NEW BLOG R.I.P THIS ONE

As the title suggests this blog is now dead, chris never posts now and the name and original ethos is not really indicative of the way i fish now. SO, heres a fresh page which I promise will be packed with posts about my adventures after all sorts of beasts. Check out my first post about a place deep into the highlands where monster pike lurk and nobody dares to venture.

read it HERE on the new page www.scottsflyfishingblog.blogspot.com


Get on it! Thanks to everybody that followed this blog, hopefully you enjoy the new one even more.

Scott

March 21st

On Friday night i hatched a plan to visit my all time favourite water for the first time this season.

The place in question is where i caught my first fish on the fly, mix that with the spectacular scenery, sense of isolation and you can see why it is my favourite.

It is not a big fish water, typically upland burns like this do not hold many fish over 1/2lb, in fact a fish of that size is equal in importance to say a 15lb pike. I often think the trout that inhabit these lofty locations are the bravest of all fish, daring to combat the odds where no other species can survive.

To add to the occasion a mate of mine expressed an interest in giving it a go as he is keen to get into fishing, i knew that even without fish this place would sell it to him without too much hassle.

Our day started slightly later than planned, as most of mine do but i consoled myself with the thought that this would serve to heat the water up at least a little and increase our chances.

Much to my surprise I bumped a fish on my second cast from a tiny plunge pool at the bottom of the glen, it felt a decent little fish from this place too. We continued upstream, casting in all the tiny pockets of water big enough to offer some refuge for the native brown trout.

Fishing these tiny waters can be equal parts infuriating and exciting. Whilst half of the pockets you try appear devoid of life, you are given glimpses of the trouts existence often enough to sustain your interest and drive you further in your quest to meet some of its residents.

One other consideration on the day was my mate. We all know folk like him, big clumsy types, the one that falls in the water, gets snagged on every rock, spooks your pool by standing at the head of it and shouting questions at you. Maybe i could have been more helpful with the advice i gave him...either way, the fish were not the only goal on this day.

The thing i love most about these places is that no matter how dire the fishing may be on the day, you always have plenty more to occupy your mind. its hard to concentrate on the fishing actually when your surroundings are as gorgeous as this.

That picture actually does no justice to the scale of the place, the low water doesnt help either, the waterfall on the skyline is about 40ft high!

I would love to fish here with a 1wt but given the constant winds associated with our hills a 3wt is as low as you can get away with, save for the calmer days mid summer. Regardless, the dark little trout you find here are spirited creatures and punch above their weight, as brownies often do.

As you push upwards the burn changes character quite dramatically, another feature i love about it. It is constantly broken into sections. There are 3 wooded gorges which take real determination to get in and fish, not for the faint hearted. These are interspersed amongst stretches of classic v-shaped valley, high sided and worst affected by the wind. About 3/4's of the way up it runs through a narrow gorge, much like the wooded sections except without the trees! This is where the best fishing to be found.

Less pocket water and more deep plunge pools, often the stream is bordered by huge walls orf rock with nothing but brave clumps of heather clinging on for dear life. The light here is often spectacular with the shadows deceiving your eye, adding corners where there are none and adding complexity to the area. It is hard to photograph this place and give any kind idea just how it looks. Some places are better left imagined than represented poorly.

In here though lies the very pool that kickstarted my love for flyfishing, It wasn't actually that long ago, maybe 4 years. About that time i used to spend more days than i should of up here, often sacrificing a day at school for an adventure "up the glen". One day i took my 7ft 5/6# (bizarre combination i think). I mucked about with various unsuitable flies, all of which looked fantastic to me at the time. I tied on a non descript scottish wet fly and cast...probably not very well, into this pool. Much to my amazement the fly line stabbed forward! This happened a good 10 times before i struck accordingly and hooked up with a fish. I hadnt really thought about how id play a fish on fly gear when the opportunity arose but i had to think quick with this little creature tugging the other way! Within seconds he was in my hand, all i remember was thinking just how much more colourful he was compared to the lowland trout i was used to catching on bait from lowland streams. He was slipped back from shaking hands into this pool........

