Way Back When?

I always think that winter and around the turn of the year is a time of reflection. I tend to look back at this diary more than I actually write in it and tend to make unrealistic plans for the future. I know that I am probably not going to get away for that week up North however can still dream about some warm Summer evenings at dusk when the trout start to sip down olives with a lot more excitement than just an hour ago.

Way back almost when this blog started my fishing took a leap when I met a couple of guys – Alberto and Emanuale – here they are the first time we met fishing Loch Awe together.

I think it was during this time I met Mike from Tamanawis, of course back then he had long hair …

…and of course he was a single man as well.

The Winter Solstice has now passed us by and the days should start getting longer although not warmer for a few months yet. That used to always confuse me as you would think with the extra heat and light it should start to warm up immediately, however due to Seasonal Lag instead the country gets colder.

Apart from this year when we are expected to get highs of 15 degrees in some parts of the country. This is in fact a good trout fishing temp  and if it was June I would be wearing long shorts and a jumper instead of a woolly hat.

Anyway, where was I? unrealistic plans? Well, how about some realistic ones! I am pretty sure that once all the arbour work is completed on the Kelvin I will have one helluva lot more good fly water to explore. The work has opened up some very long sections of pools, riffles and runs to explore.

 We are not talking about the odd branch here and there – there were some serious trees taken out and then chipped..

I suppose the reason I am thinking about the past is because I would swear the Kelvin has changed one heck of a lot in the last 15 years. I remember when I first started fishing the Kelvin the area at the Vet School seemed to carry a lot more water with long strings of weed – the trout used to sit among the weed and catching them was pretty difficult. I have no idea where all this long weed has gone.

The problem with the past is that 15 years ago I was a pretty shit fisher (whereas now I am merely mediocre)however I still managed to catch a lot of trout albeit smaller ones. I am hoping that with the no kill policy the last year combined with the no stocking policy the indigenous trout population should start to recover – maybe in another few years. Problem is some folk still look on the no kill trout policy as something that affects other folk – I met one guy during the season who stated he was being “plagued by trout” while fishing the worm for Salmon – he chucked a dead trout on the bank “fur the dug”.

That has annoyed me for months.

What the Kelvin needs is more dedicated trout anglers who have conservation in mind – dare I say fly fishers. As it is the membership has tipped towards the Salmon fishers. The current trout, fly only ticket stands at a grand total of £15 a season – peanuts!

Here’s to to Summer evenings eh?