Getting the willies whilst fishing!

by Alistair

So I decided to do a spot of loch fishing as The Kelvin and its tributaries are completely out of action. I took a walk (a hike?) up into the Old Kilpatrick hills where there is a loch not owned by any club but has some small trout in it.
loch
There was a small burn coming out of the loch that looked quite tasty actually but I decided to head up to the loch as that was my primary purpose. I was using my 10 foot rod with an intermediate 7 weight line
I had a few casts from the dam wall and got some interest from a couple of fish, I would swear one of them was a rather large Perch, both fish swirled at my fly but did not take it. The loch is quite small and knowing that there was a small inlet with a burn around the other side of the loch I headed over.
down
At this time of year I would expect there to be fish there as they will be thinking about spawning. I had to jump over the burn which was in spate and was rewarded with two small trout that fought hard!
burn

Lovely looking trout, nice color but I thought they looked a bit thin?
two
I also gave myself the willies as when I was walking through some bushes suddenly the bushes in front of started to shake….I heard a low “Grrrrrrrr” and I hurriedly moved away….I then spent the next hour constantly looking over my shoulder for some kind of monster that would tear my head off and quite possibly eat me!!

I think it was a sheep!

64 thoughts on “Getting the willies whilst fishing!”

  2. Hi Mick,

    No the Humphrey is run by the Bearsden Angling club and is a bugger to get to. This is the Greenside!

    Alistair

  3. The burn is the Duntocher Burn. It runs into the Clyde at Dalmuir. There are trout all the way down, but its not particularly nice to fish. Very urban as it enters the town. There are many other lochs you can fish in the OK hills that arent part of any angling club.

  4. I thought they were mostly taken up by clubs ? In fact I was speaking to a guy today who told me that Greenside used to have a club on it as well……what other lochs dont have clubs ?

  5. there are a good few lochs in the OK hills that are not owned by clubs. Some of them hold cracking size trout. Get yourself an ordanance survey map of the area and try the black loch and kilmannen reservior.

  6. Yup, check out a map. You can go up the path near Milton services. Fish 3 wee lochs up there, head over past the Humphrey, head north (ish) there and theres another wee loch. Over to the greenie too. The Jaw and the Cochno are probably the two best lochs up there. permit required, but probably worth it. If any1 has a contact no for a permit there id be interested to find out how to go about it.

    Any salmon off the Kelvin yet?

    cheers

  7. Ah, now the Kilmannan is still under the wing of the Queen Elizabeth along with its main loch the Burncrooks. The Jaw and the Cochno are fairly easy to get permits for, I think it is around 30 quid for the year…..it is the Hardgate Angling club (i think) that supplies permits.
    I will have a gander around for a number…..OR you could contact http://www.bearsdenanglingclub.net/ who have the rights for the Humphrey….just found that site today.

    Salmon are in the Kelvin I believe, not a big fan of Salmon fishing though although I keep threatening to do some 🙂

    I have heard good things about the black loch!

  10. FOR FREE ???

    😉

    ps. Left a link for Bearsden Angling Club further up !

    Alistair

  11. hi there, i have fished the greeny quite a lot and find the whole of the back bay of the greeny to be the best, ie opposite the damn but broonies can be caught anywhere on the loch.good flies are the usual traditionals and i find butcher to be the best.

  12. Fished the back of the Greenside for a few hours on Sunday there, and took a beautiful wee Perch out on a fly.

    Tried the dam later on, with not much in the way of bites, but there was evidence of some brownies taking nearby.

    If you get the weather its well worth it just for the walk and the views, even if you dont catch a biggie!

    Pity about the litter though.

  13. Had a couple of hours on the greenie in late june caught a couple of of wee brownies on my home made flies.Walked straight up from the erskine bridge past the site of the Burnbrae or the TESS as it was commonly known.Anyone remember that? rumour was it was drained due to a couple of wee gifts left by the luftwaffe in march 41 but cant be sure.This wee loch used to fish quite well with the schoolboy worm and maggot but alas is no more.Anyhoo i digress, the walk up the hill nearly killed me and to think as a boy i could do it in 15 minutes.The second trout was beautifully marked and i took a couple of photos.Perhaps you can advise how to attach them.STEWART FERGUSON,ERSKINE.

  14. P.S Be careful if you fish the western side,its bloody steep and i nearly ended up in the drink a few times.

  15. Thanks for that Stewart,

    I keep meaning to take a wee trip up there at some point this season – probably will go up at the end of the season.

    Saying that – did you have to walk past the humphrey on your way up ?