The cave pool.

Just upstream of here are a succession of waterfalls and chutes, culminating in the biggie, once reputed to have saved a laird whilst being chased from a battle locally. I'll say no more. You can actually sit behind this waterfall, i often do this in high water. I cant think of a finer place to have my sandwiches on any given day.

The pool below it has many glorious trout whose testicular fortitude must be praised given the power this cascade posesses in wetter times.

Then a strange thing happens. The burn changes name, and character. Gone is the steep, rocky gorge im so used to, the land opens out whilst the burn seems to condense itself into a narrower, weaker channel. Good sport can still be found up here though, it has a very eerie feel to it, especially when fishing alone as i usually am.

From here there are few pockets big enough to hold trout though in those that remain there lie larger than average fish. On this day we tried every pool we came across with no reward for our efforts. Just to be back in this place was enough for me though, a trout would just have been a bonus, one im sure i'll get soon enough.

We decided to quit whilst we were ahead so to speak, turn around and savour the last of the views as we headed home. I know it won't be long before i'm back.

Scott

Defeat

Today a river kicked my arse.

I had taken the first week of the season off with the intent to fish my socks off, and fish i have.
With this in mind i set off for a bigger river today, no more small stream business. We had been speaking about fishing this water for ages but never got round to it, but today was to be the day. Off we went to the local tackle shop to buy our permits and begin our day.

On arrival at the waterside i was gobsmacked at how gorgeous the place was! I had an idea how the place would look, and i was wrong. It was a typical upland freestone river, classic brown trout territory. I rigged up my 3# and began to feel almost cocky what with my lucky streak over the last two trips. The first hour was spent working upstream with depth charge nymphs plumbing the depths of the deep, black pools....to no avail.

The one thing that was impossible to ignore was how dodgy the wading was. I thought i was well practised in fishing these upland waters but this river was scary! It was so powerful for its size, the rocks were coated in slime that no wading boot could contend with. After suffering a few too many close calls i decided it was time to rethink my tactics.

I sat and gathered my thoughts constantly thinking "this place rules" which it does. I decided that given the dark peaty tinge on the water that the fish were perhaps sitting higher in the water than i had originally thought, on with the light nymphs and spiders, off with the half bricks. I pushed further upstream, the going was pretty tough, steep,steep banks and bottomless pools aint a good mix but all was well.

What im basically trying to get at here is that i fished for just over 8 hours and couldnt get so much as a take. One thing i did learn is that these bigger waters have to be taken seriously and given a healthy amount of respect, slipping on a smallstream means a wet arse. Slipping here would have been disastrous. My next purchase will be a wading staff.

Anyhoo. The river looked amazing, im sure during lower water it would have been a whole lot more comfortable to fish, and i'll be sure to head back soon. Even blanking in a place like that is infinately more enjoyable than bagging up at some horrible rainbow water, in my opinion at least.

No fish maybe but today was still perfect :)

today.

When i woke up today i was shocked to see bright sunshine and no wind, which could mean only one thing....fishing! I spent a while messing about the house deciding where to go and settled on a local loch that i had decided to concentrate on this season.

The walk out to the loch was glorious, a proper spring day. Imagine my horror then when i arrive at the bankside to find a strong easterly wind, a COLD one at that. I walked down the northern shore, i passed two guys who had been fishing for a few hours and were struggling.

I read that john on the fishing in scotland blog had been here on the opening day and had some success with spinners so i decided to bring along a box of streamers to try out. I rigged up with a silver sparkler on the point and a big ass bushy kate mclaren on a dropper 3ft above. After five minutes of struggling with the wind and a new rod i was into my first ever loch trout, ive always been a freak for running water so i have neglected lochs at least for trout. The wee man was maybe 5oz but i was certainly happy to meet his acquintance, he had hit the sparkler HARD and taken right down, it was easily removed though and he shot off as if nothing had ever happened.

