Down The Upper Clyde

When I set off down the M74 I'm usually heading south to visit my brother in Cumbria however on this ocassion my journey south was much shorter as I was going fishing.
I therefore cut off at Abington services , first for a coffee and   then continued on the short journey through Abington onto Crawford by the River Clyde.
I arrived just after midday at the Camps Rd nearby the ruins of Crawford Castle.
The weather was a bit mixed with bright sunny intervals interrupted  by periods of blustery wind and rain showers.
However I was prepared and soon I was on the river swinging my spiders across the current.
I had a great afternoon managing to net 1/2 a dozen small but fiesty brown trout which were great fun to catch. However I managed to rise and miss a few fish too.
All but one of them took a size 14 waterhen bloa. The exception being the trout that took a grouse & orange!
The Upper Clyde is a beautiful area to fish,  today I got the river all to myself and it was bliss! 

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.

Opening Day 2023.

At last its here! The Glorious 15th.
Its been a long dark winter.
The rods are ready. the reels have been greased and the flies have been tied.
This is always an exciting time for anglers as we are full of optimism and dream of red letter days by the lochside.
Hillend is once again open for trout fishing for the next 8 months and I wonder what the coming months have in store for me? Memorable days and most probably forgetful blanks!!!
Last year my first cast of the season was thwarted  by my time in the covid Jail and this year its been delayed again by work commitments and icey weather.
As I left for work this morning the temperature gauge was showing -3°
However I'm hopeful  that the temperature will rise and I'll get up to Hillend for an hour or so after work at the weekend..
As well as the bread and butter of the club water fishing this year Ive got a cuple of fishing breaks  arranged to the Outer Hebrides and Caithness as well as day trips to the highlands so there is a lot to look forward to.

A Colourful Bumble

Its been a while since I last made a tying video. Heres a link to a wee pattern you may have seen pics of recently on my blog.

A Colurful Bumble

Inspired!

Just a quick post to mention how inspired Ive been to spend some time at the vice after visiting the BFFI last weekend.

At the risk of repeating myself it was wonderful to meet up with like minded people who are as passionate about flytying as I am

Heres some pics of my recent time at the vice!

BFFI 2023 ( part 1)

Sunday12th of February I attended the British Flytying Fair International @ Stafford.
However I travelled South the night before for an overnight stay in Penrith at my brothers place to break up the journey to the West Midlands.
We then travelled down on Sunday morning to the Stafford showground.
It was a fantastic day of flytying indulgence with oor George and meeting a couple of fishing and flytying friends such as fellow Hillendener Ian Drummond who was tying on the FF&FT stand and also a surprise meet up with my fishing/Stravaiger friend Robert MacDonald-Lewis who is a fantastic tyer in his own right but on this occassion he was assisting Corsican Dave at his stall.
As always it was great to see the flytyers in tyers row.
In particular Melvyn Wood who's flies and style I'm a big fan of. He not only gave me one of his flees but also a nice wee peaty dram of Ardbeg while I chatted with him as he displayed his skills  on his vice!
It was also great to meet and talk to Peter McCallum Flyfisher and Desmond Paul  another two flytyers whose work I'm a fan of.
I enjoyed looking at the trade stalls too in particular my attention was drawn to a vintage flytying stall which was very impressive and also some of the stands displaying framed flies and prints etc.
I also took a welcome rest of a seat for an hour or so in the fly tying theatre watching Barry Ord Clarke.
Another good thing was I didnt spend too much on materials and much to my surprise also resisted the temptation of the coch-y- bonddu books shelves but I did treat myself to a new pair of flytying scissors.
It was my first time back at the fair in over 10 years and thoroughly enjoyed it!