Weather or not for the anglers

Jun 5 2008

INEVITABLY, the weather plays a big part in the success or failure of anglers.

It was hard to take Global Warming seriously during in a snowstorm in the middle of April. A group of anglers must have wondered about their own sanity when they were on the water in near freezing conditions.

They were not alone. Other anglers had been flogging the water with maggot and worm for a long time without the slightest sign of a fish.

The first group had no objections to the newcomers following them down the stream which they must have thought was devoid of trout. The difference was that the second group were using gadgers as bait.

These large stonefly nymphs were difficult to find a few years ago but they have made something of a return. Obviously, the trout have become used to eating them because one of the anglers caught five fish very quickly.

He makes no claim of being an expert but accepts that he was using the right bait, at the right time and in the right place. His sure-fire bait disappeared during the heatwave that hit us early in May.

For anglers determined only to use fly, it turned out that Gold Head nymphs gave exactly the right impression to hungry fish. Among the most notable catches were a trout of 6lbs taken near Crawford and one of 5lbs taken near Abington.

Fish of this quality are often taken on bait early in the year, or on large dark flies, at night, in the middle of the summer. It seems that nothing is following the expected seasonal trends this year.

Gradually, anglers have been changing their approach. Czech nymphs became popular in May with trout of 1½lbs falling to these in the upper reaches. Along with some nice trout, there have been surprise catches of grayling weighing up to 2lbs.

Other flies were starting to score well even when the water level fell dramatically as a drought took effect. In the middle reaches, where the water takes much longer to warm up, baits such as maggot and worm were taking trout up to nearly 2½lbs in weight. This part of the river boasts some of the deepest pools in the Clyde and these come into their own when night fishing provides the best chance of taking a fish in June and July.

The lower reaches have also producing some fine fish. The largest, so far, a trout of just over 4lbs from Mauldslie Estate. Another, said to weigh exactly 4lbs, came from near Garrion Bridge.

Two 3lb fish, one from Kirkfieldbank and one from Dalserf were caught in the last week of May. These may have been the heaviest trout but they were not the only fish being caught. A lot of other trout to1lb 8oz were also reported from lower reaches.

These fish were being caught on bait and fly but some were also landed by anglers who were spinning. Most of the fish reported were released.

Until the water warmed up in May, only rarely had there been hatches of mayflies and these seldom tempted trout to come to the surface after them. When fish were seen rising to take flies, they all appeared to be relatively small ones.

This bore out what a lot of anglers were telling the United Clyde Angling Protective Association towards the end of last year. There is no shortage of small trout in the Clyde.

Taking note of the wishes of the members, the Clyde was stocked in May. Winter stocking has been described as just feeding the cormorants.

The three parts of the river looked after by UCAPA were all stocked on the same. In previous years, the top was stocked one year, the middle the next and the bottom in the following year.

The size of fish bought were supposed to be between nine and 14 inches long. This will depend upon what is available.

While the secretary, Joe Quigley, was being naturally coy about exactly where the fish were released, he could not be precise about the exact numbers. He would only say “thousands.”

The director in charge of fishery management was unable to attend when the fish were delivered but his team took great care to spread them widely and in areas that would not be entirely obvious. They reported back to a recent meeting that delivery was one of the best that they had ever been involved with.

Mixed in with the anticipated size of trout was a sprinkling of fish weighing around 3lbs. Stocking is not the ideal way of managing a river but it is a quick fix which the members are still asking for.

Catching a few naive stocked fish will give the average angler confidence in the river and in their own ability. The likelihood is that these fish will all be caught in their first summer in the Clyde.

This means that they will not disturb the genetic make up of the fish in the river.Potentially more damaging is poaching. Those who are willing to fish a Protected Water without a permit are unlikely to trouble themselves with bag limits, size limits or legal methods.

While Operation Salmon was established several years ago to protect salmon, Strathclyde Police have been carrying out joint patrols with River Wardens and Crown Bailiffs to enforce the full gamut of fishery legislation. Already this year, six anglers have been apprehended for fishing without permits. More serious offences will be detected wherever they occur and will be dealt with.

So far, no salmon have been reported in the Clyde but sea trout have been caught in the Avon. None of these were big but the best sea trout are usually caught, in the dark, at night.

After the very low flows of the early part of May, there was just enough rain to sweeten the Clyde in the early part of June to tempt the King of Fish up from the sea. If they do arrive in June, they will be right on time in spite of some of the oddest weather since records began.

On May 24 the Upper Avon Angling Association played host to 11 teams on Dungavel Reservoir. Tommy Gardener, of the Busby Angling Association took the Jim Bell Shield for landing the heaviest fish but all of the other laurels went to the Dreghorn A team.