It was maybe a half hour before i bumped off another fish on a slightly bigger sparkler pattern, it certainly felt heavier but i'll never know!

Two of my mates came down to join me for a while and i was quickly into another slightly larger trout of about 1/2lb, i was just happy to prove to my buddies that there were actually fish in the loch :)

That was to be the last of the success for the day but perhaps the most enjoyable part of the session was the last hour as the sun was setting, the sky was a lovely soft pink colour and the wind died right down which inspired many a trout to become airborn. Much to my amazement not one of them looked to be under 2lb!!! Not bad at all for wild browns.

All in all a really nice day out, i've been pretty lucky so far this season. Two trips with five fish between them is a decent tally for this time of the season, hopefully my luck continues tomorrow.................

Scott

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.

goodbye troots

I was lucky enough to be working late today so i had the perfect opportunity to chase trout one last time for this season. Having slept in by two hours, my initial plan was out the window and i had to make do with my local kelvin tributary, as opposed to the more lofty one i had planned to fish.

Despite the heavy rain on saturday the water was about “average” height and pretty clear, with a slight upstream wind. could it be?….. perfect conditions?

Well. I had a few casts in a few wee corners i always have a few casts in. I never catch anything here but habit is a powerful force. After a few lost flies, trashed leaders and choice words i wandered a wee bit upstream. So, On to the pool i caught my first ever trout in some years back ( about 4, not that long really). At first glance i was horrified, the bank had been bulldozed and the features that defined the pool, or the bankside rather were gone. By this i mean the trolley, this was the trolley pool. ( it IS a kelvin trib after all)

At a second glance though, i realised this was a blessing in disguise, the wee point that the bubble float bams (B.B.B's for short) fish from has been taken away, although casting is awkward at best, this pool is now much improved in that it can no longer be emptied out of season for pike bait!
Nymphs were my chosen weapon, olive goldheads to be precise. After a few sharp pulls the first trout odf the day leapt clear of the water. After a full summer of pike and perch fishing i had forgotten how beautiful wild brownies really are, i admired the array of colours on his flanks and the tinge of blue on its ..err…face? and then slipped him back none the worse for his ordeal. After fighting and losing a good fish moments later the pool seemed to spook.

Not to worry, theres another nice pool just out of casting distance. This pool used to have a fallen tree bisecting it making it almost impossible to fish properly, however the phantom bankside bulldozers have removed it, revealing a beautiful wee pool on a bend. Its amazing that ive walked past this wee bit of water possibly hundreds of times and never cast a line.
After figuring out how best to deal with an “s” bend pool i started hitting fish. The first one was a quick wee bugger, i seemed to predict the bite and lifted before anything happened, sure enough he was on. I think he was only in the water for 2 seconds of the fight, the rest he spent displaying his golden flanks in the air, hilarious to watch. The second fish gave me a very subtle twitch to betray his presence, at first i thought it was a bandy, all i could feel was a wriggle, then it bored deep, running like a pike, except now i had fast water to contend with and a 3 rather than a 9 weight rod, he turned and i caught a glimpse of the length of the fish, my first pound plus fish from this stretch this year. It was a fantastic fight in a very confined space, magic

I winkled out another two from here about 6 or 7 ounces and bumped loads of fish but that was to be the highlight of that pool.

Onward and upward i searched out another few runs without much more than the odd pluck, until i hit a very unassuming little pool deep within the trees. First cast, bumped a fish, second cast, bumped the same fish, third cast.. BANG. He was stuck, again around the 7 ounce mark, this one ran between my legs, jumped then came back!
Similar events occured over the next ten minutes or so, many, many misses and two more fish. After this the fishing turned for want of a btter word, pish. No pictures as to be honest i expected a blank so the camera stayed at home.