  16. Alistair,the Humphrey and the Greenside are fairly close together as you know. I went straight up the old Ks from the erskine bridge,the gate at the gas sub station gives access.If your fit youll be at the Greenside in 40 minutes or so.I ve just applied to join the Bearsden club to get access to the humphrey but as you no doubt know theres a plethora of lochs up them that hills worthy of attention.
    Is it possible to add a photo or two to these posts?
    Any wild renfrewshire locations in your site?

  17. Hey Stewart,

    You should be able to put an image between these tags :

    put image description here

    If that fails send me th epictures via email , I would live to see them !

    Alistair

  18. Hey Stewart,

    You should be able to put an image between these tags :

    //put image description here//

    If that fails send me th epictures via email , I would live to see them !

    Alistair

  19. Hey Stewart,

    You should be able to put an image between these tags :

    //put image description here//

    If that fails send me th epictures via email , I would live to see them !

    Alistair

    edit: it has not worked – I will send you my email addy

  20. I used to Fish Kilmannan a lot. I was a member of QEAC and they do not have the rights for Kilmannan.They havent had them for quite some years now although they maytell you they have just to keep you away LOL. The local land tenant walks his dogs up there at 5am in the morning and I would regularly meet him and we would talk. My biggest from Kilmannan was 5lbs and regularly landed fish up to 1 1/2. Mostly on a soldier palmer bob fly of black zulu. Sadly it is becoming overrun with Perch since they put that new pipe in at the dam(n) wall.
    I live in the USA now where the trout are big and burns are wider than the TAY!!LOL

  21. Hey BIlly, thanks for commenting – 5lb is a big trout – i am seriously thinking of getting a ticket this year 🙂

  22. You probably won’t need a ticket for Kilmannan as long as you stick to the fly. When I was a member of QEAC I actually spent most of my days at Kilmannan due to the fact that I prefer solitary fishing. In fact my whole reasoning for getting the ticket was so that I could get my car further up into the hills to save the walk. You might also try the lily loch which is further up in the hills but the trout are notoriously difficult to catch. Theres another wee loch further up past Duncolm called fyn loch. I saw a big trout cruising the weed beds whilst walking up there. Must have been 4 or 5lbs. I spent a few days lashing it with every fly in my box to no avail. I never even saw a rise but if theres one there must be more!

  23. hi ,
    im fairly new to the world of fishing and want to fish the OK lochs , which are permited and how much will it cost? im interested in the kilmannan dam.
    thanx m

  25. Cheers Alister,

    Went to Kilmannan dam for a few hrs, i fished the noth shore with the mepps and caught nothing but perch(bout 30 ish) so felt it was my duty to clonk them on the head,

    moved to the dam side about 2pm and caught 4 nice brownies , the heaviest being 1.1/2lbs all good condition all returned healthy.

    thanks again M

  26. Hi Mark.
    Why did you feel it necessary to kill the perch?They have as much right to be there as the trout.Did you eat them or were they just wasted?
    Cheers
    Paul

  27. Thanks for the comment Paul,

    In my opinion there too many perch within a loch of that size, and i beleive that they will harm the natural trout stocks in the loch.

    I am not aware of people taking perch from that loch, however i am aware of trout being taken, many of them large in size.

    Thus i beleive the natural balance of the water to be off kilter as we speek.

    Like gray squirrels, or american cray fish overpopulating our natural ecology we must administer some maintinance or we will all suffer and lose what we have.

    If i had caught 30 trout i would have taken some home for my family to eat, however i dont know anyone who would have eaten the perch or i would have passed them on.

    If you could suggest some good recipies i would be more than gratfull.

    Thanks Mark.

  28. Hi Mark,
    I totally understand where you are coming from,however if you believe there to be a decline in the trout stocks it sounds like it may be more as a result of people removing too many than because of the perch population.Im sure the perch will eat a fair amount of small trout,but then so do larger trout.Im sure the trout eat plenty of perch fry too.There are thousands of lochs in Scotland where trout and perch co-exist in a natural balance.
    I totally agree with you about the need to cull invaders like the crayfish and squirrels,but perch are indigenous to scotland.
    I mainly fish for trout,but i think perch are bonny wee fish and enjoy catching them too.I take the odd trout for the table,but i suppose i just dont like the idea of thirty innocent wee perch being killed and just left to rot.I’ve heard they are good eating but a bit boney.
    Sounds like you had a fun days fishing though,trout up to 1 1/2lb is good going from any loch.Ive been meaning to fish some of the OK lochs for a while now,hopefully get up there this season.
    All the best
    Paul

  29. I do know that if you kill Pike (another toothy predator which is often killed) you are messing with the eco system….have a read through this..

    http://www.pffa.co.uk/thecaseforpike.htm

    Unlike grey squirrels or american crayfish, perch are local to our rivers and lochs – I would assume that those Perch have not been stocked – if they were I do not know why. I do know that the trout were stocked a number of years ago though.

