05/03/2014 - Magiscroft

Common Carp, excellent surprise

Magiscroft near Cumbernauld is one of the most prominent commercial coarse fisheries in Scotland and it's been long overdue a visit from my good self. With the year so far being generally a bit too cold, windy and sometimes wet too, I've not been bothering the fishes too much. H had filled his boots with Roach and Gudgeon here already just a couple of weeks before, so I took the opportunity to join him and see what it was all about.

Permits are £7 which isn't too bad and there are a few ponds to choose from. First impressions were OK, although I was a bit underwhelmed at the lack of imagination in the larger ponds, essentially big rectangular troughs and with the quite small size of the smaller ponds. Maybe my expectations were a little too high?

My first F1, no barbules compared to the Common Carp

H took us to one of the smaller ponds at the back of the venue where once again I was unimpressed finding the odd empty can, tackle packaging or discarded equipment. It wasn't as if there were no bins around. It annoys me no end when people drop litter, it is also annoying when you are then charged to pay to fish amongst it. Most of it would easily be cleaned up by a round-up each night by someone with a litter picker.  Maybe not very important in the grand scheme of things, but it's these small things that can make a big difference.

Both H and myself began with maggots dangled under a float. He was soon in amongst the Gudgeon with the odd Roach, but I was having no joy at the adjacent peg. I swapped sides and began to explore a bit more and soon began connecting with Roach, Guj and some small Perch. The numbers were racking up, but H's head start meant any concerted attempt at racking up numbers was simply me keeping the deficit the same at best as H was embroiled amidst a Gudgeon frenzy.

Excellent surprise number 3

I continued my exploration around this small pond reaching the opposite side from H without anything much different appearing. Almost at the point of returning to where I could make hay with Perch and Gudgeon for the rest of the day and see what total I could rack up, I felt a much more serious fish connect with my bait as it dropped through the water. I was delighted to find a Common Carp nicely hooked in the top lip and was able to bring it into the net (hurriedly delivered by H). After a couple of photos it was sent back. Almost immediately I was into another one. My career Carp tally to this point stood at two, and here was my second inside five minutes. It turned out to be a F1 (barbule-less compared to the Common). I then lost another, landed another and lost another making it all very exciting. Once the carp seemed to quieten down a bit I was then taken by surprise once more. Leaning into another decent fish, I fully expected my fourth carp of the day only to find a PB Perch (13.5 inches) in outstanding condition taking me on. After a few photos it was returned by a very satisfied angler.

13.5 inches, a new PB

With 'my' side of the pond quietening down appreciably, I began to try my luck in the next pond along. H was shouting out his Guj as he caught them - 46...47...48 - as I entered my Roach 40's. In the new pond I quickly began landing more small Roach and got to 49 before a small impasse in bites allowed him to take his 50th Gudgeon of the session beating me to the half century.

With the gates to the fishery closing at 5pm sharp, we called it a day and headed back to the car. H totted up his fish making a total of 90. My  totals were 17 Perch, 17 Gudgeon, 3 Carp and 54 Roach making a grand total of...91.

Smile for the camera

A good days fishing, a bit of a numbers game, but it's difficult to complain when catching so many fish including new species and a PB. The fishery might scrub up a bit more nicely on a less gloomy day and the constant renovations and subsequent hammering at the pavilion should be absent the next time.

15/09/2012 - St Abb's Harbour

Delicious

Time - 1030-1600
Weather - Lovely from above, windy from the side
Water - Pretty clear
Method - Isome on a jighead
Tide - Low 0930
Total - 5
Species - Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Coalfish (3), Pollock

The first picture (top right) was taken 20 yards or so from where we parked the car before we ascended to the harbour. As you can see it looks absolutely delightful, the sort of day and location where it almost (almost) doesn't matter whether you catch a fish or not. However we didn't have to worry about blanks for too long.

I reckon it was the last good day of the actual summer although I don't think it was just as nice back up in and around Edinburgh as evidenced by the gloomy skies on our return.

Off the mark with a Long Spined Sea Scorpion

An alternative report can be found here.

Still being firmly in the novice camp when it comes to sea fishing, I've been keenly and rapidly picking up tips and tactical advice from J & H. The journey down was full of interesting snippets regarding things like how much a high/low tide matters, thoughts on gear strength and why LRF is so much more sensible than lugging massive rods and hefty gear about etc.