So, in reflection i doubt i could have asked for a btter end to the season. Im glad i slept in! Usually the sixth of october puts me in a bad mood but today was different. I had hardly fished for trout all year, maybe six or seven outings, and to come back and have such a great day was exactly what i needed. Rather than be sad, or even feel as if i wasted time, im glad i fished for other species and was still able to enjoy some fantastic trout sessions this year. Today only served to whet my appetite for march 15th!


Scott

success!!!

Well back on the fishing scene again after a long summer of college work catch up and job hunting and what a start, fished my fav water of all, a small local pond, in all we had seven pike to me and my brother, three to me and four to him. All takes were screamers, none of the gentile takes that i am used too, where u get a few bleeps on the alarms, deep deep bleep......... and a little bit of line pulled off... these tore line viciously, all were decent fish apart from one, the smallest pike i have seen fell to my brother, it took a sardine, they all count though! Six of the fish averaged 6-8lbs but last for my bro was a monster at fourteen and a half pounds!!! Alot of the pike were battle scarred with hooks closing up their throats, hooks in their mouths, so alot of pike surgery was needed, luckily we got them all free and swimming again, it surprises me the amount of fannies who pike fishing and don’t have the proper gear or knowledge to unhook them, these people give fishing a bad name, anyway enough of my ramblings. Enjoy the eye candy, not me the fish. lol excuse my brothers advantage timber camo suit, but it keeps him happy.

R.I.P SUMMER 08

It dawned on me today that the summer is more or less over, the leaves are starting to turn, theres a pleasant chill in the air and it's too dark to fish after work. Every year about the same time i start to look back on my summers fishing, or rather, from the beginning of the trout season till september-ish.
In reflection this year has been very different from what i expected. Normally i would fish a local burn for trout 2/3 times a week, making regular trips into the hills in pursuit of spotty creatures aswell.
This was always my main interest, despite being a very keen coarse angler and enjoying many trips for pike, or evenings on the canal with a waggler.

However, at the tail end of last summer i planted a seed. An innocent idea.
I took my fly rod to the canal, more out of curiousity than anything else as i had often struggled to catch roach when they were feeding on the surface. Despite the fact that they proved incredibly difficult to catch i really enjoyed it.
Then i tried for perch (and snapped a 2 weight in the process)
And by autumn i had bought myself a pike fly outfit.

By the time this spring came around i was eager to start where i left off and chase coarse fish on the fly, negelcting my beloved trout for them.
I think this year i have fished for trout maybe 6 times. I would have done that in a fortnight last year. I became obsessed with catching the often overlooked species on fly gear. To be honest, its not something i feel ive truly "done" yet. Rather than a phase i can see it becoming a major, perhaps dominant factor in my fishing.

The start of the summer was very, very poor for me. All my experiments were failing miserably for a whole load of reasons. From poor weather, to poor venue choice, things just refused to click.
By the time july rolled around my fishing improved ten-fold. I was achieving similar success rates to last year except with a fly rod as opposed to a waggler set-up.

In summary, the last 2 and a half to 3 months have been some of the most amazing times ive had fishing. Eventually my experiments paid off, plans came together and new waters began to bear fruit.

Of course there are many trips i never made, many plans that never came to be and many days aborted due to mince weather but i dont want to dwell on them. This year, like the last few has been all about exploration and experimentation. New waters, new methods, new species and perhaps most importantly, new friends through fishing.

At work today i was trying to think what my most memorable trips/ sessions / fish were of this summer.
Was it the day spent in a remote glen in torrential rain with buzzards circling overhead, and the feeling nobody has wandered here in decades. catching FAT black trout with golden bellies on nothing but klinkhamers. with the water rising almost a foot in an hour?

Or was it the day i logged here, the true beginning of my coarse fly success, catching little aggressive perch and pristine roach on my favourite rod, the three weight, from the local canal?

Perhaps it was more recent, my pike fly escapades of the last fortnight, watching near double figure esox taking flies at my feet and making my 9 weight rod look like a piece of spaghetti?

