A good start to the trout season.

I have been out now three times since the beginning of the season and  what joy it has been to get away from the the house.Winters up here in Scotland seem to last ages.
Now there is a bit of spring in the air,mild weather and good river levels have brought the trout out to feed.
I have had a few,good size at around 12oz to a pound and a bit, a couple of nice grayling have come to the net as well.
I will be posting some pictures of my catches as soon as my camera dries out--had a little mishap-it got a bit wet.
The birds on the river have been active-with  pied and grey wagtails flirting about and the odd kingfisher speeding by.
Over head the buzzards have been displaying trying to compete with the crows as to who is the best manoeuvre'r in the sky.
Oyster catchers are in, in numbers, laying out their territory and making a right old racket doing it.
I am sure that the odd swallow and sand martins are about but I haven't seen them yet (too busy casting my  fly.)
And of course the favourite--our local osprey he will be here soon.
(Not finished yet with this blog-be back later.)

Back again.--
Didn't go out today until 12-00, it was a bit windy but I had nothing else to do so off I went.
The idea was to just fish the dry fly but as I walked the river there was nothing rising so I put on the nymphs and soon was into a nice fish a grayling of about a pound.

                                                                        Todays grayling
That was the only fish I had,but I was happy to catch something,see if I can do better tomorrow.

I managed to retrieve some of my shots from my waterlogged phone so here is a tout I caught yesterday.

Eat Sleep&Fish Enzine

 I was asked if I would like to write a short article for a new Enzine about flyfishing the Clyde
 Here is my contribution. Edition #3 published February 2012.
                                              The Upper Clyde
It didn’t take me a lot of thought, it was an easy decision—my business down here in London was on its knees, too much debt, not enough orders, now was a good time for a big change.                              
I sold my house, paid off my debts, loaded my van and headed North.                
Living on her own in Edinburgh, my mother needed me, she was in her eighties and was suffering from dementia.
I had been away from home for forty and a bit years,now I was in the position to look after her,to give her a bit of my time  and of course a chance to  fish the Clyde.
Its only when I am well up the M74 and have crossed the Clyde for the first time that I feel  I am nearly home.
My first glimpse of the river is at Telford Bridge,then running to Crawford and Abington.
This is the upper Clyde, it has a long way to go until it reaches  Glasgow and then into the sea.
I have made this trip many a time and looked  across the fields to the river.
One of these days I am going to be down there”—I say to myself.
Well here I am, it won’t be long now,I am starting to get excited.I turn off the motorway at Abington Service Station on to the A702,I am now heading for Lamington , Biggar then on to Edinburgh and my mum.
What’s all that stuff you are buying she asks me “Em!!  Just a little bit of fishing gear—not a lot just a few bits” is my reply. ”
Hope you are going to have time to look after me and not be out gallivanting “she  retorts.     
“Wont do that mum – I will just  go now and then.
 I will get you  settled first, make sure you have everything -  only be away for a couple of hours.    Not all the time just now and then “ I repeated.“Make sure you bring me back a fish for my tea then” she says and laughs.“ Will do"
I don’t kill fish from the river, just the ones from our local stocked pond.I will get her a rainbow now and then, she won’t know the difference ,it will keep her happy.
The stretch of the Clyde that I fish is from Wolfclyde Bridge
(that’s where the last wolf in Scotland was shot—reportedly)
 up to Telford Bridge just by the motorway.You could not wish for a better brown trout and grayling  water.Miles and miles of crystal clear water that would take you more than a lifetime to explore.
I can go out some days and not see a sole.Plenty of cows and sheep to keep you company and there are always dippers, wagtails chirping away by the river side-kingfishers dashing past-buzzards soaring in the sky.
If you are lucky you may get a glimpse of an otter or watch an osprey plucking fish out of the water.
Well there you are—I’ve told you a little bit about the river  where I spend my time.
And I’ve told you how I come to be there. My mum passed away last April and I miss her.
I won’t be coming back South, I will be staying up here spending my retiring years fishing the Clyde.
So if you are travelling on the M74 and you look over the fields to the river, that lone fisher could be me—why don’t you join me, you would be more than welcome.

A wee Clyde brownie

Just about to start a grayling seasion at Wolfclyde Bridge.

My French Leader set-up

I had tried the so called French Leader Method a couple of years ago without success.
After obtaining as much information as I could from the Internet, down the Clyde I went to give it a go.
Well!! what a mess I got into.
"How are you meant to cast this thing without the need of the fly line" I thought.
I could not get my line out whatsoever, it ended up in a tangled mess around my rod and feet.
After a half hour or so of exasperated and embarrassing effort, not wanting to be noticed by my fellow anglers, I packed it in and went back to more conventional methods.