Beyond the harbour wall

We made our way out along the first harbour wall. The tide was just coming in from low and the clear water made the bottom completely visible. Second cast J connected with a Flounder. If I recall correctly it was 31cm, just 4cm's short of his PB. We were all bumping either Isome or Gulp worm imitations along the bottom on jigheads, however the height of the platform above the sea surface was allowing the persistent breeze to bulge the line and create a bit too much drag resulting in the worm scooting along a bit too quickly. We were also sharing the dockside with loads of people preparing to go out on one of the frequent diving boats and things were getting a bit crowded, so we made off to explore other areas.

Shore view from rocks at end of harbour

Around to the inner harbour wall we were all trying to find the usual goby/sea scorpions or maybe more flatties without much success. Eventually I began enticing some small, thinnish fish which were well beyond my powers of identification. When J & S caught up with me, they were provisionally id'd as Butterfish, but try as we might, we couldn't get one on a hook.

Harbour view

This part of inner harbour mouth was proving quite fruitful though. Aside from the odd crab, I was also getting involved with some other bottom dwellers and got off the mark with a Long Spined Sea Scorpion.

We all got distracted with a landed fish, might have been the Blenny S got, so we'd not paid attention to the water for half a minute or so. J was first back and began chirping excitedly as a whopping great flounder slowly made its way past right in front of us. 10 seconds later it was having to dodge 3 hooks, which it did quite succesfully.

The link above gives J's account of its eventual capture, no need to repeat it here.

Shoal of Coalies (best viewed enlarged)

After leaving the Flounder to J, myself & S made our way round the rest of the harbour but couldn't locate any more fish. After helping J net/return his PB Flounder we made our way out onto the rocks for a while. The tide coming in was well underway now meaning the currents round the rocks were probably a bit too choppy for much success. I tried some more experimentation with plasticene as a weight before opting for some easier fishing again.

Coalfish

Pollock

I made my way back to the harbour mouth where large shoals of Coalies were moving around. Making unbelievably hard work of it, I reckon I couldn't hook one of them for the best part of half an hour before finally getting one, then another the very next cast. After three of these nice wee fish I worked back round to where J was targeting his current obsession, the Corkwing Wrasse. The tide was more or less fully in now and the bottom was no longer visible. After a lot of hard work for no return, I'd pretty much given up. I was still using the Isome (red) on a slightly larger jighead. My tactics now were as simple as casting out, putting my rod down, sitting next to it.

I catch a ridiculous amount of my fish when I'm not paying attention i.e. I've maybe cast out, decided to move a few yards downstream and a fish takes as I watch where I'm putting my feet. Well my rod started twitching and when I lifted, I felt a decent weight on the end. J suspected I was into a flattie, but when it came to the surface we saw it was a nice Pollock. It's bottom lip took it to 16". A new PB. Excellent.

Pollock again

So five fish in total for my good self. All species I'd previously caught though which was 1% annoying, easily outweighed with a PB. A very decent day for J who was made up early doors with that Flounder even if he couldn't get a Corkwing while S invoked his handy recent habit of getting a fish very late on when he enticed a final Long Spined Sea Scorpion.

13/09/2012 - Straiton Pond

Time - 1600-1900
Water - Visibility no more than 2 foot, a bit choppy
Weather - Windy, quite grey, threat of rain that never really came
Method - See report
Total - 4
Species - Roach

Through word of mouth I'd heard Straiton Pond contained 'decent Pike' and was 'stuffed full of Perch'. With my first ever couple of bags of Isome needing tested and a tub of maggots I set off hoping to get amongst the Perch.

The first point of contact with the water at the eastern end was a small 'bay' sheltered nicely from the wind. I could see what looked like small Roach flitting about and applied the two maggot attack about 20 inches under the surface with a stick float (still water). Small Roach fishing elsewhere has necessitated scaling right down about as fine as its sensible to go. 2-3lb b/s with a barbless 18 or 20 hook. Usually I use pre-tied packs that are all about as trustworthy as each other, or me.