Maybe it was an evening spent fishing tight to lock gates and beating my pb perch 3 times in an hour?

The truth is, its impossible to say. But i know im gonna enjoy this debate in my head all through the winter. Round about now i begin to plan my last trips for trout till march 15th again. My focus shifts (or stays) with pike and perch. Last winter proved to be very trying. I blanked for almost 4 months! I am determined that this wont happen again. I now have new skills to utilise, and new waters to tackle. Im almost looking forward to the challenge that frosty mornings or ice cold gales are gonna present in the coming months!

Hopefully over the coming weeks i will have plenty autumnal predator and trout stories to share.

Scott.

esox lucius

Over the past week i've been doing a lot of fishing, for pike, on the fly no less. Rather than write a seperate post for every trip i thought i should wait and lump all the days in together.

I've been hammering a wee water nearby that has a good head of pike, reputedly up to the golden 20lb mark. Not concerning myself with looking for the BIG fish, i was happy to get anything daft enough to snap at my flies. Unlike last winter the weeds have died back really early, to be honest this put me off at first because the number of features to cast to had been dramatically reduced, also, the water had coloured right up which id never seen there before, so straight away, things didnt look good.

However, within minutes a mini pike bulldozed my fly but managed to wriggle off, this would happen several more times before i got one to stick, in short, i managed 3 pike up to 3lbs that day, with loads and loadd of follows/ takes. it was such an exciting days fishing, every time i cast at scattering baitfish, my line would tighten and id feel that shudder up the line that we all crave.

Bizarrely, all the pike seemed to be concentrated in a tiny corner of the loch. This was my first real success with pike on the fly and was enough to force me out the next day. The biggest fish of the first day.

The second day saw me start in exactly the same fashion, same corner/ fly/ conditions but no fish. I had to cover a lot of water before the first pike had a go, at about 2lbs the fish put up a surprisingly strong fight on a stiff 9 weight pike rod. Another one would follow soon after then there was a dull period.

I wandered along to another water nearby which is one of the most popular pike waters in my area, after a long walk with no success, a green torpedo shot out from the marginal weed and very casually nibbled the fly and spat it out, then just the faintest nibble.....and he was stuck. I set the hook with a subtle lift, then in amazement, just watched him sit there. And sit. THEN, he realised there was a big pike fly in his mouth and tore off for the far bank, for the next 6/7 minutes i enjoyed the best scrap ive ever had from a fish, constantly running this way and that, waiting till i had some sort of control then ripping yard after yard of line from my reel.

Because i had left my net at home ( having not planned to fish here) I had to jump in up to my knees to unhook the bugger. No picture unfortunately but i put about 8lbs on him. That would be the perfect end to a perfect day.

Today, i hit the same water, with decent if not ideal conditions i struggled a bit, not getting any interest for the first half hour or so, i noticed some roach leaping free of the surface in unison. This can mean only one thing... PIKE ATTACK!!!!

After a few fruitless casts, i landed the fly around the area of the initial disturbance, as soon as the fly hit the water my line tightened and i met solid resistance. Typically, any pike over 5 or 6 pounds takes a minute to realise they are hooked and start fighting, this fish was no different.

Once he woke up my drag was put to the test, even with the brake on full the fish tore line with ease. The fact that the fish didnt show itself for a while only added to the excitement, was it 5lbs? was it 15lbs? Its impossible to tell. After another minute or two of spirited scrapping the fish rolled, betraying its true size, i would say about 7lbs. Once he finally came to hand he was very simply unhooked and was off like a shot. It just goes to show that heavy fly gear is essential to tame even these modest sized pike. I only managed shots of the fish during the fight as it swam away so quickly.

The rest of the day was pretty dull truth be told, one more fish about 10 inches which took a fly about 6 inches long! as you would expect it wasnt much of a fighter.

