Well, it has been a relatively slow start to the new season for the Club. The first observation on the way to the reservoir was just how much rain has fallen over the course of the past few weeks. We were greeted by torrents of water heading down the road and from the surrounding Pentlands. However, the good news was that the fishing conditions were actually decent enough, with only a moderate easterly wind to contend with. The fishing reports from earlier in the week were very positive, with a lot of anglers reporting good numbers of quality fish and many out practising for the Fast Mail Pairs competition at the weekend.
We had 5 boats for the day, but the other boats were all out as well, so nice to see the fishery busy despite the recent poor weather. As you would expect at this time year it was a fresh cool start and there was not much evidence of surface activity. There was, however, evidence of plenty buzzer shucks in the quieter water by the boats. I was paired with Jimmy McBride for the day, so expected an eventful and fun session. The majority of rods were setting up with typical early season lure patterns, with Di-3/Di-5 sweep lines being fairly prominent among our club members.
Jimmy started with his Di-3, which he never changed; only chopping and changing flies, as necessary. I optimistically thought I’d try something a bit higher in the water column with a 12-ft slow-tip to start. Between us we hoped to find the right depth – black sparkle booby/cormorant/GM12-blob. We headed to the top of the L into the shallow bay. The water clarity across the reservoir was mixed and certainly the burns and gulleys running into the reservoir were in full spate, adding a bit of colour, which was likely to make the fishing tricky.
I brought up a couple of fish in the first few casts, working close in to the margins, but no cigar. We were the only boat in this area, which was nice, but the fishing was slow – really what you’d expect at this time of the season. However, we persevered, and repeated drifts right across the bay, working both shores and also drifting through the middle. We both picked up fish, but it was really Jimmy that was getting the lion’s share of the opportunities. His sunset Diawl Bach did well at first, with fish coming to the hang. I changed lines a few times, working down from the 12ft tip through slow-glass to intermediate. I was getting some interest to a black/gold cormorant, and even managed to pick up some of the smaller, feisty resident brown trout in the process. We had a nagging suspicion that the road shore and boat bay might be fishing a bit better, due to the number of boats we saw repeating drifts, particularly towards the burn mouth at the corner of the road shore.
A couple of boats finally made their way up and it was clear that although anglers were picking up the odd fish it was generally slow everywhere. As the day progressed, a few more buzzers started to appear, but this was generally met with only muted interest. It felt like the fish were holding a bit deeper. We relented, and headed down the road shore, but with little success. So, we moved across to the far shoreline and, although the water clarity and conditions looked more promising, we had little to show for our efforts. We bumped into Stevie and Bob, who’d had a very good session; both picking up some high quality brown trout in the 5-7lb range as well as a few very good rainbows. Di-3/5 were their most successful lines.
By this time we ventured back into boat bay there were a few boats picking up the odd fish there. Jimmy had by now added his Nemesis to the mix, along with a small Ally McCoist variant that really did trigger a bit of interest. A lot of the takes were savage, with only a few resulting in a hook-up. Eventually, we thought it might be worth another look up to the top of the L, since we had not really found any consistent sport. This proved to be a good call as the temperature had slowly picked up and the fish in the shallower water seemed to become a bit more active. We finished the day with 13 fish to the boat, the best being a rainbow of around 5 lb, Di-3 for sure was the most successful line, with Jimmy’s Ally McCoist variant really the most consistent fly over the day.
Overall it was a fairly mixed day and the club’s 10 rods finished with 29 fish, which in retrospect was a fair return for what turned out to be a challenging day.
A lump of a rainbow, caught by Darrel…