Harlaw Revisited

Looking towards 'the narrows'.

I arrived yesterday afternoon and took myself up-to the water for a walk around and to check out the permit situation. Fish were showing well but talking to anglers it was a mixed bag, some doing well others not. Permits can be purchased direct from the bailiff, £20 quid for a full days fishing, 4 fish can be taken this is a superb day out.

Harlaw

Harlaw sits at the base of the Pentlands and is regularly stocked with trout, normally rainbow and blues. For your money you can also fish part of the next reservoir, Threipmuir, which is wild brownies, take your choice or do both. Although Threipmuir is exposed and on a day like this would not be a great deal of fun.
Apart from the bailiff I was the first angler at 8.30 next day, it was windy, cold and rain threatened but the occasional fish could be seen. The weather remained mixed like that all day.

My normal starting point

I put my usual starting cast of Kate mcLaren and Bibio on dropper. They have never failed me here, famous last words. I started at the point and covered the bank without any success albeit fish were moving but not taking my offerings. About 10 minutes in hard rain fell for a while and that pushed the fish down for most of the morning. I moved round the bend on its westerly side and the wind eased. Bang rod lurched fish on, what a fight this gave, a cracking rainbow about 3lb went back after I retrieved the Kate. Shortly after another hit on Kate but as the fish leapt out of the water the rod moved in the opposite direction and down the tip went. I had two fish on and they went deep. Too strong for my 4lb line so I got broke.

I re-tackled with the same flies and had two more on Kate. Then a hit on the Bibio and another break, this does not usually happen. I moved up to 6lb leader
and had two more on Kate, both taking from below.
To create a bit more interest I went onto dries but after an hour and several fly changes not one bit of interest so time for lunch and back to wets. The bailiff came past and was surprised as he had only one success.
After lunch there was hardly a sight of a fish but I did tag two more near the 'narrows', one on each fly.

Angler wading but don't go far in

I had to call it a day soon after but the fishery just does not let it go. Near the finish I tried again and had another huge hit again almost pulling out the rod from my grip. It took about 5 minutes to land and was easily 5lb. Despite the fight as soon as removed the fly it flicked its tail and took off like a grand prix car.

Typical rainbow

The bailiff said at the end that they do put some very big fish in a couple of times a year. It is well stocked and is a reasonable sized water so you should have plenty of space. The scenery is great and on the whole the people are friendly.

Threipmuir hoolie

Hopefully I will be back next month and get some evening fishing which can be spectacular.

River Doon Smithston beat

High Water

Our monthly club fishing trip is normally to a trout water but for various reasons we were down to 3 anglers today so we decided to have a cast on a salmon river. It is really just a bit too early for salmon in our Ayrshire rivers but there have been a couple reported caught this week. 
Our choice was The River Doon and the Smithston beat in part because none of us had fished it before although we all had heard good things about it.
Our first issue was with the weather as it had poured all night and the forecast for the day was more of the same. As we crossed over the River Ayr it was looking very brown coloured, not good news.

Our next problem was finding the fishing hut. We drove down a narrow single track and ended up at a farm, dead end. We retraced our steps to get a mobile signal and found out we had been correct, we had not been told you go through the farm gate into a field, occupied by cows and sheep, follow a faint track around the field and then arrived at the hut.

It was immediately evident that the water was running high, fast and dirty brown. We already knew that there would not be many fish around but it was disappointing to hear the ghillie say that not even a tail had been spotted recently never mind anything being caught. Our view was still that someone has to catch the first fish of the year. The rivers need the rain and higher running water to encourage salmon to move from their holding areas in the estuaries and head upriver.

Pools and rapids

There is a good sized fishing hut where we were given our introduction by Freddie the ghillie.
We had booked via Fishpal which means you lose your money if you don't fish so we treated it as a recce day, wetting a fly just to get used to the water rather than expecting a tug on the line.
This a good sized beat, about two and a half miles long with some sections double banked. It is split into 3 beats with a maximum of 2 anglers per beat so there is plenty of space. Even on a day like this it is a cracking stretch of water, full of small sections of fast water and tail pools to hold the fish. It is a narrow river, my 11ft switch rod was more than ample and could go even smaller.
We started on the bottom beat which in my view is the most picturesque. Bright flies the order of the day just in case. Freddie has worked hard cutting back a lot of the vegetation so the walking was very good. Just taking care not slip as the fast water would be very dangerous. I knew we would not be wading so was not wearing my inflatable safety jacket, a mistake.