Then-at the beginning of last year I decided to have another go.
I had come to realize that my lack of success was part due to my rod  and set-up.
This time I had opted for a 10ft #3, this would give me the required length and softness to be able to cast my extra long leader.
With further small modifications and lots of practice, I was finally able to apply this method quite easily with some confidence.
 It is now my main method of nymphing and I am using it on the Clyde with great success.

My rod is a  10ft #3 Marryat Tactical and Orvis Battenkill reel loaded with #3 flyline.
The lightness of this set-up enables me to fish with an outstretched arm for long periods.
Attached to the fly line, loop to loop, is a 9 metre Hends Camou tapered leader.
I cut- off about 2 metres from the small end of this leader and tie on 2 metres of 8lbs bs mono.
The reason for this is that the small float stops need to be a nice tight fit to enable you to adjust the group of stops to the right position for the sighter.(a lighter line would not have the required diameter )
Attached to this (loop to loop)  would then be your tippet section.
The distance from the loop to the first dropper, I set at 1m, which is about the shortest distance from the sighter that I would want to position it.
While fishing, by sliding the stops up the 8lb mono section I can increase this distance to suit the depth and angle of the sighter.
I fish 3 nymphs with the heaviest on the point (the heavier the point fly the easier it is to cast.)
I don't want to go too heavy with the nymphs, as they need to travel down stream naturally and not like a set of anchors.
As I want all my nymphs to be hugging bottom the maximum distance I would set them apart up from the point fly would be 60cm.

So thats the set-up,but you may need to twiddle around with it to meet the conditions of the day.
The whole idea of this method is to be able to present your nymphs to the fish,at distance, at the speed of the current.
I make an upstream cast and while holding the rod up high let them trundle down past me.
The sighter would be held half out of the water, any dip or stop could indicate a take, most cases will be the nymphs snagging  bottom, but after a while you can identify what is a bite or not.
I fish this method on the upper Clyde at Lamington,Abington and Crawford.
Its not a massive water but nor is it a little stream.
Whilst shallow wading, using this method, I can almost present my nymphs near to the far bank.


I would normally enter the water at the tail end of the swim and work my way upstream on a short line
I may only be using  half of the 9 metres of leader (czech nymphing its probably called)
Depending on results at the end of the run, I would then go back down stream maybe on a different line, this time using the full extent of the leader.

I have had a lot of good days using this method and I hope to continue, this coming trout season.
However when the season gets into swing and the water temperature rises, I am going to concentrate on the wee dry fly on a shorter rod to see if I can hook up with our resident monster broonies.

A nice cold winters day for grayling.

The day looked almost perfect,maybe a bit bright, there was a hard frost on the ground,very little wind and the river had dropped to its normal winters level.
A good day to go after the grayling.
As Lamington section had closed I decided to venture to Ucapa water at Crawford.
I have been up to this area a few times without much success,a couple of nice trout at the end of the season but no grayling.
Starting off at Camps Bridge I decided to go upstream having my first few casts at the first run--no luck and then up to the pool by Crawford Castle with the same result.
I moved a bit further upstream, going along a steep bank,I peered  into the water to see if I could spot some fish, but the light wasn't very good, I couldn't spot any
This was a place that I had seen fish before, so I thought that I would give it a go anyway.
My tactics were to fish a couple of weighted nymphs on a long leader and a pimp indicator.
Starting at the bottom of the run I carefully entered the water and gradually, making my way upstream,fan casting as I went.
I knew that I was fishing correctly,there was very little wind, so I was able to cast upstream and bring the flies back trundling them along the bottom at the speed of the current.
After an hour of hard fishing I had reached the top of the long run,without a single take.
Its hard fishing in the winter-the water temperatures are low-the fish semi-hibernate becoming inactive,just hugging the bottom.
To be successful I think you nearly need to plonk the fly right on their nose.
I went back downstream and had a few more casts,sat down had my sandwich and coffee.

Took in the scenery and a shot of the castle.
Had a chat with one of the locals,he had just returned to Crawford after years away in Norway.
A nice lad-- Hi Rider.
Back into my warm van and home.

I think I had a good year

Well! thats it, 31st January and Lamington waters on the Clyde are now closed until the start of the trout season in March.
I think I have had a good year finishing with 80 trout and about the same amount of grayling.
No big trout or monster grayling but good quality fish.(not many sprats)
All released to fight another day.
Probably not a lot compared with the experts but I am happy--I'm still learning.

My most successful method was the trio ---Which consists of:
A big klinkhammer fly on a short dropper to act  as an indicator,then another ptn on a dropper fixed at one and a half times the depth of the swim- then  a heavier ptn 50cm further down on the point.
When I am using this method I don't like the nymphs to be too heavy, as they will only keep dragging the indicator fly under-I want the flies to look like natural food coming down the river- I don't want them to drag like anchors.
This method gives you 3 options to catch fish.
They can take the klink as a surface fly or one of the 2 nymphs.
This method needs a lot of adjustments because one day can be different from the next.

