Glasgow Angling Centre Open Weekend

As previously stated my mind has been on other things lately as its been busy busy busy but this weekend my thoughts will be turning to the fast approaching trout season as the GAC have their annual open weekend with all manner of Angling celebrities in attendance passing on their knowledge and expertise. I will be particularly looking forward to watching Davie McPhail's tying demos and also hope to have a chat with him. Among the TV anglers in attendance will be Paul Young , Matt Hayes , Mick Brown and Hywel Morgan. No doubt I will be tempted to purchase a load of tying materials etc but will have to resist the temptation of a new rod as I really do have enough, as my wife keeps reminding me.I just hope that I have enough cash left over to pick up membership for Hillend on Saturday too. So that's all for now folks as its bedlam here at Dabbler HQ with the wife having the whole house in makeover mode. Where is that Colin and Justin when you need them lol!

Forget me not!

You may have noticed that I have not been active on my blog recently as its now been two weeks since I last made a post. I have been extremely busy with other stuff and to be honest all angling and flytying craft related activities have been put to the back off my mind as I have been concentrating and participating on another sort of Craft. Right that's the excuses done with. I literally tied this fly minutes ago I will tie another couple up when I'm done with this post. The season is drawing ever closer and thought that I could be doing with a few more of these style of flies in my box. A great style for pulling through the top layers of any Scottish loch of a summer evening. Hope you like and will not wait so long between posts, honest. So please Forget Me Not!

UV Straggle Fritz Wet Fly

Just the other day when I arrived home from work I was shocked and horrified to find out that my wife had dismantled my tying desk and chest and all my assorted bits and pieces and packed them into a cupboard in what was formerly my tying room, all in the name of home improvements. My tying den was my pride and joy and I would go in there with a malt or a fine red and tie flies till my heart was content.
She also wanted me to pack all my books and magazines which I have collected for many years away also into the cupboard and wanted to do away with my bookcases all because she says they are an eye sore.
As you can imagine a bit of an argument ensued but I eventually calmed down and managed to come to an agreement of sorts.
In the end I got a new desk in the room all be it the one from my sons room as apparently he is getting a new one.
I have now reorganized my tying gear and threw away all the stuff that I was never going to use. I now have a scaled down tying kit which is still quite considerable to be honest as I have a hell of a lot of gear. Its all packed away into newly acquired storage boxes etc and although its not set up permanently as before I'm quite happy with it now.
Anyway, enough of my trouble and strife. I was watching Davie McPhails You tube channel today and was inspired by his latest tying vids which are tremendous and decided to tie up some flies using the technique he uses to incorporate straggle fritz into standard wets to give them a modern feel and added sparkle. The above fly is one of about half a dozen I tied today and I really like the look of them. I hope you do to. Please feel free to leave comments good bad or indifferent

Airdrie & Dist AC [Hillend Loch] AGM

I attended the Airdrie and District angling Club's AGM this afternoon and I'm pleased to report that the Club is in a healthy state especially in these tough financial times and its all down to the hard work that the committee etc put in and which goes unnoticed. The only disappointing aspect of today's meeting was that there were only 52 members in attendance which was a 25 drop on last years meeting.The bulk of the committee were re elected with just a couple of members standing down.We heard reports on the stocking policy of the club and reports on the landscaping and path making etc and the continuing success of the club house facility which is without doubt the best in the region. The use of the boats was disappointing as not as many members as hoped utilised them. I put that down to the terrible weather we had during the course of the season as high winds tended to prevail during the summer.The Club are pleased to announce that the pricing of memberships and season tickets will remain the same as last year with the only increase being a day ticket going up by a pound. Over all the club is in a hale and hearty condition and I look forward to the coming season which is only 46 days away.

Hillend News Flash!

Airdrie and District Angling Club's AGM will be held in the Alexander Primary School Airdrie [opposite Airdrie train station] on Sunday the 29th of January at 12.00 - 03.00pm. Full members only may attend. Permits must be shown for proof of membership before entering. The dates for the new permits to be renewed are still to be confirmed.
The Angling club would like to see as many members as possible to attend. So come along and hear how the club fared in the last year and also hear the plans for the coming year and perhaps put forward ideas of your own for consideration.
Do you have any Hillend Loch memorabilia or anything which relates to Airdrie and District Angling Club if so the club now have a new display case in the club house, We hope to collect as much as possible and preserve the history of the club.
Finally,Pike fishing will be available every weekend in February. Permits are available from the clubhouse and are priced as follows, 2 rods £7. 3 rods £10. Dead baits only and spinners or plugs over 6 inches.
Check out the Pike catches from last year in the gallery at
www.airdrie-angling.co.uk/zenphoto/Latest%20catches/

Another fly for Hillend

Unfortunately I still haven't got round to wetting a line this year yet. Therefore I haven't had much to blog about other than the odd walk up at Hillend and such like as well as showing some of my latest tyings. I hope the latest patterns to fall from my vice will meet with your approval and in some way keep my readers interested in my blog until such time that I get myself out fishing again. I can't say exactly when that will be as it is dependant on the weather and work commitments but I hope to use those grayling floats soon that I acquired at the tail end of the year. Hope you like the pattern above which has an unusual colour combination but one I think will fool some Hillend trout.

