Dry fly trout fishing video report

I always fish the wet fly, in part because I enjoy it, but on Saturday evening I had an hour to nip out to the loch and it was pretty much flat calm. I had a few foam daddy longlegs and the GoPro and so produced a little video of the evening out. In view of the fact that I haven't fished dry fly in 30 years I think I did OK to get two and lose a few others, I'm striking them a bit fast I think The first one that I moved was actually quite a sizable fish but I just didn't make it stick. I was out today and stuck with the dry for maybe half an hour but eventually went back to the wet fly and had maybe 20 - 30 fish for the day, but they aren't in a video as yet:

 

[Fair Hill]

I enjoyed watching that but it would have been nice to see the trout you landed so as to get an idea of their size and condition and were they brownies or sea trout.

 

[Uncle Norm]

You did well to get rises in the flat calm.
I never could get along with those foam bodied flies on our reservoirs though. (Grafham Rutland Eyebrooke)
I always thought that they sat too high in the water, so much preferred the CDC versions that sat in the surface film with the CDC on top.
Those lovely wild brownies seem to like them though.
There is just something special about catching fish on a dry fly.

 

[Dexter]

Really nice video. Felt like I was there.

 

[Uncle f]

Lovely vid fella enjoyed that. Never fished the lochs at all only the chalk streams down south. Looks quite a bit different to what I’m used to would love to give that a go one day

 

[caorach]

I enjoyed watching that but it would have been nice to see the trout you landed so as to get an idea of their size and condition and were they brownies or sea trout.

Yes, these ones were all brownies as no access to the sea from this loch. I know what you mean but it is like posting a video of shooting a deer - you then enter a whole world of pain as people who weren't there discuss the reasons they think your shot was unsafe. Well, try posting a video of you unhooking a trout and you will have 10,000 posts from people telling you how you should do it, and what they would have done, and how you shouldn't be going fishing until you brush up on your skills and...

There is also the advantage that the GoPro makes fish that aren't very close to the camera look pretty small so people have no idea of the size of fish I'm catching and that kind of suits me just fine. Mostly they are pretty small, the ones I landed in that video were probably no bigger than 3/4lb, but I can get away with showing the occasional bigger one and no one is any wiser.

This video has some "unhooking" bits in it but the fish were all tiny, 1/2lb or smaller, and this loch doesn't make anything bigger than 3/4lb even on a good day so there isn't quite as much risk.

 

[caorach]

You did well to get rises in the flat calm.

To be honest part of this is that I've got tennis elbow and so was looking to reduce the amount of casting However, there was also no skill in it in the sense that I like to fish the wet fly and really know nothing about dry fly fishing at all so I got some big foam daddys and launched them out and simply let them sit with the occasional tweak to generate a bit of interest. I was fairly happy with the outcome in the sense that I did actually catch something but I really can't claim that it was skill, only that I got lucky. However, if we get more calm days I might give it a try, that particular loch is very hard to get fish out of and you rarely see a fish rising so this seemed to be a good way to fish it in a calm as the wet fly would have moved nothing. It is a pity I didn't hang on to the first one though as it was a decent fish.

 

[Fair Hill]

Yes, these ones were all brownies as no access to the sea from this loch. I know what you mean but it is like posting a video of shooting a deer - you then enter a whole world of pain as people who weren't there discuss the reasons they think your shot was unsafe. Well, try posting a video of you unhooking a trout and you will have 10,000 posts from people telling you how you should do it, and what they would have done, and how you shouldn't be going fishing until you brush up on your skills and...

There is also the advantage that the GoPro makes fish that aren't very close to the camera look pretty small so people have no idea of the size of fish I'm catching and that kind of suits me just fine. Mostly they are pretty small, the ones I landed in that video were probably no bigger than 3/4lb, but I can get away with showing the occasional bigger one and no one is any wiser.

This video has some "unhooking" bits in it but the fish were all tiny, 1/2lb or smaller, and this loch doesn't make anything bigger than 3/4lb even on a good day so there isn't quite as much risk.

I dare anyone to complain about the way you unhooked and released those trout, that was as close to perfection as anyone could achieve.
There's nothing wrong with a half pounder either, great sport on light gear.
Look forward to you posting more videos, it's hard to beat the wild brown trout for a bit of sport.
As a non fish eater I'd rather catch a dozen brown trout of a half pound average rather than a salmon.
Tight lines,
Fair Hill.

 

[devon deer stalker]

I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting, looks like a great place to fish.
Can anyone fish there or is it private?
I am opposite to you as I mainly fish the dry on my local rivers.
False casting does dry the fly quickly, but after a while they do need a bit of love, I use Chamois leather and squeeze the fly, then a powder like frogs fanny, followed by Gink.
Cheers
Richard

 

[Woodmister]

nice work

 

[caorach]

I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting, looks like a great place to fish.
Can anyone fish there or is it private?
I am opposite to you as I mainly fish the dry on my local rivers.
False casting does dry the fly quickly, but after a while they do need a bit of love, I use Chamois leather and squeeze the fly, then a powder like frogs fanny, followed by Gink.
Cheers
Richard

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Most of the trout fishing is free and it is just a matter of walking to the loch. Clearly the quality varies greatly depending on the particular loch but you have hundreds to chose from, some say 2,000, so you aren't stuck. Generally it is possible to pick between "big trout" lochs which can be very tricky to get fish from, or lochs that will give you a lot of fish but they will tend to be small, or something in between where the fish will maybe go to 2lb at best but you stand the chance of maybe a 1.5lb - 2lb fish plus a handful of smaller ones for a day. The fish are all wild so a 2lb wild trout is a good fish in my view, even a 1lb fish is pretty decent in the world of "real" wild brown trout fishing. There are some lochs with boats on them and you will usually have to pay for those plus there are a few lochs controlled by angling clubs (often with boats) or where the estate doesn't generally allow free fishing for brown trout.

There's a lot of salmon and sea trout as well but, usually, you have to pay for it but it is very good value.

If I get the chance I will maybe post a few more videos over the next while. Fishing is much more suitable for videos than stalking as most stalking action takes place in very low light and at considerable distance so there is a lot of effort required to make a decent stalking video. With the fishing I just strap on a GoPro and the video makes itself.