Some video from yesterdays trip

I managed to convert these today, looks warmer than it was!

It's simple, just dont blank

It would have been easy to better our last trip here earlier in the year, catch a fish, simple.


The morning was looking like another duck egg till Stewart caught a jack. The Perch had applied their cloaking device and it’s wasn’t looking good after numerous moves, stops and changes of lures.

I lost what I think was a decent Perch with the fish coming off just before I could see any colour. Stewart stuck to his trusty copper & silver spoon when we had a double he took the fish below and I had and 10 oz Perch on a Savage Gear diving prey….





I got some good video of this but HD takes crazy to time to load up on here, anyone got any ideas?

Davy was next up taking this fish on bait.

  I then hooked a fish jigging and I was hopeful it was my target of a decent Perch but it turned out to be a jack of about pound and a half.

After another move I connected with a Pike, fought & played, unhooked, say cheese time but the fish seemed to have rubbed itself with butter and after a kick and a flick it went back in the loch much to the guy’s amusement.

As we made our way back down the loch Davy got snagged and as the boat was positioned to free the lure I took the opportunity to sneak this one out. The reason I’m smiling as much below is the fish made a double break for freedom having applied the same butter as its pal I was just able to hold on to it.

Meteor storms, steady fishing and bad pictures

The seasons are changing with yesterday being the last day of official summertime it felt like it last night with clear skies, northerly wind and temperatures down to 2 degrees on my way home.


The fish were in the mood shortly after I started just after LT. I had changed hook patterns and used some super glue and positioned the hook further down the SP which helped hook up rates and converted the offers I had into fish. I didn’t do much wading last night and took some pictures but for some bizarre reason the all ended up like this? I think it was the change in temp and condensation in the camera, didn't pick up on this when I viewed them on the screen.

Nice enough fish and I added a stray Pollack.

The highlight of the night was a light on the horizon which grew brighter, got closer and seemed to pass over me from east to west disappearing over the western horizon and followed by a sonic boom. As it was directly above me I counted eight main parts to it followed by a smattering of smaller particles. It moved almost in slow motion and was bright enough to have the effect of putting every bird on the beach up in the air, amazing.

Bison breathable stocking foot waders

Excellent for mannequins ,Heron's or if you're old enough to remember The Goodies dummies

After reading that most seemed happy with these for the money I purchased a pair in May. The pair pictured on the bin are the 3^rd pair since May under warranty. My ex used to say, if you buy cheap you buy twice. Of course she was correct in this case anyway. My last pair were Bass Pro cheapos and lasted two years. The first pair of Bison’s lasted about a month before they started to leak around the seams on the crotch and right leg. The second pair leaked on the seam on the right and left leg around the knee area after about 4 trips. The third pair leaked 20 minutes into the first session, only a small leak but got worse again on the seam below the knee on both legs.

You don’t get much for £75 but thought I might have got May-Sept out of one pair. The fit I got was generous to accommodate layers and movement. It’s been pointed out to me that there just not articulated enough around key areas and I have to agree. According to the supplier I’m the only one with this issue….

So, if you stand like a Heron next to a stream once or twice a month these might be for you. If you’re an active angler I wouldn’t bother, not in my experience anyway. I can’t be bothered with discussion postage or diesel so a new pair from Scierra ordered today.I hope i have better luck with them.

Like night & day

Friday evening I managed to blank and wrapped it about 8.45 after a long day I decided that I would stay fresh for Saturday. The morning came and went, no Bass but a few Pollack. It was overcast with some wind and not a bad tide so tried the drop on two marks nothing.

I contemplated heading home about tea time as anywhere I went seemed barren. Having bumped into a couple of TLF members in the morning and afternoon they had one fish for their efforts…

Anyway, I had a word with myself and got booted up. Fished a banker mark, devoid of life. I thought about Sunday’s forecast which looked brutal and decided to get on with it.

I missed a fish before the first just under 2 pounds and then had a very busy hour before being washed off the mark including what felt like a close but no cigar moment.

