When I took some bags out to the wheelie bin this morning it was warm, at least the sun was shining and I did not skuttle back in to the house. Instead I stood and felt the sun on my face and wanted to catch a trout. It has been a long busy winter (hence the lack of posts) so I headed back into the house and got my shit out my fishing cupboard and stuck it into the car. The kids and wife piled into the car and we headed to Paisley where I sacrificed damn near £50 a month to the Gods of the “new sofas” at DFS. We then headed to Kelvingrove Art Gallery where the kids and wife were ejected and I donned my trout hunting gear.
I was keen to get stuck in as over at the River Kelvin Fishers facebook page a few guys have been posting their exploits so I knew some rising trout might show themselves.
As I strung up my rod and line I could swear that it was snowing and I wondered if some blossom or something was being blown on the water. It was when I looked up at the angry clouds I realised that it was hailstones that were drifting down, bag fat light ones though so no need to get under cover. I worked my way up the pool and spotted my first two risers of the year, their was a steady stream of Olives coming off the water however they were just out of reach. I got into the water and started to wade however it was not to be as I shat it when trying to get past some very slippy green tinged rocks. My fishing feet are definitely not with me yet!
The river was dirty enough that I could not see the bottom and up enough to make crossing at this particular spot difficult. I scrabbled across the wrong bank, the right one being the one I can cast from without there being any issues and the moved up disturbing some usually productive water. When I got to where the trout had been rising a few roll casts put the fly on the spot but the trout was spooked long ago by my wading.The positive was that thankfully it was too cold and not enough bushes for their to be anyone having a nature wank so I was safe.
I then came across some more rising trout – 6 to be exact.
I would love to say that I caught them but I spent a good hour covering them with little joy – there are three distinct currents and even when I managed to get a good drift at the last moment drag would take effect and the fly would move unnaturally. A couple of times there would be a boil under my fly which is a classic refusal at the last minute of a trout that realises something is just a bit off with the fly. This happened with all the trout bar one that moved a few inches from its station and let me hook it only for it to be gone after a few pulls. I looked up and their was around a dozen folk possibly tourists looking down at me from the bridge. I do not remember this many folk being interested and it put me off for a bit however I plugged on and then next time I glanced up they were gone. A couple of the better trout were supping flies from some dead water and they drove me nuts but it was all good action anyway.
My boys joined me and I showed them how to cast – I let them try a roll cast from a wee island.
I did not mind heading back to the car as all the trout had stopped rising by this point – the hatch of olives were long gone!
The temperature bumped 12 degrees a couple of times today however I reckon during the hatch it was 10 degrees with the wind chill slightly lower.
If you guys have not done so already please join us over at the River Kelvin Fishers page for a bit of banter.
So my Kelvin account is still pending however a week at this time of year can make a huge difference weather wise so lets see what happens next week!