo! Hope it put a wee smile on yer face
Actually when I think about it – I would describe a Salmon as flopping about as they seem to come out the water and then belly flop back in out of sheer enjoyment – Trout more kiss the surface as they suck in whatever juicy morsel they have spotted –
Salmon and sea trout will take dry flies with a delicacy that belies their reputation. There are a couple of rivers where sea trout are regularly targetted with dries, which they will take like a brownie.
A salmon will sometimes take a bomber with such subtelty that all you see is an empty glide where once drifted a hideous, lime-green, stiff-hackled monstrosity.
They do like to flop about sometimes though!!
Never thought the “flop about” comment would catalyse such discussion 🙂 So what I saw was a small trout “flop” the water, it didn’t jump out fully, just partially and then flopped back. So in my mind, a “rise” is a more subtle breaking of the surface, to take a fly and create a ring or ripple….
Well done lads-its good to see some of you guys actually fishing a real stretch of the river from time to time!-Oh, i almost forgot again-any chance of telling alan atkins i wasn’t being ignorant-and if he would like to have go for a kelvin springer-i’ll meet up with him on the river at some point in may(there are usually a few creeping about by then).
Hey Charlie – just becuase I dont post it does not mean I dont fish it 😉
Oh, I am pretty sure Alan will wander along himself and reply at some point – you been out at all ?
was out on the kelvin today. Lost 3 and landed just the one. Between 3 of us we caught 7 fish. There were a few hatches and quite a lot of rising fish. Was a great day 🙂 we were all catching on Duns of different colours, in case anyone was interested
I’ve been down about four times since the end of march-the last visit i had my wee girl and her pal with me-very expensive!,they relieved me of about 13 quids worth of assorted mepps-on every snag our lovely river has to offer,in the space of about half an hour!.Obviously i didn’t get any time to fish myself,as i had to be a human sheild to protect innocent passers by being impaled by two very enthusiastic novices.
this blogg is absolutly brilliant !!full of everything we need !!
Hey Nicolas, I spoke to you in the GAC today, we were pretty successful, that fly you recommended was bitten off my line by a hungry trout on the first cast.
I think you have just made up my mind as to where I will fish tommorow Andy 🙂
Alistair hello been down the Kelvin 4 times this week caught 3 all about 5 – 6 inches missed about 6 any pointers on why i`m missing so many.
As i`m new to this river fishing do you strike asap or give them a sec or two to take whats the best methods with the dry ? cast upstream and let it go with the flow?? , do i retrieve figure of eight?? or fast??
Please help me as i am hoping to really focus on this style of fishing no more stocked fisheries for me (well maybe during the closed season).
What breaking strain of leader do you suggest i`m currently using fulling mill 4lb flouro carbon.
I`ll be fishing again on Sunday if your available as it would be nice to finally meet the man.
P.s Any pointers for anyone is greatly appreciated
Hi Paul, missing trout is just one of those things – I certainly do not pause when a trout takes my fly – it could be though that the trout is taking something just under your fly possibly an emerger.
The easiest way of dry fly fishing is to cast upstream of a rising trout and let it drift over without any drag (the fly moving unnaturally) also you can search water with a fly like a comparadun or a klinkhammer.
I use 3lb tippet – I do not like flurocarbon, i find it too limp. I am using some verivas just now however also use stuff called stroft which is great.
I am a big disapointment to meet – cant cast and rarely catch any fish 🙂
Alistair
Alistair – glad to hear it 🙂 if today (saturday) is anything like yesterday then you should have a cracking day. Let us know how it went, tight lines!