The vague hint of the red light filter,banned this after the flash as well and nearly ended up on my arse in the drink

Still trying to work out if I was too rough or took too much time but the fish got the upper hand and the hook came out. The no light rule was applied as after a flash going off in waste deep water I felt the fishing might come on and it did with a cracking hour that made up for the rest of the trip with the best fish going 3’ish. For me this year the fish caught at night totally magnify the experience on all fronts, focus, slower pace and the anticipation of a take. When it happens it can vary from nothing to the drag peeling off line or the fish munching its way up the SP. Yes its unsociable, potential dangerous but I like it.

The magic cast

My long time bud Simon was on the phone today. It seems he parked the mountain bike and dusted down a rod and took his sons Euan and Lewis to a small tributary of the Nith recently. He spotted a nice overhang and after a few casts upstream with a Toby he connected with this nice Salmon. The boys seem delighted with the catch and Simon affirmed his 100 % catch rate from his sessions this year…..


I guess from an experience like this you just never know, they might get the bug and become a better fisherman than their dad ;-)

I’ll be down soon with a nice bottle of Barolo.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit – but just take your hands out your pockets when you fall over son, it’s been too long.

Return of the tramps tan & a couple of Pike

30 mph winds, bright sunshine great day for the topping up the hands, head and neck. I'm off to Crete soon and it’s going to be patch work quilt material, anyway, the fishing. I found a corner with the wind off my back as I was feeling lazy.  Water level worse than yesterday, yes even higher. I tried a new spot. Fishing buddy Scott Hutcheson had sent me a package with some Relax Kopyto shads. This was much appreciated as tackle losses were heavy yesterday and also set the trend for today as fishing these deep is not without its risks in the flooded boulder fields I was fishing. I was also left with some £ shop wire traces Jamie thankfully donated yesterday, the wire was fine but the clips and swivels were woeful but better than nothing.

First up a Perch but couldn’t be bothered getting the camera out. Then along came a Pike….

This one was a thrash and jump merchant

Lost shortly afterwards like everything else in my bag

I covered a lot of ground with nothing to show for my efforts and then I got snagged about 20 yards out…but then, the snag shook its head and stayed deep zipping off on a number of nice runs this fish was as fit as a fiddle, not wasting any energy on jumps it left some nice tail patterns in the black water. I was keen to see what had put a proper bend in my HPR and looked for a better spot to land the fish, not before it got its head down for a few more runs.

Green, red chartreuse shad

I had my camera on a lanyard and my Bass bag in my pocket, gave it a swing in the bag and it went 7.9 and was sent on its way.

I lost a Perch but moved along the bank trying some more SP’s on 10g heads losing nearly everything in my bag. The weedless heads 3.5-5g were no use, too much wind and not enough feel, nothing on spoons and I even tried an X rap so it was time for  home and a beer.

A couple of days of slow fishing

Fished Sunday morning , lost a fish worth having after about 10 minutes in a really rough piece of ground. I then had 5 wind knots and having had 2 this year this was a real treat. I also lost three lures. I had a final rally and was delighted to catch a seagull about 40 yards out on a Patchinko 2 which stayed airborne till  about ten feet out. It was only beak hooked and just a school gull about 3 feet on the ruler and 4 pounds in weight and was safely returned to the sky to fly again.

Breath deeply, forget about the knots, the lost fish, lures and the gull...

Sunday night 2 hours of a rising tide in darkness completley ruined by six goons taking pictures of the moon and flashing headlights in the general area I intended to fish. I left them to their general bawbagary and headed home.... a waste of one of the best tides of the month. I could have moved but was'nt in the mood. Having had very few blanks this year sometimes you just need to take your medicine.

On Monday Jamie joined me for a Perch session and we started fishing about 2pm. The water level had gone up by about 20 ft and seemed to have totaly changed the holding areas. Jamie had a Pike and I had a Pike and around ten Perch but they were all pretty small. What I did notice is that without using SP's I would have struggled to get any Perch as they were hard on the bottom at nearly full range. Hope they take the plug out soon to get it back to a better level.