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.

Alderneuk Fishery Dumfries

Looking back to the hut

This was day 1 of our fishing groups annual road trip. We had opted to fish not that far away from our home patch but still far enough away that most of the guys had not fished any of the 3 locations before so excitement and anticipation amongst us all.
Our first location was the troutmasters fishery called Alderneuk. Despite having a postcode from their website my sat nav took us onto a very minor farm road, turning and twisting through beautiful farming countryside, but where was the fishery? No signs and no turning spots if we met any traffic. The sat nav said we had passed it, where are you Alderneuk? A stop at a farm gave us directions, yes we were close so a few more sharp bends then we stumbled across it. According to the fishery owner our sat nav had taken us off the A75 one turn off too early and we would get back to the main road easier at the end of the day and yes we did.
Having parked up we took the short walk to the water and I was initially surprised by how small it looked. The fishery has a reputation for large trophy fish which brings in the anglers hoping for a fish of a lifetime. I did get the impression that it would not take a lot of anglers to make it busy. At the narrowest point anglers have to be careful as lines could easily tangle, I can imagine some issues when people from either side cast to a rising fish particularly if a competition is taking place.

Flat calm across the narrow water.

After breakfast Scottish style, black coffee and a fried egg and slice sausage roll, it was time to tackle up and get fishing. As we were on an away trip with hotel stays we had decided no fish would be killed today, that's if we were to be lucky and catch any at all. We agreed two sweepstakes for the day, big stakes a fiver a head. The 1st fish caught by each guy would be weighed and heaviest fish wins a tenner plus the main prize for the largest number of fish caught today. However re our no kill policy the owner told us that he wanted us to kill our first fish caught each so long as it was a rainbow under 6lb. He wanted to freshen up his stock and assured us the killed fish would not be wasted, fair enough it's his water.
The day was already warm and it would get much hotter. Sun cream and insect repellent sprayed on equally. Some of the water had a slight chop but at least 2/3rds was flat calm however the occasional fish was rising to take food just sub surface. 

I started with my wet fly combo, bibio on dropper Kate up top. The water looked murky and even with the polaroids I wasn't seeing much though the surface. When I made my first cast it took me a few seconds too realise that the flies were not sinking. There must have been a slight surface film keeping them up. Off with Kate and on with a beaded hares ear to add some weight which did break the film. A walk around the water casting away and changing with traditional wet flies brought nothing at all and after an hour nobody in our party had caught a fish. No tugs no nothing.
I had already stripped a layer of clothing and the water was like glass but still random fish were clearly taking nymphs at the surface. They were not cruising along but rising to take the nymph then down again.

So on went a pair of dries, an olive CDC buzzer up top and a small black spider on dropper to give them a choice. I decided to let them sit for a minute before retrieving and on the third cast as the flies sat in the clear water a pair of jaws rose and took the buzzer. First fish for the group, a nice rainbow of 3 and a half pounds. About 10 minutes later another splash at the buzzer but this time no tug, no tight line. Maybe I struck too soon or it just got suspicious but no take. The other guys were now interested, albeit pretending not to be, cursing at me for being first off the mark. They had had no offers at all so a couple of them followed my example and changed to dries.
Ally put on a CDC buzzer and caught the best fish of the day a brown trout of 8 and a half pounds. I am sure that was the one I just missed!! He was nominated for a Troutcatcher badge for that one I hope he succeeds but it did not count for heaviest fish as it was returned. Soon Rabbie was into a rainbow, again on a dry but that was it for the morning.
After lunch it was now really hot, after the summer we have had very surprising, but I was sticking to the dries particularly versions of the CDC buzzer. Soon after another gaping jaw to a static buzzer and a large brown trout around 4lb plus was netted, this time a black/red buzzer body. It had a huge head as can be seen from the pictures.

Five minutes later another splash to another static fly but no take. I was now getting looks from the rest as nobody else had scored or even had a tug in the afternoon. After one cast I realised that my leader had got tangled and both flies were together so I reeled in quickly to sort the mess out, creating a surface wake. As I was reeling in right at the end as I rose the line, a fish rose and took both flies, so much for only static takes. Down it went, line tightened and a leap out of the water with a few twists and turns, confirmed itself as a rainbow and when it landed the line went slack and it was free.
Olive CDC buzzers were the success fly so I had now doubled up still fishing statics. Very few fish were moving but when one did it gave you encouragement. Out of the darkness another silver rose and a 3rd fish was landed, another good rainbow. Just before we finished Colin caught a rainbow on another static but we let this one go.
All over and four of us had caught, Rabbie got the money for heaviest 1st fish and I got the money for the most fish. Disappointing day overall for the group as only 4 of us caught and 3 blanked. However including my misses I had a good day and would return again. The owners were very friendly and chatty. Clearly proud of their fishery and its reputation.
Now time for a few cold beers and prepare for tomorrows salmon trip on the river Annan.

Caaf Reservoir not really fishing as we know it

Today was my first outing as a volunteer with the Ayrshire rivers trust. The objective was to remove all the fish from Caaf reservoir and relocate them to Kilbirnie Loch. The water board are mothballing the reservoir and draining it so fish get moved or perish. There is a burn that runs from the top end and it is hoped that the channel will remain after completion of the works. The water board cannot drain the reservoir fully until they overcome the issue of the released water flooding the Garnock with the silt from the reservoir potentially damaging the wildlife in there. Yesterday the trust carried out a similar exercise at Pundeavon reservoir and successfully relocated just over 1000 fish. Although they were told that the water was stocked with rainbows only brown trout were captured.
Sadly today was to be a different scenario. I had a really enjoyable day out but the trust could not achieve their objective. 

