The first double of 2010
13lb 4ozs
see the report for 7th March
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Gordon Reekie shows off a fine Brown!
Michael Benigno and Ian McNicol
Ian Remler nets a fish
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FISHING GUIDE
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Car parking is on the right just after
you pass the Fishery office. The areas
marked in red show some of the favourite spots for bank
anglers, although you can find fish all round the
reservoir. The boats are moored in the bay in
front of the office and can fish anywhere inside the
white poles located at both ends of the reservoir.
Tactics:
- Early Year - Lures such as
Dancers, Cats Whiskers, Damsels, Blood worms, Okay
Dokay..
- Spring - Buzzers, Cormorants,
Hares Ear, Diawl Bach
- Summer - Drys, Buzzers, Nymphs,
- Autumn - Lures & Buzzers
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FISHING REPORTS -
Fishery opened on 1st March 2010 - call 0131-663-5055
for 2010 bookings .....
First the good news
we've managed to get all the boats in and the
ice has cleared up until the last 200yards at
the shallow end. The bad news is that the
fish seem to be lying under the ice near the
burn mouth. The few fish caught on
Saturday were caught in the few yards of clear
area at the burn mouth. Mr McIndoe had 2
fish for 16lb 2 ozs - the heaviest at 13lbs 4ozs
was our first doubler of the year, caught on a
small black lure on an intermediate line.
The ice is forecast
to clear over the next few days and we hope to
see fishing improve.
The road up to
the dam has been damaged even more by the cold
weather and fishers are advised to drive very
slowly over the potholes to avoid damaging their
vehicles.
The weather remains
uncertain and the Reservoir has some ice cover -
We hope to take a stocking of fish this weekend
and be open for business on 1st March.
Give us a call before visiting to make sure
conditions are OK
Tight lines for 2010
The fishing on
Saturday was particularly difficult with only a
few anglers managing to connect with fish.
Black lures on intermediate lines worked for
some anglers but the fish seemed less than
interested in buzzers, nymphs and dries.
The weather forecast for the next few days
predicts more rain and wind. The fishery
is open until the end of the month so fingers
crossed that the weather settles and sport
improves.
Anglers have been
having more luck with lures and intermediate
lines at the burn end. Although, Alec
managed to catch 3 fish on buzzers (including a
Tiger Trout) on Saturday morning in about 45
minutes. I'd tried various tactics during
the same period - other anglers had success with
black and green dancers, yellow dancers and cats
whiskers. Finding consistency is
difficult with the wide variation in weather
conditions - On Saturday the wind changed from
West to East and back again about 3 times!
Fishing continues
to be quite mixed with some good and bad spells
- A drop in temperature and bright conditions
meant that Saturday was difficult with a number
of anglers blanking and one or two having
success with small grey dry flies, small diawl
bachs or hares ear's. Lures were less
successful, despite lots of anglers trying a
range of patterns on floating , sinking and
intermediate lines.
The first couple of
hours on Saturday brought a light wind and good
conditions which brought lots of fish to the
surface. However, the winds picked up over
the day and the temperature fell, forcing the
fish down. Most anglers found success on
lures - Yellow Dancers on intermediate lines
produced consistent results for a number of
anglers. Others reported good results at the
burn end with Diawl Bachs and one or two anglers
took fish on Cormorants. The wind on
Sunday was much stronger and most anglers found
it more difficult to get fish interested.
Lures were again the most successful tactic but
some anglers managed fish on Diawl Bachs and
size 12 olive buzzers.
The pictures on the
right show some of the fish recently caught by
Alan Gray - 3 fish for 9lb 12ozs including a
fine tiger trout. The fishing has varied
again along with the weather but most anglers
have managed to find fish with dries, nymphs or
lures depending on conditions. Best option
is to check with Alec what's working best on a
specific day. Most of the fish have been
caught in the upper layers on floating lines.
The fishing this
weekend was challenging with the bright
conditions and a fall in water temperatures
combining to make the fish less than willing.
The Loanhead Miners club visited for their last
outing of the season and only managed 10 fish
from 9 anglers. I McNicoll Snr and Junior
had success with a white egg about 14ft under a
bung fished between the cabin and dam.
