Last Drift at Hillend

My last outing on the boat at Hillend this season turned out to be a very pleasing day of angling.
Scott and I went afloat together while Tam and Craig were on another boat.Before setting out we could see that lots of fish were getting caught from the bank across fom the clubhouse along the narrows.I would imagine that these fish, since they were so abundant in this area were the newly stocked fish this week. We like to try to get in among the natural head of fish at Hillend so we moved as far as possible from the over anxious anglers at the narrows and headed for the west end of the Loch.
We had a couple of drifts from the corner of the dam towards the Speirs Island two fish were caught a rainbow for Scott and a Broonie for me. We then moved to the other side of the island and drifted down towards the Shields Burn on this occassion I caught another broonie and a rainbow while Scott managed a perch.We both missed three or four fish each and I also had a fish on which eventually broke my leader ,I reckon it must have had a wind knot in it as it snapped above my top dropper.The other boat landed Perch, trout and a jack pike, numerous fish were missed and lost also. Before calling it a night we had a couple of drifts into the boathouse without even a bite. At 7.30 we headed back to the boat moorings and then onto the clubhouse for a coffee and a gab.Looking forward to getting out on the boat more often next season as I have really enjoyed myself afloat at Hillend these last couple of months.

Spiders for Lochs

I was recently asked if I would tie spider patterns for use on Lochs. It's well documented that black spiders work very well on lochs all over the country but the chap that contacted me was looking for something that little bit different. This request was right up my street because when I tie flies I like to come up with patterns in my own style so to speak. I do like tying tried and trusted patterns but do enjoy trying to come up with something subtlety different. Anyway this is the first of a number of flies I will be tying up over the next few days.I have no idea if this will be successful or otherwise. wht not tie one and let me know how you get on. I will be trying these out soon myself at Hillend.

Frustration at Hillend and Pottinshaw

Yesterday afternoon My friend Scott and I went up to Hillend to have a day out on the boat. Travelling past the south shore the conditions looked reasonable. but when we got to the clubhouse we were told that they weren't allowing anyone out on the boat because the wind was too high. To be fair at the narrows it did look quite wild.
After having a blether for half an hour or so in the car park with another couple of anglers who were also denied a boat, the wind appeared to have eased and much to my surprise as I looked up the loch I saw a couple of anglers out on a boat drifting down by the point of the woods.
I was quite annoyed with this but didn't bother questioning why this was the case instead we decided we would go to Pottinshaw Fishery as we didn't have our waders or appropriate footwear to fish Hillend. Off we went to West Lothian to fish the Whitburn venue. Pottinshaw is a catch and release only fishery and were warned that the fishing can be dour at times.As the afternoon progressed this proved to be the case.I did manage to land a fish..... a perch and I did hook a trout but failed to bring it to hand. I was pleasantly surprised how nice this wee place was. It is well looked after but the one drawback for me was the constant drone of the traffic on the nearby M8.

Jack Frost

I've been busy at the bench tonight and tied a few of this variation of the Jack Frost.

When I first started out fly fishing about twenty years ago I used this pattern quite a lot. 

These days I don't use lures much and prefer to use traditional Scottish wets but sometimes there are occassions when a lure is required.

I am going to give this a soaking in the next day or two at Hillend. 

The original is a great perch fry lure. The perch fry are in great abundance at Hillend at the moment so I thought it would be a good idea to tie some of these up.

I believe this pattern might well be an improvement on the original as I have changed the body of the fly by using a pearly glister dubbing which adds translucency to the pattern. 

