Off to the River Deveron tomorrow for the Deveron Festival which should be good fishing the Montcoffer beat on the lower river supporting Snowbee the Deveron has had lots of water in the last week.

Garth Pool, Glendelvine, River Tay

Tony Kings dogs!

I was met by Tony Black the ghillie and his 4 beautiful dogs, it turns out that I was the only rod on the beat that day so I got personal attention.  It has been a long time since I fished a beat where the ghillie called me sir, wore tweed and a tie and offered to carry my rod, the last occasion was Birkhall on the Dee, the Queen Mother’s beat.   As ever Tony being a ghillie was optimistic he had caught a fish the day before so they were around and if there should take a fly.  I was relaxed and simply wanted to enjoy the day and surroundings if I had an encounter with a fish then that was a bonus.

Using a Loomis Stinger shooting head S3 and a Willie Gunn and off we went to fish the Tronach pool which was at the top of the beat.  Shooting heads I prefer in high water or if you want to fish a sinking line, they are easier to control and lift out of the water, pull in the running line when you have fished the cast out, role cast to lift the head to the service then straight into a cast in this case a single spey.  I fished the pool down several times before lunch changing fly on several occasion but no fish was encountered.

It did get me thinking about my casting though, on the pond at the Glasgow Casting club it’s comparatively easy but on the river all sorts of faults creep in this case “crashed anchors”.  I am going to have to consult some of my mates within GAIA although I suspect I am dipping the rod.

Tronach Pool Upper Murthly

Lunch was a relaxed affair in a warm hut with Tony talking about the flies he ties always good to hear someone else’s views.   He has had a write up in the T & S for a few of his flies the Ghillie, a Murthly Marauder and a Stenton Shrimp.  Always interested in new patterns especially local ones I committed to looking them up in past copies of the magazine.

I wish I could now say that we went onto catch several fish in the afternoon but of course that was not the case.  I did walk the beat and checked it out for future occasions crossing the river in the boat whilst Tony harled.   It was a good day I enjoyed it and hopefully I will fish the beat again.

Lets start with the casting first.  GAIA has been taking up a lot of time, much more than I had imagined when I took on the role of  Chairman which I have now been doing for fifteen months. We have just completeda casting day at Stirling for the Scottish guys which was very enjoyable Tony Quinn drove all the way from Lancashire to join us which was dedication on his part.  Our next meeting is on the 25th March and if you want to join us let me know.

Brian McGlashan and Ken Oliver

The weekend of the 10th and 11th March is when GAIA holds its spring meeting this time in Llangollen which should also be good a day of assessments followed by a day of workshops this time from a group of Italian fly fisherman from SIM.  I know that I will come back enthused and with the lighter evenings coming maybe I can get back to casting practice.

Chasing salmon what can I say for the last few years now I have booked a number of days on Glendelvine a prime middle beat of the Tay.  These days cover the whole season so the early days can be fish less and cold.  I do not like harling so always fly fish from the bank and with few fish in the river and snow in the air its a difficult time to be out.

I like to commit to days in advance for my salmon fishing as opposed to being part of a syndicate as I feel obliged to go no matter what the weather as they are booked and paid for.  From here on in the fishing is going to get better March, April and May are prime months.

Harling, not normally this fast but they were cold and lunch was beckoning

Murthly Hut

Fly tying, I have been tying a few for the salmon and the opening of the Trout season at the end of the month.  The success this year has been the Milngavie Fly Dressers, this little club which we formed about four years ago has been growing.  We have a good turn out and regular speakers this week Paul Procter is about to descend on us, he is always good craic and great flies so I am looking forward to the evening.

However despite the disadvantages I enjoyed using it and often hankered over owning another.  I can now confirm that I have one its called a Thinkfish Bold . Now this reel is very different beautifully made with aerospace aluminium which makes it incredibly light a great improvement on my earlier model, take a look below, this photo was courtesy of Jim Williams.

Its a modern and very stylish piece of kit with a very contemporary design. This is a large arbour reel so has bags of capacity #6 with 60 metres of backing.  I have used it both from a boat and on a river and found it to be equally at home on either.  The absolute benefit is the way that you can retrieve line instantly no messing.  Here is some of the technical stuff that you might like to be aware of:

Construction: Aluminuim frame, spool & assembly, S/Steel gearing

Weight: 6.51 ounces

Diameter: 8.97cm

Retrieve Capacity: 1.2 meters by pull, ratio 1:5.5

Drag: Conic Multi disc

Line rating: up to #7

Backing Capacity: #5 = 100 mtrs, #6 = 60 mtrs, #7 = 30 mtrs

Spools are large arbor and easily changed with the press of a button.  The reel  comes with a  full replacement  guarantee in the event of failure in the first two years after purchase and unlimited free repairs (except for carriage costs) of any genuine defect from there on.

The reel lever distance from the rod handle can be adjusted with a simple saw tooth design on the reel seat allowing for different sized hands.  Generally whilst fishing though you are not aware of the reel lever until you catch a fish it is then that the rapid retrieve becomes apparent.

Brian pushing his 5 weight

What experts they were the leading light of BFCC, Mike Marshall, and FFF Master Mike Heritage, along with GAIA members Roger and John so much quality in one place. Group lessons were arranged for those who wanted them followed by competitions which were great fun.

I was delighted to see the enthusiasm of some of our Glasgow boys the young bucks were taking to distance casting like ducks to water.  I must make special mention of Willie McGuire and Malcolm Prescot who won trophies.  Full results will be posted on the BFCC web site in the next few days, please do not ask how I got on all I know is that I need to do a great deal of practice before next year, yes the date is fixed for the 9th September 2012 and as this year places will be restricted so book early through me or Mike Marshall.

Pollok Park in the rain

On a final note Mike Marshall celebrated his 75 birthday earlier this year and one of the competitions the BFCC run is for a  T120 Double Handed Fly Distance  (Any rod up to 17’ (5.2m). Any shooting head line 120gm max)  they looked like carp rods with an extension.  Mike on the day won by a mile somewhere in the region of 212 ft.  We watched as he prepared a very slow and beautifully prepared false cast and then he let go it was effortless and from where we stood we could tell it was a long one as the guys marking  had to run backwards, thanks Mike for showing us that it really is down to technique.