Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Euan Innes

Glen Tanar
« on: 04/05/2015 at 09:26 »
First day out this year and time and distance had me spending a day on the loch at Glen Tanar.
Saturday started bright with a breeze but that turned in to cold, with strong winds and grey skies. Did I say it was cold? I may mention that again...

Cast number two brought a very lively Rainbow that got off after a couple of minutes. It did run me ragged though and I started thinking that my #4 might be a bit undergunned for the day!  :z4
Cast number five, damsel nymph cast towards the shore and retrieved following the slope down in to the deep water, came to a sudden stop and then ripped away stripping line off my Barrio reel faster than anything else ever had. After a really good scrap a fat, overwintered Brownie of around 2lb was released.



First fish of the year had to be a Brown!

As another fisher was fishing the "hole" I moved down to the outlet section and took another Rainbow and another Brownie of around 1.5lb, this time on black buzzers. This one also fought hard, but the Rainbows were in a different league, taking to the air and diving deep, ripping line off the reel.
I moved back out to the middle of the loch just off the reed bank. By now the wind was brutal and I had forgotten how much it swirled round the loch, but with the boat on one anchor, nose in to the wind, it moved around and allowed me to cover more water. A Rainbow was moving up wind, nymphing, and a short delicate cast with Mallard and Black "prototype" and the line went tight again. That happened again, three more times before the cold had me rowing for the hut around half past three.
I know that Rainbows are often treated as secondary species and I have been guilty of Brown snobbery myself but the Rainbows in Tanar are not just stockies, but are more akin to wild fish. Yes they can be taken on Cats Whiskers (the other angler on the loch proved that all day) but they can also be taken off the top on wet flies imitating trout food. And they go and I mean really go. Their tails were full and they really sparkle in the clear waters of Glen Tanar. I have had some great days on Glen Tanar and this one was one of the best despite the weather conditions. A wee bit of global warming might have been nice on the second day of May, seven weeks from the longest day!
Once the weather improves I really fancy taking a day and evening ticket and spending the whole day up there as there are some big Browns that come out at dusk.  :z16
The wild life is always a bonus too with an Osprey making a brief appearance and loads of ducks on the loch. Oh for better weather!

 :z1

Hamish Young

Re: Glen Tanar
« Reply #1 on: 04/05/2015 at 10:16 »
Nice way to kick off the season Euan  :z16

Jim Eddie

Re: Glen Tanar
« Reply #2 on: 04/05/2015 at 22:05 »
Looks like you had a good day Euan  :z16

 :z18

Jim

Euan Innes

Re: Glen Tanar
« Reply #3 on: 04/05/2015 at 22:28 »
Hamish and Jim,
I had a great day but feck me it was cold. I really do love the place and buying two tickets is definately on the cards.
I have memories of muddlers and Broons at dusk as well as dry fly action if all the planets come in to alignment. I once had a 5lb Rainbow run from the "finger" (northern arm) almost to the boathouse in one go! Glen Tanar is the reason that I have a shed load of backing on my trout reels today.

And if you beach the boat on the northern shore by the "hole" and break out the stove it is a very pleasent place to have lunch.  :z16

 :z1

Iain Cameron

Re: Glen Tanar
« Reply #4 on: 06/05/2015 at 06:28 »
nice session Euan - aye, tis a lovely wee spot for a day.

 




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