Middle beat

As expected a mixed weather morning, heavy rain, wind and sunshine, summer in Scotland. No fish spotted but a good walk and an understanding of the water.
After lunch we did the same recce on the middle section. As you go towards the upper beat the walk is a bit more challenging but still good compared to some rivers I have walked.

A check of the water level gauge at the hut showed the water had risen over 6 inches during our visit. We called it a day earlier than normal but I look forward to returning another day when conditions have improved and salmon are around. 

Colin in action

For most Ayrshire rivers last year was poor with catches only about a third of previous years so here's hoping the salmon return this year.

Loch Bhac revisited a double loss

First visit of the year to one of my favourite fishing spots. There is the usual 4 mile trek through the forestry commision rough track hoping not to meet any of the huge timber lorries.
Arrive to find 2 other cars already there, members as it turns out. One boat was in use and two guys were bank fishing just like I would do. A cuckoo was calling in the trees nearby.

Sky was blue but a strong easterly wind was blowing. Calm water to begin with and no sign of surfacing fish so down under for the first half an hour. No joy but the guy  to my left was into a fish.
There was a good chop so went on to two dries, a bibio shuttlecock and a black F-fly. I did get 3 rises, all small browns I think, but nothing stuck or I was too slow on the uptake.

Back to a pheasant tail nymph up top with bibio and Kate on droppers. Again two hits on the bibio but still not taken.
There is good wading and I walked the far bank. Apart from the early fish the other two bank guys had no more success. Cuckoo number one had been joined by another behind me, they are loud and persistent. Need to look it up is it only males that call?

Lunch back at the boathouse where I met up with the boat guys but no joy for them either.
Back on the water still with bibio and Kate and bang bibio strikes a small but good fighting rainbow. Quick unhook and off it went at speed heading for the middle.
As frequently happens the Kate got a hit just as I was talking to one of the members. It leapt out of the water and I could see that it was a small brownie. Then the rod really got a bend in it, I had a second fish on the bibio dropper. Then they seemed stuck and the member said there was a reed bed just there and too deep to wade to. A tug of war began and I was worried about my rod tip. However, luckily the inevitable happened and both came off, one hook gone and no idea what happened to the other.

A third cuckoo started calling and with all 3 going at the same time it was quite a noise. The weather had changed, big black clouds. The other guys had gone so I had the place to myself. An osprey put in an appearance, flew around for 5 minutes or so but did not make any dives.
Torrential rain hammered down for 10 minutes , I hid under a tree and waited. It eased and it had triggered some bigger rainbows to come surface hunting. So back on with the same dries and immediately a large splash but no take.
The rain came back on and stayed for next 30 minutes so time to give up. Twenty minutes later when I drove away it was still raining. At Pitlochry 10 miles away they had no rain!!
Still the views were as spectacular as ever. The weather was good enough but for whatever reason the fish were not showing today but I will be back.

Mossroddich Loch St John's Town of Dalry

View from parking area Mossriddoch loch

I wanted somewhere different for this months fishing outing. The wonders of internet searching brought up this little gem. To be fair I wasn't sure at first as I thought that it might just have been a bit on the small size but it ticked the new place to fish box and it was in scenic countryside so worth a shot.
We met the owner 1st thing, handed over the money and got an overview of the water. Don't fish light we were told, despite that two of us were. It is stalked with rainbow and brown trout, any browns caught to be released. The water is only about 5 foot at its deepest with good wading in parts.

The rest of the water

As we stood looking down at the water an osprey flew over, a great start but sadly I did not see it again. But red kites flew regularly overhead as did a pair of buzzards. There were some geese, greylag I think, with young that let out a cacophony of noise every time a raptor flew overhead.

Red Kite

Although small and relatively shallow there were two boats available for our use, one due for a makeover but he left it for us just in case. 

Geese move off

As we tackled up it was relatively calm, with fish rising all over the water. Brilliant an early start for the dry fly, on with a yellow owl and a small bloodworm buzzer on the dropper. I walked to the far side across some boggy ground and getting round the two fences in the water was a challenge as cows had trampled the ground, now boggy and deep.