The burn comes in from the top

The reservoir had already been well drained to a level that the trust could work at but yesterdays heavy rain increased the water level by 2 metres and it continued to rise during today, approximately another foot.
The second issue was the silt content in the water. It was the colour of dark brown tea and far from an ideal fishing condition.

Looking to the dam

You can see from the photos that the sides are steep and at the waters edge it is gloopy mud, sinking in up to your knees, getting back out again was fun.
We got both boats down to the waters edge and then bad luck started when the small dinghy drifted downwater to the bank edge at the far end. It should not have been a major issue but the mud was so dangerous we could not risk wading to the dinghy so the bigger boat had to be sent to retrieve it, going into shallow muddy water in the process.

The drained section with the burn showing

We managed to get the boon net across the water attaching it to the other bank. This not would block off an escape by the fish but on the return journey the engine was spluttering and cutting out.
At the dam end we optimistically got the boat net, fish cage and gear down the steep embankment which being mostly stone lined was easier.
The problem with the engine was a serious issue and after stripping it down it was felt that the muddy silty water was the culprit and had choked the engine. Without it we could not trawl the water with the net and sadly the project had to be abandoned today. It might happen in the future if the water drops and the manpower available.

The steep slopes stand out

The biggest disappointment was for the trust as this was a business day for them and as such a cost without return. 
For me I enjoyed my day out and met some great people.
An alternative fishing story but just like fishing you don't always get the day you hope for.

The disabled boat in the corner

Harelaw....another wild day here

Looking back to the fishing hut

Harelaw, I don't remember having fished here before in what could be termed a calm day and today was certainly not one of those. This fishery is set in the hills above Neilston and provides good bank and boat fishing. Unusually for this type of fishery it also attracts pike anglers, not common to see both mix. There are some really good fish here so always worth a cast.

The calm bay

A couple of the guys opted for a boat but others including me decided to bank fish. Although you can walk the full water the wind conditions today meant that the easterly bank, as you look from the hut, was the only reasonable one for safe casting. There were not many fishermen here for a Saturday, maybe the weather or maybe a sign of the times.
The walking is normally ok but the bank we were heading towards is probably the hardest going especially as it is now extremely boggy in parts as well as the awkward tussocky grass mounds. 

Another angler tries his luck

As I walked round I cast every now and then with my standard wet casts of bibio on point and Kate McLaren on the dropper. It seems years since I started with dries but these cold winds are keeping the fish down. With this wind it was strictly a 2 fly cast only. It took about half an hour to get to where I really wanted to fish but during this time I neither saw nor touched a fish.

Boat at top edge of the bay

To add to the adventure you have to walk over very boggy terrain sinking into the gloopy mud at times well over my boots. You then have to walk on a narrow pontoon type bridge walkway through a reed bed, the height of these reeds go over my head and also close in on you on each side, a very narrow and dark passage indeed. One of the pontoons was not fully joined to the others, which I did not spot, so next step one leg right down up to the knee in dark squelchy stuff, not nice.

Father & son try their luck

After that excitement the next adventure begins when you cross a small hillock on which the black headed gulls are nesting and they were not at all happy with our presence. The result was constant dive bombing attacks by them, which to try to avoid I walked with my rod held high in an effort to deter them. These birds don't just try to hit you their defence mechanism is to crap on you, very smelly stuff, not recommended.
Suitably traumatised and knackered I was glad to get to my chosen fishing spot. My pal started fishing in a small tree lined bay where insects were plentiful and the occasional fish was rising. There was one fish in particular that rose so frequently that he was determined to catch and after an hour he did so, perseverance paid off, just as well as it was his only one of the day.
Further along the bank where I was fishing you can wade quite well with a reasonable sandy footing and only a few rocks to avoid. I could see the odd fish rising but most, if they were here, were presumably fishing a foot or two down. Off with the bibio and on with a gold headed brassie nymph to get down to them and within a few minutes I had a good tug but no take. Optimism restored. A short time later I had a solid hit and there was a good rainbow which took the Kate on the dropper. It gave a good fight so had to be helped for a minute to recover before a quick tail flick sent it speeding out to deeper water.

Harelaw rainbow

I fished the same cast for about half an hour, one gentle tug but nothing else.
The boat guys were back into our bay saying it was just mental weather further out and horrible for fishing, glad I was walking. They stayed in our bay for the rest of the day so it must have been wild.

Pike guys out at the island

Next change was to try buzzers for another half an hour or so but after walking up and down the bank no joy, no tugs, no fish. Time for lunch.
After lunch I decided to go with dries just for some fun. A little black spider has worked well here before partnered with an f fly midge, also a good fly for these waters. Midges were about the only thing I had seen on the water. No joy with these so on went bigger flies with sedgehog up top and a small daddy on the dropper. No real reason other than a change. The sky was darkening to a deep black overhead so not too confident. Regret it yee doubter. A few casts later and good fish rose trying to drown the daddy and down it went, rod bent, fish on. It was a hard struggle and I knew from the fight something wasn't quite right. As it turned out the fish had foul-hooked on the sedge whilst trying to drown the daddy. It was a good fish about 2.5lb and despite having the leader wrapped around it I was able to safely return it.

It looks a lot calmer than it was

As it turned out that was the last bit of action for the day. All of the guys caught at least one but none more than two so that was ok but less than we have caught in previous visits. One did catch a 4lb jack pipe on the fly.
The weather was looking decidedly ominous and heavy rain was forecast so time to walk the gull gauntlet and the reed beds.
On a better day I look forward to a full walk around the place but I was satisfied with today's limited stretch despite the weather.