Sunday march 15th

So yesterday was the opening day of the trout season. As usual i had been counting the day's from about the start of november, patience is not my forte!

The plan had been set between me and my regular fishing buddy to tackle a smallstream on the edge of our town. I had been down a few time's recently on recce trips so i was more eager than ever having had a look at what i was missing. On arrival at the streamside i noticed that we were blessed with the same ideal condition's i experienced there on the closing day of the 08 season!
Whilst the water had a little amount of colour to it there was certainly no cause for disappointment.

I rigged up with a large foam beetle (okay a bite indicator) and a hares ear nymph tied NZ style to the bend of the dry. I fished my way downstream for a mile or so, probably taking me an hour and a half without any interest. I did note however that my 8'6 rod was way too long and the 6ft 3# i left in the car would have been far better suited to such jungle combat.

I eventually made my way back upstream to the pool where i started and i was quickly into my first brownie of the season on the nymph, the take was pretty savage considering the trout was only about 3oz! One thing i did learn from this is that the camera on my phone aint half as good as my actual camera, so no decent photo's! I fished the pool for another ten minutes or so and bumped a couple more fish in quick succession. Content with my efforts here i headed further upstream.

I fought my way through the overhanging bushes, dropping the flies in every pocket of water i could before i came to a long, shallow glide with branches hovering maybe 2ft above the water. Casting here is awkward at best but i cast my rod sideways, parallel with the water and was able to place the flies reasonably accurately at the neck of the run. i was rewarded with a stunning little trout marginally bigger than the last, at first i thought it was a hefty fish as it felt strong but it was hooked in the fin, i must have pulled the fly from its mouth on the strike!

I finally met my mate again soon after, i was especially pleased to find out he had also managed a fish as it was his first time here and only his second time on a stream! These small technical water's are demanding for anybody and i was proud of him that he had succeeded here after only taking up flyfishing at the tail-end of last season.

I decided some adventure was in order so i pushed further upstream, beyond any pools i had fished before. As the banks are so steep wading was the only option, i discovered some truly massive pools for a small stream but could not buy a bite. It was only in the last pool i was able to walk to that i got some interest, the largest fish of the day (all of 70z) was soon in my hand and let go to grow on for me later in the year. I often forget just how beautiful and precious these wild brown trout are, i think we in scotland take this fantastic little creature for granted and are far too quick to exploit them. Pike may look more impressive, perch may appear more bold, handsome even. But in term's of sheer beauty i don't think anything can compare to a true wild brown trout.

As this pool was as far as i was able to navigate, at least without ropes and a helmet i set off downstream to try some last stretches and see how my mate was faring. Needless to say i had already caught my last fish but my spirits were raised further when i found out my pal had nailed a further two trout! Not half bad for his first proper jungle-mini-stream experience i think. So in conclusion at the end of the day we had three trout each from pristine,unmolested waters, not one of these fish are likely to have been caught before, unless perhaps by me!
I honestly can't think of a better start to the season :)

Ready...............

Seem's like only a few month's ago i was sat here typing about my preparation's for the beginning of the scottish brown trout season, and the 09' season starts tomorrow!

I've already been down to the dreamstream today to check water level's /colour etc. For what it's worth it was carrying a fair bit of colour but clear enough to look enticing!

I'll be up first thing tomorrow, kit packed the night before to allow a sharp exit and i'll be spending the full day on running water. If thing's are slow we might even try a burn i found last week, do a bit of recce work.

I'm reasonably confident that i'll hit some trout tomorrow, not that it really matter's. Being on my stream's again will be enough to keep a smile on my face.

Picture's and blow by blow account up tomorrow night!

Scott

Friday february 20th

Earlier today i headed out for my first fishing trip for a few week's. I had been thinking about it all week at work, the temperature's have stayed fairly mild for the past week and i knew we were in with a good chance of a fish. In fact scotland has been caught in the grip of the coldest winter i can remember for quite some time and my local water's have been frozen for the best part of two month's, so this window of opportunity was not to be missed!

I left the house a little later than planned (as usual) and made a quick dash to the local tackle shop to buy some fresh deadbait's. Got to the waterside within the hour and got to the task in hand!

It was actually bitter cold and pretty windy but we persevered for a few hour's without a touch, then five boats ploughed through our swim in quick succession and it became clear that something had to change. Luckily there is another prolific pike water a mere 200 yards away so our choice to move was made all the easier.

The new venue is quite well sheltered and felt a good few degree's warmer, at last i felt almost confident. Within an hour of re-locating my float legered sprat was intercepted and my baitrunner began to lose line....rapidly! I struck quickly though and felt that unmistakeable sensation transmit through the braid, down the rod and into my hands. The fish felt quite hefty but the water was still really cold so it was fairly lethargic though it didn't give up without a few short runs and really held deep. After a short fight of maybe three minute's i had this beauty in my clutches

I got quite a pleasant surprise with this fish. At first sight in the water i guessed maybe seven or even eight pound's but once it was in the net i noticed it was a really chunky, thick-set fish. We popped it in the weigh sling and it read 5.1kg. Convert that to pound's and I was holding a fish of just over 11lb's!

Now this might not sound like a massive fish but despite the amount of hour's i spend chasing pike this is the biggest I've ever caught! My first fish of the year, a double and my new PB. Victory!