Mossroddich from bottom end

As I made my first cast I could see fish breaking the surface. 3rd cast and a large rainbow surfaced taking my fly, a proper rod bender, but quickly came off, that's barbless hooks for you. The other two guys had not even started and watched with some jealousy. A few minutes later and rainbow number 2 arrived, same fly, landed and returned.
The weather had now changed and the wind was blowing through at strength. A large chop on the water and no more sign of fish on the surface and no takes for over 15 minutes so changed to my favoured Bibio, Kate McLaren wet fly combo. I saw one of the boats hook up, a good sign that the fish are still active. Rod bend another good fish but again slipped off as I readied my net. Not a problem, saved a netting, as this was a catch and release day for me. But slightly concerning as I do not normally lose fish this way. As it turned out all the guys said the same thing, for some reason all the fish caught in the day were very lightly hooked.

Wading beside boatshed

Another smash and I knew this was a good one. Rod was bent, it was wildly head shaking and moving fast underwater when the leader snapped, I had been broken. A wind knot or a big fish, I don't know but I upped my leader from 5 lb to 8 lb strength and concentrated on tying strong knots.
The weather was not fun and we were all backs to the wind and hoods up. At least the boats could get in behind the trees on the island and had some protection. During a hatch it would be a cracking spot as food would get regularly blown from the trees onto that patch of water. Still just before lunch I caught another small rainbow on the Kate. These were all good fighting fish despite their stature.

Boating and wading

After lunch I put a small beaded pheasant tail up top as the fish were clearly near the bottom. Almost immediately another rainbow was landed but on the dropper to Kate.
Thankfully the wind had eased and the odd fish could be seen on the surface. I put a self tyed pheasant tail with a forked orange tail. It has caught rainbows for me before so I know it works. I noted 2 of the guys landing fish when bang another very hard hit. I was struggling to hold the rod with this one and it tried to make run after run, a cracker. It took me 5 minutes to land and weighed about 4-5lb but fought like a much larger fish and it took my pheasant tail. A few casts later another one to the same fly.

I wandered round the water without any more success and back to the boat shed. The wind was a normal breeze but fish were still not showing. For the last half an hour I decided to use dries again and firstly gave the yellow owl another go. Not too long too wait and a rainbow came up, looked at the fly and then swirled but did not touch. Then the same again this time leaping over trying to drown it. Encouraging and 3rd time lucky another take and another small rainbow.

Brown trout habitat

Despite the weather in the morning it was a good day and we all said we would return. Everyone caught at least one fish including the youngster. I was delighted with my nine hooked and six landed. Interestingly none of us caught a brownie.
And it was all finished off with a pint of real ale in the wonderful Clachan Inn, two gems in one day, perfect.

Penwhapple first group outing of the season

Penwhapple & turbines

The first Saturday in April means the first outing of the year for our wee fishing group. Our destination today is the excellent Penwhapple. This is a Scottish water reservoir who restrict the membership which means that wherever you fish in the reservoir you will find spots well away from anyone else. Recent developments of the construction of a wind turbine farm has detracted from the view in parts but you do tend to forget about them and concentrate on the fishing.
There had been a storm more or less entrenched all of yesterday and it was forecast to return early this afternoon so we opted to get our fishing in early. One of the group could not attend so we were 6 plus Ally's young son.

Colin's bum and boats

The weather was perfect on arrival at the car park but experience has shown that the weather up at the reservoir can be vastly different from the sheltered car park. After we had carried the boat engine and battery up the many steps we were pleasantly surprised to see calm water in parts and the ripples of rising fish sipping gently. Just what the doctor ordered.
First task was baling yesterdays water out of the boats and there was plenty of water.

Penwhapple fishing hut

Colin and I were in a boat whilst the other guys opted to fish from the bank. We set off and soon drifted amid the rising fish but they would not taking a liking to anything we were offering and after about 15 minutes they had gone deeper, no surface feeding showing at all, we had missed the hatch of whatever. I started on my Kate McLaren & Bibio combination with a very small red bloodworm buzzer on the tail dropper.

The bottom of the water has turbines as well

We moved to a new location and saw fish being caught by the anglers who had arrived before us. Then Shaun was the first of our party to connect and the day was on. A pheasant tail nymph for him.
After an hour we still had no takes then the morning exploded into action. Colin was in with a rainbow first and quickly followed with a second one, both to a sunset damsel.

