Glasgow is back in level three meaning that I cannot in good faith visit to have a cast on the Kelvin. My office near the Kelvin is not due to be opening anytime soon which means I am goosed for some early season trout action – I have heard up until now the season has been totally goosed anyway due the spring being exceptionally cold however by the end of this week temps should be on the up as well as the trout.
I have still been getting out though – if you were to ask my wife she would be saying getting out far too much for her liking. A week or so ago I sat bolt upright at 0430 and was fishing not long after, back home for 0800 to work from home for the day and then back on the estuary for 1730 until almost dark.
They say that Sea Trout in the salt are fish of a thousand casts – a very romantic way of saying that they are very hard to atch. I don’t actually find them that hard to catch at all as now I have managed to get them on the fly as well as tobys. What is actually difficult is locating them and knowing where they are going to be at particular states of the tide.
At one point I thought I had cracked it – I had my high,mid and low tide marks and roughly knew at what point the sea trout would show up. And then it turns out that you get big high tides and low high tides and the same with low tides. These small variations in the tides can make all the differences as to when the sea trout will show up on their patrols. Sometimes it can mean they show up an hour before the tide turns or an hour after the tide turns or at any point in between. Also the time of day as well as the weather (and the day before’s weather) all have an affect on whether they will feed that day. Good job I do not live far away that I can explore easily.
It can be absolutely maddening however I am starting to crack it I think. I have taken the boy out as well – he refused to come at what I called “manly times of the day” in other words 0530 in the morning however came out at more reasonable times such as after school. He is missing some action though – the porpoises bobbing up and down and the inevitable seal that shows up chasing the sea trout, it can be all very magical. Usually at the very least there is some following action which can be exciting as they chase the lure, however more often than not at least one small one is landed and maybe every other trip brings one (or more) of the bigger fish.
I need to start carrying my camera more however I am paranoid about the salt and my gear – I need to start logging my trips!