Knee Problems

I have been having problems with my knee, which I injured a year ago, damaging the tendons and they still haven’t healed properly. As a result I find it difficult to stand up when I have been sitting for long periods, the knee seeming to seize up. Walking on the flat is fine but going downhill is really painful, as is going down steps, probably a result of the jarring motion when descending. Wet or damp weather seems to make it worse, so this past year has been a painful one for me with the near constant rain we have had here in Scotland.

I imagine that every angler who ties flies is always on the lookout for cheap or free materials to use. I have had lots of opportunities to pick up dead pheasants and partridges as there is an estate near me that breeds them for shooting and as a result there are lots of road kill but I don’t fancy the idea of bringing untreated feathers into the house, so will stick to shop bought products.

I only started tying flies earlier this year and after a lot of frustrating attempts I have come to love tying my own flies but I have to remember to get up and walk around every so often or the knee really seizes up if I sit for too long.

My partner owns a small Gift Shop and I often drive her to wholesalers to look for and buy supplies. I have found a couple of outlets that sell Marabou, Ostrich and Peacock Plumes and coloured wire, raffia and several other products that I can use in my fly tying and all at wholesale prices. It’s amazing the price difference between buying Marabou from a Florist and from an Angling shop.

The flies on this page were all self-tied and are far from perfect, but I don’t particularly care as I can only improve and I do get a kick out of catching a trout on something I tied on my own. It sometimes annoys me when reading some of the posts on fly forums, where some anglers criticise other anglers efforts at tying flies. I have read comments such as “the tail is too short” or “the dubbing is too thick”. If it catches fish then it's a successful fly as far as I'm concerned.

I did the best I could when taking the fly shots but I will need to try to sort out some decent lighting and invest in a macro lens for my DSLR in order to get quality shots. I would probably be cheaper buying a compact digital camera as most come with macro facility and the picture quality is usually very good.

Hopefully the weather will improve as I am hoping to get over to Burnhouse Fishery for a few hours to practice my casting, which is extremely rusty. If I catch something then it’s a bonus, but I really enjoy getting away for a few hours, breathing in some fresh air and enjoying the scenery and the sights and sounds of nature.

I have heard some good reports about Harvieston Fishery out past Stirling, near Tillicoultry and want to drive through there for a couple of hours fishing. When I do I will write a report on my findings.

Fly Tying

I started tying my own flies only recently and after a few weeks of fumbling and cursing, I feel that I am beginning to get the hang of it. A big thanks must go to Davie McPhail, Lindsay Simpson and a few other excellent fly tiers on You Tube that I follow, they make it look easy, it's not. In fact I have been so busy tying flies that I ran out of fly boxes to keep them in.. A look around the internet got me interested in an Airflo Competition Fly Box, which holds over a thousand flies, is fairly compact, is waterproof and light. I bought one and I am really impressed with the quality, it's not large and it will slip into a fishing bag fairly easily, though I imagine I will mainly use it to store flies and then decant some into a smaller fly box when I go fishing. Strangely, I now have an urge to fill the thing with flies, which will keep me busy through the Winter nights.

Burnhouse Fishery

3lb Rainbow Trout

3lb Blue

Fished this lovely little fishery for the first time today with my brother. Burnhouse Fishery is a small loch of approximately 3.5 acres situated near Bonnybridge in Stirlingshire. We arrived at 8:00am and were given a warm welcome by Gary who made us coffee and gave us some advice on what flies to use and what had been caught recently. We bought a 4 hour, 2 fish limit then catch and return ticket for £16, tackled up and went fishing. Despite the weather being mild and a flat calm with the fish rising all over the loch, I caught two fish, a  3lb Rainbow and a 3lb Blue, both on Orange Straggle Lures, which I had tied myself. Both were caught near the surface using a very slow retrieve. I also had a few pulls and had two more fish on but lost them after a short fight. The two I caught gave me a great deal of satisfaction as they were the first fish I had ever caught on my own tied flies.
My impression on the fishery is that it well worth a visit, it is well run and the staff are very friendly and freely offer advice. The facilities include a cabin selling a small selection of equipment and hot and cold food.
The only minus was the road to the fishery, which is a single track with limited passing places.

