Hillend Dabbler

June evenings at Hillend can mean only one thing. The Big Sedge is on the loch. Hit the loch on the right night in the month of June and you could be in for a memorable night of fishing as the trout love these meaty insects. Thats if they can beat the gulls to them!

This morning I fancied going down the Clyde Valley to fish the river for trout. I wasn't sure if it would be fishable as there had been a huge spate over the weekend. Apparently there were good numbers of salmon in the river due to the unseasonal spate. My season ticket for the Clyde doesn't cover me for migratory fish and when I arrived at the river it was obvious that I wouldn't be fishing at all as the water was still fairly high and very coloured. The conditions were right for some though as there were about eight cars parked at Mauldslie. I left the salmon anglers to it and moved onto Crossford. When arrived I didn't see any anglers but there was a couple of cars parked up. The water was gushing through the bridge and although you cant see the colour of the water properly in the vid clip because of  the low tech camera I can assure you it was chocolate brown. I thought about driving down to Abington as I reckoned the river wouldn't be so coloured down there b

Scott and I departed North Lanarkshire on Friday morning amidst monsoon like weather listening to Van Morrison on the car cd player. I was sure I saw animals leave the surrounding fields two by two as we approached Auchenkilns.   Argyle was our destination to spend three days camping and fishing for wild trout. I was looking forward to getting away for the weekend as we both have been getting discontented by our local loch recently so a wee bit of rain wasn’t going to stop us from going. We arrived in Taynult about midday and would you believe the weather looked quite favourable. We purchased our fishing permits from the local store and then drove off up the single track road to our desired location.   A great network of forestry roads got us off the main road then it was just a matter of looking out for a suitable camping spot close to the first loch we planned on fishing. We set up camp in a lovely location with great views of the surrounding mountains and

A number of years ago while fishing in the North West Highlands My friend Scott and I stopped off at a bothy for the last night of our weekend fishing expedition. There were two English lads staying there also and they too were fishing the nearby rivers and lochs.   We arrived about 9 pm, got talking flies and tactics and told them of our exploits with the trout on the nearby lochs then set about cooking our well-earned dinner. They appeared to be very decent and knowledgeable blokes. We offered them some food for Scott as ever had made generous helpings of his special macaroni cheese. They said they would love to but they were keener to get out fishing and that they'd get a bite to eat on their return.   So off they went chasing troots into the night. A little later, two Munro baggers arrived, very tired and foot sore. They weren't that chatty - too tired really, and one just sat down whilst the older one made dinner. Afterwards, the younger one was moaning about the b

Tonight the weather here at H Dabbler HQ is what I recogognise as Flytying weather. The Loch can wait for another night. Tonight I was inspired after watching the well known Ayrshire flytyers latest vid. I started off with the idea of copying his latest pattern but I have neither the skill or the materials so I went for the easy option and this was what I created. I have no idea where to fish it , how to fish or when to fish it. I only know that I fair enjoyed tying it.

It was my bi weekly Monday off at the start of the week so rather than visit the loch I'm currently scunnered with I decided to head south down the Clyde to the Thankerton area. I arrived at the Bridge parked up and strung my rod. Before walking down to the river I stopped for a few minutes to watch the river from the bridge. I could see some fish rising to up winged flies. So off I went down to the waters edge. I made a couple of casts and was surprised to get a tug right away on my deer hair emerger. Encouraged I made a few more casts but caught the shrubs on the back cast. I walked towards my snagged line and gave it a gentle tug but to my astonishment I snapped my rod. It was a clean break close to one of the rod eyes. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement. I stormed back to the car cursing at my stupidity. On the drive back to Airdrie I decided that as well as taking my rod to the Airdrie Angling shop to get repaired I thought that my misfortune w

As it says above, after the last two nights at the loch I am completely scunnert with Hillend. Last night I decided I would enter the fly fishing comp at the loch. We have them every Saturday night in June from 7pm until midnight. Its only £2 to enter. Years ago I used to be a regular at these events with my two pals Alex and Colin and enjoyed moderate success. I haven't entered the comps for a number of years now and last night I was reminded why I don't enjoy them anymore. At one point last night I was fishing in the boathouse bay with nine other anglers and every other spot I fancied fishing was taken up too. It was far too busy and for me this isn't proper fishing. The weather has been hell at Hillend recently too with constant easterly winds. There were twenty six anglers in the comp and only four fish were caught the whole evening. Tonight I was out on the boat with Scott and as usual we were faced with a cold easterly wind. Needless to say neither of us caught

It was about half past seven when I reached the point of the woods last night. As has been the case when I have visited the loch recently an easterly wind was blowing down the loch. I sat on the bench stringed my rod and set up my cast which was as usual a Kate on the dropper and a pattern I tied up in the afternoon on the point. The point fly was a an unotrthadox pattern. It was tied up with the big sedge in mind. Normally I would use a muddler a G7H sedge or one of my various cdc patterns to pull across the surface. The problem with these patterns is that eventually they begin to sink under the surface but the fly and I use the term loosely that I tied for this occasion floated like a cork. It would have fly dressers turning their noses up at it as it was just dyed hares ear fur for a body with a piece of foam tied along the back in segments. Anyway I waded out to the pole and started casting. Needless to say nothing was interested in any of my flies I came back ashore had a re