www.fishingaround-scotland.com

Well the seson has come to a close for the brown trout and its salmon fishing or fishing for rainbows at the waters that remain open. Looking back over the season the best day out was definatley the visit to an old but not forggoten loch that was having troubles a few years ago. Loch Leven has recovered from that time and i have to say it is once again a true brown trout water.

The fish quality and size are so good that even if you hit a small brown it feels like a monster, and there are monsters starting to appear. I will be back to the loch several times next season as it is such a good water now that fishing for brown trout is firmly back in such a good place the loch gets my vote for fishery of the season whats your fishery of the season. you can open a topic in the forum to start a good old chat.

The Forgotten River

The River north Esk Penicuik

May 2011 A Sunday afternoon after some heavy rain showers it was time to have a look at the river as I had looked at it in winter in its winter wonderland glory. It is now summer and I was hoping to see signs of some sort of recovery. Well I was not disappointed, First sign of something good was the Mallard Ducks feeding on the river. Second good sign was the Dippers were still in there usual places from where I used to see them. Camera in hand I took some photos of the birds feeding and the dipper roosting on his normal perch. However there was something missing signs of Fish.

Although the water was slightly discoloured I could still see the bottom, from up on the bridge. Normally in years gone by you would have seen trout in abundance sadly I can say, I never saw one. Further down the river at what we used to call the Joiners pool another well known spot for trout signs on the trees that there had been some fishing action recently as there was plenty of nylon hanging from the tree branches.

Looking into the water I could not even see any minnows or stickle backs, which used to be in abundance at this corner pool, and a lack of green weed on the rocks and boulders was a sure sign that things are still not quite there yet. Fifty yards down river signs were improving the rocks were covered in green weed. This will be a starting point on my next trip with the rod to see if I can establish what the fish state actually is. To be fair the areas that I looked at are about the only accessible areas where the younger generation would consider fishing. So it could just be that these areas are over fished but I somehow doubt that.

Well its been a while but the angling show has taken up most of the time spent on the computer, the show a first for the area as far as i know . it should be a great day out as its the close season for most and those that keep fishing well the waters have been frozen for sometime so a good day out at the show is highly recommended. Just today i watched one of Hywells shows on tv and i can say after watching i am looking forward to meeting the man in person.

The show is free to anyone who fancy's popping in for a look and if its the success we think its going to be it could become a regular annual event.

A recent walk in the pentland hills and a look at the reservoir its the first time for years that i can remember thatthe whole place was frozen over and lying snow on the ice. one good thing was that there were no black sharks (cormorants) to be seen no doubt they were hiding somewhere.

For many a year my freinds and i fished this river as boy's learning how to fish. The river used to provide the mills in the town of Penicuik with water for making paper,now all the mills have gone and sadly so have many of the fish.

yes there are still some fish in the river but the river has suffered over the years with pollution and more recently in the last 4-5 years the mills came back to bite as, the residue of the paper making which was dumped in what was thought to be a safe place slipped down the banking into the esk filling it with what i believe was lime. This killed of most of the life in the river but it is now recovering.

some trout are being caught mostly fish escaped from the fish farm, Its time that this river was re stocked it was stocked when i was a boy by eskvally angling association who do not appear to be running any more.

i would like to see this river given back its life and would welcome any interest from anyone who would like to see the same so that this river can be fished by man and boy for years to come.

The time has come if you have not already done so to get that fishing bag and tackle sorted out the seasons on for what we hope will be a good year for trout fishing. have you been tying flies frantically during the winter months or have you been like me and not had the time to tye any, well there are several new places where you can get your fly box topped up. Whether it be e-bay or another online web seller there are plenty of them out there.

Having had a wander around some of the fisheries during the closed season there are plenty signs of fly life out there even though its been cold recently. whats the tactics this year or are you one of thoses secret people that dont tell or put your flies on after you get out in the boat,or is it the old silver paper trick over the flies. The silver paper trick is of course for the competition anglers who dont want the oppsition to know what they are going to be using.

