scottish summer is here

i had organized a get together for the pike fly fishing association on loch venachar in Scotland , its always great to meet up with old and new members and just have a great days fishing with like minded anglers , the thing i love about the club is the fact that there is no politics and no look at me I'm better than you because I've caught x amount of fish if you don't praise me all the time I'm going to throw my dummy out of the pram , this sort of mentality has been the down fall of many a good club and it leads to people not joining because quite simply they don't want to hear that bullshit hero worship stuff .

so with that in mind we are starting to get some great people in the club who along with the others in the club pretty much just want to fish and talk fly fishing and to be honest with these events you can stick 2 strangers in a boat and 99.9% of the time both by the end of the day will be firm friends now that's what i call a club ,

left to right - mcfluffchucker - AL mabon - martin bailey - Eddie (the ninja) - Stevie (the worlds tallest fly fisher) slight . this was the motley crew who assembled at the lodge on a bright but somewhat windy sat morning , we were supposed to have a few more people Derek savage was struck down with a rather nasty throat infection so was bed bound but managed to get a message through that he wouldn't be able to attend and poor old long standing club member smithy who called me up saying he was having a bit of engine trouble so didn't want to risk a long journey from the midlands which was fair enough .

i really felt for him as this is one of his favorite places to fish and one year we both had a rather sizable young lady fall of the fly within seconds of me losing in in deep water it must have turned and hit smithy's fly at the same time but it dropped of his as well since then hes never missed an opportunity to fish there . next time mate next time

my boat partner for the day Maurice didn't show up no idea why and no message from him I'm starting to think he may turn up next week and there will be nobody there i keep telling people read the forum that's why its there keep up to date with things going on most people check it before heading on a trip because sometime bad weather can spring up from nowhere ad i can give up to date info for all to see .

the forecast for today was pretty good sunshine in the afternoon slightly cloudy winds of 5 to 7 mph all the sign's were good , however when i came out of the shelter of the harbour it was a bit lumpy 5 to 7 mph my arse i just cranked the engine and headed into it knowing that when i reached near to the top end the treeline and mountains would break the winds power on the water and it wouldn't be to bad to fish in.

i drifted around for a bit at the top end using all the old favorites but it was strangely quiet with not a lot happening which to be honest is strange so i motored to a quiet shore and dug around the fly box i decided on a smaller bait fish pattern grey green back and white belly with red eyes i fished this for a bit but i just didn't feel it with the fly so i had to change , i don't know if anybody else gets that your fishing with a great looking pattern looks fantastic in the water but it just doesn't do it for you on the day , you cast it a couple of times but you just don't get that vibe , well i had that with this fly, so straight back into the box and pulled out another new tie .

this was a classic red and white fly that acts like a jerk bait i actually hadn't got round to finishing it id epoxied the head to give it the weight to give it the action but hadn't got round to putting the eyes on , so i thought what the hell ill chuck it in the box anyway and second cast i had a really annoyed Scottish pike hit it almost at the side of the boat mmmmm guess that works then

the picture above is literally a few seconds after it hit , i always keep a camera handy to get some action shots and sometimes you'll see eagles and other cool wildlife or even other anglers playing fish and i just love to get some shots off , and being in such a stunning place you cant help but take photos as the shot above shows its handy to have it close and accessible

you cant help but love Scottish pike they really have a seriously bad attitude and just look at the eye how annoyed is that fish they really just do not give up of course I'm happy to say this one skulked of to the depths to fight another day and with that i headed back to the boat house harbour , as it turned out it wasn't the best of days with only 3 fish being landed and numerous hits and misses unfortunately due to the wind i couldn't fish my other favorite drift , if i had a boat partner i would have but i as worried that if i hit into a big fish i would really struggle to get it in safely with being sideways on i may have been in danger of getting swamped and no fish is worth a dunk in an icy cold loch so i wasn't taking the chance end off ... id had a great day in great company and a fantastic breakfast in some of the most stunning scenery in the world

the video below was shot by me just to show how the red and white classic works in the water , I've developed over the years the perfect weigh a head to give it the same action as a glide bait as you can see from this video it looks hot , sorry for some bad filming but it was just me in the boat and trying to cast and film at the same time ain't the easiest and id forgotten my little camera stand so ill not be getting any Oscars for this performance

usually i don't do video fly tying films i prefer to do photo step by steps in movie form so you can pause it etc etc , i was asked to do this for a customer so was happy to help and i though what the hell ill stick it up on my fly tying website and blog , its by no means meant to be a professional video , but i hope you enjoy it and it gives you an idea or two

well with that its time for me to go do some family stuff catch you all later in the week

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)