Burn Fishing

The first wee pool of the afternoon.
The first wee pool of the afternoon.

One of the great things about the Strathaven area is that there are many Burns that contain a good head of Trout and in my youth i enjoyed nothing more than finding and exploring these burns and catching there fiesty wee Brownies. Many of the Trout you will catch will be of the the 3 to the pound variety – however these little streams can throw up some remarkable surprises and have been lucky enough to catch Trout to 2.5lb in a burn not far from the town – so you never know and that’s what always makes Burn Trouting exciting.

It was a great hobby – all you need if you are not familiar with the area is an ordanance survey map a rod, some flies (or light worm tackle) and off you go.

Had a couple of hours to spare on Sunday afternoon & decided to re visit some of the spots from my early days of fishing & was keen to do it in a similar style. So tackled up with a 12 foot match rod (it would have been a fly rod then) a centre pin reel (would have been a spinning reel then) 4lb breaking strain braid & 4lb nylon on wee piece of shot a number 12 hook & a brandling worm.

It was a lovely afternoon to be clambering around a wee burn & i wondered if i might have been better with some flys as the trout were rising to flys – but the burn was the colour of Guiness and looked just right for the worm.

Spent a bit of time retreiving my line from branches & kept missing the bites at first – but finally got the hang of it on the second pool and caught a wee dark Trout about half a pound with bright red spots.

They might be wee but they fight really hard for there size & can be amazingly acrobatic – had a great time, muddy knees & was back to being a wee boy – its great to do this again & will be having another go soon.

Managed to catch 4 in 2 and a half hours – No Trout were harmed during this session & are now back happily swimming in the burn.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

The second wee pool.

The second wee pool.

First wee brownie of the afternoon.

First wee brownie of the afternoon.

A Waterfall on a bigger burn.

A Waterfall on a bigger burn.

Last wee fiesty brownie of the afternoon.

Last wee fiesty brownie of the afternoon.

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Fishing In Scotland

One Response to Burn Fishing

  1. Sam Meneely says:

    Nice posting,took me back to my own youth fishing the Brock Burn near Darnley, had a go at fishing it recently but it is so overgrown and neglected it was very difficult,happy memories though.