 The Brownies are still a little bit thin at this time of the year after spawning so if you get an early brownie why not put it back for later in the year, yes thats right put it back i am tired of seeing anglers out early season taking skinny fish if its not a competition put it back i know most of the good anglers do put them back but there are still a few out ther who dont (you all know who you are). Another little rant from me.

Whats hot and whats not well at this time of year the more prolific anglers will be sticking with the black patterens or the bright yellow lures, this season i think its going to be the season for the older more natural patterens to re surface. i hope to use more natural flies this season and get away from the lures (not that i use them often) if you feel that you can share your outings expieriances with us join the site and post in the forum how you got on where you fished and help out the less expierianced angler as it seems there are fewer younger people comming into the sport.

Tight Lines TC

Posted in the forum is a topic about the black sharks better known as cormorants these black gready gutsy birds seem to be on the increase. Glencourse seems to have more than six pairs as i counted yesterday. Is there anything that can be done to chase these birds of the fisheries that they plague. why not give us your views and post an entry in the forum.

As we look forward to the new season which starts in just a couple of weeks as i write this, i thought it was time to remind some anglers of the things thst realy irritate me and others whilst fishing. Set the scene out on the loch in a boat and all of a sudden the line pulls tight and you are into a fish. as you play the fish others watch on as you try to tame the trout and get it to the net.

Meanwhile around you other boats start to lift there drogue and set about moving in your general direction, some will pull in behind you and start to follow your drift, this as it stands is permisable. however there are alway's one or two twats that decide they will set up infront of you cutting infront and this inturn can cut your drift short. This is when you turn around to go back to the start of the drift only to find you cant as there are a line of boats right where you just came from.

There are a few anglers who, and this really gets my shirt up as you are fishing away quite happily will motor across your drift all because they saw some fish move or, is it that they are just so desperate that they want to fish all the water. Well that could be the case but to me its just bad manners. Then there are the anchor anglers they plonk them selfves right in the centre of what would be a good drift if it were not for the fact that they are plonked right in the middle of it. They seldom move unless they see that someone else is catching on another drift. then they just haull anchor and plonk themselves slap bang in the middle of that drift. There can be acres of water but they always seen to be right in the middle of what should be a good drift. This practise does ofcourse spoil fishing for others. The problem is some fisheries provide anchors and some dont, most angling clubs do not permit anchoring at competitions and this can sometimes be the problem. The fisheries will obviously want all boats out so when you fish with a club and others are anchoring and you cant (not that you should need to) in fact all it does is lets you fish one area of water and hope that the fish come to you.

 Do any of the anglers reading this comment believe that they agree or disagree whith my comments feel free to add your tuppence worth and comment on any of the blogs topics.

so as we look forward to the new season think before you cut up another boat or stick your boat infront of someone then you may have a good day out

Tight Lines TC

having read many winter fishery reports i have started to wonder if the stock fish we see during the winter have a gene or two missing. Fishing reports tell us that many fish are seen on the surface and are being caught on floating lines midge tips etc. what ever happened to the fish going down deep for the winter. is it just the recent stockies that are showing or is it a new thing.

As many of us dont actually fish the winter months are we missing out on something or is it the fish that are now bread for our waters that are changing. whats your view why not get the debate going in the forum .

New Year new season its only a couple of months off now untill the start of the 2009 trout season. many of us will nodoubt be starting to feel the itch for fishing again. its my intention to try something new this year some sea fishing from the shore just to get back into the fishing mood.

With a new season im sure there will be new ideas and new tackle options available to anglers, however this year i think its back to the old trditionals. When was the last time you used for example a buthcher or a teal blue and silver. Mini lures have been in for some years now but every year a new patteren comes along and its a Big secret to start with then the word gets around, and everyone seems to have it. What happened to the high d lines they are seldom used its midge tip this and slime lines that are in. But does the old high d line still work well the answer is yes it does we took a few fish at the end of last season on the high d i think this is another piece of tackle that will rear its head again.so for now tight lines.

New Year new season its only a couple of months off now untill the start of the 2009 trout season. many of us will nodoubt be starting to feel the itch for fishing again. its my intention to try something new this year some sea fishing from the shore just to get back into the fishing mood