Flies for Hillend brown trout

Ive been tying more flies recently than I have done for some time. The new box is steadily building up . The above three are examples of the style I have been tying. I must say I do enjoy tying these style of flies more than any other. These last few days I have been tying size 10's so my next batch are gonna be in 12's.
These flies are especially tyed with brown trout in mind but I'm sure the Hillend rainbows might fancy them too. Its always ideal to have movement and light in a fly pattern and these fit the bill perfectly. The latest patterns won't win any tying competitions as they are essentially fishing flies which are a bit rough round the edges. I will post more examples in a couple of days. Hope you like them. Please feel free to leave a comment , good bad or indifferent.

More Hillend Scruffs

Today I tied a trio of flies for use at Hillend in a similar style that I tied last year and I use the word style carefully that caught me a few trout last year. Its a good wet pattern to use in the May and june when the fish are in the upper layers of the loch. Not the best looking flies to look at but the fish appeared to show an interest in them last year.

Tied on a size 10 hook I used and orange uni thread for the tying thread,the tail is from a mallard the body is firey yellow slf with wraps of red holo tinsel the body hackle is brown grizzle with a green wire rib to secure it down and a scruffy partridge hackle at the front... A scruffy Hillend Palmer.

Hillend trees and flees!

Went for a walk yesterday afternoon at Hillend and noticed that the jetty has been damaged by the storms we had last week and that part of it is lying in the narrows near the cottage half submerged. I walked round the back of the cottage and up the hill at the narrows and up along the dyke that runs along the hill to the the big tree, my favourite spot to sit and gaze across the loch. There were quite a number of old trees blown down by the recents winds which I often think is sad as these trees in some cases are over a 100 years old. I then decided to walk over to the old estate house which has lay derelict since 1937, the course over to the house proved more difficult than I first thought as I had to negotiate some serious bog to get there. It must have been a magnificent house in its day with a great view looking toward the loch.

I have often wondered why the boathouse bay at Hillend is so called as there is no sign of any boathouse what so ever I can only guess that there must have been one at some time in the past as the old estate house is only about 300 yards away in the woods.

I then continued on my walk up to the point of the woods and then round the back and cut through the woods back to the bay , down the narrows back to car and then off home. After a nice hot drink I sat down at the vice and tied a few flies the best of which was the one above.

Geocaching by the Lily Loch.

After the excesses of Christmas, New Year and a victory for
the Diamonds over the Wee Rovers yesterday I decided that today would be an
appropriate time to begin my plan to get fit for the year ahead. Trouble was
when I awoke this morning there was an almighty storm blowing across the
country shutting down transport systems, major bridges and of course causing major structural damage and also the danger of falling trees etc.
Therefore I waited to about midday when it appeared that the
wind was subsiding before heading out.
I picked up Alex just after twelve and we decided that we
would have a walk up the hills nearby the Lily Loch. Alex had a new GPS he
wanted to use so we decided we would do a bit of what is termed Geocaching. Basically
it’s a Hi tech game of treasure hunt using a GPS to locate a concealed box or
something similar. Inside there is a log book which you sign and date and give
details of the weather conditions etc. Alex had all the details and route to
follow etc.
We parked in the Lily carpark headed up the footpath to the
lily we were soon out on the hills searching for the cache. The wind and
freezing sleet was a hindrance as we got up onto Drumfin. I tried to get some
pics of the lily loch looking west but the sleet was coming straight at me so
decided if any pics were to be taken then they would have to be looking east
with the wind at my back. The view over to Hillend were nice but would be much
better appreciated on a better weather day. After a while we found the desired
cache there was a second to be found but the weather was too wild and wet so
called it a day went back to the car and visited the Hillend Lodge for a
welcome cup of coffee.

Wire Spider

Hello folks Happy New Year!

Ive not really been in the tying groove recently as my mind has been on other things and have been lacking inspiration so when I sat down at the vice today I didnt know what to tie or where to start. Then I was thinking of a dabbler pattern Davie McPhail tied and gave to me at the GAC a couple of years ago. Davie showed me the wonderful properties of the mirage tinsel it had on the body as it appears to change colour or completely disappear just showing the wire wrapped over it depending on which direction the light hits it. As we all know fish are attracted to movement in fly patterns so therefore as this fly is getting pulled it should work a treat. I tied a few of these tonight and look forward to tying other patterns too in the coming weeks.

I was hoping to go after the grayling over the festive period but as yet I havent managed but hope to remedy that soon.