A Rainbow in the Sunshine

Woke up this morning and took the wife to work. I then went home made a packed lunch and went up off to the Lily Loch again.
The weather was a lot better than yesterday though it was notably windier and still cold despite the nice sunshine.
I made my way round to the bailiff hut then went up the far west of the loch. The conditions underfoot were gloriously muddy and very slippy.
I reached the top bay and had a look around for any sign of fish activity, Nothing was showing. Then after about fifteen minutes or so I hooked and landed a nice rainbow trout on one of my lure patterns which I recently tied. It was a yellow dancer of sorts.
After a quick photo call I slipped the trout back into the loch. Pleased that I had captured my first trout of the season I fished on a little longer and tried along the shore of the bay and then had a few casts in the square bay but I never encountered anymore fish.
I then spent a leisurely couple of hours just walking  round the loch stopping here and there for photos and just sat enjoying the spring sunshine.
It was great to spend a few hours up the hill from Hillend at the Lily today in the spring sunshine especially after the bleak day I had there yesterday.

An Eventful Weekend

As the title says these last few days I  experienced an eventful weekend. First of all I visited the GAC open day on Friday and had a chat and watched some tying demos which were very interesting and helpful from a couple of the tyers namely Allan Liddle and Jim Lees. Alan concentrates on loch flies while Jim's preference is river flies.I got a couple of flies from both tyers . I especially liked and found Jim's fly to be very interesting. It was a spent march Brown which looks deadly and apparently is. I'm gonna try tying something similar even though its not normally the style I tie.

After spending a couple of hours at the demos I bought some tying odds and ends then went back to the car which wouldn't start. It was a bloody nightmare but the RAC came along and made a minor repair which was a big relief.

Then today I visited the Lily Loch for a few hours as it opened for the season yesterday. 

My time at the lily today left me piscatorally challenged but I did manage to conjure up some pics despite the lily looking rather bleak today.

As the weather took a turn for the worse with heavy rain I called it a day early so off I went and walked up and over the hill and when I was almost back at the car I suddenly realised I left my fly reel on the bench at the hut. So off I went back up and over the hill to fetch my reel in the pouring rain. Thankfully my reel was still there and off I went again up and over the hill; and back to the car. I suppose the exercise will do me good..

Then I decided to make the short drive to the Hillend Lodge for a nice warm cup of soup but when I got there the lodge was closed.

 Feeling annoyed I just drove home as I knew we were having roast chicken and I couldn't help but thinking that knowing my luck this weekend Val would have burnt it. But there was no need for alarm as the chicken was lovely.  

A Hillend Doubler!

I was discussing salmon patterns a couple of days ago with some friends and was recalling that I hadn't tied such patterns for a while. In fact the last time I tied salmon flies was in preparation for my first and to this date my last salmon trip up north on the River Naver a few years ago.
Therefore I thought I would tie some more just for fun as I haven't got any salmon fishing trips lined up but I would be available if the circumstance arises.
So here is my first salmon fly for about three years. The Hillend Doubler!  A wee bit rusty proportion wise it could have been done with a longer slimmer hook and a smaller head but fairly pleased with it. I will just need to keep practising.

Grizzly Palmer Tying Demo

Here's a tying demo of the Grizzly Palmer patterns I tied last night and posted on the blog. You may have noticed the absence of one very important ingredient in the making of this video? These should be great for brown trout anywhere even without the inclusion of a malt whisky.

Grizzly Palmers

After dabbling in the dark art of tying lures last week it was a very pleasant change to get back to tying a more traditional style of fly pattern.
This style is always great to have on the top dropper of a two or three fly cast.
I must point out that no whisky was consumed in the making of these flees, however after tying these tonight I  was thinking I might make a a tying demo of this pattern tomorrow night and of course I cant rule out the use of a malt in the process of doing such a thing.

The Hillend Sunray

Over the weekend I tied a box of lures which should see me through the season. Twenty five in total.
As you know I'm not overly fond of tying these beasts but I actually like the look of this pattern which I think should be a good fish attractor at Hillend and The Black Loch.
I should only now need to tie more of these in order to replace any I loss.

Fluffy Trout Catchers

Last night I was tying lures. Those who know me,  know that I really don't like tying these beasts as I actually abhor working with marabou. Fritz is even worse but the straggle fritz that I've used on these patterns is actually not too bad to work with to be fair.
However these fluffy trout catchers are required on occasions at Hillend and its always helpful to have a few variations in your box. As you can see I've got some more hooks prepared as I'm going to tie another half dozen up later tonight. So hopefully that should do me and I wont have to tie up any more for a while.

Guess what I watched today?

I felt compelled to tie this pattern tonight after watching the latest Davie McPhail video on his youtube channel.
Its not exactly the same as his as I used holographic tinsel for the butt and the rib.
I like the look of this pattern and it really does suit the Kamasan B160 size 12 hook very well.
I have a loch in mind where I reckon this patern will be successful.

The Game Spider

Over the last week or so a fly pattern was brought to mind that I read about on a fishing forum. The name of this pattern is The Game Spider.
I first came across this pattern a couple of years ago whilst on a fishing trip in Caithness with two companions John and Paul.
To cut a long story short I had a really bad day on Loch Watten but John did reasonably well and the pattern which caught him a few trout was the Game Spider.
I had forgotten all about this pattern. John had been given this fly by his fishing friend Henry, who was the originator of the pattern and had great success with it all over the country but especially in Orkney.
This is my take on the pattern which is very simple to tie. It can be tied in olive or black.
I am looking forward to utilising this pattern at my local lochs and beyond in the coming season.