A couple of missed bites was soon interrupted as a dog walker a few metres away had begun hurling a ball into the pond so his dog could fetch it. The fish went quiet and with no let-up in the enthusiasm of the man to bedraggle his poor mutt yet further, I decided to seek another mark. The rest of the southern shore was exposed to the persistent cross gale so I made my up and around to the northern side. En route there were a couple of shallow mud flat type puddles which held very decent amounts of small fish no bigger than an inch. Healthy signs.

View from landslip mark

About halfway along the north bank is a useful looking spot created by a landslip and I made my way down through the widest variety of thorny shrubbery yet. Within 10 foot or so from the bank, there was shelter from the wind, any further out and the line drag really drifted the bait. However the edge shelved down quickly and there was plenty of cover close enough in that I was more than happy to keep it near. The first bite (missed), took a while, but gave encouragement. The maggots didnt work, then some Isome was attached, with similar intermittent taps before I went a bit deeper. Things improved, but still nothing landed when I had a nice idea. Although the Isome looks the part, due to it's 'not aliveness', it doesn't move. So I popped a red maggot on for the wriggle factor. This seemed to do the trick and a Roach of about 5.5 inch was brought ashore. As I'd been expecting a Perch, and suspected the phantom bites were Perch, just shows you never know.

Isome strikes

Much the same continued, any time it went a bit quiet, a small shower of maggots, or a tweaking of the hook combo (2 maggots/Isome/Isome + maggot) seemed to speed things up. Nearing lift time I made my way back to my original spot. It now appeared dogless. I cast out and plonked my rod down so I could unload my bag and when I looked up the float had already gone. By the time I'd got the rod again it was off. Seems to be almost the surest way to catch a fish is to stop paying attention. As I extracted my first Roach from this spot, my phone beeped and that was my lift saying it was time to go. Ach well. In the end I had four Roach no bigger than 6 inches and although things had been slow, I'd honed my tactics enough, and saved enough maggots, to think another visit the next day would produce much better results.

My fledgling Coarse career has mostly been honed at Eliburn. What I've found there is that if you aren't getting bites, you have to find the fish. Try higher or lower in the water. Adjust your bait. Maybe scale down to finer tackle and get some bait/maggots into where you are fishing. If all that fails, move.

06/09/2012 - Torness

Anyone for some camouflage?

Time - 1230 - 1600
Water - Clear, Low tide rising
Weather - Late teens, nice, but very blustery
Method - Isome
Total - 6
Species - Long-Spined Sea Scorpion, Blenny

With a woeful sea fishing resume I met up with Shogsky & Hutch to sharpen up my sea fishing knowledge and hopefully get ticking off some new species. Their full time shift had began well before I arrived at Dunbar Harbour where a few Pollock had been taken. Being a pretty windy day there were a few unfishable spots so the experts decided to head down to Torness. Jake has his sights set on a specimen Corkwing Wrasse whilst Hutch would introduce me to as many Blennies, Gobys and Sea Scorpions as possible in the rock pools as low tide was around 12.30.

Long Spined Sea Scorpion

In essence, Hutch set-up my tackle, took me to the fish and showed me how to catch them. Can't ask for much more than that. With such expert tutelage I could hardly fail. Quite soon I'd dropped the Isome into a small pool deep under the breakwater rocks. A Long Spined Sea Scorpion (LSSS) immediately took offence at the intruder near its lair, shot out from under its rock and I had a new species under my belt. While these wee rascals look like fully armoured prehistoric throwbacks, they're actually perfectly handleable, although it's going to take me a wee bit of getting used to.

As I increasingly got the hang of things I managed to extract another 5 LSSS, all of much the same size. One was weighed at 24.1g and I'd guess measured between 4-5 inches (I'd left my trusty measuring tape in the car).

Plenty pretty colours underneath

Whilst introducing myself to the LSSS, a few Blennies had also been showing an interest. However I wasn't able to hook any of the blighters despite having as many as 3 at a time showing an interest. When Hutch appeared, dropped his own slightly different set-up (I had a jig head, he had a small hook under a single weight) onto my mini shoal, he lifted out two Blennies in two casts and I demanded we swap rods. A short time later I also extracted a Blenny and had another new species to tick-off.