Others had some success with Daddies fished on
the far bank. Otherwise lures seemed to
produce the best results for a variety of
anglers. Fishing from the dam was
difficult in the strong winds but fish seem to
be favouring the deeper water.
The weekend anglers
had success with lures on floating lines - coral
dancers, yellow dancers, cats whiskers and hot
head damsels all featured in the catch reports.
Anglers fishing nymphs and buzzers had less
success but still managed to catch some fish.
The strong winds and rain continued over the
weekend and the weather forecast for the next
week looks better.
The fishing on
Saturday proved difficult with high winds
keeping the boats off the water. George
Dale and his friend managed 1 fish at the burn
end before trying the Dam end at the mercy of
the wind. Mick Mulgrew and myself went one
worse with no fish for 3 hours of effort at the
burn end and after an early lunch we tried the
Dam end and managed to locate fish on the
opposite bank. I managed 3 fish
on an orange lure, a yellow okay dokay then a
black lure. Mick Mulgrew hooked up with a
rainbow and then a Brown on a bibio and Neil
Barret who had spent the morning at the bay
opposite the cabin had 7 fish on a hot head
Damsel. Earlier in the week the fishing
had been better and Gordon Reekie from
Cowdenbeath (pictured left) managed to
hook the fine wild brown just outside
the cabin. Ian Remler and Michael Benigno
from the United States visited on Tuesday
afternoon and were both delighted at managing a
fish each after some coaching from Ian McNicol.
Heather flies and Daddies promise some good
sport if the weather improves.
The fishing
continues to be exceptional with many anglers
catching 10 or more trout per visit. Mick
Mulgrew had great success last Thursday evening
on the Dam with Black CDC emergers with a red
butt (these can be bought in the Fishery Cabin).
Fish were taking confidently on just about every
cast and Mick safely caught and returned one of
the rare Tiger Trout. The weather
continues to change from one day to the next
which makes it difficult to predict which
tactics will work on a particular visit.
Dries have brought consistently good results -
with Daddies and Hoppers standing out in the
catch reports. Floating lines and nymphs
or lures have also produced good results on
particular days. The fish seem to be
well distributed across the reservoir with
no particular area standing out. As always
it's best to ask Alec for an up to date report
when you visit.
The weather this
weekend has brought strong winds and plenty of
rain which made fishing difficult. Lures
tended to be the most successful tactics in the
adverse conditions with fish falling to hot head
damsels, yellow dancers and gold head daddies.
Earlier in the week the dry fly fishing had been
exceptional with shipmans buzzers proving to be
irresistible. Some fish have started
fry bashing at both corners of the dam and
reports and one very large fish has been noted
by a number of anglers. The weather for
the next week should see the winds dropping and
the rain easing after wednesday.
The warmer weather
has brought some good evening rises and anglers
have been getting good results on dries - size
16 cdc emergers have been very successful.
The fish are well dispersed across all areas and
bank and boat anglers have had no difficulty
finding fish. Floating lines are all
that's required because the fish are in the top
few feet of water - Lures, nymphs and snatchers
have also produced results with diawl bachs
(size12) working particularly well on a slow
retrieve. Lures need to be pulled faster
with some anglers resorting to a rolly polly
retrieve to get the fish chasing.
The Fishery was
quiet on Saturday as no clubs were visiting and
anglers in the boats did very well, fishing cats
whiskers on floating or intermediate lines.
Fishing from the bank was better at the burn end
and two anglers had an excellent day's sport,
caching 18 fish each on an olive woolly bugger
and hot head damsel on a midge tip line. Mick Mulgrew managed 4 fish on snatchers on his
Cortland Blue line and I had some limited
success with a Kate McLaren. Another
doubler fish was caught, photographed and safely
returned by a catch and release angler on Friday
+ several other have reported their lines
snapped after hooking into good fish. The
right weather conditions brings good surface
action with Daddy Long Legs and CDC emergers.
Bloodworms and red
lures have been noted consistently in the catch
returns this weekend. Small nymphs and
dries have also been noted with most anglers
using floating lines with a slow figure of 8
retrieve. One catch and release angler was
lucky enough to hook and land one of the 17lb
fish that was introduced a couple of weeks ago.
