The one that got away ( Sorry--No pictures)

It's the last Saturday in June and there is just 2 days left before I am due to fly across the Atlantic to Canada for my eagerly awaited months holiday.
"So why not get down the river and give the trout a go" I thought.
"The weather is good and with everything sorted for my holiday, it would be a shame to waste the day."

I had been experimenting with some small dry flies (having progressed from tying bugs)
The #19 barbless hooks were about as small as I could manage and with a few c.d.c feathers, yellow thread and a couple of fibbets, my efforts resembled something like an emerger.

I had tested them in a glass of water and they sat through the surface film looking good,
but would they fool The Clyde,s wily brown trout ? I was eager to put them to the test.
 A short drive along the side of the Pentland Hills, heading down and through  Biggar, I was soon parked up at my favourite fishing place on the Clyde at Wolfclyde Bridge.

The spot I had chosen to start fishing was just 200 metres upstream from the bridge, there always  seemed  to be rising fish there and today was no exception,
 "A good place to try out my efforts." I thought.

A 10ft #3 rod with a 12ft tapered leader down to a 6ft 6x tippet ,was the set up for my attack.

In the past I had been having trouble when  picking up the fly from the surface, it always seemed to be sodden.
The reason I soon found out was that my fly line/leader had been sinking resulting in the fly being pulled under the water on the retrieve. 

This time I coated the fly line the leader and half of the tippet in muslin, so it would all sit on the surface.

The last 3ft of tippet I applied leader sink to try and sink the remaining line to the fly.

All looked good and after a few casts I was happy that I had solved my problem.

I was now able to flick the line off the surface keeping the fly dry.

I sat back to work out my line of attack.
The water was no more than 18" deep with maybe an extra foot towards the far side of the river.
I knew by past experience that the trout were very spooky here, I would need to keep my distance and a long cast would be necessary to succeed.
The breeze was coming down stream so I decided I was going to approach up stream of any target and let the fly be first to go over a feeding fish.
The conditions would make it difficult to make an upstream cast and in any case

I'm not the best of casters, I am always frightened of spooking the fish with the fly line.
I had been watching  the Italian style of casting on YouTube and with some practise, finally getting a double haul ( of sorts) into my rhythm , I was feeling confident that I would now be able to get my fly to any rising fish with some control and hopefully fool the trout into taking my offering.

I had spotted some rising fish in the middle of the river, so I decided to start off entering the water some way upstream of them and keeping low, gradually work down to them.
Everything looked good, by throwing a bit of slack in the line and making an upstream mend, I was able to get a good 8ft + of dead drift .
The fly would then swing round in the flow and I was then able to pick up the line well out of the way of the fish and re- cast.
I spent some time targeting these fish but to no avail, I just couldn't get any of them to have a go at my offering.
As I sat back on the bank wondering what to do next I noticed a rising fish close to an overhanging bush on the far bank.
I had seen decent fish being caught in the past from that area and decided it was worth a go.
I once again entered the water some way up from the spot and started to cast as I moved across and down to my target.
I knew that I had to put my fly just above the fish without spooking it and dead drift it into its feeding zone.
I gradually inched my way across the river and at half way decided that if I was to approach further the fish could spook and dart to cover.
I perfected my long cast and on the first go I got it near perfect but had no take.
My second attempt was again spot on and as I held my breath and watched my home tied wee emerger pass over the spot---it was sucked under -- I lifted the rod -- it was on.
Success at last, but my initial feeling was this ain't a fish of any size its just a tiddler.
Then my #3 rod bent double, my catch must have woke up, it head downstream--I held on not wanting the fish to get into the current.
I couldn't quite see the fish, just a lot of splashing----this wasn't a tiddler this was a proper fish.
I tried to get some line back but it refused to come upstream towards me.
A cry from the bank by a passing fellow angler was. " it's a good fish mate"
I nearly shouted to him to stay put as it would be nice to get a picture of my capture to put on my blog but I decided not to tempt fate.

Then suddenly--
The line went slack--damn! it was off.
"Hard luck mate" from my spectator."

" You couldn't have done much about it"

"You had a bit of excitement though" he shouted  "We'll done"
My wee hook was still attached to my tippet-- it wasn't bent -- my hook hold just couldn't have been good enough.
Maybe I was too hard on the fish? Maybe I should have gone downstream towards it? Maybe eased of the pressure? but if I had done that the fish could have gone into the faster water making things even more difficult.
I sat back on the river bank and contemplated the result.
I then fished on for a while but no more takes.

As I finally drove home I thought "what the hell " that was a success, the guy was right, I had got a bit of excitement in the fight.
 I had fooled the fish and it was with one of my first ever home tied dry flies.
Just the last bit was missing -- I don't know how big it was--- definitely well over a pound--2lb--3lb?
No picture to put on my blog--- just this story "the one that got away"
I'm on my hols now.
But I will be back as keen as ever.
To my favourite spot on the Clyde.