Blenny

The tide was working its way in now filling up the rock pools and gullies, so we made our way across to where Jake was hunting for his Corkwing Wrasse, so far without success. Myself and Hutch decided to see if there were any Mackerel about and began throwing some lures long. Hutch soon connected with and lost a probable Mackerel before Jake hooked and lost what he suspected was a very nice Wrasse.

Hutch needed to be back in town for 5 so we ended the session at 4 and returned to Edinburgh. After dropping him off and with high tide due at 7, I fancied giving somewhere else a go and headed to the Granton Breakwater. Although still very windy, it was blowing pretty much West to East and so aided casting from the breakwater. However it was getting gloomier with the odd speck of drizzle about.

Caveman painting

With a big silvery blue toby I fished from reasonably close to shore all the way out past the elbow. But without success. There were 3 or 4 other anglers about, but they didn't seem to be successful either. It is a bit late in the season for Granton Mackerel, but you've got to be in it to win it.

I noticed this rather smart piece of art on my return to shore. Just a pity a Mackerel must have been wasted to do it unless the artist has a predilection for the taste of spray paint..

03/04/2012 - River Garry (Ness)

Rivermouth

Time - 0915-2000
Weather - Everything
Water - Good, clear enough, peat tinge
Where - Various
Method - Mepp & Flying C
Total - 1

During a short break in Fort Augustus I was delighted to be able to secure a rod on the Garry at Invergarry and put myself in serious danger of catching a brute. The full weekly let is 6 rods over a 6 day week costing £1869 at this time of year. If the river hasn't been let weekly, individual day tickets are available at £40. To my delight I discovered I was the only rod on the day and had the entire river to myself.

On the Bothy wall

Inscription below (above) outlined fish

The Garry has been severely altered from it's former self since the implementation of hydroelectricity and the creation of the dam at Loch Garry. Apparently a 'Garry fish' averaged above 20lb and had their own unique deep profile. It is also predominantly a springer river with the main run of fish from the beginning of the season through to April/May. The dam now lets out a compensatory amount of water every Thursday.

View from the Bothy door

In the week prior to my visit we'd been treated to record high temperatures across the country. En route low water levels were noticeable, for instance the River Coe in Glencoe wasn't far short of being just pebbles with hardly any flow. Also as we passed Loch Lochy the level was noticeably down and this was the case in most places. However, with the lack of water generally being a bad thing for Salmon fishing, and Scottish fish largely being later in the season runners, the Garry is a bit of an exception. First of all the standard salmon river may accept its fish straight from the sea. To reach the Garry fish must enter from the sea in Inverness, run up the River Ness, into Loch Ness and along it's 20-odd mile length before heading up the River Oich into Loch Oich and finally to the estuary where the Garry enters Loch Oich before heading up the Garry itself. So despite conditions not really being conducive to good fishing in the run up to my visit, I could be reasonably optimistic that the river would be in decent shape due to early running fish and the compensatory outflows keeping fish interested.

Looking upstream from the Bothy

I picked up the keys to the gate & bothy the evening beforehand and the river keeper informed me the last fish out was an 18lber on Saturday evening at the estuary which would probably be my best chance of a fish. This stretch is essentially a straight, deepish, fastish flowing straight run that joins Loch Oich where fish are known to congregate before running the river. The river changes character as you go upstream from longer slower pools into more of a rocky woodland tumble as you travel the 3 1/2 miles or so to the dam at Loch Garry.

Journeying up on Monday the weather was fine if not a bit chilly, but the forecast issued a snow warning from midday Monday until Tuesday 0600 but as the day progressed this morphed into a forecast for snow all day Tuesday. Just before bed time on Monday it began to snow.

On Tuesday morning I awoke to a decent covering of snow and wasn't sure how things would be at the river. A refund would be available if I couldn't fish. But the snow had stopped and the sun broke through and there was a bit of a melt on as we travelled down.

I began fishing at the estuary about 9.15 with a weighted red Flying C (permit allows 8am-8pm). The bank here is well kept and fishable along its entire length ending with three small jetty's right at the estuary. Despite giving it a right good thrash I didn't provoke any interest. There were a few bumps, but I'm pretty sure they were all just rocks on the bottom, I'd been told the fish would be low down. The water was flowing at a decent level and was pretty clear, but there was enough of a peaty tinge to make the waters look dark and deep.

