Misty day today

A bit of a drab day, little or no wind, from the SE and almost total cloud cover. However it was quite mild. No fish today on the Booby, which i have come to expect at this time of year. Over the last couple of years i have found it to be very difficult to catch fish from Barcraigs from December through to the end of February.

What the fuck!

Booby score's during T break. Strictly speaking, its just not Cricket, how can i catch a trout when im sitting on the dam wall having a cup of tea and admiring the scenery.

Here is how you do it. Cast a booby out as far as you can in the deepest water you can find, let it sink, sit down, have a cup of tea and relax. If you get lucky the line will tighten and next thing there is a nice Rainbow in the net. Its the first time its happened to me and i dont care what anyone says, it was fun.

This has nothing to do with Rowbank

11.5lbs,the fish were a bigger average size this year

Last week of the season, dont usually kill fish as i believe that they should all go back after mid October. However high ideals go out the window when a fish, this fish, gets one of it eyes badly damaged, by the second treble on the Rappala. These lures are great atracters and outstanding hookers but they can damage fish, that should go back. Its only through experiences like this that i realise why some waters insist on one treble per lure, the loose treble can maim the fish, neccesitating its despatch towards the frying pan when it would have been better if it was allowed to expend its energy on the reds.

Its Booby time

Plenty of Rainbows to be caught at the moment with the Booby. Get it right on the bottom and inch it along nice and slow. Had two come off on Sat the 24th and managed to bank another. The first one looked about 3lb ish but it came unstuck at the side. The weather was a bit rough it being increasingly windy throughout the day and quite heavy rain at times. Another couple of guys on the water bagged up with the Booby as well. The Pitchings are good places to persevere with.

A brace on the Orange Booby

Sat the 17th October, beautiful day with bright sunshine and light winds all day mainly from the S/SW. Fished the fast sinking line and the Booby hard on the bottom with a leader of around 2.5 feet. Two fish one of around 1.75lb and another of 1.25lb, a fun day and there are still soome Rainbows around for the catching, the Cormorants and the poachers hav'nt got them all yet.

This hot weather is just what we need

Wednesday evening 24th June, warm, strong easterly breeze, nice wave on the water. A few fish were moving sporadically off the Muirend dam wall, some very close in. I tackled up with a team of nymphs on the floating line, 5 weight, and worked my way along the wall. On the way back up near where the Spit used to be i hooked what i think must be one of the "Blue" trout, a rainbow of around 1.75lbs, with a very pronounced blue/grey colour to it, quite a good looking fish.

I was talking to another member and he told me that he had landed a fish of 4lb 10oz on the previous Sat, followed by one even larger, which he returned , due to being maxed out with fish at that point, perfectly understandable. The quality of these fish is beyond criticism, why waste money on trout fisheries when club waters can provide better sport at much less cost.

Barcraigs Sat Eve 20th June

Went up for an evening session, started at the Muirend dam wall, there are always fish here. Very little sign of fish on the surface as usual but i worked along the wall with a team of nymphs and fished them as slow as possible. Got nothing by the time i got into the west corner so decided to fish a short line back up. I was only casting out maybe three rod lengths of line but ive seen many fish move only a few feet out from the bank before. Sure enough i got lucky and hooked the 3.5lb fish in the picture. This fish did fight well, taking several long deep runs, it was quite a struggle to get it into the net. It took a size 12 PT, on a floating line. Im fishing a floating line more often this year , for several years ive been mainly fishing the intermediate.

The fishing in a decent club water such as Rowbank really is good value. Its as good as any fishery costing much more. If only the freeloading poaching crowd could just put their hands in their pockets and give us all a break things could be even better.

Barcraigs Sat June 13th

On the water for 3.30 am, nothing quite like getting into the car probably still pissed from the night before. The midges up there this year are exceptionally bad, repellent required frequently. Anyway nowt rising and very little wind first thing so a bit of a dissapointment. I should have just stayed in bed as i didnt get a fish till 7 am plus another an hour later.

Two fish for3.5lb, i guess i cant complain. There were a few fish moving really close in right amongst the bushes in the water and i managed to get a couple of them, i think they were taking an emerging sedge, i got them on a small lure and a sedge pupa type thing. The smaller fish is the pinkest Rainbow i think ive had.

Barcraigs 6th June

Cold wind from the East tonight. Not much moving on the surface, although plenty of Perch taking the fly. Tried a team of nymphs for a while to no effect then changed over to a couple of wets size 10 as the light was fading. Got a nice fish of 3lb at 11 o, clock from the Muirend Dam wall, on a Soldier Palmer, a dependable producer.

