Wet Feet In Wellies

Where I caught my first wild brown trout for over
thirty-years, fishing from the opposite bank.

A lovely overcast, dull, warm day found me down at the river with my new rod, reel and line, a few flies and a pair of wellies. I geared up and tied a tapered leader (I can't remember these thirty odd years ago) on to my floating line and quickly realised that I need to buy a line straightener. After pulling the leader under tension through my T-shirt several times, it still had a bit of a coil to it, though not too bad. I tied on a tiny black spider I had made the night before and had my first cast.

For a first cast in over thirty years, I was really surprised, as I had missed all the tree branches, rocks and debris lying around but had also missed the water, the fly landing on the opposite bank and snagging on some weeds. I didn't want to yank my new rod and as the river looked very shallow I waded across the few yards of water and found myself up to my knees in it, which would have been OK but for the fact that the wellies only reached to just below my knees. There's nothing like the feeling of really cold wetness running down your legs

I retrieved the fly and poured the water out of the wellies and then hung my socks on a tree branch to dry. I was determined to carry on fishing and then slipped the cold wellies back on and tried again. After an hour or so I was really enjoying myself and wasn't giving a damn if I caught a fish or not, it just felt really great being out on the water, not a soul in sight and just the sights and sounds of nature for company, bliss. It was lovely to spot a Kingfisher streaking by me in a blur of blue and orange. I hadn't seen any sign of trout, no rises, nothing. It couldn't be for a lack on insect life as there was plenty of insects clinging to the underside of every large stone I looked under and several Dippers were disappearing under the water and emerging with insects in their beaks. I remembered as a boy watching what seemed to be shoals of trout lying below the bridge over the water at Lennox Castle Hospital. Changed days or perhaps just the imaginations of a small boy. 

Anyway, I kept plugging away, usually having to roll cast for short distances upstream trying to avoid banks, trees, vegetation and the odd household item that had been tossed into the river.

  I eventually stunned myself when I cast my little black fly into a ripple and watched as the end of my fly line stopped, I raised the rod tip and found myself with a hooked fish. After a very short fight I was holding it in my wet hand, all five or six ounces of wild brown trout. It was at this point that I wondered how anglers can carry a camera and take a photo while holding a slippery wet trout. I have a digital SLR but no way is that going near water, too expensive and too heavy, so I will probably have to invest in a cheap digital compact just for fishing, something that will fit into a waistcoat pocket.

Anyway, I slipped the hook from the trout's mouth and held him in the water until he flipped his tail and buggered off, hopefully to fight another day. After that I called it a day as my sockless feet were killing me having been stuck inside wet wellies for a couple of hours.

I was pleased with the rod and reel, especially as I had bought it mainly for loch fishing, being nine and a half feet long and 6/7 rated it casts beautifully and has a nice action. The only problems I encountered were that the river is narrow and mostly tree lined with over-hanging branches, and a shorter rod, probably seven or seven and a half feet and 3/4 rated would have been ideal.

Next purchase just has to be a pair of waders, probably bootfoot waist waders as they will keep my arse dry and I really don't see myself wading any deeper than the top of my legs - famous last words.

New Rod & Reel

I went out for a walk to buy a newspaper this afternoon and when I returned, there it was, my new rod and reel...............lying on the doorstep for any lucky sod to lift.

What is it with delivery drivers, this one was obviously a lazy bastard who couldn't be arsed walking a few yards to hand it into the neighbours.

It was well packaged mind you, all inside a large black plastic tube with the reel box attached......it looked like a bleeding bazooka. 

I eventually got it unpacked (thumbs up to Yorkshire Game Angling) and put the rod together then screwed on the reel. I was really impressed as it has been a long time since I held a fly rod, it was well balanced, really light and felt good.

The reel feels light and solid and is black with a die cast aluminium frame and a clear composite spool. The reel comes with four spool in total, three are pre-loaded with floating, intermediate and sinking lines with backing and braided loops attached.

It's just a pity it was chucking it down and blowing like mad or I was off for a few practice casts. I've not fly fished for 35 years, so a day or two won't matter. I will just content myself with tying a few flies in anticipation of catching a few trout with them.....or more like a few tree branches.

I went into the Glasgow Angling Centre for a look around, having no intentions of buying anything.....yeah right. Anyway, I spotted a Wychwood Rover bag and liked the look of it, no zips, buckles or fasteners, just a couple of magnets used to keep it closed, no fumbling with cold, wet hands trying to open a bag - at under £20.00 a bargain.

It has two pockets with Velcro fastening under the main flap and a large waterproof interior space with two mesh pockets sewn in. Very light and ideal for tramping along river banks.


Features

• Easy secure no zip design

• Unique tippet discard pocket

• Internal rubber mesh pockets

• Non-slip padded shoulder strap

• Weather and rot resistant

• High quality 1680D waterproof fabric

Dimensions: 38 x 28 x 10cm