By the time I fished to the lower jetty an impending snow storm was visible sweeping down Loch Oich and a hasty retreat was beaten into the bothy. This being my first experience of a bothy whilst fishing I can only report I was impressed. Just 15 feet or so from the river itself with two windows overlooking the water, it is ideally located. It has a heater, running water, a kettle and enough basic cooking facilities and utensils to make and eat a sufficient meal. Whilst the snow drove sideways outside, my cup of coffee helped put some heat back into me.

Kelt

I had another go once it cleared before deciding to move upstream a couple of hundred yards or so to the hydro outflow which looked very promising. After covering the pool I tried right in the corner at the outflow, a slacker piece of water and connected with a very thin but nicely coloured kelt. Unfortunately I'd left my net at home, however I estimate the fish was no more than 3lb and didn't put up too much of a fight. I couldn't unhook it in the water but was able to lift it out quite easily. As you can see on the photo it also had a bit of damage to the top section of it's tail. It measured 22 inches and I quickly put it back to hopefully recover and repeat it's life cycle to come back bigger and stronger in a couple of years time.

It was now after 1pm and not wanting to bore the wife any further, we headed back up into town to pick up some lunch. My intention was to head upstream (sans wife) in the afternoon and return to the Rivermouth for an hour or two in the evening depending on what happened upstream (the Saturday evening 18lber was at the front of my thoughts). Most of the ground level snow had cleared by now although there was still plenty on the hills. When we got back to the digs the snow had completely cleared leaving just a snowman next to the drive that someone had made that morning. The day was characterised by the weather flipping between lovely clear sunny spells, now and again accompanied by a stiff chilly wind and then a stern snow shower, before returning to beautiful sunshine again. Twice there were also hail showers in amongst the 10 or so snow events.

The Big Crooked Pool

The afternoon session began at the upper limit of the river in The Falls Pool directly under the dam. Man-made additions aside, this is one of those really deep swirly rocky pools that always look so enticing. However warning signs loomed large warning that the dam can expunge large amounts of water at any time. Although I was happy to have a quick dip, it was difficult to really enjoy proceedings with the prospect of instant death always present. There is also the problem of what would happen if a fish at or above the top level of my experience/abilities decided to give me a fight. So I began to fish down through the Otter Pool and Little Crooked Pool which had their fair share of depth and possibilities, but were also on the straight of the river offering the prospect of safe egress should the water level rise unexpectedly.

Snowy reel

Not knowing the river it was always difficult to effectively locate and/or fish the most probable spots. I continued down until the first big bend known as the Big Crooked Pool which looked sensational. Despite this I couldn't tempt anything to show and when the snow began yet again (see the adjacent pic of the snow on my reel on the way back to the car) I made for the car to take some shelter and move downstream to the next stretch.

After the Rivermouth I'd been advised the next most likely spot to hold fish would be the Dog Pool and it was to here I headed next. The top of the beat was much more my kind of fishing with a bit of clambering up and down banks involved and a wilder stretch of river a little off the beaten track.

Looking downstream into the Dog Pool

The Dog Pool was an outstanding looking pool benefitting from a shallowish wide run into the head of the pool with a large back eddy on the outside of the bend (the right bank where I was fishing) before turning the corner and flowing down into the Shot Pool and beyond.

The Dog Pool

Looking upstream from The Dog Pool

On my second or third cast as my Flying C neared the end of it's retrieve it was assaulted by what I expect was a brown trout around a foot in length. Whilst not what I was after, I'm never going to turn down a fish in a place like this and although it didn't hook, it provided an encouraging boost and I continued to fish the pool with some expectation. There were also half a dozen or so rises, all I suspect from trout no bigger than the one I'd had a brush with, but once again I couldn't locate or entice any Salmon. I switched to a size 3 mepp as I fished back up the pool hoping to move down and cover the possibility of a trout as well, but had no joy before switching back to the Flying C.

The photo I took looking upstream shows a view of a mountain range in the distance. The whole time I fished it was bright sunshine but I could also see a snowstorm raging over the top of the furthest away mountain top. Eventually, downstream and round the corner I could see another snowstorm working its way up the river and I had to make for the car once again before the worst took hold. By now it was time to head back down for the last hour or two at the bothy.

