Post by scanny on Apr 30, 2010 1:26:29 GMT
With my double thesis being less than 100 pages from completion I decided to fish the rod I had booked for Pert on the North Esk on Wednesday. It was my first time on one of the Esk’s and armed with a few helpful Pm’s from members regarding tactics I was confident of a pleasant days fishing ahead.
The 4:30am start – Joe (magpietail) is a bit of girl when it comes to times and paniced we wouldn’t make the 2 hour trip in the 4hours he allotted- so I was dragged from my bed and set of for 5am.
We arrived just after 7am with Pert being situated equidistant between Aberdeen and Dundee on the A90, finding the entrance to the Upper beat was simple and parking next to the Boat pool. The water looked low and the river only 20 yards wide, so I opted for the 14’ with a mid spey floating line and Fast sink tip to start with, teamed with a size 10 cascade. I reached into the boot to get my waders and after a surreal minute I realised I had left them sitting in the bath at home. After the polite dog walker got far enough away I had a tantrum then went for a walk allowing the other two to stop laughing quite so much.
I walked to the top of the beat to view the water and was pleasantly surprised
The top pool, Weir, has three subsets to it, the Upper, Weir and Lower sections. Fishing from the bank without waders was not perfect but still achievable. The Flow runs through the pools meandering from side to side avoiding the croy and exposed shingle and had a good flow through for the low water level.
The tail of the Weir Pool Runs down to nice stretch of broken water at the head of the next pool, Blue Rock. Fishing from the bank was a little tight in spots towards the tail with it being tree lined.
At this point I managed to locate a set of waders so set of to Forfar to collect them from Angus Angling. Upon arriving back I finally got to fish the boat pool, which fish had been showing in all morning
After lunch we were fishing the Lower beat but not after enjoying the surprisingly well appointed hut, a nice surprise and the nicest on any beat I have fished. It even had electricity unlike most others. It was positioned between the Road bridge and the lower bridge, and there were a few large fish showing as they ran through the Bridge pool bellow which was a welcome sight.
The afternoon began on the Bridge pool underneath the road bridge and marked a change in the rivers geography. The Upper beat has excellent wading and mostly on gravel however the lower beat is characterised by sandstone slabs with crevasse throughout. This made for some interesting wading and a deep channel where the run flows through. In this depth it made wading knee high on the slabs and relaxed however with another foot of water it would be a different prospect.
The two pools bellow the Lower bridge are possibly better suited to spinning but still had enough flow to fish with some hand lining.
There is a set of steps up the slope and onto a footpath that has been created to avoid the worst of the undergrowth and then descends via another set of steps into the Mill pool.
The broken water running from either side of the island meets and the run moves to the far bank however it is an excellent cast and fishing which continues for 200 yards to the next small island sitting above the Black Burn Pool
The Black burn pool is superb with broken water and the main run on the right side with wading on the sandstone slabs, which by now have become a little tricky to navigate on
The pool continues around the corner where the Luther Burn runs into it and the Luther pool merges into the tail
The Luther pool fishes around and the flow gradually diminishes. This is the lower limit of the Beat and had several fish showing. In all there were 13 fish seen however without any pulls of connecting with one.
Looking upstream from the tail of the Black Burn Pool
The Pert Water is in superb condition with the upper beat banks are excellent, almost mown flat and with no restrictions behind for casting. I was particularly impressed with the lower beat having read online that it was more suited to spinning however once you arrive at the Mill pool it is superb down to the Luther. Access again is superb and in particular the effort by the owners in making the beat accessible. The hut is superb and another sign of this attention to detail.
With higher water levels the river must fish excellently with all pools being able to be fished by the fly, with the ease of access and pleasant hut it makes for a relaxing day. So much so im returning in July and hopefully many more times.
That first Springer this year still eludes me but its not for the lack of effort
