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 in Kelvingrove Park looking downstream. The river is on its bones  You can see the Giant Hogweed on the left hand bank. It is some size this year…  Looking upstream, as I stood here I noticed some small trout leaping out the water. I was surprised to see a reasonable flow through this section.
We have now entered the longest spell of hot weather since 2006 and by heck the rivers (and fishing) show it. This weather is only good for one thing.  Hot weather – only good for one thing! The level of the Kelvin has dropped significantly and even in the last week the Allander dropped even further to a proper trickle. The Salmon boys are moaning about the lack of Salmon and the trout boys can hardly get a cast at ultra spooky trout that are sitting in almost stagnant water. So now everyone is pissed off and grumpy. Expect some rumors over the next week or so as nobody has anything better to do. To fill some time there is a Work Party this Sunday if you are up for it.  The Allander is now a trickle! A burst water main up at the Vet School pumped water from a CSO into the river and even though it was not hazardous it did cause it to look a bit unpleasant and unfishable for several kilometres downstream.  Any joy pal? Consequently I cancelled a trip to the Clyde last weekend and headed to the sea side which in this neck of the woods is the mecca of Sea Fishing the Mull of Galloway. Got to point out here that this was a family camping trip and not a hard core fishing trip so a campsite next to the sea was booked and then I started thinking about fishing. There was one slight problem in that all my spinning rods are in storage. I decided to treat myself as quite frankly it feels like every pay day my wife comes home with something new she has bought the kids or herself so I looked through the Glasgow Angling Centre website for a beachcaster. Now I have got absolutely no idea about Sea fishing other than a crash course a couple of years ago when I caught a Pollock on the fly and some dogfish on sand eels. I found an Sea Fishing outfit for 70 bucks (the rod looked like a AFTMA 250) which included rod, reel, line, weights , riggs and a feck of huge tripod thing that barely fitted in my car. I also bought some sand eels which thawed in the heat within 5 mins – I really need to get one of those funkyCampingaz Electric Cool Box’s for the car. To cut a long story short I cut nowt and was not that bothered as I had new fishing gear and casting a beachcaster was one heck of a lot of fun.  Jim unable to find the river… Oh sure, there is still trout sport to be had however you have got to be out at 1am and normal folk with jobs and families just cannot do it. I have still been out with Jim until dusk and the action has been sporadic at best. We have spotted trout rising, some good ones too however when you get within casting distance they are spooked away and it is game over. We have ventured pretty far in pursuit of action and it has been slow at best (although Jim was on a role the other night)  That was his second! Of course what I want to do is get Sea Fishing with my new beachcaster however family life over the next few weeks is going to be hectic so have no idea when I would be able to fit it in. I do have one crazy idea for big fish action however we will see how that pans out over the next week or so….
It has been some time since I last fished for a full 9 hours. Over the last couple of years my fishing time has been snatched evenings or a couple of hours after work. Its because of the kids, I want to spend time with them before they grow up. For this reason I have hardly fished other rivers as it takes a bit of time to get there (although Saturday it only took 45mins to get back so that is being double examined right now) however on Saturday I was granted a full day pass so left at 12ish and planned to stay until dusk. It turned out my pass was assumed to cease at 7pm as I was expected to get some shopping in however there was not much that could be done about it as there was no way I was heading up the road early before dusk.  Le River … I headed down with Jim with Paul meeting up later after he had completed his chores around the house and the session could firmly be split into two. The first half was hot and bright with three extremely hard fished for trout to show for it and the 2nd heading into dusk much better. I had contemplated using my 5 weight SLT however was glad I settled for my Orvis Superfine 4 weight. It had enough punch to get through the wind. I fished down this river with an extremely soft 4 weight bamboo rod for a couple of seasons so the Orvis should not have an issue.  Warm and bright with some amazing undergrowth…  Wee typical trout … The undergrowth has gotten pretty deep and wild, it is as if the late spring has really encouraged the plants to go for it big style. We cleared a wee space to sit and watch for rising trout as we had some sandwiches. After sandwiches at half four that is when the 2nd session started, the wind picked up, the temp dropped and the trout started to rise. We spotted a huge fish that had us doubting whether it may have been an otter however reckon it was a trout as it was at this time we started to spot trout rising every few minutes. During this time I missed, pricked and landed several fish and it was hard going at times as the trout would look as if they were taking your fly and then when you struck they were gone. Later when I checked this out with Jim he stated the same thing was happening to him. We started seeing more Blue Winged Olives…  It took us a bit of time however we eventually found its hindwings…  Jim found a wet dragonfly so let it rest on his hand for a bit to allow it to dry off. By 8pm there were several trout rising and we were all catching rising trout, the trout were happy to take my fairly CDC n’ Elk with yellow CDC. I looked up and could not believe the amount of Blue Winged Olives above my head. They were swarming over our heads and as far as we could see up the river.  Can you see the Blue Winged Olives? As we waded upstream there was the most horrible stench in the air, it was a dead cow. It must have been decomposing for a while. Even though it looked alright the smell drifted on the wind for a hundred yards.  I kept imagining it was going to stand up and chase me with its undead zombie mooing! Still the trout did not mind and I steadily picked off each trout as Jim pointed them out to me…  Trout in net… Jim has a canny eye for rising trout and often points out dimples a hundred yards upstream. I found a nightmare tree that I am glad I did not stumble into on my way up the river..  