Barcraigs Fri 5th June

Water still very high, apparently its going to be kept that way so all the bushes in the water should eventually drown, making for a pretty snaggy bank experience. Very little surface activity tonight appart from loads of Perch as usual, which should be renamed pest fish as they are a never ending pest. Its a pity they dont grow a bit bigger on average although i believe there are some big ones in there, Ive had them to around 1.5lbs. Anyway back to the point, no discernable rise at all with just the odd trout moving. As usual when trying to get a rainbow it always pays to move around. I started off at the Muirend Dam but nothing doing there at all, so i moved up to the point on the bay where the burn enters, always a good spot and managed to get one at 10 o'clockish of arouond 1.75lb on a Ke Hee, stripped fast on a floater.


I always find that as the light is going and into darkness a couple of traditional wets on the big side will usually produce a fish or two. Weather was cold with some showers, heavy at times with the breeze from N,NE. No poachers on the water tonight, amazing.

First Rainbows from Barcraigs

Wednesday 3rd June, nice evening a bit of cloud cover, quite warm with the breeze mainly from the east. I fished the Muirend dam wall on the west end. As i got there i noticed someone sitting on the dam wall, a male with a female, he covered up what he was doing quite well but it was obviouse that he had been set lining, there were a set of bits of branch set into the dam stones , round which the set line would have been anchored. Anyway as i approached the guy he got off the water which was good but he had a fish in a bag already. There were three other poachers, at least down at the south end, the usual place.
Back to the fishing. No general rise at all with no flies visible on the water although i did catch sight of an unidentified ephemeroptera of some kind. There was the odd fish moving but it was sparse. I started with a team of small nymphs on a floatiing line and after around ten mins i got a fish of 2lb+ on a PT size 14, later as it was getting dark i got another of 2.75lb on a Montana. There just isnt any sustained rise in the evenings so far, i dont get it. The fish that do move seem preoccupied with somthing as they were ignoring my offers, yet there did not appear to be much on the surface, perhaps they were doing well a couple of feet down. I think the intermediate would have been a better bet.

Rowbank/Barcraigs 31st May

A few Rainbows moving at the Muirend area after a hot day but only sporadically. Couldnt see anything on the water until i spotted a crane fly type thing, maybe a hopper type fly would have done the trick, shame i didnt have any. Covered one fish with an Elk Hair Caddis that produced a few fish for me recently but a fish just gave it the once over and turned away. Some of these Rainbows can be picky.
Anyway had to give up on them seeing as they wouldnt have anything that i could offer, so over to Rowbank to see if i could get a Brownie. On the way, quite a few guys fishing from the pitchings and from the area near the stone building. There sure are a lot of guys fishing Rowbank these days that look just like poachers walking on with a fly rod, but hey, im not challenging anyone for a permit even if they are catching fish paid for out of my pocket. Whats the point, i go fishing to relax, not to get involved with arseholes. One got a brownie from Barcraigs as i got there and i took one myself later on. Has Barcraigs been stocked with Brownies?, or are they just passing thro from Rowbank seeing as the water is staying so high.
You know the thing that i really dont understand is that not one fish did i see rise on Rowbank, years ago there were huge evening hatches of buzzers and sedges but not anymore, the water used to boil with fish. If the fish are not rising it can only be because there are not the surface fly there. Why is this?

Its a result !

Wild wind from the west, blustery at times, made casting difficult. Bright conditions for most of the afternoon, with the odd shower. Got three stockies, the Cormorants havn't got them all....yet. My frying pan has been lying idle for the last week, so im looking forward to some fried brownies this week. The fish came to Bibio and Black Zulu, i got another couple of hits and i think they were trout, so maybe things are looking up at Rowbank . The fish were all on the 1lb mark and in good condition considering that they were stocked in early February, they seem to have adapted to their environement, well. There does not seem to be that many fish being caught, all the same, if the returns in the club hut book are anything to go by, hopefully things can only improve, as can the temperature.

Todays Victim

Cool day with a strong wind mainly from the west and the odd light spell of rain. Pretty cloudy all day with the odd bright spell. The water is still high and its making for difficult fishing. Only managed the one Brownie of around 1.25lbs to a small shellback bug of my own tying on a 14 nymph hook. It put up a good scrap, its a pity i couldnt have had another 3 or 4. Its an identical fish to the one i got on Saturday, are the stock fish all the same size? Anyway felt like a bit of a murderer taking the fish but whats the point of leaving it for the poachers and the Cormorants. Speaking of poachers there were two on Rowbank with a fire going, they just dont care. I suppose i could have went round and told them to stop taking the fish that ive paid for but i would likely just have got my head kicked in, or stabbed, or maybe a Buckfast bottle smashed across my face. The object of the day was to get out in the fresh air and enjoy life, not end up in A&E or a body bag.

