Drought But Still Sea Trout

Time for a bit of fishing, a couple of hours on Friday late afternoon was all I could manage then it was pack the gear away, load the car and head of up to Dumfries for 3 days fishing on the River Nith, staying at Friars Carse Hotel.

Arrived early on Monday morning to find the river at it's lowest for some time and where you would expect to see the pace of the river it was all very slow, just the odd runs from pool to pool that seemed to have any speed at all. Still we were here and going to make the best of it.
Set up both single & double handed rods and headed off to the top of the beat which was extended last year so is now about 2 miles in length all right hand bank with 17 named pools of various types.

Island Pool at the top of the beat is a narrow fast run that produced some small brownies up to just under a pound. No real hatch visible but the odd fish was taking stuff just below the surface.

Worked my way down the whole beat over the course of the day picking mostly browns with the odd grayling. Spotted a few shoals of sea trout in a few of the pools and they were the target for the night time.
Just before dark decided to fish the Policemans Pool for a few hours as I'd seen some nice fish against the far bank and the pool is easy to wade.
Two of us fished hard and didn't have so much as a pull, in fact we didn't even hear a fish so we retired to the bar beaten.

Next day the heavens opened and at first looked as though it would be like it all day but luckily it stopped about 10.30 and the sun came out again - time to head for the river this time concentrating on the Royal Stream, Riding Stones, Marsdens, Island & Fyfes hole at the end of the beat. Plenty of browns came to the net, the biggest about a pound and a half a lovely hard fighting fish.

Late afternoon produced a nice 2 pound sea trout from the end of the Riding Stone pool tight under the far bank in probably no more than two foot of water.

Early evening meal then back out again for another few hours, this time fishing the Riding Stones pool as I was convinced more fish were still there, and I was right half way down the pool and the first of 2 sea trout slammed into the Mallard & Claret fly. Neither fish was massive, best about one & a half pounds but still all great sport.
Wednesday before we left I had another walk up to the top of the beat to fish the Island Pool, again managing to catch some nicely marked browns. Back at The Riding Stones the small rise in water had made the  run just above the stone a place worth trying and was justly rewarded with another 2 small sea trout and a few more browns.

Given the warm bright weather and low water conditions the fishing was very good. Hotel management & all the staff made us feel very welcome and if you're ever in this part of Scotland give it a try.

 Back in training with my mentor for APGAI on Thursday, must keep updating the skill set.

These bright days are really making the fishing quite hard, but stick at it and try and fish the shaded parts of your water where you can.

Tight Lines to all those who are out there fishing this coming week.

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Warm Balmy Nights

Manged to get out on Tuesday night for a few hours up at Lamaload, lovely evening with just the odd fish rising and surprisingly no one else on the water.
Walked down to the barn area and worked my way back with just a few rainbows coming to the net, nothing big but good condition and hard fighting.

Fished the flat area just after the first bay and targeted a few of the fish that had started to rise hoping that these would be the brownies that were around here last week and they were. Managed to land one and then have 3 or 4 others that had a look at the fly and then turned away. The lake was now starting to come alive with fish and they seemed to be  feeding hard on 'the fisherman's Curse' The Caenis. I was covered in them. midges were also making the fishing very unpleasant. A few sedges were about but didn't appear to be that popular with the fish. It's been along time since I've seen a hatch of Caenis as dense as this one.

As the light faded I moved onto the front bank and managed to tempt another couple of rainbows witha very small nymph fished just below the surface. A nice evenings fishing.

Wednesday it was back to my training for APGAI Single Handed with a session with my mentor, Mike Roden and pal Chris over at Curleys. Good session that has left me with a few things to be working on.
Manchester Casting Club at Platt Fields, Fallowfield at the evening. Practiced some casts and helped out a bit. Better turn out again this week Andrew was back from his hols, Sean & Rick were there and Warner turned up he was in Manchester working and has recently qualified as an instructor under EFFA. Nice to meet him.


Unable to get out for the rest of the week but hopefully next week will bring more time

Remember with the present weather conditions in the UK you need to pick the right time to fish, early or late in the day when the sun is off the water may give you your best chance.

Tight Lines to all those who are out there fishing this coming week.

Visit us on our Facebook page Cheshire Fly Fish or web site www.cheshireflyfishing.co.uk.

Teach, Chat, Fish

The week started with 2 days helping out Mike Roden at Curleys Fishery with some school children who were booked onto the lake for some fishing. First day and the wind was coming off the dam wall with rain showers pushing through in the morning which made casting very interesting for the students. A few fish were hooked and lost just before we packed up for lunch.
The afternoon group had slightly the better of the weather, at least the showers had disappeared, but sadly no fish came to the bank despite best efforts. At least they were managing to catch fish in the coarse lake.

Tuesday saw another group arrive just in time to see some nice fish being stocked. Weather was a lot better today but it was now blowing up onto the dam so casting there was out of the question for them, so the pontoons were the only option, again a few fish hooked but none landed but they all seemed to enjoy themselves and what a great bunch of kids they all were.

Wednesday I went to Manchester Casting Club and met up with Sean for a few hours practice, I think it went quite well, just tinkering about with different lines on different rods and have now settled on what I'll use for my next assessment.

Thursday and it was fishing time, meet up with pal Roger who I've not fished with for years on one of our club waters Lamaload and had a good catch up as well as a fish. The weather wasn't given to be that good but in all it turned out just fine. Started out at the bottom of the lake near the old barn and managed a couple of fish just of the weed bed. Wind changed so it was time to move further up the lake and Roger was soon into fish, not all stayed on but he did managed two nice brownies, one of which I would say may have even been a wild fish given that it was quite small. a quick photo then safely back to fight another day
A good end to the day.

Weather really changed for weekend 70 degrees plus for the UK wow, but maybe not that good for the fishing, still I'm sure that I'll give it a try one evening.

Tight Lines to all those who are out there fishing this coming week.

Visit us on our Facebook page Cheshire Fly Fish or web site www.cheshireflyfishing.co.uk.