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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