A beautiful Saturday morning and with only a few hours of available fishing time I headed to meet my fishing pal at Levengrove to try for some sport with the Clyde sea trout. Upon arrival we realised that the tide was still relatively high and decided to move down to Cardross by which time the tide should be at a better height.
A cold north westerly wind deceived the bright sunshine and it was decidedly chilly as we waded out to join several other anglers with the same idea. Whilst my preferred method is fly we were spinning with small lures which had proven successful in the past. Despite the difficult cold bright conditions a couple of anglers above and below us hooked into a couple of nice fish, one landed and one decent looking fish lost.
For ourselves then despite our best efforts and various lure combinations then there were no takers other than mussels which I noticed seemed to be actively taking my lure rather than being simply snagged! My first cast produced a sharp tug which I initially mistook for a fish only to find a small bunch of mussels where one had the hook firmly between its shells.
A great wee enjoyable spell despite the absence of any offers and it was just great to get out for some fishing in an otherwise non-fishing weekend. The only downside being that in my case my wading depth destroyed yet another IPhone despite it being in my top pocket of my wading jacket….. judging by the depth I seemed to be in a “hollow” which proved costly in the end. Looking for a waterproof IPhone lol
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. This 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.
A light hearted account of my Angling exploits, successes, failures and learnings amidst Scotland's beautiful Rivers and Lochs
This 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:
The Dogged Angler 