Tempting Trout

After a couple of recent disappointing nights at the loch I was delighted to get in among some trout action at Hillend on Sunday night! 

Conditions were just about perfect with lots of fly life about including the famous Hillend Big Sedge which made an appearance late on. 

However when the light westerly  breeze dipped the midges were absolutely hellish! 

But I was suitably protected by applying my new midge repellant Midge Los from  https://www.torbeagequestrian.com/shop/   which I am very pleased to report has worked very well now on two ridiculously insane midge nights at the loch and is highly recommended for anyone looking for a reliable midge repellant. 

My success on the night was down to a fly pattern called the Midas, recommended to me recently by  Hillend regular Phil aka Toad!

It's a rather unusual and messy looking pattern which is intended to be fished dry and has a very good reputation in the competition scene in England.

I'm not entirely sure if my interpretation of the pattern is how the fly is intended to look but I was certainly influenced by it when I was tying it.

I have to admit that I didn't fish my version of the Midas dry as I fished it on the bob just under the surface.

Regardless of how I fished it, it did account for two very welcome trout, a rainbow and a nice Brownie.

It does seem quite a robust pattern but I will tie up a few more now I know the Hillend troot like them!

I dispatched these two fish as my friend Iain Johnston is very fond of smoked trout which he firstly  marinates overnight  in soy sauce mixed with brown sugar and chillie flakes. It looks delicious. I'm not keen on eating trout but Iain's recipie  looks very tempting!

I'm hoping now that on my next trip up to the loch later in the week that I will still have the Midas touch! 

Third Time Lucky.

As mentioned in my previous blogpost, on my last two visits to the Loch I frustratingly hooked played and lost a troot on both occasions.

However last night I faired better.

But it didnt start well as within the first fifteen minutes or so I managed to lose another trout which was fooled by a wee mini lure I tied up the night before and is pictured here!

For the next few minutes I started thinking this night was gonna follow on just like my previous two visits up the Loch.

The reason for the failure on this occasion was I had made up my leader using a dropper ring!

The mono must have cut through the ring which must have a sharp edge as all I was left with was a 6 foot piece of mono and my flees gone! The packet has now been binned!!!

However it proved to be third time lucky! 

A short while later I changed tactics  by using a couple of old favourites A Conamara  Black on the tail and a 80 shilling Sedge on the dropper!

The old Irish Pattern fooled a nice blueback and later on a rather slim broonie took to my 80 shilling Sedge pattern

The Sedge pattern got a lot of interest from the trout with a few takes and rises to it.

Alex who was with me also managed to land  a couple of trout on the 80 shilling sedge but also lost a couple too.

In summary it was a good night of troot action with an old friend that I hadn't fished with for a while with the success down to two old favourite fly patterns. I guess I better spend some time at the vice and stock up on 80 Shilling Sedges as The Hillend Troot certainly like them! 

Frustration!

My two most recent visits to Hillend have been rather frustrating! 

Last Wednesday night I had the boathouse bay to myself, probably because it was a rather murky night with a brisk cold easterly wind blowing down the loch. As a result there wasnt much fly life around and I only saw a couple of fish showing all night. 

However I did fool a troot with the fly pictured top here. Never the less i only managed to hook  play and lose it,  much to my ire as it was the only troot action I encountered all night! 

On Friday night I ventured down to the wee moss area where I once again hooked, played and lost a troot this time fooled by a suspender buzzer pictured here.

On close inspection of my flies I noticed that the hook got straightened. 

Since then I've tied a few more SBs on good strong kamasan hooks. 

Heres hoping that my next time up at the Loch proves to be more successful.