So I was planning to go for a full days fishing on Saturday, considering I am now a driver I knew I could wangle the car from Claire if needed it so I could go a little further afield than the Kelvin. One of my pals asked me if I thought people would be wondering why I have not fished the Kelvin in the last few weeks, I would hope you good readers realise I am still in that stage of wanting to drive to places I would not ordinarily have got to myself. Come next season and I will be hitting the Kelvin again full force. Anyway, work has been chock a block with things to do and I have not managed to spare a few hours to spend on the Kelvin. There is of course an additional problem of two spillages in the river that I have heard about which is pretty well wiped out the fishing (not the fish I hope) down my end of the river.
Anyway, On Saturday Alex asked if I wanted to spend a full day on our other favourite bit of water. When he said a full day I thought he was talking about maybe 10am to around 8 or 9. Possibly even a session from 12 to around 10. What I did not reckon on him meaning was a half past four pick up- being on the river at dawn and then fishing through to dusk. Nearly 14 hours of solid fishing, “Oh bugger†I thought “I am going to need sandwiches and coffee for this one”
Anyway, in the end up the day absolutely whizzed past, dawn was a quick affair with a few trout caught- Alex caught a belter using a nymph suspended under a dry fly.
Oh, seeing as how he was so chuffed, here you go….
I was not to be out done and caught a beauty of a Grayling that gave an impressive fight even though I was trying to hussle it in so it was not tired out.
I had to spend a little longer than usuall cradling the fish in some slack water before it had recovered enough to swim off under its own steam- I had learned my lesson from the time I (stupidly) let go of a nice trout only to watch it go belly up in the current, it was only a stroke of luck that I captured it again.
One reason I think for this most great day was that the wind picked up. The last few years I have fished here it has always been windy and we always caught lots of trout- this season it has not been windy and we have still caught trout, big ones at that, but just not as many until the wind blows. Our theory is that there is always the same amount of flies on the water- ok sometimes more when there is a big hatch but it is usually quite consistent. When the wind blows hard the trout see the surface chopping up (my wordage) and expect to see a lot more fly life that has been blown on the water. While it was windy I was (and so was Alex) picking up a trout every other cast, I lost a fair few when they would dive into the weeds but the end result was usually a nice fat trout.
Of course casting in the wind is a bit difficult but when it is all short range works it sure was fun. Mike noticed the wind phenomenon one day he was fishing as well.
Cant believe it is only a month until the end of the season- by the way, I have decided to keep the little competition going until the close season as some punters have decided to send pictures in late- for some people my RSS feed was not working and did not know about it- I will up the prizes and add a mug with a nice picture on it!
Alistair, a lovely trout and grayling. You should hope that your stretch still holds such Grayling in the winter when they will be fatter, stronger and generally in much better nick, and will fight much better. I have been picking up the odd one on the Avon of late. Not done much trouting but have been after the salmon on the Ayr, with no joy as yet. There are still rods available on the Esks in Sept/ Oct, ,let me know if you are interested. As for the wind theory, i believe it always will make for a better fishing day , especially on your other river and ones like it. Wind will blow terrestials on from the fields and at this time of year on your other river this often means the sand fly. Trout will feed often on one food item and ignore others but when the sand fly makes an appearance they will go for it in a big way. Also, i believe that a breeze that riffles the surface allows the trout to loose some of their shyness and feed with more confidence, also, their angle of vision is effected by any disturbance on the water’s surface, making our job of concealment and deception a lot easier – just a thought!!
Alistair, a lovely grayling and trout. You will be hoping that your stretch will still hold grayling in the winter when they will be stronger, fitter and fatter and will fight much better. I have picked up a few on the Avon recently, but only a couple of trout. I have been fishing the Ayr for salmon recently, but no joy so far. There are still some rods available for the Esks in sept/ Oct , let me know if you are interested. As for the wind theory, i alsways believe a breeze makes for a good day on the river. However, at this time of year, especially on your other river and rivers in that area, when the wind blows off the fileds the sandfly can make an appearance and trout will feed on both what is on the watwer AND the sandfly, such is their liking for this little fly that lives in the sandy undercut banks so typical of rivers like your one !! I also believe that a breeze gives us fishers the edge as the trout’s vision is effected by any disturbance on the wtaer’s surface , making them less wary and more likey to feed with confidence. It also gives us the edge, making concealment and deception easier, just my theory though !!