Stockie Bashing

Well that's the Brown Trout season over and I have decided to make an effort to visit some Rainbow Fisheries over the winter. Never tried one before, so it will be a whole new experience for me. I'm not to sure if I will enjoy it or not but I will give it a go. I have made arrangement to fish Burnhouse Fishery this week, which is about a 30 minute drive away. It is a small man made loch of about 3-4 acres and I have been tying some lures and buzzers in anticipation of catching some fair sized Rainbows, more in hope than expectation. During the winter I am determined to have a few casting lessons and then buy a permit for the River Kelvin and also apply to my local angling club for membership on their loch. Hopefully next year will bring better weather, it couldn't possibly be worse than the wash out that was our summer. My local river has virtually been in spate all year, I live just a few yards from it's banks and I have never known it to be so high for so long.

Fly Tying Materials

I've been buying materials for tying my own flies now that the Brown Trout season is almost over. Bought a lot off ebay such as hooks, capes and dubbing but I found a really good site called Troutline, which sells an excellent range of materials and at very reasonable prices and with fairly cheap postage costs considering it is in Romania. Found the Troutline site on the Fly Forum, as the store is run by one of the members called Lucian. He sells a fly tying vice that I have had my eye on for months, and I will probably bite the bullet and order it. It's called a Jan Tvrdek Harmonic Rotary Vice. I first noticed the vice on YouTube where a fly tyer called Lyndsay Simpson  uses one and highly recommends it. I particularly like the way it holds the hook, leaving lots of room to tie in materials at the back of the fly.

First blog for ages as I have been a bit busy. Mind you the weather has been awful with torrential rain and high winds making fishing difficult, Still, there is always the fly vice and tying flies, which most fly fishermen will turn to in the close season, unless like myself they have the odd day here and there on the trout fisheries trying for stocked Rainbows. I don't really like some of these small fisheries where you stand shoulder to shoulder with other anglers. It reminds me of the Golf Driving Ranges where it's practice, not the real thing but it keeps you from getting rusty.

Carron Reservoir

I've had a few days on my local river with mixed success, some days catching regularly while others have been blank but enjoyable. All the trout I have caught have been well under a pound in weight and all returned, a change from my youth when the river regularly gave up the odd fish well over a pound in weight and there were more trout in those days too, or is that just my imagination? Next season I intend to have a lot of days on the Carron Reservoir, which is just a half hours drive away and is one of Scotland's best trout fisheries.

Rubber Fetish?

I've not posted for a while, mainly due to the weather, which has been typical of a Scottish Summer, wet, wild and windy, though mainly wet. The only comfort is that it has been far worse down south where they have encountered flooding, mainly in the north of England, it's strange that they still have hose pipe bans.

Shakespeare Waist Wader

After unsuccessfully fishing in wellies and getting soaked, I decided to get myself a cheap pair of waders. I wanted waist waders as they were just as cheap as thigh waders but more practical for fishing, such as sitting on wet grass or wading up to my arse. Sadly buying cheap waders doesn't include those light, breathable ones made of a few layers of materials. Cheap waders mean PVC or rubber or similar materials, sweat inducing materials, the kind of stuff that makes you sweat just trying to get the waders on and once they are on, you pray for a cold wind just to stop the sweat running down your legs.

I bought the cheapest I could find - a pair of waist waders by Shakespeare in a size 1 for £27.99 including delivery. I am normally a 10 but wanted a bit of room for thick socks. They arrived the following day and on opening the parcel, I understood why they were quickly despatched - the stink of rubber is overpowering, god knows what a shop full of them must be like. I then tried them on only for my partner to laughingly accuse me of being kinky and having a rubber fetish.

They are a good fit and I'm glad I ordered them in an 11 as the smaller size would have been a bit tight in the feet. They seem well made but I will report back on them when I get out fishing. You get a repair kit with the waders - reassuring.........not.