Me and a Penwhapple brown trout

I took off the Kate and put on a pheasant tail gold head to get down a bit. A couple of minutes later I was in, a cracking brownie, taking the small bloodworm buzzer. Colin was in again a brownie this time.
A really powerful hit and I was on again, a hard fighting rainbow taking the goldhead. Colin got another 2 fish, one rainbow plus a cracking fish of about 4lbs, took an age net going very deep trawling back and forth under the boat. As you can see from the snap, for comparison a rainbow, it looks very much like a sea trout but how could that be in this hill loch? It is not far from the sea and the River Girvan but it could not get up the incline to the dam. After the photo shot it was returned and with a few flicks of the broad tail it disappeared into the black depths.

Brown or Seatrout?

Another connection and another good brownie to the buzzer.
All went quiet and I changed up top to a red tailed Zulu but no luck so after 30 minutes time for lunch. Still a super morning 5-3 to Colin. At lunch all bar one of the guys had caught fish including the youngster who was well chuffed with his one.

Looking back towards the fishing hut

After filling my face I decided to bank fish, mainly to stretch my legs, a half day session in a boat is enough for me. Also Colin would give the youngster an outing in the boat which would be fun for him. Anyway the bank was fishing well in the morning with the fish staying fairly close in. I went well round the water and found a bay all to myself. I decided to stay with the Zulu for a few casts and was rewarded with a good rainbow straight away. A few casts later another hit near the surface but it did not stay on. I fished the bay for another hour before the rain arrived but I had caught 3 more fish, 2 brown and 1 rainbow. The rainbow took the buzzer hard and deep and fought really hard. The outcome was a badly bleeding fish which I had to kill. Normally all my fish are returned but this one will be dinner. 
The surface of the water was now covered in minute black flies, clearly this was the hatch the fish were on but no way could you imitate these teeny flies. The rain was now pounding down but too my surprise the line tightened again another brownie to the Zulu. It had mangled my leader, having cut off all 3 flies I was not starting again in this weather so my day was over.

Afternoon brownie

A superb afternoon session, five fish, four taking the Zulu which is one of the amazing things about fly fishing, why it tempted nothing before lunch and deadly in the afternoon?
Over the day 8 fish, four of each, I was happy with that. The group total was 32 which was our highest single day total for some time and the youngster, helped by Colin, got his best tally of 4, I think he beat his dad!!
Now beer time.

Another nice brown trout

Hoddom Beat River Annan

This was day 2 of our road trip and the agenda was a visit to the popular and famous Hoddom beat on the River Annan. We should have been full of optimism and anticipation but the reality was that the conditions were very poor for salmon fishing. The lack of rain meant the river level was only 2 inches above the lowest summer height and the Fishpal website showed that no salmon had been caught in the 5 days of this week.
We parked up and entered the gatehouse where the ghillies are based and any optimism we had was finally dampened when the ghillie said it had been fishing crap and today was unlikely to improve on that.
The beat is over 4 miles long so Colin and I elected to go upriver and fish our way back down. We took the car the short trip to Mainholm and parked up near the footbridge and walked up to the beat boundary.

Looking up river Horse Pool

This area down to the footbridge has some lovely stretches of water where salmon will lie but not today. My initial mistake was not to take my wading stick as the water was low. But the ongoing low water and the sun were perfect conditions for algae growth and I could hardly keep my feet. There was no danger of drowning but a broken limb was a strong possibility if one fell on these rocks. My second mistake was taking the double handed rod, the water was not good for this.
Already sweating in the blazing sun I hiked back to the car to change to my single hander rod, get rid of a layer of clothing, apply sun lotion and grab my stick. A fair bit of wasted time.

Looking downriver from footbridge

We fished the stretch down to the foot bridge and then onwards towards the lodge where we met the rest for lunch. There were a couple more anglers on this stretch but they had no luck either. Some of the water is awkward to get access to a few slides down the embankments. A couple of small brown trout had been caught but no salmon. 
Over lunch, fancy name for a salad roll and a bag of crisps, Rabbie did say he saw one big salmon leap at the other boundary at Scales Pool so refreshed, Colin and I took the long walk to there to fish back up to the lodge. However as we tackled up again I realised no landing net, it had presumably came off on one of my bank slides. A quick rush back to Mainholm and a walk up the banking and luckily there it was at one of the points I slid down to access the river. 
On the walk down the banking here is covered in Hymalayan balsam, an invasive parasitic plant that will take over and destroy all other vegetation as well as erode the banking. Much work is required here to halt its progress.
Scales pool narrowed well and in the low water a salmon would breach it moving upriver but nothing for us to see. Colin saw a seatrout on the next beat but it never showed for us.