The fish was returned safely after removing 4
flies from its mouth - so it looks as if a
number of other anglers have made contact
briefly before being broken.
The fishing has
been consistently good despite the changeable
weather. Floating lines have been
most popular with a mix of dries, nymphs and
lures all having periods of success.
The heavy rain at the weekend stirred up the
burn end and bloodworms worked well in addition
to nymphs. The majority of anglers managed
to catch their limit - However, one or two
visitors were washed out by some of the heavy
showers at the weekend and finished early.
I visited yesterday and the weather provided
strong winds and periods of bright weather which
presented challenging conditions. I managed to
catch a fish on my second cast in front of the
cabin and had some success at the burn end with
gold diawl bachs size 12 & 14 on very slow
retrieves and managed to also tempt some fish
with a red holo cruncher pattern. I'd
suggest visitors ask Alec what's working best on
any particular day. A number of 15lb +
fish have been introduced over the last few
weeks and are yet to figure on catch reports
although some double figure trout have been
reported by catch and release anglers.
Trout Fisherman
magazine visited on Wednesday afternoon and Alec
tells me they enjoyed a good afternoon and
evening fishing with some of the regulars' - Ian
McNicoll, Tom Gray & Colin Broadhead spent time
with them on the dam and everyone managed to get
into fish on dries - Small Shipman's buzzers
tied by Ian were popular with the fish but a
selection of nymphs were also successful.
Tom Gray is the designer behind the famous
yellow dancer and he provided a range of flies
to keep things active - The full range of Tom's
flies are available in the cabin.
This Saturday brought a light easterly wind and
bright sunshine which sent the fish deeper than
usual. The burn end fished better in
the morning with anglers catching fish on small
goldhead yellow dancers. After trying the burn
end with dries, nymphs and buzzers without
success .- I decided to try the dam end and
managed to land one rainbow and a brown trout on
a cormorant before taking a break for lunch.
After lunch I persevered with dry flies for a
while but couldn't seem to match whatever the
fish were taking so changed tactics to an 18
foot leader with a hot head damsel and
immediately had success on a very slow retrieve.
Two fish later and the next fish then managed to
escape with my full cast of 7lb fluorocarbon
attached.
The warm weather
made fishing a pleasant experience but anglers
had to work a little harder during hot spells in
order to find the fish. There were still plenty
of excellent trout being landed by those who
chose the correct tactics. The fish seem
to favour the dam end during the hot spells but
have been caught all over the reservoir.
Sometimes lures on intermediate lines are
successful but small nymphs and dry flies are
bringing the greatest success - Speak to Alec to
find out what's working best when you visit.
Most of the
activity has now returned to the surface with
dry flies and muddlers doing well for visitors.
This weekend some of the regulars caught 20+
fish and most visitors caught their bag limits.
Some anglers also did well with small nymphs -
bibios and diawl bachs size 14 on floating
lines. Buzzers also produced results but
these were limited to short time frames when the
fish were less interested in the dry flies.
The forecast for this week is warmer weather so
this should see the surface action continue...
The fishing has
continued to be good despite the variations in
temperature. The colder weather last
weekend turned the fish off dry flies and lures
were most successful. One boat angler
caught 30+ fish on a large gold head damsel and
most anglers caught their limit. The
differing weather through the week saw the fish
more focussed on dries and small nymphs.
Small sedges and sugar cube flies worked well
but sometimes needed a bit of movement to catch
the attention of the fish. The
weekly stocking over the last few weeks has
included some monster trout that were too big to
go down the pipe.
The weather this
weekend was glorious with blue skies and
unbroken sunshine. Fishing the previous
week had been very good with most anglers
catching their limit on dries. Small
sedges, Klink hammers,sugar cubes were all
popular until Friday evening when fish were
rising everywhere but anglers all struggled to
match what the fish were after. I visited
on Saturday and started off on small dries and
despite the number of fish rising in the sunny
weather, had only 1 fish in front of the cabin
on a size 14 black kinkhammer. I then
moved up to the Dam and caught 3 fish after
changing to a sedge. Regular - Ian
McNicoll was also catching fish on a size 14
sugar cube. I then changed to a small
white cats whisker and caught 5 fish in quick
succession on a floating line with a slow figure
of eight retrieve. The fishing on
Saturday evening was reported to be excellent -
Tom Grey and Alec catching almost a fish a cast
from the Dam wall on dry flies.