My dressing is a follows. Thread. Fire Orange uni 8/0 Hook. size 12 or 10  B175 o Kamasan Body. Pearly glister Tail. Chinese Red uni floss: brushed out Wing . White Marabou Hackle. fluorescent red cock hackle

The Magpie Tail Fly

Tonight I have been mostly tying the Magpie Tail fly. The reason for this is that the subject of this fly came up in a fishing forum I regularly frequent. There was quite a discussion about this fly and the merit of this pattern on the River Clyde. A picture was requested of it so I had a look through my archived files and posted the pic of the pattern. I first tied the pattern up a few years ago and I have to admit it wasn't the best looking fly I have ever tied. Even if I do say so myself , I believe my flytying has improved over the last few years so I thought it would be good to tie up some new flies and do it some justice. Also I noticed yesterday that I had only one of these flies lefy in my box. I was first told about this fly by Hillend regular Bob Graham. He informed me that it is a great pattern to use from August to the end of the season. The first time I used this pattern at Hillend I got instant results. That was a few years ago and to be honest I had completely forgotten about this pattern,shame on me as it really is a great fly.

Clyde Style Fishing

If you associate the River Clyde with Glasgow and the shipyards you would be correct, but you would not be thinking like an angler. To the angler the River Clyde conjures up a very different picture. An angler will tell you of a river whose source is the rivulet of Crookburn which runs from Quennsberry Hill, which is then increased by the Daer Water, and then afterwards joined by the Clydeburn or as it is sometimes referred to as the Little Clyde. Thereafter its tributaries are the Elvan, Midloch, Camps, Glengonner, Duneaton, Garff, Culter, North and South Medwins, Douglas, Mouse, Nethan, Dalserf, Avon and the North and South Calders.
All the Clyde’s tributaries contain trout, but the tributaries of most interest to the fly fisher are the Duneaton, Elvan and the Glengonner as these waters contain trout in great abundance.
The finest fly-fishing to be had on the Clyde is in the Lammington, Thankerton, Abington and Crawford area. The fishing here has a tradition all of its own. The trout here are shy and don’t come to the net very easily but when they are in the mood they will come to the wet and the dry flee. In the clear waters of the upper Clyde, fine tackle and small lightly dressed flies are the order of the day. This is the river of the “ Single Hair” as our forefathers would have described it. Today the Clyde is still a river of fine and far off techniques. The tiny size 16 and size 18 flies tied locally are fished on leaders of breaking strains down to a pound and a half. The patterns at times are tied to imitate the local hatches – for instance the McLeod’s olive, the sand and cow dung fly and at other times they are imitative representations of local fly life tied from the plumage of the local bird life. The River Clyde is the river of the Lark and Grey, The Corncrake, The Hen Blackie, The Blue Hen, The Crow and Black, The Crow and Silver, The Stank Hen, The Duck Tip, The Magpie Tail, The Cran Swallow and The Hare Lug and Plover. These flies have come to be regarded as “Clyde Style Flies” due to their distinctive tying style. A Clyde Fly is tied with a short body; a fine light wing and a minimum turn of hackle. Some Clyde flies seem to have only as many strands of hackle as the real insect has legs. Clyde Style patterns fish well not only on the Clyde, but also throughout Scotland, wherever there is a call for small flies and great care in dealing with educated trout.
I compiled the above concise information from a book called The Fishing Waters of Scotland by Moray McLaren and William B. Currie.I hope it gives a bit of an insight into Clyde Style fishing.

The one that got away!

I had another enjoyable evening fishing from the boat tonight at Hillend.We set off from the Lodge about half past five this evening and fished until about nine o'clock. It turned really cold for the last half hour of the session
We went on over to the west end of the Loch near the dam. The wind direction was very changeable tonight and never really got any real good long drifts as we had to continually reposition the boat due to the wind being so varied. On the first drift we were moving from the North shore southwards to the Big Moss when Scott hooked an incredibly big fish.Such was the power of the fish we had to get the drogue in and use the outboard engine to catch up with the fish as it continually was taking line from the reel. The fish lead us a merry dance as we tried to keep up with it. Scott had been fighting this fish for twenty minutes and still it hadn't broke the surface. Then all of a sudden a fish splashed at the top dropper it was then that the fish which was attached to the point fly broke the line. Scott was shattered, he was gutted that we had lost this big fish. We reckon that he had hooked one of Hillend's famously large Pike but some huge rainbows were stocked last week up to 15pound. We will never know what was on the end of Scott's line the one thing we do know is that it was a very big fish indeed. By way of consolation the brownie that took his top fly was a beauty, as you can see from the pic. As the night progressed we caught numerous perch and eventually we both landed another brown trout each. It's quite interesting to see the variation in colouring and spots on the fish as my fish had quite a few red spots while Scott's were black.
It was two very happy but cold anglers that made it back to the Lodge for a hot drink and to tell anyone that would listen about the big one that got away.

