Loch Bhac revisited a double loss

First visit of the year to one of my favourite fishing spots. There is the usual 4 mile trek through the forestry commision rough track hoping not to meet any of the huge timber lorries.
Arrive to find 2 other cars already there, members as it turns out. One boat was in use and two guys were bank fishing just like I would do. A cuckoo was calling in the trees nearby.

Sky was blue but a strong easterly wind was blowing. Calm water to begin with and no sign of surfacing fish so down under for the first half an hour. No joy but the guy  to my left was into a fish.
There was a good chop so went on to two dries, a bibio shuttlecock and a black F-fly. I did get 3 rises, all small browns I think, but nothing stuck or I was too slow on the uptake.

Back to a pheasant tail nymph up top with bibio and Kate on droppers. Again two hits on the bibio but still not taken.
There is good wading and I walked the far bank. Apart from the early fish the other two bank guys had no more success. Cuckoo number one had been joined by another behind me, they are loud and persistent. Need to look it up is it only males that call?

Lunch back at the boathouse where I met up with the boat guys but no joy for them either.
Back on the water still with bibio and Kate and bang bibio strikes a small but good fighting rainbow. Quick unhook and off it went at speed heading for the middle.
As frequently happens the Kate got a hit just as I was talking to one of the members. It leapt out of the water and I could see that it was a small brownie. Then the rod really got a bend in it, I had a second fish on the bibio dropper. Then they seemed stuck and the member said there was a reed bed just there and too deep to wade to. A tug of war began and I was worried about my rod tip. However, luckily the inevitable happened and both came off, one hook gone and no idea what happened to the other.

A third cuckoo started calling and with all 3 going at the same time it was quite a noise. The weather had changed, big black clouds. The other guys had gone so I had the place to myself. An osprey put in an appearance, flew around for 5 minutes or so but did not make any dives.
Torrential rain hammered down for 10 minutes , I hid under a tree and waited. It eased and it had triggered some bigger rainbows to come surface hunting. So back on with the same dries and immediately a large splash but no take.
The rain came back on and stayed for next 30 minutes so time to give up. Twenty minutes later when I drove away it was still raining. At Pitlochry 10 miles away they had no rain!!
Still the views were as spectacular as ever. The weather was good enough but for whatever reason the fish were not showing today but I will be back.

Mossroddich Loch St John's Town of Dalry

View from parking area Mossriddoch loch

I wanted somewhere different for this months fishing outing. The wonders of internet searching brought up this little gem. To be fair I wasn't sure at first as I thought that it might just have been a bit on the small size but it ticked the new place to fish box and it was in scenic countryside so worth a shot.
We met the owner 1st thing, handed over the money and got an overview of the water. Don't fish light we were told, despite that two of us were. It is stalked with rainbow and brown trout, any browns caught to be released. The water is only about 5 foot at its deepest with good wading in parts.

The rest of the water

As we stood looking down at the water an osprey flew over, a great start but sadly I did not see it again. But red kites flew regularly overhead as did a pair of buzzards. There were some geese, greylag I think, with young that let out a cacophony of noise every time a raptor flew overhead.

Red Kite

Although small and relatively shallow there were two boats available for our use, one due for a makeover but he left it for us just in case. 

Geese move off

As we tackled up it was relatively calm, with fish rising all over the water. Brilliant an early start for the dry fly, on with a yellow owl and a small bloodworm buzzer on the dropper. I walked to the far side across some boggy ground and getting round the two fences in the water was a challenge as cows had trampled the ground, now boggy and deep.

Mossroddich from bottom end

As I made my first cast I could see fish breaking the surface. 3rd cast and a large rainbow surfaced taking my fly, a proper rod bender, but quickly came off, that's barbless hooks for you. The other two guys had not even started and watched with some jealousy. A few minutes later and rainbow number 2 arrived, same fly, landed and returned.
The weather had now changed and the wind was blowing through at strength. A large chop on the water and no more sign of fish on the surface and no takes for over 15 minutes so changed to my favoured Bibio, Kate McLaren wet fly combo. I saw one of the boats hook up, a good sign that the fish are still active. Rod bend another good fish but again slipped off as I readied my net. Not a problem, saved a netting, as this was a catch and release day for me. But slightly concerning as I do not normally lose fish this way. As it turned out all the guys said the same thing, for some reason all the fish caught in the day were very lightly hooked.

Wading beside boatshed

Another smash and I knew this was a good one. Rod was bent, it was wildly head shaking and moving fast underwater when the leader snapped, I had been broken. A wind knot or a big fish, I don't know but I upped my leader from 5 lb to 8 lb strength and concentrated on tying strong knots.
The weather was not fun and we were all backs to the wind and hoods up. At least the boats could get in behind the trees on the island and had some protection. During a hatch it would be a cracking spot as food would get regularly blown from the trees onto that patch of water. Still just before lunch I caught another small rainbow on the Kate. These were all good fighting fish despite their stature.

Boating and wading

After lunch I put a small beaded pheasant tail up top as the fish were clearly near the bottom. Almost immediately another rainbow was landed but on the dropper to Kate.
Thankfully the wind had eased and the odd fish could be seen on the surface. I put a self tyed pheasant tail with a forked orange tail. It has caught rainbows for me before so I know it works. I noted 2 of the guys landing fish when bang another very hard hit. I was struggling to hold the rod with this one and it tried to make run after run, a cracker. It took me 5 minutes to land and weighed about 4-5lb but fought like a much larger fish and it took my pheasant tail. A few casts later another one to the same fly.

I wandered round the water without any more success and back to the boat shed. The wind was a normal breeze but fish were still not showing. For the last half an hour I decided to use dries again and firstly gave the yellow owl another go. Not too long too wait and a rainbow came up, looked at the fly and then swirled but did not touch. Then the same again this time leaping over trying to drown it. Encouraging and 3rd time lucky another take and another small rainbow.

Brown trout habitat

Despite the weather in the morning it was a good day and we all said we would return. Everyone caught at least one fish including the youngster. I was delighted with my nine hooked and six landed. Interestingly none of us caught a brownie.
And it was all finished off with a pint of real ale in the wonderful Clachan Inn, two gems in one day, perfect.