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.
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