Hillend Dabbler

Well I suppose it was inevitable that I would sooner or later have my first Hillend Blank. I suppose I shouldn't be too down hearted as I normally have my first blank at Hillend on the opening day. With the prospect of fishing to about eight o'clock now that the clocks have been put forward I decided to get up the loch this afternoon after watching on TV the pointless exercise of Scotland being defeated by Brazil at football, in of all places London.That was a shock eh? The SFA should hang their heads in shame for organizing such a jolly for players and officials when the Leagues have such a backlog of games to catch up on. Anyway that's enough of the fitba this is an angling blog after all. I went over to the North shore this afternoon and fished either side of the promontory that heads out to the Spiers Island. I set up with my Sunburst kates and my little brown Hillend scruff. Needless to say I never touched a fish all day. There was plenty action all day over on the

Last Friday when I called into my local angling shop, my mate Scott was in helping out as usual. Once I got my coffee from him he went on to tell me that he would like me to tie up some Sunburst Kates as someone had been in the shop earlier that afternoon and was telling him that he had great success with this pattern last year at Hillend and even on some Wild Highland Lochs too. I have used this pattern before at Hillend and to be honest I never found it to be better than any other pattern. Even though the fishing season has begun it doesn't mean that I stop tying but on the contary as I am always open to suggestions of flies to tie and try so therefore taking on board what Scott had informed me of this fly I tied a few of these over the the last week....Some for him and some for me and of course not forgetting Tam I have a few for him too. Time and weather permitting I'm hoping to get out on the Loch over the weekend to try these variations which would have William Robertso

I made a couple of phone calls last night to Tam and Scott to arrange for the three of us to have an afternoon fishing at Hillend this Sunday afternoon. Tam was just as keen as me to get out today but Scott decided that his first outing to the Loch would be put on hold as his attentions were drawn to a big sporting event that was being held South of the River Clyde in Glasgow. Hampden to be precise. So Tam and I went up the Loch together and decided that we would try our luck from the North Shore. We got there by way of the new road which was constructed at the tail end of last season. We parked up, placed my Hillend parking permit on the windscreen and made our way round the back of the Spiers Island. A cold south westerly wind was blowing right into us, we carried on regardless. Tam as usual was first into a fish and soon had it in the net. Tams first of the season was around the 2lb mark. Then about an hour or so later I eventually made contact with a trout with my Hillend Green t

Yesterday, unforeseen circumstances at work prevented me from taking a holiday and getting out on the Loch on the opening day of the season which, in retrospect turned out to be a blessing as the weather here at Dabbler's HQ was horrendous. Once again we were hit with an icy blast of wind, ice and snow. My Hillend correspondent tells me that it was a winter wonderland up there yesterday. Therefore I arranged for a half-day holiday today and decided to get up to the Loch at midday. When I arrived the Loch was bathed in sunshine. As I wondered round the shore I heard various reports from credible and not so credible sources of good numbers of trout being caught from various locations all over the Loch. Ted's Tree looked as good a place as any to make my first cast of the season. I set up with a Hillend Brute on the point and a Hillend Green on the dropper. I persevered for about fifteen minutes or so before heading over to the Island in front of the Whitehill woods. It wasn'

As I was passing by Hillend Loch today I noticed what appeared to be a strange looking boat out on the Loch near the Spiers Island. I was puzzled at first but soon realized that it was the stocking convener out on the wheelie boat doing what stocking conveners do......stock the Loch with fish. I continued on up to the fishing Lodge and then saw the truck on the jetty with the tanks of fish on board so I headed down to wait on the boat coming in and see for myself, some of fish that I hope to connect with next week. I arrived at the jetty just in time to see the last load of fish being put into the tanks and then out onto the Loch. The exact location of where the fish were placed will remain a secret with me.lol! nah! only kidding they were stocked in various locations all over the Loch. I'm not sure how many fish were put into the Loch but I think it was four tankfuls which I can assure you is a lot of fish. The estimated average size of the fish I witnessed being stocked were a

I have recently been trying to cut down on my food etc and getting some exercise under my belt as I have been spending far too much time at my computer desk all winter . I really do need to lose some weight if I want to get out in the wilds of the Highlands this season. Last week I decided to get my bike out the shed and go for a ride. To be honest It was a complete shock to the system as I thought I had nothing better to do than saddle up and get my legs moving. The trip I went on was cut short as I was out of condition but vowed to persevere so this morning rather than attend the GAC open day I decided to go up to the Hillend Lodge on the bike to get this years membership ticket. It was the first time I had been on the the new cycle track since it reopened after the construction of the new Airdrie to Edinburgh railway line. It is a bit disappointing that the new track doesn't start until until you have cycled by the not so beautiful village of Plains. The track follows the North

Spring is in the air and here is the reason why.I can always tell, as my wife was in full spring cleaning mode the other day cleaning out cupboards and shifting furniture alll over the place so I decided I had better vacate the house and let her get on with it. I decided to go for a wee walk up at Hillend . You could tell that we are well on the road to nature's new dawn as The Lily Loch car park was full of anglers cars which means that the Clarkston Anglers fishing season is under way at the Lily. The Buds were budding, the birds were singing and the the fish were rising, honestly they were, in the Braco Burn area. Oh and another sure sign is that the season tickets and memberships for the Airdrie and District Angling Club are on sale at the Hillend Fishing Lodge. I'll pick up mine this weekend. Anyway after returning home I was horrified to see that my other half had decided to relocate my Flytying chest and desk to the other side of the room and moved all my books an