Boats also reported good catches from all parts
of the reservoir.
Fishing has
continued to be excellent with most fish caught
in the top few feet of water.
Fish have been caught at both ends and the boats
are starting to match the bank anglers for bags.
It continues to be that no single tactic seems to be
bringing greater success - floating,
intermediate and even sinking lines have
been used by anglers with lures, nymphs and
buzzers all productive. CDC flies have
been very successful at the burn end during
better spells of weather and dries including
small Daddies, Alec's Big n Ugly, Sugar Cube
Shipmans and Klinkhammers have all worked well. Top flies -
Hot Head Damsel, Orange buzzer, Kate
McLaren, Diawl Bach (Red Holo).
The weather has
been dominated by fresh cold winds over the
last couple of weeks which has resulted in
the fishery being quiet through the weeks.
Most anglers have managed to catch their
full quota of fish despite the adverse
weather and bank anglers have generally
faired better than boat anglers.
The fish are now well dispersed across the
reservoir - both ends and the area in front
of the lodge have been fishing particularly
well. No single tactic seems to be
bringing greater success - floating,
intermediate and even sinking lines have
been used by anglers with lures, nymphs and
buzzers all productive. CDC flies have
been very successful at the burn end during
better spells of weather. Top flies -
Hot Head Damsel, Orange buzzer, Kate
McLaren, Diawl Bach (Red Holo).
Fishing has been
good and buzzers have produced good results
on most days. During the warmer spells
fish have been taken on dries - Alec's Big
and Ugly fly has done particularly well.
The fish are near the surface and floating
lines have been most successful.
Saturday proved
to be difficult for the boat anglers but
most of the bank anglers caught fish. The
most popular flies were nymphs or small
lures - Damsels, Dwial Bachs and black
and green lures all featured in the returns.
The weather was bright but still cold in the
sunshine which kept the fish near the bottom
and slow retrieves were the order of the
day.
The weather
continued to be unkind at the weekend and a
strong cold wind brought rain. Many of
the anglers who visited threw in the towel
at about 2pm but most had managed to get
some good sport throughout the morning.
The fish continue to take all sorts of flies
and the main criteria for success is
locating the fish - The area close to the
burn continues to be most productive and
Yellow Dancers through to small buzzers and
nymphs all featured in the returns.
Fingers crossed that the weather improves -
the long range forecast is for a lighter
wind on Saturday coming...
The reservoir
offered some shelter from the strong North
wind on Saturday which also brought low
temperatures. The forecast had
obviously kept most anglers away and the
small handful of customers who visited had
good sport. Unlike the previous Saturday
when fish had been very difficult to find -
Most anglers had good results on floating
lines with lures or nymphs. The area
in front of the lodge and the burn end were
most productive.
The weather on Saturday brought extremely
strong winds which stopped any boats going
out on the reservoir. A few hardy bank
anglers fished the burn end and were
rewarded with good bags of fish. As
with the opening weekend - lures,
bloodworms, bibio's all seemed to work and
the fish were tightly congregated at the
burn mouth.
The season kicked off on Saturday with a
handful of bank fishers and just one boat to
try their luck... Most of the fish
were congregated round the burn mouth and
the anglers that got there first had a
bumper time. The two anglers there first
ended up with more than 60 fish each before
moving off to allow others an opportunity to
access the prime spot. Mick
Mulgrew had 20+ fish to a variety of flies
ranging from lures to buzzers on a floating
and intermediate line. The fish seemed
happy to take any fly presented in the right
place at the right depth and fish were taken
all round the reservoir - A bumper day for
all that were lucky enough to visit.
All anglers commented on the quality and
fighting ability of the fish - A large stock
of overwintered fish have been freshened up
with a fresh stocking of A1 quality
rainbows , blues and tiger trout....
Call NOW on 01968676329 to reserve your place.......
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