2000 Trout Missing in Rowbank

Gave it four hours yesterday, 15th March, not even a touch. Tried again today, managed one 3/4 lb stockie for five hours effort. With 2000 fish put in 6 weeks ago it should be a bonanza at the moment, whats going on? Maybe the cormorants have eaten them all who knows. Anyway the new intermediate line i was using is casting well and the new reel is performing fine so far, at least i have my first Brown trout of the season under my belt, lets hope the fishing picks up and some more fish begin to show up. It wasnt a bad day today, although it was wet all day with low mist and a strong south west breeze. I caught the fish on a Bibio to an intermediate line.

Time for a Cormorant Cull

While having another blank at Barcraigs today i did a quick Cormorant count. On Barcraigs i counted 14 on a small island, all standing about, no doubt too heavy to fly seeing as their guts were full of trout that i have paid for. On Rowbank there were another 6 or 7, fishing away stuffing their bellys full of the stockies put in a couple of weeks ago. A Cormorant eats at least 1lb of fish per day and they dont go hungry, all that flying and swimming requires a lot of energy so its just as well that they are extremely efficient fish predators. Now let me see, thats 20 Cormorants @ 20lbs of fish per day, 7 days a week. Lets suppose that only 50% of that fish is Trout and the rest Perch, that means that at the least, possibly 70lbs of trout is dissappearing down the throats of these filthy black vermin, every week. Lets just suppose that the stock trout went into Rowbank six weeks before the opening of the season. This means that there is the potential for these birds to have eaten somewhere from 400 to 800 trout out of the pre season stocking, before the members have had a chance to cast a fly at them. Its time that these birds were not just culled, they should be exterminated with extreme prejudice. The numbers of these birds just seems to keep increasing and no wonder, they are thriving on a high protein diet of stock trout paid for by angling clubs up and down this land. We need a national programe of total extermination carried out against these birds. Why they are protected by the law defies understanding. If you go down to the coast you will see plenty of them, they are literally as common as muck and thats where they should be, on the coast not living the easy life on our trout lochs at our expense. Kill them all thats what i say and ill certainly slaughter any that i can get my hands on.

Another blank Sat 7th February

Fished the deepest water i could find all day without result yet again, its not easy trying to get a Rainbow off this water in the winter.

Fished for a couple of hours at the Muirend dam wall seeing as there was a strong north wind blowing for most of the day. I then finished off fishing from the wall near to Jacobs Ladder, with the same result, not a hint of a fish. Maybe the cormorants have eaten them all, i counted six on the water at one time recently. I used Boobys all day in a variety of colours. It was a nice day to be out all the same, although cold it was a nice day and it stayed dry.

The sun sets over Barcraigs

Spectacular lack of success

Saturday 31st January. Tried an afternoon with the booby, mainly an orange one but no offers at all. Tried all the deep water accessible from the bank but a complete blank. There was another guy on the water, he also blanked. He was saying, " they are out there somwhere, deep but where?". What i need is to get out there with a fish finder, its so hard to extract Rainbows from this water in the winter, especially with the water being high. Weather was cold with a strong SE wind and varying cloud cover however it was an enjoyable day, a fish would have improved it.

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A Wild Day

Hey, weather terrible, south westerly gale force wind, hail, snow, rain and it was cold too. Conditions called for neoprene gloves, all sorts of layers and a mentality bordering on the insane. Fished an 8 wt outfit with fast sinking line and a small Booby on a short leader. Tried all the deep water that is accesible from the bank but had a resounding blank, well thats fishing, the conditions were bad and the problem as always at Barcraigs is that its such a big sheet of water, where are the fish?. Somewhere deep i should think so i tried mainly around the southwestern end especially the dam wall, where i think the water must be at its deepest.

This is before the weather got really bad.

No Trout today

I havnt bothered with a blog about fishing at Rowbank/Barcraigs for a couple of years but i have decided that this year i will, seeing as i intend to do a lot of trout fishing both here and elsewhere.

Weather was wild today. South westerly gale blowing plus horrizontal rain. Got out there and threw some lures about on Barcraigs all day. The trout are difficult to get in here at this time of year, the problem is fish location. They are bound to be down deep and thats the trouble, its such a big sheet of water, the deepest may be quite away out so i could be fishing in water thats too shallow. Anyway the main thing today was that it was mild, temp aroound 10c, which i thought could help get a few fish on the move but i blanked all the same. Fished a fast sinking line all day and tried a yellow booby for the last hour and a half but no luck.