My brother and I went on our first River outing of the year, hopefully the first of many. We were dropped of at the River Kelvin near the Balmore bridge, intending to fish all the way upstream to Torrance where we would get picked up. I had bought an inexpensive Shakespeare 8ft, #4 rod and a light reel just for fishing small rivers and was looking forward to trying it out. We walked down to the riverside and quickly tackled up. Derek had never fished rivers before and it showed, he had on neoprene chest waders, a heavy jacket and a large bag filled with numerous accessories. He did ask where my gear was as I had on light chest waders and a waistcoat, that was it. All I had and needed was in the pockets of the waistcoat. I left Derek to finish tackling up and walked about a half mile upstream and started fishing with a small bead head PTN on point and a black spider on the dropper. After several casts I had one take the point fly then after a few seconds, it was off. A few casts later I watched the end of the fly line veer rapidly right and lifted into another trout, after about thirty seconds, it was gone too, very frustrating but good fun as I was at least getting into the fish. After a stroll upstream I watched a fish feeding just under the surface on a bend in the river just next to a fallen tree. I quietly made my way to a spot I could get to it and cast upstream, letting the fly drift down and across just near the tree. Watching the end of my fly line, I noticed it give a little jerk and lifted into a lovely Brown Trout. After a really good fight on the light tackle I landed a really nice fish of just over a pound. I would have released it but had promised my brother that he could have the first fish caught as he has never caught nor tasted Brown Trout. I quickly despatched it and sat on a fallen tree for my brother to catch up and to take the trout off me, as I had no bag.
We continued to fish upstream and despite several takes, caught nothing else but I noticed that there seemed to be a good population of trout in the river. We eventually reached a point in the river where it was virtually impossible to fish with very high banking and overgrown shrubbery making casting perilous. I believe that the Angling Association are working on continually improving the Kelvin and a lot of there work is there to be seen.
We walked a mile or so upstream until the shrubbery thinned out and fishing was possible but by this time Derek was soaking in sweat under his neoprene waders and so wee decided to call it a day and walk the rest of the way to Torrance. The next time I go I will concentrate mainly on the either the Balmore Bridge end or the Torrance end as the bit in the middle is a bit overgrown.