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.