Well there is a turn up for the books. Had a nice session yesterday, started off trout fishing at Tingwall from about 0900hrs until 1745hrs. The sun was beating down but a bit of a breeze kept me nice and cool. That may explain why I didn’t feel the sunburn kicking in. I have to admit that when I go fishing I WILL forget to take something. I went spin fishing once to a loch down the road only to realize when I got there I had forgotten…
My spinners. Yup I will be the first to admit that I can be a bit dizzy sometimes. Yesterday I forgot to bring my sunblock, which resulted in me looking a bit like a brick. Yes brick…wasn’t a spelling mistake, keep it clean folks ; ) . I was brown to start with, now i have a red tint to it…so I look like a brick.
But back to the fishing. When I got to Tingwall, I went to my usual spot, set up and started fishing. After about five casts I noticed that a few birds were creating a bit of a racket, and flying a touch to close to my head for comfort. Putting my brain in gear, I realised they were nesting close by and didn’t take too kindly to my presence. So I packed up and found a quiet place.
Quiet it was, but also useless. The water was too shallow as the trout would be lying in about six feet of water. Don’t I sound clever. Truth is I was happily fishing that spot for hours on end until a local kindly told me and pointed me in the right direction. A proud moment indeed. But he was right, no sooner had I arrived at his hot spot, when the fish started biting. I caught one very nice looking , but very small brownie, and lost another two. But still I was happy.
Then at 1745 it was time to head down to Hellister to try and tempt something beside trout. When I got there I noticed two things. LOADS of weed and very little water. The loch normally is hardly affected by tide, but yesterday it was very low. Oh well never mind I thought and set up. First cast produced nothing but weed. The second was a bit better, weed and a crab. Getting a bit fishy now I thought to myself, and cast out again.
This time my rod rattled enough to re-assure me it wasn’t a crab. So I started reeling in what I was hoping would be a good fish. What I got instead was an eel. Now don’t get me wrong I was pleased, I haven’t caught one of those little blighters since I was twelve. But they do have two serious drawbacks. Firstly they are without a doubt the slimiest creation ever, and second they turn your rig into a tangled slimey mess.
Having not planned on encountering an eel I had no designated rag with which to grab it with, so my handrag was used. The eel itself wasn’t huge, and after untangling it from the rig, itself and me, I sent it on it’s way. So I rebaited and cast out again, but nothing for another half hour. Then my rod bounced again. I was hoping, praying it would not be another eel…but it was. Size wise it could have been the first ones twin, so untangle, wipe down, sent on it’s way.
Rod out once more, the bait had just settled when it yet again sprang into life. By now I could spot an eel take a mile away, and was already cursing softly under my breath. But then I felt the weight, this one was definetely bigger than the last ones. I do like a smoked eel. So having gotten in on land I decided that I would keep this one to add to my “Fish 2 be smoked” collection.
By this time it was almost time to pack up and head home, so I packed one rod up and cast the other one out. Which didn’t hang around for too long before it did a wee jig. It didn’t look like an eel bite, so I was looking forward to seeing what I had aquired. Well it wasn’t the most exciting fish, but still it was a nice looking flounder. And since I am a bit short on flounders for my smoker it went into the bag. After that I decided to call it a day, a good day I would say.
Well I hope you enjoyed my wee story. As always I wish you tight lines and happy angling.