Over the 3 trips i managed to get 8 pike, a respectable total i think, and fingers crossed there will be more and more through the coming weeks!

the wee man. The big man.

forth and clyde canal last friday

sooooooooo its been ages since i updated the blog, i promise this will not happen again!

On Friday i decided i should make the best of my only day off in a fortnight and head out for a few casts.The original plan was to cycle to a nearby quarry that is rammed with perch, fish for an hour or two, then head home and get geared up for a visit to my local-ish hill burn.

After the 30 minute (uphill) ride there i fought my way through the woods to find somebody sitting in one of the two fishable swims. Bugger.

Not to worry, the canal is only five minutes away i reasoned, thankfully the rest of the ride was downhill. I had a few casts for the perch without any interest until i noticed a shoal of roach feeding on the surface, The decision was easy. On with a wee klink that a friend was kind enough to give me and away i go.

Roach are frustrating targets on the fly at the best of times but these chaps were especially awkward! I was getting nibbles on the fly approximately every ten seconds from the wee roach but none were taking with any conviction. after 8976689728697 failed strikes i moved on.

Quarter of a mile or so further east i spotted a smaller shoal of better sized fish, thankfully these fish were a bit more eager, within seconds i was into a wee roach. Im not gonna pretend that roach of this size are fighters but the challenge they present on the fly makes them worth targetting. Over the next hour or so i managed a couple more, some of the takes were surprisingly aggressive considering how placid they usually are.In amongst one of the shoals i spotted a few rogue perch, busy picking off the smaller members of the group. Now would be a good time to chuck on a lure i thought.

Two or three casts later a perch of about 5 ounces smashed into my fly harder than i thought possible for such a wee fish! Watching these wee bullies chase a fly is a real pleasure, dorsal fins erect and gills flared they really are an impressive sight. generally they take close to the bank so although your not fishing on the surface, sport is very visual. I find that exploiting the overly aggressive, predatory nature of the perch is one of the best ways to use a fly rod.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon i watched scores of these wee predators chase and attack my fly, i spotted some really nice fish, nudging 2lbs i guess, but the older, wiser fish couldnt be any less interested in my streamers.

At about 4 o'clock i decided i was well and truly satisfied so began the trek home, figuring that the dual carriageway i have to cross would be safer now than if i left it a bit later. Just before turning off the canal track i bumped into an older guy i meet quite regularly on the canal bank, a keen trout angler himself we never struggle for things to talk about. He recently started fishing for coarse species, pike and perch namely and is always keen to learn about these fish and methods of catching them, an attitude i admire as most older anglers i meet are quick to tell me im wrong or that you "canny catch on the flee in the canal".

I was especially chuffed to learn that advice i gave him a few weeks ago helped him catch his new pb pike.

He shared some stories about his trout adventures in years past, tours of the west coast lasting weeks at a time, fishing every burn, river or loch that he set eyes on. Ive always enjoyed listening to stories about trout fishing from years ago, before sea trout were a myth and pre bow-hole dominance.

Anyways, Two hours later he cycled away, and i spotted some more roach rising....To cut a long story short they teased and frustrated me to the point of insanity so i chucked on a streamer again in an attempt to make the extra hours worthwhile. After drawing blanks at a few swims i managed the best perch of the day, by no means a monster at about hand size he still managed to put up an admirable scrap on the 3 weight rod. He topped off a day that despite not going to plan, turned out to be amazing.

I didnt feel like a had missed out by not chasing the trout, i couldnt have had a more fun day with a fishing rod. My two hour taster turned into an 11 hour epic, fuelled by two packets of crisps and a can of coke. All in all it was magic. The roach presented a fantastic challenge whereas the perch provided some exciting sport.

in search of the lost pike..........

Not so far from where i stay theres a bleak, windswept moorland loch, reputed to be completely dead by locals due to its acidic water. It's the kind of place you dont like to be on your own, eerie and desolate. Its pretty sweet.

