Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

James Laraway

Calamitous fishing....
« on: 08/06/2022 at 11:29 »
So, i felt inspired to go to Loch Park yesterday as it had been a few years. Turns out I should have stayed in bed....

Its a lovely loch with lovely trout so worth the > 1 hr drive for me.

I arrived at the loch where the boats are and there was literally nowhere to fish due to the weed. I spoke to James who sorts out the permits who said not to worry - there was plenty of space up the far end and I could walk there. As i had the float tube and there was a rough road i said " can i drive up ? " Initially he said no, then said " you probably can if you have a 4x4.."

The first few hundred meters were fine, but then the road narrowed - so i had to reverse back with no harm done.

After a walk with my tube in the heat I was in the water, which was lovely.

I quickly missed a couple of takes then I got a tangle. So I went to cut off my old leader using the scissors on my small leatherman tool. As im getting older i had to put glasses on to see what i am doing but this seemed to impair my sense of perspective. I'm thinking 'this leader material is tougher than i thought....."

That's because not only am I cutting the leader, but at the same time I'm trying to cut through my fly line..... *smiley-shocking*

Luckily i caught myself having only done limited damage and after a quick strength test it was still fishable....I was raging with myself as that would have been day over.

I then tie my flies on having put the leatherman in my side pouch of the tube. I go to retrieve it to cut off the 'tags' and hear a hissing noise.....

Must be the valve come loose thinks me ....no  -  i had punctured my tube by not folding my leatherman up properly due to being in a bad mood due to trying to destroy my #4 small stream !

Honest to......

So in the middle of the loch having holed my tube !!!! I think " great, that's me going for a swim then........."

Luckily the Vision Drifter has a tube inside a tube and i had only gotten the outside one. So, even when it deflated the left side was OK ( as its a separate tube inside a tube ) while only the outside bladder on the RHS went down - and i was still afloat perfectly well !

So, a few lessons:
 - don't get in a rage as you just do more stupid things
- don't carry pointy scissors in a float tube
 - when you buy a tube make sure they have a 'bladder inside a bladder' as it will save you a soaking !

Oh, and amongst the chaos i caught about 6 fish, nothing big but really great casting and catching rising fish  ! ( despite my best efforts to ruin the day !)

Mike Barrio

Re: Calamitous fishing....
« Reply #1 on: 08/06/2022 at 18:20 »
Every day is an adventure James  :)

Terry Coging

Re: Calamitous fishing....
« Reply #2 on: 09/06/2022 at 07:18 »
Wow! what a day James. Please forgive me having a small laugh.... those sort of days are becoming a bit too frequent with me of late  :X1
I use round nosed scissors on the zinger now.

Iain Cameron

Re: Calamitous fishing....
« Reply #3 on: 09/06/2022 at 16:27 »
oucha! at least you stayed safe, and got out of the water intact

James Laraway

Re: Calamitous fishing....
« Reply #4 on: 10/06/2022 at 14:51 »
I was actually safe as houses are there are 2 bladders inside one another on each side of the tube, plus and inflatable seat ( plus a lifejacket !)
Even with one of the outer ones 'down' i still floated no bother - but id rather not repeat the exercise.

I bought one of the stormsure 'inflatable canoe' repair kits ( about £6). They come with a small tube of stormsure (which I've not used but till keep) plus about 5 'Tuff Tape' patches  ( 3 round & 1 rectangular) - which are self adhesive and air/water tight. One of the patches over the whole and I'm back in business .  :z16

These patches I will keep in a sealed bag in one of the pockets of my tube from now on , although i will not be keeping anything with a sharp point in the pockets from now on !!

Robert MacDonald-Lewis

Re: Calamitous fishing....
« Reply #5 on: 20/06/2022 at 13:23 »
 That must have been a squeaky bum moment.  Amazing how quickly the wheels can come off a day's fishing when you get fixated on one F-up.

At least you stayed dry, caught a few fish and the float tube lives to fish another day.

 




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