Expected the white stuff but got silver instead.

With all the weather warnings of heavy snow since Friday, and the last one being as I went to bed last night saying up to 5cm of snow in the north east by lunchtime today I thought Id better make an early start on things so was on the river bank just before 1st light.

It didn't take too long to find the first fish of the day just as it was getting light,an Out of season Brownie which took me on a right merry dance, but got it in grabbed a quick profile pic and off it went to the dark waters.





I had decided to try my tactics from last week which were to trot using a nymph only and only switch to maggots if I needed them, My chosen fly to start off has been the soft touch shrimp which over the last few outing in Scotland and here has served me well, an ingenious idea from Glen Pointon.

It didn't take long for the first of the days silver ladies to appear, not big in comparison to some that friends have emailed me about from the river Nith, but always very welcome.

followed closely by a few others around the same size, an average size for the river I was on & always a welcome sight.

Things dropped off after these ones & a few others lads made an appearance so after a quick chat I  decided to move and have a go further up the river.

As I was walking back through the wood I stumbled across the first snow drops flowering I've seen this year

testament to the mild winter that not halfway through January & the snow drops are appearing already.

I covered a lot of water during the course of the day taking small fish from here and there but none of the bigger fish wanted to make an appearance, I spoke to a few anglers who were fishing bait and they had been getting nothing so I stuck with the no bait policy and persevered on with trotting the nymphs only.

Spent an hour or so catching up with a couple of anglers I've not seen on the river for over 12 months so it was nice to sit and chat & get the up to date news from other rivers which they have been fishing. Time for the obligatory float & reel shot of the day.

 after lunch I stuck to the no bait policy which started to pay off again and another couple of smaller fish came to the net again before just as the light started to fade a few bigger fish than all the ones previously started taking interest again and lost a couple but managed to net a couple to.

I ended the day just as it was getting dark and reckon I must have covered in total around 4 - 5 miles of wandering from pool to pool fishing today, a hard day with 17 Grayling netted a few lost and the brownie, best part of all, I emptied 1pint of maggot back into the tub they came in all bar one maggot which was flicked into the river at the end of the session, Not a bad day in total in a low and clear water and best part of all, its was enjoyable.