But i cant leave it to chance.

During my online research on the place i found an article about the whole area that happened to mention that the loch contains pike, perch and eels but surprisingly no trout. At 145 years of age though i cant go on this information alone.

This of course contradicts the local theory that it is devoid of life, i cant figure out how the fish have disappeared, i have trawled the web and others minds to find an explanation but the only info i found was an even older account which again states that pike and perch "are taken" in this shallow, peaty loch. This one being 166 years old.

Seems bizarre to me that these fish simply disappeared somewhere down the line. Despite the old internet information that describes the inhabitants of the water, every conversation i have draws the same conclusion..nae fish.

Like i said, its still too tempting. I hate the thought that there might be a water nearby that i dont know about. Which leaves me with only one option. I HAVE to fish it.

But how do you go about catching fish that dont exist????????????

The trouble is, ive spent many a full day on a water i KNOW to contain pike and not had a bite, so how will i know when to call it a day on here?

I cant see how the fish were killed (IF they were) its not polluted, its not been fished out. The only answer ive got is that the ph of the already acidic water was pushed over the threshold and resulted in a fish kill. But surely the death of a whole loch would be part of the local knowledge?

I suppose its all just chat until i actually go there, if you have a swatch at the picture you'll see why im so eager to fish it, the place is stunning!!

p.s. from now on im going to leave my name at the bottom of all my posts on the blog because your spelling is rank chris and i dont want people thinking some of your mince is mine :)

SCOTT.

well thursday saw another pike trip. to another pond, perfect pike conditions, overcast, with a slight ripple on the water, warm water, expectations were high, but bites were very few! tryed a variety of tactics rigs. running ledger, float rigs, helicopter rigs non of these worked so in the end returned to the simplest of set ups, a free lined half herring, and a free lined half mackrell on the other rod, this seemed to produce the take. only one little pike, around four pounds, but he was very welcome, the first pike i have seen for a while! pics will be up soon!

peace

the flee!

Today i came to a conclusion, a bit late perhaps but i realised i am OBSESSED with fly fishing!
Not in an elitist "fly only sir" kind of way, i love my coarse rods to death but i love the thougfht of fishing the fly and more importantly im seriously excited about catching fish this way. Not just your usual troots, awesome as they are. The real buzz for me comes from catching less conventional species, tonight i drew up a shortlist of species i hope to catch on a fly this year (including some ive caught already)

here go's ; Trout, pike, roach, carp, rudd, TENCH, BREAM , perch, mackerel, pollack, Bass and finally mullet.

Now i realise there are a couple on the list that are gonna be pretty tough, the last 4 especially given that ive never fished in saltwater, having said that, the highlighted tench and bream will pose about as big a challenge as any fish can in my opinion. Im almost certain by the end of the year i'll have caught about half that list but its always nice to dream.

I reckon im pretty lucky to live in an unlikely fishing paradise, ive got all the freshwater species mentioned within minutes drive from my house, better make sure i take advantage of them!

Troots.

Today there were a distinct lack of them. By that i dont just mean that i caught nothing (which i didnt), i mean that the whole day i saw no trout. At all.

Usually i at least spook some fish and see them scatter off, get the odd take or at very least see a rise or two, but nothing.

The apparent troot free status of the burn worried me a bit to be honest, i noticed a lot of algae in it aswell, for a hill burn at this time of year this is very rare. I just hope theres been no fish kill and that today was just one of those nightmare sessions. Conditions were not ideal, blowing a gale from the east and it was bloody cold, the burn was also bare bones today, hardly any water at all. pretty grim it has to be said.

The only thing that made the day was a dipper giving me a heart attack. Just as i was lifting to cast again there was a massive thud on the rod, HUGE TROOT i thought, but no, i noticed a dipper staggering about on the bankside lookin g a wee bit dazed. Daft bugger had flew into my rod! He flew away pretty quickly after the indignity, made the cold hands worthwhile i guess.

scott.