Out of interest anyone know what the white stuff is? As dusk approached the action heated up however Paul and Jim wanted to head back down the river while there was still a glimmer of light to see by. By this point the trout had switched to spinners so I decided to walk back down after them as it is safer in numbers scrambling over rocks and electrified fences. Jim was zapped in his hand while later I was on my hands and knees and was zapped right up the spine.  Pocket water… It was great fishing up here again, the last time I was here the bullocks attacked and I had to yank a fly out my buddies face so actually going fishing and catching some fish was pretty sweet. I suppose scrambling back to the car on this stretch may have been tricky however I know another spot not too far from here that would be good in the evenings and the wading is even easier…. Caught some fish too!  It is a piece of a bridge! Heading out to the Clyde in an hour or so, will update later! See ya! It is doing ok. It could be better; a lot better however it could be a lot worse like last summer when it was just totally shite. What we need right now is some rain to liven thing sup a bit, not the torrential months lasting kind more the couple of days “just enough to give us a spate” kind or even a few nice days and then a day of rain to keep the river topped up. This will ensure the trout are getting plenty of oxygen as well as making some of the more spooky stagnant like pools fishable. A few inches on the river turns a long very slow spooky pool into a glide where the trout are less spooky. There were a couple of weeks there when folk were catching big trout; they (the trout) have now all buggered off and are probably sitting on the bottom of the river playing cards or something as what they do not appear to be doing is rising to dry flies.  A nice big kelvin trout, now playing bridge with his pals instead of inspecting my fly! As I was driving into work this morning I considered my past fishing exploits, do you remember when every weekend I would have a full day on the Clyde with more than the odd evening session thrown in? It was great however the rising cost of petrol and the fact that children now play a major role in my life this has now been curtailed. That being said I think it is time to head down to the Clyde at some point, for a change if anything!  A change from this? The gossip mill on the Kelvin has been going into overdrive at the start of the season and it has been great hearing them all however sometimes I have got to wonder about the intelligence of some folk if they actually believe them. 1. The association bought a pair of binoculars for £700. I found this funny and then it got bigger; the association bought two pairs of binoculars at £700 each. I mean really? 2. The annual petition to have Paul Reid removed is doing the rounds. Yes, a petition to have a volunteer who can be voted out if someone else is willing to do the job every two years is rumoured to be circulating. “I should be so lucky” he mused the other day.. 3. The river is being netted. I was talking to a member who assured me the river was definitely being netted as no salmon had been seen above the falls. Immediately a large Salmon splashed in the pool behind him. You know who you are! 4. The river is infested by Rainbow trout. There are usually a few caught every year going by my diary, not much can be done and if you do catch one bash it unlike one of the chaps that caught one and let it go. I have still not seen any signs of them. 5. There are Grayling in the Kelvin. This is actually a throwback from last season however I was assured from an angler that he had caught well over a dozen Grayling while trotting maggots. He was furious when I pointed out he must have been mistaken, this from a chap who marks par as Salmon on his catch returns. There are a few more however none really that affects me or have reached my ears, I asked Paul the other day and he said there was a rumour we were best of buddies before he became secretary. The first time I seen him he was sitting with his head in his hands at an AGM as he had just asked one question to many about the running of the association and was immediately voted in as secretary.  Another nice Kelvin trout… As I write this the rain has finally started (and I do hope it actually stops at some point) and hopefully it should freshen things up a tad. Of course there is always the possibility it is going to pour down for the next six weeks however here is hoping that is not the case. I am still phoneless so contacting me via email is going to be kinda slow, I phoned up the insurance folk to be told they were waiting on “parts” for my phone that had spent 6 hours underwater, what exactly are these parts of which they speak? Anyway, this afternoon was warm and muggy however my evening was spent putting the boys to bed so no fishing for me. I hope you guys fared better!
I spent the evening tying flies.  Actually that was a lie.. Actually that was a bit of a fib, I spent a couple of hours stocktaking my fly box and then amalgamated good flies from other boxes into the one I carry the most. This involved taking some old favorites like my Scruffy Kelvin Olive and some miscellaneous paraloops and picking the best ones while discarding the rest. It improves my fly selection and more importantly lowers the average size of fly.  Neatly ordered, yea right! Obviously my fly box looks like a jumble of shite mixed up with some insane tailors box however now that dusk action has properly hit us I need to make sure I can actually see the fly on the water. This means tiny easy to spot flies as well as a selection of nymphs which is another reason I did not get out this evening. I spent a while tying up a dozen light weight nymphs, you see in my box I have a fair few weighted nymphs however what I do not have is some lightweight nymphs for when the trout are taking them just under the surface. In times like that what you do is gink (or other brand of floatant) up your leader to maybe a half foot of the nymph and then cast out, with a bit of luck your nymph will travel along just an inch or so under the surface.  Not Nymphs… I was talking to Jim last night about the season on the Kelvin, it has not been bad however it has not been great either. We think the effects of the late spring are still being felt as the trout are not responding at dusk in the “classic” way. Basically even though there appears to be fly life around the trout just do not seem to be responding, even to nymphs. I would be interested in hearing what you guys think of this season so far? |
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