Hillend News Flash!

This afternoon while I was passing Hillend Loch I noticed a bit of a commotion near the Hillend Lodge . I pulled in to see why the group of fishermen were all huddled together by the loch shore. On closer inspection I realized that a bloke was playing a huge rainbow trout and was having considerable trouble landing it. With the assistance of one of the Hillend Bailiffs after which was reported to be a good twenty minute heart stopping struggle he managed to eventually net the fish. The fish weighed 13 and a half pound which was probably a personal best for the very happy and lucky angler.
There is a big competition being held at the Loch tomorrow. This fish is believed to be one of a number of huge fish that were stocked this week I await with interest to hear if anymore get caught as I will be at the Loch on Sunday for an outing on the boat and wouldn't mind catching one of these brutes on the fly.

Mixed Bag at Hillend

Last night I had another outing on the boat at Hillend. I went out on my own while Tam and Scott went afloat together.
The two boats motored up to the west end close to the dam. I drifted from here down to Speirs Island. I just had started fishing when a trout rose right next to the boat I put my flies over him but nothing transpired. I got my first take near the Island but it didn't stick. I maneuvered round the island and then drifted down towards the Shields Burn. I had no success. Meanwhile my two friends who had been making various drifts at the dam end suddenly appeared behind me. They instructed me to follow them back to the west end of the Loch as trout were showing and they both had caught several brown trout and rainbows. Once back up near the dam, Tam and Scott continued to connect and land fish, soon I was into fish too, only difference was I was catching bloody perch.And so it went on , I caught four perch in total but no trout. I felt such a fool as my two mates had such a brilliant night while my night on Hillend was mediocre to say the least.Late on a flat calm fell over the Loch which ended play for the night . Back at the Fishing Lodge I was the butt of many jokes and good natured ridicule. That's fishing I suppose. One of these nights I will out fish these two. By the law of averages it's gotta happen , there again.........

Fishy Story!

Just a wee reminder that this months issue of the Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazine is carrying a tale in the Fish Story feature on page 86 of one of my short stories. I actually somehow managed to be chosen as story of the month for this months magazine and won a brilliant book called Bright Waters which is a collection of short angling stories from famous Irish angling luminaries.Take some time to read it and please leave a comment in the box provided.

The Sound of Mull

Yesterday Scott and I set off in the early hours of the morning on a journey to the Sound of Mull for a spot of angling in the salt.
We needn't have set out so early because when we arrived at the Corran Ferry we found out that the first sailing departed at 8.45am. Once over at Ardgour we continued on the beautiful road trip down to Lochaline at the Sound of Mull.The weather on Sunday was absolutely stunning. On days like these you really have to wonder why some folk go on holiday abroad because when you see the Highlands of Scotland in such glorious conditions, nothing can compare.
On arrival at Lochaline we had the place to ourselves but soon after another three or folk blokes appeared two of whom had been camping on the shore nearby. We were informed that the water we were fishing in was 350 feet deep and was famous for huge Skate and Conger eel.
The information provided tuned out to be true as Scott broke his beach caster when he struck into what he reckoned to be a Conger eel. I didn't have any success on the beach caster so let Scott take charge of that rod after he destroyed his. I didn't do too well at the sea fishing yesterday I only caught a couple of Mackerel. I put it all down to inexperience and not being kitted out with the appropriate gear. Scott too had a few Mackerel but the boys along from us had a good catch of Conger eel, Ling and Dog Fish. Even though I didn't do too well at the sea fishing I had an absolutely brilliant day of relaxation in among some Beautiful scenery. I'm not gonna give up this sea fishing lark just yet,and would like a return trip there some time in the future.