This is an outing that really is weather dependent. Aren’t they all? In recent years, baking hot conditions starting in late spring have led to water temperatures soaring in July, which has a detrimental impact on trout for fishing prospects, not just at the Lake but most Stillwaters across the UK. Generally, this means dusting down those high density lines to get flies down to where the trout are more comfortable, Normally, this is in the 10ft to 20ft range, but can be even deeper, heaven forbid, so even with a Di-7 or Booby-basher line that means you can be counting down the seconds to explore the depths to find where the fish are holding. This spring and early summer so far has been punctuated with spells of heat, but also periods of heavy rain and big winds. Not great if you’re camping up the Trossachs, but certainly a lot more conducive to a day afloat trying to catch a few fish.
Reports had been encouraging over the past week, with most hot-spots apparently producing fish. The Western end of the Lake, and in particular Gateside Bay and the Malling Shore, had been fishing well and the good news was that the fish were generally cruising high in the water. No surprise then, given the promising overcast conditions, that most in the club were setting up with nothing more than a midge-tip. The jungle drums had been active as usual, and the armada headed up towards the Malling Shore and spread out right across to Roman Bay, where a steady westerly helped push the boats out slowly from the shore. Gateside was also busy, right along the rope heading towards the burn mouth and the eastern shoreline in front of the Rookery. The swifts and swallows were working hard early on, out in the open water, but there was little clear evidence of hatches of any description, or terrestrials so maybe just buzzers and shucks.
With a few of the club on family holidays, and a couple up in Orkney, we only had 5 boats booked for the day. However, as is the norm any day of the week, the Lake car park was just as busy. I was fishing with John McGonagle. He set up with a floating line and washing line with a cat variant booby on the point and a couple of nymphs. I was heading out with dries. I was tempted to start twiddling for the first hour, but wanted to road-test a few dries: a couple of grunters and half-hogs. We left the beach a bit later than most and we struggled initially to find a reasonable spot along the shore. We managed squeeze in and set up our first drift, heading towards Dog Isle. Already a number of rods were bending. It was not quite combat fishing but heading that way. A variety of approaches were in play. I could see a few bungs out there and a few rods on roly-poly duty, and they all seemed to be working.
We soon got into a bit action ourselves, with a couple coming to the grunter, John had a bit of a roller-coaster session. Fish were bow waving after his booby but locking onto fairly non-descript muskins. He certainly had a few double hook-ups with fairly brutal outcomes. He was getting through a fair bit of fluorocarbon but was having some great sport. In the slightly quieter water the fish were just happy to be inspecting the dries; coming short and not taking with a great deal of conviction. The more obvious footprint of the grunter was certainly bringing them up, but it felt like the fish might be looking for something more subtle, or a fly sitting in the surface film. I also seemed to be hooking and losing a few on the half-hog. The dressing looked in good shape when fishing, but I eventually found there was no hook! Lost in action and yes, yet another schoolboy error!
Most boats were not drifting too far from the margins, and for good reason. John and I continued on our drift, eventually ending-up close to Squirrel Island. A few fish were showing. I covered quite a few, but again the flies were largely ignored. John again hooked and lost a couple. We headed further down, to drift onto the point of the Rookery, where I picked up another to the grunter. By now the wind was really picking up. We headed across to the gap, but that was like fishing in the North Sea. However, remarkably we saw a few fish working in the wind lanes. True to form, a fair number had a go at the dries but I only managed to net one to a Lake double decker. Fish were splashing and trying to drown the fly.
We had to retreat, and headed back up towards the Malling Shore. It was like a déjà vu moment. Rods were still bending. In quick time we saw Mel, Fraser, Darrel and big Stevie pick up fish. Adrian and Jimmy were also repeating the drift and both were active on the nets. Thankfully, John netted a few more fish, the black daddy and muskins producing. For the last hour we headed towards Sam’s Point with the intention of drifting through the shallow marker buoys, but the further east the bigger the waves. We finally managed to land another after several splashy offers. We finished with 16 fish to the boat and it had been a good adventure.
Outstanding angling from Darrel Young saw him finish with 16 trout. He also had the most species: roach and perch, but he also managed to land a 3 lb eel on a daddy of all things! Who would have thought?
Glad to report that most in the club had a good day, ending with a total of 69 fish, commiserations to Matt, who spent the day not only guiding Darrel but tinkering with a very moody Lake engine that was spilling fuel and playing up badly. However, in true stoic form he just about managed – and all in good humour.
Our next outing is at the Watch on Saturday 8th August.