I set off earlier and earlier for Glencorse, to try and get a parking place along the wall. Last time I only just made the last spot. So, I gave myself an extra 5 minutes yesterday… and just missed getting the last spot! You need to be there before 7:00 a.m. to guarantee a spot!
The day started with a moderate breeze from the WNW. Decidedly cool, but after the Watch I had switched to winter mode, clothing-wise, so was prepared for it. It was a 100% ceiling, but a good height – at that point. John McGonagle had heard from Kenny that the fish were well up in the water, but were behaving unpredictably. A good day on daddies could be followed by them being useless. A good catch one day could be followed by a hard shift the next day.
John and I both tackled-up with midge-tips with a bead on the tail fly. We took a drift from above the dog-leg, cutting the corner and down and along the road shore. It didn’t take John long to have the first fish of the day in the net. It was on a Nemesis on the middle. We continued, and John had a couple of follows with no contact. I might as well have been fishing without flies on. We tried up the top end, but didn’t get the vibes up there. We worked our way back down.
The breeze started to drop, lighter and lighter. And we started to see one or two rises. I gave up on the twiddling rod and put up the dry fly rod. We couldn’t see any meat on the water for them. I thought I would give the daddy a try, after hearing more than one person talk about catching on it. I put one on the tail, with a sedgehog on the dropper. I started to get interest to the daddy, from fish that did an underwater ‘fly-by’, without breaking surface.
I switched to a size 14 black paraloop hopper on the tail and a shuttlecock on the dropper. By this time we were drifting the road shore, tight in. We could see rises ahead of us, under the overhanging branches. I soon got a chance at a cover and the fish took the hopper nice as ninepence. Not long after that, I had another chance at a cover – and that one took lovely as well! I changed the dropper to a 12 black half-hog. As we drifted on down, the shade from the trees allowed me to see a fish that was swimming about in front of the boat. I simply cast the flies into its path, and then watched it come up and take the half-hog! An undersized wild brownie was the only other fish to come aboard – also to the hopper – and also from a cover.
After that, the weather started to change. It went glass-calm. That left us sitting on our thumbs. There wasn’t enough rising to sit in one spot. We took an early lunch, while having a look at the high bank opposite the island on the south shore. Nothing doing there. By now, the breeze was coming back, but this time from the ENE. It was suddenly a lot cooler. I had one spare layer in my bag. The question was whether I could physically manage to get it on… on top of the six I was already wearing! I went for it. It was a struggle, but it went on. By now it was starting to drizzle, so the coat and waterproof over-trousers went on as well. I was like the Michelin man – with about the same movement. We carried on – for a couple of hours or so, but it all seemed to have gone dead with the arrival of the east wind and rain, save for a few wee wild brownies rising in the calm spots. We packed in an hour early, by which time everyone else was having the same idea.
Dougie Skedd adds…
I was watching the weather all week. An unsettled jetstream was making the weather very changeable. It was changing from hour to hour, never mind day to day. At different times we were offered a couple of inches of rain, gale force winds, flat calms and mixtures of all the above. As it turned out, we didn’t get any of the extremes, although things did change quite a bit over the day. This week’s loser in the lucky-dip for boat partners was one of our new members, David Risien. What a welcome to the club. A day out with me. Ach well, anyway, we went out to give it a go.
It was cold at the start. Actually, quite cold. Autumn has definitely arrived now. There was a bit of a variable breeze and decent overhead, so it looked good. Nothing showing, but with it being so cold I wasn’t surprised. We set up our drift at the knuckle where two burns come in. Usually a productive area. Could be that’s where the stocking takes place, but let’s not go there. Davie set up a Cortland blue with a black tadpole on the point. A rather sizeable black tadpole, but it must have caught something’s eye first cast, because he got a fierce pull and the culprit left a very big swirl. However, it didn’t stick, which was a constant throughout the day. We drifted slowly along. I had rigged-up a midge-tip with a suspender on the point, a dabbler in the middle and a pearly cat on the bob. A couple of fish showed half-hearted interest in the suspender but didn’t take it. Suddenly, a fish did take the suspender – and a big fish at that! I don’t know where Kenny gets his fish, but their diet obviously includes steroids and amphetamines. What a beast!
We kept on drifting. A bit further down the bank another fish hung on, this time to the cat. Another cracking fish. By this time Davie was giving the infamous bung a try. He was getting nips but couldn’t hook the culprits. We felt there had been more fish back at the knuckle, so we went back. The light was such that we could now see into the clear water. We spotted a large golden trout swimming around. It was only while watching this that we noticed he wasn’t alone. The margins were like an aquarium, with a lot of trout, some very large, swimming about a bit dazed-looking. A couple had a half hearted swirl at my flies. A few nipped at Davie’s offerings. Suddenly, a good fish grabbed at the cat. I saw the white fly vanish and struck. The fish fell off. More nips and abortive follows. I was just giving up and drifting further down the bank when my shoulder was about wrenched out of its socket. A very substantial rainbow was attached to the pearly cat. It stayed on.
By now the weather had turned quite benign. An odd fish started to rise. I rigged dries. As ever, as soon as dries are set up the rising stopped. At least for us it did. I could see Colin a bit further down the bank with targets to shoot at and he didn’t waste his opportunity. The wind had swung round through 180 degrees which meant Davie had the shore side. I suggested it might be a good chance to try his bung again. He did just that and caught three fish, one after the other from the ‘Aquarium’. By now, the fish had seen enough of us and all the takes dried up. Well, not quite. I had been watching Davie’s bung when my line started to run out. A fish had taken a tiny CDC that I had on the point. How I managed to land one of Kenny’s lumps on that tiny fly I don’t know. After that, the forecast rain arrived and an early bath was taken. Despite the huge number of fish we could see we had the best boat with seven. Plenty of sport but not much return.
The Club’s 13 rods caught 22 fish.
