Monday 13th August, 2018

After receiving a very welcome text invite from my friend Michael to join him for a few hours on the Clyde Estuary I was soon wading out to join him. Just as I was wading out to meet him a huge fish rose a few metres to his right, yelling to alert him I thought that this was a healthy sign of things to come. Despite a heavy sky conditions were good with a gentle wind behind us as we followed the last of the outgoing tide out. After a quiet start with nothing showing I opted to replace the blue and silver miniature flying C (really a big mepp) with a 10g silver toby. After just a few casts this produced a take which I promptly lost contact with after just 20-30secs. This was followed by another take by a larger fish which I managed to make stick this time to be safely released. Clyde Estuary 130818eThis was great as I seemed to be surrounded by fish rising and taking very close in to the end of the retrieve. I noticed another angler below me fishing the fly which after a few shouts turned out to be Colin Ferguson who was also amongst the fish. The action continued with these strong little fighters of around 3/4-1lb and by around 9pm I had hooked around 5 or so with one released and another “escapee” which after landing managed to wriggle loose from my hand just after removing hook. I have some ideas as to ways to improve the takes to landing ratio of these feisty wee fish. Watch the highlights of our evening in video below:

During this time I suddenly caught sight of a shiny black head that had appeared around 30m in front of us. A feeding seal which proceeded to stalk it’s own prey and at once stage we were treated to a frenzied display as it pursued and caught a sizeable fish, presumably a salmon. Needless to say the takes became few and far between after this unwelcome visitor made its appearance. Shortly afterwards Colin drew our attention to another fish predator this time a magnificent Osprey soaring overhead no doubt looking for its own next meal, a fabulous sight. I had never seen any Osprey on the estuary prior to this.

Given the appearance of the seal and the inevitable impact on our takes we decided to call it a day at around 21.30. No huge fish landed but a great evening’s sport, wildlife and scenery all in a couple of hours. We are lucky indeed to have this all on our doorstep.

A big thank you to my friend Michael for his very welcomed invite and for sharing his experience and local knowledge. Good to meet (or shout to) Colin Ferguson who I later discovered landed 5 and lost 5 on the fly which is fantastic.

No huge fish landed but a great evening’s sport, wildlife and scenery all in a couple of hours. We are lucky indeed to have this all on our doorstep. Image below courtesy of Colin Ferguson taken whilst fishing the fly below us.39050566_10157906157404657_3626821391497560064_o