First Course of 2015 & The Opening of The Salmon Season on The Nith

The course was scheduled to be a joint effort between myself Ian Griffin and Wendy Gibson (flies by Wendy) but sadly before the event Wendys husband passed away and then she herself was taken ill (get well soon Wendy) so at the last minute fly tyer Paul Griffin (no we're not related) filled the gap and did a splendid job.


Sunday Paul spent the whole of the day with one of the course attendees going through different tying techniques, This was continued after dinner with each fly throwing up a different skill to be learnt.

Monday and it was out on the hotel lawn working through different casts with both single and double handed rods. Break for lunch then down to the river to put into practice some of the techniques we'd worked on whilst having a fish. The weather had turned really nasty with everything being thrown at us - hail, sleet, snow rain and strong winds. The sad thing is the river had risen quite a lot over night and was coloured but we tried to make the best of it. A quick recap on a couple of casts on the lawn before retiring to the bar for a quick drink before dinner, then it was back to the fly tying.

Tuesday weather wise was pretty much the same although luckily not much rain had fallen overnight so the river had stayed about the same level, we really could have done with about a foot off it and clearing to give us our best shot at a fish, still we had plenty of casts to work on.

Had a good session on snap casts & snake roll with the double & single handed rods, given the conditions  I felt that they will come in handy. Late welcoming and warming lunch of sandwiches and a bowl of freshly made chips then it was back out onto the river but sadly the conditions worsened and it was time to head back to the shelter of the hotel. Still we tried.

Wednesday saw the opening of the salmon season on the Nith and as I was there it would have been rude not to have cast a line, so Trevor & I toasted the season with a drop of the hard stuff and started fishing
down from the Riding Stones on a river that was slowly dropping and clearing. I only had a short time as I had just heard that my father in law had passed away so it was time to pack up and head back south.

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