Whilst i was slipping her back my mate was the lucky recipient of another screaming run, his fish slipped back into the water before we got a photo but we guesstimated it to be around 5 1/2lb's. Unfortunately it had another (idiot) angler's trace stuck in it's mouth but we managed to remove it fairly easily.

It's hard to describe the buzz that surround's a few angler's when some nice fish have been caught but all of a sudden our crew seemed much more upbeat in spite of the wind and the nasty temperature's......

About half an hour later my float slid away again.... I struck and was met with slightly less resistance than last time but i was glad to be into another fish, despite being about six pound's in weight this fish actually fought pretty well, it even jumped clear of the water, quite rare for pike, especially at this time of year! We managed a photo of this spirited chap, here it is

I look exceptionally chuffed with myself here, it's not often i blow my cool when i catch fish.....honest...............................

Anyway's it was a grand way to kick off my fishing in 2009, i'm heading to the same spot tomorrow, hopefully to repeat today's success!

Busy!!!!!

Unfortunately ive had zero opportunities to fish lately, as always december is a very busy month work-wise and i wont be getting out till boxing day! SO, the rod review will have to wait till then, even though ive got a sexy new rod for x-mas. Hopefully my next trip is a winner because this fishing drought is driving me nuts!

Meanwhile....

Whilst i compile my thoughts / photo's etc for the forthcoming gear reviews i'll leave you with some photo's of a wee water i stumbled upon at the very end of the summer, it is one of the prettiest waters in my local area, and pretty much the only one which goes completely unfished.

Unfortunately it is very shallow and my (limited) experience tells me that shallow waters simply dont fish in the colder months, what a pity i found it in september! I cant stop thinking about how awesome it's gonna be!

Anyways, here are a few photo's, chances are you'll want to cast a popper alongside the reeds as much as i do!

Gear reviews!

I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and do a review of the gear i use for chasing pike on the fly, however mine is gonna have a different purpose, most tackle reviews are done with top-end gear that would require a fair bit of saving to afford whereas I am going to share my thoughts on some of the better budget gear available and prove that fly fishing for big, nasty predators needn't be particularly expensive yet you can expect some good quality equiptment that will see you through any piking situation.

I have used my current set-up for almost a year and have tamed a few pike with it, although i feel i know the rod and reel inside out im going to fish over the next few days and pay lots of attention to my gear's good and bad points. My fishing gear takes LOTS of abuse and it becomes clear pretty quickly whether something is up to the job or not, whilst i cannot lay claim to be the best or most efficient caster, im confident that i can give a good, relevant review of a piece of kit and how it handles a variety of fishing instances.

Over the next few days i will report back on the following;

Ron Thompson mpx pike fly rod

Okuma SLV 8/9 fly reel

And other assorted bits and bobs that i need to complete the task in hand.

Scott.

Should have known better!

Last tuesday I got a text from a mate asking whether or not there was a window to go pike fishing this week. "Of course" was my reply.
As usual i had a good feeling about the day, conditions had been pretty constant for a week or so which is usually exactly what you are hoping for when planning a pike trip.
So the night before i did all the necessary prep, i cleaned my line, i even loaded a sinker onto my old reel so that i was covering all bases! I made up a handful of fresh traces in full expectation that the pike were gonna mangle every last one of them.

As it happens i need'nt have bothered!
We started on a fairly big reservoir right on the edge of my town, it is sandwiched between three housing estates, an industrial estate and a football stadium. As you would imagine its quite a scenic place......

However it holds BIG specimens of pretty much every species that inhabit its depths so we decided to grit out teeth and get on with it.
It became clear pretty quickly that this was'nt going to happen for us, the water was the colour of chocolate milk and visibility underwater was about two inches. Best left for the deadbaits we agreed.

Next stop was a small feature-packed stretch of my local canal that had fished well for me the week before, on arrival the east wind which normally kills the fishing here was blowing fairly strongly and soon killed our confidence. Still it was a cool stretch to fish with loads of areas of interest and it wont be long before im back.

We moved on to the biggest natural loch in the area, a water crammed with fairly small pike, the average being a couple of pounds but with a good sprinkling of bigger fish thrown in.
If ever a place looked pikey..this is it. The loch is almost completely fringed with reeds, making me think that summer surface fishing here is gonna be explosive!
The water is crystal clear and there is a also a head of bonus monster perch.
But again it wasnt to be our day, the problem being that the loch shelves off very gradually and at this time of year the pike will be sitting deeper in the water, somewhere we just couldnt reach with fly rods.

One major sore point here was the litter left on the bank by other "anglers". All sorts of booze bottles, bait packets, miles and miles of waste line, and the food wrappers they have taken.. it really was a disgrace. It makes me fear for any poor fish that is caught by these idiots.
In future i'll only be fishing the far bank of the loch as access is a little harder and this puts off the lazy, drunken tools that trash the rest of the loch.

SO.. we moved again, passing the mysterious "dead" loch i mentioned in the blog before and commenting on how undead it looked. This time we fished an old flooded quarry that has become one of my most frequent haunts. It holds lots and lots of pike although worryingly ive been catching a lot lately that have been damaged by others poor handling.
The water had cleared up considerably since last time i was there and is now close to the crystal clear tinge (or lack of) that it always used to have.
To cut a long story short we still caught nothing.

So in total we fished four completely different waters, with a tally of 0 fish. Not bad for winter flyfishing in scotland i think!
It was a great day nonetheless and the ever-changing surroundings made the lack of fish all the more bearable.

Hopefully i have more success to report this week.