Fishing opportunities have been curtailed due to the fact I am packing up my house and move in with the in-laws for a bit. The house market took us by surprise and our house was sold within a week. I think that is a positive. Still, I have managed to wet a line a couple of times.
Last night I headed out with the mighty Jim Burns (he had been helping me along with some other fishing buddies to move my families belongings into storage) for a late evening session down the Kelvin. He had spent the day down the Clyde with the other guys that helped me out and within a few minutes spotted more trout rising on the Kelvin than he did all day on the Clyde.
We had a go at some incredibly tricky trout, the tricky part was the trees and bushes behind us which meant that to get a fly to the confident risers tantalizing us a few rod lengths away I had to roll cast. I cannot roll cast that far, especially with an 8 foot rod. OK to be honest I can barely roll cast a couple of rod lengths. Needless to say they stopped rising as I spooked them.
Next stop was to have a gander at a blackbirds nest, Jim had almost put his hand in it the other night. What it shows is that we must be extra careful to watch out for birds nests at this time of year.
It was Jim’s turn next to have a go at some risers and he scrambled down the bank…
He did about as well as me…
We met a young guy fly fishing on the other side, we asked him for his permit and he did not have one. We told him he would have to go buy one. We both felt pretty shite about it as the guy was polite and was obviously a beginner. I was half inclined to just let him fish however Jim reminded me that we could turn the corner and meet someone without a permit. I told him the story of last week when I had met a guy down at the Botanics, I asked him for his permit……
Me: I am Alistair, Vice Chair and all round good guy, you got your permit handy?
Young Chap: Aye
Me: Can I see it?
Young Chap: Aye (shows me it) I ave already been asked fur it the night, two guys doon the water.
Me: Yes, that will be the other bailiffs
Young Chap: Well lets see it then?
Me: ?
Young Chap: Your permit?
Me: (I pat my pockets, I appear to have left it in my running shorts) I, um, er, appear to have left it in my running shorts
Young Chap: You cheeky bastard, I bet you don’t even fucking have one. You were just gonna ask me to make yourself look good in case I asked you.
And after a bit of banter he insisted that he take my photo to show some pals to make sure I was legit.
Anyway, back to the session. After a bit we came across some lovely debris from some folk that had obviously just made a visit to the Glasgow Angling Centre
It’s cool, we crunched down all the stuff they left and put it into the plastic bag they had also left next to the river. The fire they set on the bank had not burned too much grass either. Jim stuck it into his backpack to take to a bin.
We both caught nice trout on the walk back up, Jim’s was bigger though!
Great story today Alistair. I went on one of my biannual fishing trips down south with my buddy john a week ago. A warden stopped me while I was fishing for trout.
‘Got your license?’, ‘umm I think it’s up in the truck’, ‘ no problem, give me your SS # and I’ll look it up.’ Seconds later, ‘your ok, and I see you have your trout stamp too.’
Unbelievable, living in the future!