a day afloat at last

Myself and Stevie slight finally after a few false starts over the weeks because of snow and ice we finally made a day on the lake of menteith , we were very confident on the day as although it was supposed to be a bit wet in the morning the conditions were to be more favorable from around 11.30 we were out fishing we really did’t care we just wanted to be out any fish would be a bonus but we were confident as the place hadn't been fished since November and it had been iced over pretty much since then so we did have high hopes …….

We were the only boat out that day as all the other boats were on shore so it was quite a feeling as we motored over to our first spot which usually produces fish , with trepidation and clutches checked for the impending screaming bone fish like smash and grab we cast , and cast again and again and again , nothing not even a pluck OK so that was 20 Min's spent casting around the boat with various retrieve styles I watched what Stevie was doing then did something completely different with the retrieve to see if there was going to be a preferred method they wanted but I thought a change in spot may be in order , so we motored just a short 2 Min's to another known area that really should have produced .
the rain then started not buckets but a fine drizzle rain that soaks you right through as soon as it started my spirits dampened I have been out a lot of times on menteith and have never caught a fish when its been raining this isn't particular to menteith either I never catch predators in the rain anybody else like that I don’t know but for me I grimace when it starts especially on a place like this but I did have the knowledge that it was supposed to stop around 11.30 and be a quite mild day so I was still hopeful of getting something


on the plus side 11.30 came and went and the rain stopped I had a couple of pulls on my perch pattern which got my spirits up although it may have been a daft rainbow who are prone to doin that sometimes but It lifted my spirits to think it was a pike and Stevie thought he had a few pulls as well , we stayed in the area for a short while then headed to another spot that although does produce the odd bigger fish its more known for fish up to around the 10 lb mark which are always good sport and I was confident in this area for a few fish .
we motored around the area for a bit trying some great drifts but nothing not even a pull in this area which I thought was quite surprising so with this being quite a large area to fish we did spend a fair bit of time here and numerous flies Stevie also showed me a fantastic new staking method which involves hidding a fly behind your back then spotting a fish and throwing it dead quick in front of it he calls this method “ouchyabuggerthatbloodyhurt”

so with nothing happening here and in another area we decided to head back to the area where we had some interest made sense really as there was nothing going on anywhere else so we would concentrate some time is this spot I think it was second cast Stevie hooked into a lively jack and boosted confidence no end , I had though that with the lake being ice free for only a week they may still be a bit comatose or there was a big load of baitfish shoaled up in the deeper water but there definitely seemed to be be more fish here than anywhere else .

I had been using all the usual suspects throughout the day perch patterns, fire tigers , red and whites , flies with rattles and flies without etc etc and I was well pleased with the way these flies worked in the water absolutely gorgeous , so I decided when as last time I was in the fens when it gets tough pink and white can save the day , so I changed to a special 8 inch pink.white sf fibre and slink and flash baitfish and cast it out on a full fast sinking line as I suspected they may be on the bottom conserving energy I was right as my fly came into view I saw a donkey of a fish turn just behind the fly this was one on menteiths legendary big mamma's and I had missed the chance because I think the fish was just curios that image of that massive tail will stay with me for a long long time what could have been

And so with no more fish to show we eventually headed back to the boat house with heavy hearts but it wasn’t all bad I mean how can we be disappointed in such stunning scenery and we were already planing our next trip maybe next time just maybe