River Dhoo and River Glass

[custheyder]

My son was playing hockey at the National Sports Center (NSC) which fortunately for me is where the Rivers Dhoo and Glass combine to flow through Douglas.

I had intended to fish the Glass, but it was in no condition to be fished. Very brown and high.





Fortunately as I drove round I had noticed the Glass was living up to it's name and was running clear. Well, clear'ish. There was a definite muddy tinge to the water but it was at least fishable.

I set myself up at the junction pool.



The colour difference was very apparent between the Glass and Dhoo but unfortunately I didn't manage to move a fish. Slightly higher up river is the footbridge from the NSC to The Bowl where the afternoons football match against Jersey in the FA Inter-League Cup Final! That's football and I'm here for the fishing. Just below the bridge is a nice glide with a deeper channel at the far side starting at the tree.



Just one small fish out of there and a couple of pulls that didn't connect properly. A couple more fish fell to the "seagull" just beyond the bridge tight against the concrete retaining wall. Three young lads decided to stand above the spot casting their shadows over the water. "Caught anything yet mister?" ... well, not any more now you've scared every fish in the run. Hey ho, that's urban'ish fishing for you.

There's a good run in behind McDonald's but a flock 6 ducks decided to take fright and clattered their way through the middle of the pool splashing and creating a proper fuss. No fish in there then. Not true, I caught one little loner.

The ducks calmed down and continued to swim upriver disturbing everything in their path. Eventually they got far enough away to settle down and let the fish resume feeding. Which they did.



There is a platform to walk on here against the concrete retaining wall and beneath it is a deep channel which has been filled with large boulders that make idea hiding places for trout. Fish started coming every other cast. They got bigger as well.



This angry trout I had to follow downstream a bit before I got him in the net. He was not alone. By the time I'd finished working my way through the stretch I'd over a dozen fish and many of them towards the 10 inch mark. Fantastic sport in a decidedly concrete channel.



The fly of the day was the seagull quill pattern I posted up earlier in the week. A couple came to the partridge and snipe on an 18's I had 8 inches above "the seagull". Unfortunately I lost both flies just before packing up. I'll have to tie a few more before my next fishing trip.

Cust.

[Deleted]

Hi Cust.

Looks like the weathers been good to you over the last few days. The river looks gin clear.
How apt a name "The Glass River".

Those little brownies are great to see, They always make me smile.
Nice one.

Stevie.

[custheyder]

The rivers get much clearer than this. You couldn't see an inch below the surface on the Dhoo. The Glass had at least a foot of visibility. I love catching these little fella's much more than the rainbows in the reservoirs.

[leckie]

Cust,
The wbt look in great shape for this time of year and they have beautiful markings....did you see any rises or were they all taking sub surface nymphs
Great action, report and photos...thanks for sharing

tight lines

Alex

[paul1966]

Lovely looking trout, do you're rivers suffer much pollution in the IOM. We have a big problem at the moment with farm slurry in Pembrokeshire. Another nice repot by the I'm always itching to get out after reading them. Makes me think of a numer of small streams around Pembrokeshire that no one bothers with and are full of small wild brownies.

[custheyder]

Alex... I saw only one rise in the current. We'd had a major hail storm overnight. The place looked white in the morning when I looked out. As a result the water temperature was very low so no hatching fly life today. Otherwise I think there would of been plenty of free rising trout.

Paul... We don't suffer too much with pollution. Our river wardens are very active. I'm glad I can inspire you to get out fishing. The least fished rivers are generally the most rewarding I find. Although Santon Gorge was a disappointment. I've plenty more rivers to go at yet! It's a challenge now, to fish as many as possible and report on them.

Cust.

[custheyder]

Lunchtime and I happened to have my rod in the car as I was passing the NSC and this same section of water. What the heck! 45mins of lunch left. I turned the car into the car park and set myself up in front of the swimming pool you can see in the corner of the second picture.

Complete contrast to last time. The water is running fast and clear. I can see fish dotted here and there and they can see me in my purple and white striped work shirt.... off they swim!

There is a bridge over to the swimming pool and just the other side of that is a large bush with a short cascade and deep water downstream. One of the pool staff is overlooking the pool at I cast upstream with my little parachute black dry. It touches down and a large shape comes up from the depths and snaffles the fly. A short fight while I considered getting my phone out to take a picture, but with people looking on I decided to release it quickly. The pool attendant had been joined by 2 mates.

"Where's the reel? ... How do you reel it in?" ... So I explained about Tenkara and they seemed a bit unsure it was possible. However, they could not deny the fish I just landed. 8 inches of wild brown trout. Lovely.

Continuing my stroll up the bank I disturbed far more fish than I could cast at. With the sun behind the stripes of colour on my line shone brilliantly. My only regret was that I was fishing a #3 and not a #2.5. The lighter line would of been a great benefit to these spooky fish.

Fish kept rising underneath the fly and sinking back down to the depths. I love this sort of sight fishing where you see everything. I only had the fly on that I packed the rod away with or I might of gone for one of my hawthorn imitations. There were plenty on the air.

Time was getting short but in the last pool another 8 incher obliged and came up confidently to take the fly. I got a picture of this one on my phone which I'll upload later.

This could be my new lunchtime venue. Not too many people about and plenty of fish to cast at. It's good to be out in the sun and even better to be fishing.

Cust.

[leckie]

Cust.
During the week when I go fishing all I do is put my chest or waist waders on on top of my suit and I'm off and fishing...it doesn't take more than a couple of minutes to do and notwithstanding I might be fishing for less than an hour....it's still worth it....glad you caught a few anyway....still a bit of a struggle for me at the moment.

tight lines

Alex

[Deleted]

Nice quick fix Cust.

Bet this made the afternoon at work feel better.
You cant beat these little moments to escape & lose yourself.

Regards Stevie.

[custheyder]

I returned to the NSC last night because my son was playing hockey for an hour and a half. Threw on the waders and grabbed the rods. Started at the junction pool (3rd picture above) and sort of got stuck. The pool was stuffed with fish eager to take anything I threw at them.

You know we're always going on about a drag free drift? To heck with that! I had a small black fly on skating it across the current holding everything off the water, line, tippet the whole shebang except the fly. The fish were hurling themselves at it! I keep meaning to get the GoPro out and take some video. This would of been amazing to watch. Even dragging the fly slowly against the current got an eager response. It was just crazy.

In the deeper part of the pool it was sung kebari that did the work. Dead drifting them through got nothing. Twitch, twitch, twiching them resulted in savage takes. Twitch rate was approximately 1 per second. Just say "and" between each rise and fall.

Eventually the sport slowed up so I moved up to the bridge and had a couple of nice fish from under the tree with the same small black fly. This time with a perfect dead drift. Then it happened, the thing I dread the most when fishing down here....

The chavs spotted me! "Fish, fish fish... Hey Mister!... Caught any yet?"

"Why don't you fish in that ...err big thing"... you mean the sea? ..."yeah, the sea. Lot's more fish in there. Bet you'd catch more from the beach" ...and so it went on.

"Why are you putting them back?" because they are small and beautiful and deserve to live. "There are bigger fish in the sea."

That was only one of the half dozen that then joined him. It's like they are scripted. Each asking the same questions. Sufficient to say my catch rate went down. A) because I couldn't concentrate and missed nearly every take. (You can imagine the comments.) B) They were looming over the best part of the run against the retaining wall putting the fish off.

Having said all that my catch was still well into double figures from less than 100 yards of river.

Fortunately my son appeared to save me from the questions. Tomorrow it's his turn and I'm taking him to Laxey.