The beat boundary

We then fished Ducks pool which looked an ideal holding spot, deeper water just below a weir with a good sandy bottom for wading. After thrashing about for a while with no success I left the water to speak to a couple of the guys at the car park and suddenly behind me a big swirl right in the area I had been fishing. A few curses, back in but no joy.

Looking up river towards Calvert's pool

A final few casts at the Churchyard pool but again no success and the water was very low.
One advantage of the low water is seeing where the lies are and where you can wade safely in better higher water conditions. No success today but another place to return to with better fishing knowledge of the water. 

Drum Loch Dalswinton

The final leg of our road trip had no fishing booked or even agreed so that left plenty of time for debate and argument over breakfast. Friction resulting over the fry-up! After much internet searching we agreed to go to Drum Loch; it looked a reasonable size, 6 acres, we should get on to the water without a booking and it was on the road home, just. We also wanted a fishery where we would all have a chance of catching fish.
The main issue we had was finding the fishery. We got to Auldgirth okay then we were up and down country lanes, there was nobody around this sleepy hamlet to ask for directions so early on a Sunday morning. We had called the mobile number on the internet and the guy said just to go and start fishing and he would come down and get the money. We had 3 different cars all taking the postcode from the internet and we could not pin it down. How can Sat-navs differ so much as well as the 3 could not agree!! We finally drove down a country estate driveway and ended up at a rather large country mansion with a run down looking bit of water in front of us, surely this was not it? Where were the fishing platforms described on the site.

We heard barking and a male was coming down from the big house with 3 dogs in tow. Turned out it was the lord of the manor down to collect duck eggs for his breakfast. He was a very nice bloke and yes we were close by but we had missed the fishery entrance at the village. He did allow us to take an alternative route through his estate and within a couple of minutes we were there.
The small car park was fine, we tackled up and went for a look at the water. It turned out that the Dumfries and District Angling club had only taken the fishery over a few weeks ago but they had done a fine job tackling the bank vegetation, reducing the weeds in the water and putting up a decent hut with a proper loo, well done guys.

There was no sign of fish rising so I started with my usual wets, Kate & Bibio but with no success. After half an hour or so the temperature was rising and there were the encouraging ripples of rising fish taking food from the sub surface layer. I immediately changed to my suspender buzzers, these were successful at Alderneuk just 2 days ago so try again. I decided to fish these static and within 5 minutes there was a good take, a rainbow of about 2lb but with the fight it put up I thought it was a much larger fish. A good start for me in our sweepstake.

A short while later I saw Ally into a fish and turned out he was using the same tactic. Nothing else was caught by anyone that morning. I had a few rises to look at the flies but none were keen enough to take them.
After lunch I stubbornly stayed on the dries, it is my favourite method of fishing. I had stuck with various suspender buzzers as fish were still rising and giving me hope, albeit occasionally and mainly out-with my casting distance.
It was now getting windier and therefore choppier water so I put a yellow/grey dry buzzer on the dropper mainly as a sight indicator. Lo & behold it was hit hard and another fighting rainbow on board. Circumstances meant I was eating alone tonight so rather than go shopping after this long day I chapped this rainbow, it was a nice size for one person.

Rabbie had caught 1 on the dry as well and then Colin got in on the act with a different tactic a wet Black Pennell.
With half an hour to go I was still leading for the money with my two fish but 3 of the guys had to leave early, the car driver had a wedding to get to, so I was happy, less competition.
Colin came to fish the stance beside mine. It was now getting cooler, the fish were down, rarely showing and some drops of rain arrived.

And guess what happened, Colin caught 2 fish in 2 casts to take the lead, not that I was calling him a jammy git.
Thats how it ended, 3 to Colin; 2 to me and 1 each to Ally & Rabbie. Sadly the other 3 blanked.
We called it a day and within minutes the temperature rose, a sedge hatch came on and the fish were rising again, sods law.
It was our first trip here but it will not be our last, we all agreed to have one of our full days next year. it's a lovely tranquil location, very well kept and a bargain at £10.

For my dinner I had rainbow trout fish and chips with garden peas and used half of the fish to make a trout pate, delicious and a fine end to the road trip. I had to open a bottle of wine as well.