Myself and Chris C went up to Harelaw Dam today to meet our pal Alex Cairnie. Alex is the fishery owner and was our host for the day. A very fine host he is too.
The weather on the way up to the Dam was very sunny with a fair blow going so we knew it would be a bit choppy when we got there. This however was not a deterrent as any decent angler knows that a bit of wind when you're fishing can produce some of the best conditions with hammering takes.
After spending some time putting the world to rights over this and that with Alex we tackled up and headed out in one of the two Coulham boats Alex has on the water. I think he has about eight fully functional boats a the moment which to be honest for a water the size of Harelaw makes sure you don't get any of the usual boat etiquette crap with tubes who don't know how to handle boats i.e. move onto your drift in front of you etc,.( Ahem :-))
Anyway, back to the fishing. I as usual was on the engine with Chris getting a free Ghillie for the day. We headed for the shore opposite the lodge and I set us up on our drift. I opted not to use the drogue and the Coulham boat performed very well. Giving a long slow drift in maybe a force three wind. The drift in these boats is unusual as they seem to slide down and across instead of the usual. You've got to hand it to these Irish bhoys, they know how to build boats.
Well, my chosen line for the day was a fast glass, fifteen foot leader and three fly cast. Hothead black dancer on the point, one of Brians sparkley dabblers on the dropper and my Black Dabbler on the bob. First drift through the markers and I had a take. Drifted to shore set us up again and just as we came through the markers again, Bang ! fish on.
It took the Black dancer if you want me to tie you some up please leave a comment.
These Harelaw Bows can fair scarp and I actually though it was a Broonie I had on. Chris did the honours with a photae while I played it and it was brought to the net after about 5 mins. Did I say these Harelaw Bows can fair scrap ?
Finished the drift, set us up again and I'm sure it was about the fourth drift that I got another. I played it well and brought it to the boat for a few photaes by Chris and then messed about again trying to get another but it got off.
This one took the Sparkly Dabbler. Really gotta tie some more of these up.
Anyway shot a photae of a coulple of Canada Geese ( apparently they're vermin Alex, big wink ). Headed for lunch where we had some of the pie mans finest - they really are very good. He makes good pies.
We went back out and covered more of the Loch but things had went pretty quiet so no more fish. To be honest in an East wind I was actually very lucky with two very regular and experienced locals only managing SIX between them.
Resorted to a bit of ornithological photography and got some very nice shots of the resident Canada Geese, goslings in tow.
Another great day at Harelaw and there's nae flooer's in this report.
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Wednesday 13 May 2009
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