Later on in the year when the surface activity stops I change the klink. for a pimp indicator and add one more dropper below.
When the river is a bit high and I need to fish heavy to get to the bottom I use a drops style indicator as a sighter with three flies below.
Usually its a sighter--then 1.5metre approx. to first dropper then 50cm to the next dropper and 60cm to a heavy point fly.
All the methods above are attached to the end of a 9 metre tapered leader
 (the fly line hasn't been through the first eye of my rod for most of the season.)
For the above methods I use a 10ft #3 Marryat rod.
Its light-its sensitive and that extra length when held high makes it easy to keep the leader off the water = good presentation with very little drag.

When I  get to a section of river I wish to fish I will usually decide to enter the water at the top of the run and work down.
Whether i'm using the indicator fly or the sighter the fishing method would be the same.
I prefer to get into the water where possible (I'm not a deep wader) to cut my silhouette down to a minimum.
I let the required amount of leader out by firstly making a short downstream cast and using the tension of the current on the line,I then make my upstream cast.
I am now fishing.
Keeping my rod up high trying to keep all the line out of the water I let it trundle down past me--hold a few seconds on the swing and then re-cast up stream.
Three fan casts,to cover the water then one step down--and the same again until I have reached the end of the run.
Don't forget there is no fly line out of the reel,I am just using the 9 metres of tapered leader.
On reaching the bottom of the run I then decide whether or not to go back up
(depending of course you are on your own )
However I will usually have a go, moving upstream doing exactly the same.
My opinion is, that a lot of anglers go through a run too fast,they don't cover enough of the swim.
Without hogging one spot, I like to give it a thourough going over before moving on---and especially in the winter months, I may return later in the day-because fish at this time of the year may only feed once a day.

All ready for a winter grayling stint

Well here I am, all togged up for a winter grayling stint,being mid January its a wee bit cold and as I will be standing in the water all day I have made sure that everything is water tight.
I wear thermals under a good quality wading jacket,with a nice woolly hat on my head to keep the heat in and as I will be traveling  light (I'm only bugging for grayling) there is no need to take loads of gear, As a safety issue-- the banks can be wet and icy so I have fitted  studs in my felt soled wading boots to give me a bit more grip
I had a slip and tumble the other day--not a pretty sight--I'm a big old lump to come crashing down.
Had the river been running a bit high I would have worn a safety vest and used a wading staff.
If I look a bit bulky in this shot, I have a small flask of coffee and a sandwich stuck away in my pockets. That's my excuse anyway.
Its nice to have a sit down and have a hot drink and a bite after a couple of hours and as I will be travelling searching for the grayling, it may be too far back to the car.
The weather today is dull,damp and a bit cold with a varying wind of about 15-20 miles per hour.
Ive opted for my 10ft #3 rod,with an 8 metre tapered leader. ( I wont be fishing any fly line off the reel today)
I will start off with a drops style indicator then 6ft of 4lb mono to - 2 size 16 beaded droppers to a  14 tungsten bead point fly.
Pink on the point red on one dropper and plain ptn on the other.
Should I find it difficult to control the set up because of the wind or I have difficulties because of the light ( my eyes are not as good as they were) I can remove the drop ind. and replace with a bright coloured pimp.
So thats my set up and plans for the day.
Its now 12noon and I will be fishing the Clyde at Wolfclyde Bridge ( in the background)
I know a few likely spots that have produced fish in the past.
So away I go.

3 hours later.

Well I gave it a go without much success, I had one decent out of season trout and one tiny grayling, both of which shed the barbless hook just at my feet--therefore no pictures of fish.

So here is another shot of me with the old pillars of the railway bridge that runs next to Wolfclyde.
I enjoyed the day. I have let the grayling off the hook till the next time.

The grayling season is here.

Well the trout season has ended and we are now well into the grayling season
Unlike summer fishing, where you can nearly guarantee getting out on the river, grayling fishing up here in Scotland is a touch and go situation.
Flooded rivers.snow, ice, rain, and strong winds,all make it difficult in getting out.
So when you get a break in the weather you have to go for it,the next day may be totally un-fishable.
Its now nearing Christmas, ive been out a few times and have caught my share of grayling with a lot of out of season trout thrown in.
Most of the fish have been around the pound mark with only the one (pictured) which was  around 2lb and 17" long.
Using a 10ft #3 nymphing rod, size 18 ptn on a 2lb tippet I had a good tussle on my hands.
It took a bit of time to net, in the fast flow, but it finally conceded--a quick picture,then back in the river,where it swam off strongly.
It was only a wee one,for up here on the River Clyde the grayling grow to 3lb +

                                             A River Clyde winter grayling