Left view into Loch Oich during evening session

The evening mellowed once again into strong sunlight with blue skies. The snow lying on the far bank of Loch Oich almost visibly melted as the sun moved along the face of the shore and the moon was clearly visible in the clear blue sky. It might not have done too much to raise the temperature but it provided a stunning backdrop to my final fishless session. A final cup of coffee in front of the heater in the Bothy ended what was a splendid day of angling. I will endeavour to get back at the earliest opportunity.

Middle view into Loch Oich during evening session

Right view into Loch Oich during evening session

28/03/2012 - South Esk

Pool of promise

Time - 1600 - 1800
Weather - Sensational, pushing 20 degress
Water - Clear, low
Where - Gore Glen
Method - Mepp no 2
Total - 0

Looking down the biggest pool

A new stretch was explored in the Gore Glen just to the west of Gorebridge. Accessibility was a bit of work and the river is generally quite ovegrown or littered with fallen trees and suchlike. However there are a few nice pools of indeterminate depth and a few nice runs. I didn't see any rises and there were no signs of fish about, however I reckon that later in the season and/or after a bit of rain this could be a sensational little stretch.

Looking up the biggest pool

I began not too far downstream from the road bridge where I parked and had a follow off a nice fish in the 2nd pool I tried, then took a big hit off an even nicer fish, at least in the 12-14 inch range. However, that was that.

The last pool I fished was also the biggest. There are the remnants of some sort of industrial past with a bottleneck weir entering the top of the pool. As you can see from the two photos there has been a lot of major erosion and bank collapse on both banks with some of it including large trees. The main flow of the river is not affected.

Sandstone cross-section

Lastly I discovered this nicely split section of sandstone. The sandy coloured bit is common enough. Although the grey section looks like it might be some sort of mill working residue, it was as hard and of the exact same texture as the rest of the sandstone, so it appeared to be of uniform age. Strangely there was a 'coating' which you can see most clearly on the left edge of the right section of stone in the photo around the entire edge of what had all the appearances of being metal, probably iron. Whether this was a natural formation or if it had at some point been through some form of industrial alteration was far too difficult for this amateur to confirm.

23/03/2012 - Moorfoot Burn & South Esk

Moorfoot Burn - Above the road bridge

Time - 1645 - 1845
Where - MB - above & below road bridge. RR - foot of dam. SE - Carrington Bridge - Corner Pool
Weather - Nicest day of year so far, only 13 degrees on car thermometer, but really pleasant
Water - Summer levels
Method - Mepp no 2
Total - 1

First stop was the Moorfoot Burn. The foot of the big pool is straddled by a large fallen tree that was unshiftable. Although it cuts off the foot of the pool, it will provide really outstanding cover for any biggies that want to live here. I fished from the foot of the pool and had covered most of it without success. I half miscast to the head of the pool and induced an ambush by an exceptionally lovely and not so wee brownie.

10.5 inch

When I released it at the foot of the pool, it slowly made off downstream, so hopefully it finds its way back at some point. I fished upstream from here but with no further success, fishing further upstream than normal. There are some nice wee spots, but really on the borderline of being able to fish them with a rod. I did see one further half decent fish scoot downstream as I made my way up, but since the water hasn't been up for a while, there is already quite a lot of weed building up.

Vivid red markings

Next I made my way to Rosebery again. In the short journey betwixt locations I spotted a Curlew, which I've not seen any or any of recently, a Buzzard and (I'm 95% sure) a Kestrel. There were also a fair few Pheasants about looking nice but dumb and making the odd racket.

Red fin

I was able to get parked and set off to the foot of the dam. The 'left' overflow is a series of large steps and the pool at the bottom had hardly any depth and I couldn't see any fish which I'd contend was a fair assessment of the fish population there. There was almost no water entering here.

On the opposite right outflow, things looked much better. There is a long man-made channel with enough water in it to support some fish (see pic below). However I fished the length of it and didn't see squat. At the head of the run, just below the outflow itself I noticed 5 or 6 dead fish in the water. Once I got in amongst them, they turned out to be Perch of about 5 inches long. I assume they have simply been sooked into the outflow system and died in the process. It does show that they can physically escape from Rosebery but whether they can come through alive is another matter.

