Harelaw....another wild day here

Looking back to the fishing hut

Harelaw, I don't remember having fished here before in what could be termed a calm day and today was certainly not one of those. This fishery is set in the hills above Neilston and provides good bank and boat fishing. Unusually for this type of fishery it also attracts pike anglers, not common to see both mix. There are some really good fish here so always worth a cast.

The calm bay

A couple of the guys opted for a boat but others including me decided to bank fish. Although you can walk the full water the wind conditions today meant that the easterly bank, as you look from the hut, was the only reasonable one for safe casting. There were not many fishermen here for a Saturday, maybe the weather or maybe a sign of the times.
The walking is normally ok but the bank we were heading towards is probably the hardest going especially as it is now extremely boggy in parts as well as the awkward tussocky grass mounds. 

Another angler tries his luck

As I walked round I cast every now and then with my standard wet casts of bibio on point and Kate McLaren on the dropper. It seems years since I started with dries but these cold winds are keeping the fish down. With this wind it was strictly a 2 fly cast only. It took about half an hour to get to where I really wanted to fish but during this time I neither saw nor touched a fish.

Boat at top edge of the bay

To add to the adventure you have to walk over very boggy terrain sinking into the gloopy mud at times well over my boots. You then have to walk on a narrow pontoon type bridge walkway through a reed bed, the height of these reeds go over my head and also close in on you on each side, a very narrow and dark passage indeed. One of the pontoons was not fully joined to the others, which I did not spot, so next step one leg right down up to the knee in dark squelchy stuff, not nice.

Father & son try their luck

After that excitement the next adventure begins when you cross a small hillock on which the black headed gulls are nesting and they were not at all happy with our presence. The result was constant dive bombing attacks by them, which to try to avoid I walked with my rod held high in an effort to deter them. These birds don't just try to hit you their defence mechanism is to crap on you, very smelly stuff, not recommended.
Suitably traumatised and knackered I was glad to get to my chosen fishing spot. My pal started fishing in a small tree lined bay where insects were plentiful and the occasional fish was rising. There was one fish in particular that rose so frequently that he was determined to catch and after an hour he did so, perseverance paid off, just as well as it was his only one of the day.
Further along the bank where I was fishing you can wade quite well with a reasonable sandy footing and only a few rocks to avoid. I could see the odd fish rising but most, if they were here, were presumably fishing a foot or two down. Off with the bibio and on with a gold headed brassie nymph to get down to them and within a few minutes I had a good tug but no take. Optimism restored. A short time later I had a solid hit and there was a good rainbow which took the Kate on the dropper. It gave a good fight so had to be helped for a minute to recover before a quick tail flick sent it speeding out to deeper water.

Harelaw rainbow

I fished the same cast for about half an hour, one gentle tug but nothing else.
The boat guys were back into our bay saying it was just mental weather further out and horrible for fishing, glad I was walking. They stayed in our bay for the rest of the day so it must have been wild.

Pike guys out at the island

Next change was to try buzzers for another half an hour or so but after walking up and down the bank no joy, no tugs, no fish. Time for lunch.
After lunch I decided to go with dries just for some fun. A little black spider has worked well here before partnered with an f fly midge, also a good fly for these waters. Midges were about the only thing I had seen on the water. No joy with these so on went bigger flies with sedgehog up top and a small daddy on the dropper. No real reason other than a change. The sky was darkening to a deep black overhead so not too confident. Regret it yee doubter. A few casts later and good fish rose trying to drown the daddy and down it went, rod bent, fish on. It was a hard struggle and I knew from the fight something wasn't quite right. As it turned out the fish had foul-hooked on the sedge whilst trying to drown the daddy. It was a good fish about 2.5lb and despite having the leader wrapped around it I was able to safely return it.

It looks a lot calmer than it was

As it turned out that was the last bit of action for the day. All of the guys caught at least one but none more than two so that was ok but less than we have caught in previous visits. One did catch a 4lb jack pipe on the fly.
The weather was looking decidedly ominous and heavy rain was forecast so time to walk the gull gauntlet and the reed beds.
On a better day I look forward to a full walk around the place but I was satisfied with today's limited stretch despite the weather.