As reported earlier, the week at Dalmarnock began with the remnants of Storm Dave (who names these things – Dave, really?!) which bought down a flood which we could have done without. But at least the weather stayed nice for the course which I ran Monday to Wednesday.
I never expect much in the way of fish from the courses, as a lot of the time is spent learning the basics and not actively fishing. But at least Cecil D had a hold of one on the Tuesday. A grab, then run up stream and let go. A classic running fish problem.
The water continued to drop and clear over the week down to 3ft on Colin’s gauge by Friday, just getting to a height where the running fish slow up a bit. And I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, landing a cracking hen of about 12lbs.
But there seemed to be very few fish in the system as yet, so it was generally hard going throughout the Tay.
I always think of early April as the start of fly fishing on the Tay, before then most are taken by harling or spinning. But water height and temperature are key and we really didn’t get either.
At least the snow covered hills bode well for the fishing further into the season. Lets hope a good run of fish is yet to come.
Anyway back to our week: sadly the vicious wind and sleet returned on the Saturday making fishing conditions far from fun. It was still fishable but with a 9hr drive home we packed up by 11am and set off. The others fished the rest of the day but sadly without reward.
My thanks to Colin, who remains positive despite the severe impact of the A9 widening. He honestly couldn’t do more to make your fishing more enjoyable. Do support him.
Not much thanks, though, to the Royal Dunkeld Hotel who left us without hot water for three days and the poor staff there, unable to get in to reset the boiler. Management was nowhere to be seen again. Oh and the picture below shows the only toaster for the entire restaurant at breakfast and it isn’t even big enough for the slice of bread placed in it. The hotel was constantly uncontactable when my guests and I were trying to arrange the week, messages left go unanswered and we all ended up having to go through Booking.dot.com to even get a room, which will lose them a big percentage. Melville Hotels – Get a grip.
They don’t get fresher than this!
Cecil D, making a nice Spey Cast D loop
Casting clinic
Ferry over to the right bank
The one toaster!
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