Residual Feelings

Unfortunately today's story is about "the one that got away".

I spent 8 hours fishing at the river Gryffe yesterday, which for the most part can be quite technical in areas due to a lot of tree cover and close banks (as you can see from the photos).        

                   

I managed to catch quite a few smaller brownies (I'm sure it was around 8), the river is really teaming with juvenile trout. But it's the fish I hooked into about halfway through my day that has left me feeling a bit scunnered!

It was a good fish and I presume to be a Brownie, as I got a good look at it as it was thrashing about on top of the water. But alas it won and escaped and left me reeling (ahem)...

This is where he lives

Never mind though, that's why it's called "fishing" and not "catching". I will be back for a second round before the seasons ends - next time then...

Back To The Grind

Since returning from Isle of Skye at the end of July there, my fishing outings have been pretty sparse.

I live and work in the city of Glasgow and unless you like put & take fisheries or long distance travel, it's a pain to get anywhere that has relatively good sport.

My option is 9 times out of 10 the long distance travel option to get a good river - as I have a thing about trout fisheries being like the equivalent of adults playing snap - it's fun to do it with the kids, but it gets really boring as there's little skill involved.

One of my usual haunts is a small river called the Calder which runs through Lochwinnoch about 20 miles outside of Glasgow. It's about 6 miles long and is largely ignored, I suspect because people who mostly go to Lochwinnoch to fish spend their time at the Castle Semple Loch which is mainly coarse fishing for Pike.

This means that I'm usually fishing the river on my own.... Great!

I don't think that I'll break any world records with this little guy in the picture, but as I said it's good sport. I have had a few around the 1 pound mark at this river, which is about average for most of the brown trout in the smaller rivers in Scotland and they do give a good fight for their small stature.

I have a planned trip on Friday this week to another favourite river called the Gryffe, which runs partly through the village of Bridge of Weir. I know this river well as I grew up in Bridge of Weir and fished it as a teenager. Hopefully I'll be posting a picture of the little guys much bigger brother/cousin - so watch this space.

I am also really, really excited about going back to Skye in the first week of September. Word on the street is the Salmon numbers this year have been impressive and the first proper runs have started during mid August - so again I will report back on this trip.