Y'all be a Fisherman?

[Muse2k8]

So anyone a keen angler here? Where do you fish? What's your fave fish to catch? Personal best? Any stories?

As a typical scot (no licence required yay!) I'm big on trout fishing on the fly and good old pike fishing using lures and deadbait (livebait being illegal here now).

Was once on a backpacking tour of the Scottish lochs and we stumbled across a beauty of a water. So we decided to camp down for the night and spend a day or so fishing. The next morning out go the deadbaits and have a paddle to cool down. Unfortunately as the hours passed what seemed to promise perfect pike conditions we had nothing

Coming up to sleep time we did the usual of "just 5 more minutes" and boy was it worth it... My reel clicked very slowly a few times then BANG!!! What a run!!! This fish was huge!!! I picked up my rod and went to set the hook... Twang! 30lb braid line snapped like butter ARGH!!!

So yeah nothing from that loch

 

[doug boardley]

I'm a keen fisherman Muse, mainly just for salmon these days on a small river that runs past the house where I grew up (River Mint).

 

[Stef]

Muse, I'm an avid fisher, Fly only these days & mostly salmon. I fished Hoddom on the Annan yesterday for a couple of hours, running a bit dirty, then ended up on the Nith just below Sanquar.

I've got my Nith & Cumnock ticket & Im also on a private syndicate on the river Ayr (Stair)

I'm the treasurer for our small fishing club. 11 members & fish for rainbows round the country, the 1st Saturday of the month from March through to November.

As everyone I wish I could spend more time on the water but work comes 1st.

My biggest rainbow was 14lb 4oz & I caught that through your way, Markle fishery.

 

[doug boardley]

lovely stretch through Hoddom Robson, quite often looked at it when we've been camping at Hoddom Castle, I've fished Royal Four Towns stretch on Annan(I think that's what it's called) at Hightae a few times, but without success.

 

[Muse2k8]

Not salmon fished for years. Used to fish on the River Tweed or the Whiteadder might have to get back into it.

 

[doug boardley]

I hope coming season is better than last, only had 3 salmon, 16lb, 9lb and 8lb

 

[Fliselege]

Not salmon fished for years. Used to fish on the River Tweed or the Whiteadder might have to get back into it.

I've been on the Tweed, got a mate in Melrose, look down from his house and there's the Tweed, couldn't catch a cold but was a very nice spot. Now I just bob for bottom feeders from a boat out on the fjords, luckily I like mackerel... Been fresh water fishing once here, caught a 3" trout and that was my lot for a whole weekend.

 

[Muse2k8]

The tweed is a beautiful river. Especially up Kelso, Melrose way

Ouch doug... Hope you have a better season this year!

 

[doug boardley]

the season before was a belter, I actually lost count of how many I landed. I went out one morning at 7am, and was back home at 9am with this

 

[dave l and l]

nice fish, how may folk you feeding with them. i only caught two salmon last year hope this season proves a bit more productive

 

[Muse2k8]

Not bad for 2 hours!!! Really do hope there's a better year but it does beg the question what the future holds if year after year there's less fish and smaller. Even the tweed is dire now

 

[doug boardley]

the following day was 2 in an hour, water levels and hitting the run just right is the key to the river I fish, it's not much wider than my living room in most places:lol:. But I've found that we can have a couple of bad seasons followed by 3 or 4 good ones.

 

[doug boardley]

this was the first one of the 3 I caught last year, quite early in the season, thought it was gonna be a good season...

 

[doug boardley]

believe it or not, my lads can' wait till I start taking them with me:lol:

 

[kilty55]

im a keen angler muse,im a member of the scottish carp group and a bailiff for them as well,have you ever tried the carp fishing ? have a look at the site mate might be of interest

just about to join a new carp club as well down in melrose called bowden....scotts angling club they have stocked a 10 acre water with some nice carp etc i beleive it has pike as well

 

[Muse2k8]

It's the thrill of your first catch that gets you hooked bet you can't wait to get them out with you. That first salmon is a nice one. Can't find any of my pics... Will try dig out some.

Ach I want to get out salmon fishing again!!! The whiteadder is really narrow before it hits the tweed. If you fish up by cantes brig you can get some beautiful salmon (well you could 6 years ago!)

 

[Muse2k8]

im a keen angler muse,im a member of the scottish carp group and a bailiff for them as well,have you ever tried the carp fishing ? have a look at the site mate might be of interest

just about to join a new carp club as well down in melrose called bowden....scotts angling club they have stocked a 10 acre water with some nice carp etc i beleive it has pike as well

Ah sweet I've done the odd spot of carping. Most commonly at a fishery just out of Galashiels. The guy has 2 ponds next to each other, one a trout and the other a carp and roach pond.

Another nice fishery is one owned by the owners of dobbies. Had a few free sessions on it too (the wife's family are friends etc etc etc bleh)

Will check out the Scottish carp site though, quite interested in doing more carp fishing though. Tactic I tried last time, was on a small pond with medium carp in. They were feeding from the surface among the lillies. Tied on a hook with no weight, shot or float, stuck on a lump of bread and just floated it among the lillies. Worked beautifully.

But not done much carp fishing, can't seem to find any good swims.

 

[kilty55]

nice one muse,the group has a water in east lothian just outside gifford and the next closest one is lanark loch which is there main water also got 4 other waters of which culcreuch house hotels estate water is the most scenic...worth a look mate

 

[Muse2k8]

Just gonna grab the laptop for a look Wouldnt need much gear. Use carp rods and reels with baitrunners tooled up with a few spools from 8 - 15lb mono and 30-50lb braid. Could always start of with a ledgered hair rig and try out those pva bag beasts (yay pva is good for something!).

 

[kilty55]

once yur hooked mate youl need a wheelbarrow like the rest of us to cart all the gear about lol

check out carp wheelbarrows on google:drool5:

 

[Muse2k8]

Just had a look. How many lochs are there between Glasgow and Edinburgh? Might get my mate to apply for membership too. He's a very keen carp angler and goes just about every weekend. Definitely interested in joining.

 

[Muse2k8]

Haha I live next to go outdoors. I've ogled the barrows bivvies and the shiny things many a time and thought about getting into it properly

 

[Muse2k8]

You ever fished at Magiscroft. Been there a few times and caught some lovely carp.

 

[kilty55]

hiya muse,the carp group have 6 waters just now...one near gifford,lanark loch,fintry and a smaller water adjoined,loch libo and also kinghorn loch they are not stocked in the same way as places like magiscroft as magiscroft is a day ticket commercial venue but they do have bigger fish

ive never fished magiscroft but i go down to durham and also cumbria now and again to a few venues down there for commercial fishing mate and its great fun,i usually fish danskine as its my closest water but its hard going in there.

there are also other waters in the area that arent part of the group that have carp in them,infact theres another tiler member on here thats also in the group...small world eh considering the group only has 200 members in scotland

 

[Muse2k8]

Cool. Definitely think I'll join then, will have to save some pennies from the next paycheque to get some tackle and joining fee.