Good Result in Perthshire!

On Sunday the last day of April The Clarkston Tangler and the Hillend Dabbler travelled north in search of good sport on a Perthshire loch as I wanted to avoid and blank out the high profile sport being played in the southside of Glasgow.
As it turned out we made a wise choice, however at least we got the  result we were after with 9 fish for the boat. 3 for the Tangler and 6 for me.
It was a slow start though as on our arrival at the Loch it was a bit misty and flat calm.
I fished with various spider patterns and caught one small brown trout and had a few rises and takes to them too. The Tangler had a couple of offers too but didnt fish much as he didnt fancy the conditions at all.
As the day progressed there was not so much as a ripple, the only disturbance on the water was the  rain hitting the surface. The rain was off and on for most of the morning.
We tried various areas of the Loch on the wet and difficult glass like surface all morning without any further trout.
After lunch we tried another couple of spots although the weather brightened up a bit he lack of wind was a problem as we couldn't get a drift!
The loch has a good head of brown trout which are very obliging in the correct conditions,  however the  local angling club who have the 3 boats on this Loch also stock it once a year with rainbow trout.
So in the afternoon we switched tactics. Yes we turned to the dark side which is alien to  me, however the lures changed  our fortunes . The Tangler managed a small brown trout and thereafter a further two rainbows. And we both got broke and dropped a few.  I managed to hook and net 5 more  rainbows.
We kept 4 trout and released the others as these alien trout were getting used as a bargaining tool for a haunch of venison from one of the Tanglers friends. Now that's a good result! However the après fish n chips in Creiff was rank rotten! 

Oliver Edwards

This evening I have just heard the sad news that Oliver Edwards has passed away. Oliver Edwards was a great inspiration to so many people. I was inspired by his articles in the Flyfishing & Flytying magazine, his flytyers masterclass book and of course his wonderful series of Essential Skills dvd's. 

I was lucky enough to be present at one of his flytying demos at the BFFI in Stoke back in 2010 when I recall him telling the audience that this would be the last time he would attend such a show. I liked his no nonesense approach. He truly was one of the greats! 

He will be such a loss to the flytying and flyfishing community.

North Country Spiders

Ive recently purchased my season permit for the River Clyde and look forward to spending some time on the upper reaches of the river. I'm hoping to make my first trip of the season to the river next week.

Influenced by Robert L Smith's modern book on the old North Country Fly tradition  I've been at the vice topping up my spider box for the Clyde.

I'm attracted to the simplicity of river patterns and also find the tradition of the North Country Spiders very interesting and intriguing.

Another aspect of the North Country Spiders I find fascinating is the use and history of the traditional silks and threads.

To let you understand many of the old traditional threads and silks  used in the old spider patterns are very much sought after and can be quite costly to buy, specially the quintessential north country spider material of Pearsall's Gossamer silk. 

Unfortunately I've only got two or three spools of the original Pearsall's silk and so began searching for an alternative or better still even looking for the original Pearsall  at a sensible price.

I soon noticed semperfli are doing a material they call "Pure Silk" So I sent off for a couple of spools. Unfortunately however my package got damaged in transit and I only received the one spool. 

Over the last few days I've been using the semperfli vintage orange pure silk. It has a thicker gauge than Pearsalls but is a decent alternative.

All weekend I've been tying spiders making use of the threads I've got. 

As much as it's very aesthetically pleasing to use the original materials it doesnt matter a jot to trout however I will keep looking out for that elusive bargain of original Pearsall's silk In the meantime I will just have use what I've got and try a few other alternatives.