Rosebery Dam wall & Outflow

At the end of the right outflow it joins the left overflow and there is a slow pool which flows under a footbridge before becoming a wild burn again and heading down towards Temple. Under and just below this small bridge I noticed a good half dozen or so rises, all seemingly quite small. I couldn't see them and had a wee trawl but couldn't tempt anything. When I crossed the bridge I seen a seven (or so) incher dart down and away. Like Gladhouse the day before, I reckon this might be worth another try in higher water.

I rambled downstream a bit, but the 'path' was well above the river which was pretty overgrown in most places and there didn't appear to be any large enough pools to justify putting in the effort to scramble down (and then back up again). So with some time left in the bank I headed back to my car.

Next stop was the Temple stretch of the South Esk again. However I was unable to connect or even rouse anything other than spooking a deer and a couple of Pheasant.

22/03/2012 - South Esk

Looking down to the foot of the overflow

Time - 1400 - 1500
Where - Gladhouse overflow
Weather - Lovely
Water - Summer level and clear
Method - Mepp no 2
Total - 0

Plan A: My initial plan was to head downstream from the part of Roslin Glen I'd fished the previous weekend. However there was a class of schoolkids out with their teacher walking alongside the road outside the car park and once I got into the car park there were more hanging around. So I decided there would probably be too much disturbance and formulated a Plan B.

Plan B: Investigate the outflows at Roseberry and/or Gladhouse. The outflow from Gladhouse Reservoir flows down through some largely inaccessible terrain and into Roseberry Reservoir. It then flows down to Temple and through the area I've fished a lot meeting up with the Edgelaw outflow just downstream of the Carrington Bridge. So I knew that those rivers weren't much more than burns at Temple, so weren't going to be much more further upstream, especially once the water extraction is carried out. But you never know, there might be a pool or two at the foot of the dam walls and there is always the possibility of an escapee or two. I've heard there are loads of Perch in Gladhouse as well as the trout and there are Pike in Roseberry on top of what they claim are weekly stockings of trout. So plenty potential for a surprise or two.

There is probably only one parking spot around the Roseberry dam and it was already taken, so I wasn't able to stop. However the river at the foot of the dam wall looked quite promising. As it turned out, I only had to wait another day to try it.

I drove on to Gladhouse and got parked near the dam. There is quite a steep and overgrown ramble to get down the back of the dam including a bridge across the steep overflow which is missing half its floor.

At the foot of the overflow is a nice looking pool. However once I got down to it, it is mostly flat and shallow bottomed. There are one or two shelf's and hidey holes though and in higher water it might be worth another short visit. I managed to induce a follow of a fish around 4-5 inches. A rambled downstream for a little bit, but its quite a small burn at this point and there was only one more deepish pool which was difficult to fish as it was quite overgrown.

08/03/2012 - Humbie Quarry

Rods looking towards west bank

Time - 1530 - 1700
Water - Cold, dark
Method - Sweetcorn, maggots, lure
Where - South bank
Weather - Windy elsewhere, but nicely sheltered on the bankside
Total - 0

Looking to try somewhere new, we settled on Humbie Quarry between Kirkliston and Winchburgh. Various online snippets were encouraging. Species apparently include pike, tench, roach, perch and maybe one or two others. As is usually the case, a realistic attitude on approach due to time of year and ignorance of the venue treated this as much as a learning experience rather than having any real prospect of catching a fish.

View of north bank from south

We arrived on the west side. This is elevated considerably above the water level and there appeared to only be a couple of spots to access the bank. The water appeared to be pretty deep too. We worked round to the south bank and found a couple of much more likely spots and set up at the biggest one. As is too often the case, the bank was littered with all sorts of rubbish, but who cares eh, its only the countryside.

I chucked out a pile of sweetcorn not too far in front in water that appeared to be about 6-9 ft in depth. An online tip stated that a frequenter of Humbie Quarry 'always set up first with sweetcorn for Tench'. Can't do much more than follow the best advice available, however there was absolutely zero interest on that rod.

North westerly view from south

I also chucked out some maggots, starting quite high in the water, progressively going deeper, but again, absolutely nothing. Finally I tried my big pike lure but still with no joy.



Definitely worth another try and a good place to go on a windy day as its super sheltered and appears to have serious potential.