    I have been led to believe that Perch are good to eat (worthwhile) when they get to around 1.5lbs and I would love to try one on the BBQ.

    Here are some recipes….
    http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/perch
    http://www.activeangler.com/resources/cooking/recipes/perch/perch_index.asp

    You could go up with a fly rod and have a ball with the Perch – it would be great fun 🙂

  30. cheers ,

    Will give the fly rod a bash, i was using a size 2 silver mepps spinner with a light spinning rod and the perch did give a good account of themselves, especially the initial clatter.

    Thanks for the refrences il give them a read.

    Mark.

  31. hey alistair was away pike fishing the other day (sun) @ the bishop loch (easterhouse) and i caught my first pike not large by pike standards around 4lb but still my first one also caught around 8 perch which are in the freezer for deadbait as i`m going up to loch awe next week for an all nighter.
    I`m intrigued by this Kilmannan Dam and all its Perch where is it and how do i get there from Glasgow .

  32. The Perch first appeared in Kilmannan when they put that new pipe in at the road end near the dam wall they probably got washed down from further up the system. Ever since that pipe went in the water levels dropped consistently too and trout became harder to catch because they went further out. Before the pippe went in I never caught any Perch and I fished it for years on end.

  33. I finally gave up on Kilmannan when almost every 9th or 10th caste would produce a Perch. Sometimes two on at the same time!

  34. Thanks for the info Billy, i was about 3casts on average fun enough to start but gets a bit same same, whare is the pipe? must have walked past it.

    Mark

  37. Hi one and all,

    Can anyone direct me to a page or book that shows you how to fish with live minnow.

    thanks Mark. =)

  39. Stuart,

    Thanks for the info, it was what i was looking for, it also offerd a snazzy minnow trap, but i think il sitck to the good old iron bru bottle with maggots in =).

    Mark

  40. Greetings all,

    Has anyone been fishing recently, wheres going well and where isn’t ?

    cheers.
    Mark.

  43. well i am from the faifley area and i have fished the ok lochs for years all hold nice trout my fav being killmannan as for free lochs to fish in the ok hills u have greeny black loch black loch the spital greenland1 2 and 3 black lynn lilley loch and fyn loch am sure theres more but they must b hide away cause i dont no of many more and i have fished these lochs for the last 15 years my biggest fish in that time was a 3lb browwnie taken from the spital fishing the botton with a small polly ball 2 lift the maggotts any quistions about this area just contact me cheers

  44. ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED TO READ ABOUT THE MURDER OF INNOCENT PERCH BUT ITS WHAT IVE COME TO EXPECT FROM TROUT ANGLERS DONT BELIEVE FOR A MOMENT THAT YOU CAUGHT 4 TROUT WITH A MEPPS SPINNER AND NO HARM CAME TO THE FISH YOU LET GO. AS A COARSE ANGLER I CATCH MANY SPECIES OF FISH ALWAYS ON BARBLESS HOOKS SINGLE MAGGOT & FEW LOOSE OFFERINGS DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL EVERY TROUT I CATCH. I HAVE A PERMIT FOR THE RIVER KELVIN WHERE IFISH FOR ROACH DACE AND I ALWAYS CATCH TROUT WHEN IM FISHING FOR ROACH YOU MAY SEE ME WHEN IM FISHING THE KELVIN USUALLY BELOW THE WIER AT THE BBC. JUST CANT UNDERSTAND WHY ITS YOUR DUTY!!!!!! TO CLONK THEM ON THE HEAD. PISSED OFF RESPONSIBLE ANGLER.

  45. Calm down coarsescally and please stop SHOUTING ..the button you want is called “caps lock” 🙂

  46. Whenever I killed a Kilmannan perch I always left it on the bank. On a few occasions I would return to the spot to find the carcass gone. Which meant that the perch didn’t die in vain. All part of the great circle of life.

  47. Rossco
    Did you ever get anything from Fyn loch?I saw a nice trout cruising the weed beds one summer whilst out walking,and subseqquently spent a few days there but caught nothing. I never even saw a rise!

  48. Hey COARSECALLY thanks for stopping by and commenting at Stuart B mentioned using caps lock means you are shouting – it is hard to read and just looks funny.

    You are the first person to tell me they catch roach and dace in the Kelvin – are you sure about that? I am pretty sure if there as Dace in the Kelvin we would all be catching them on dry flies…where abouts do you catch them ?

    Alistair

  49. cap lock gets your attention then to me its worth it, i dont normally leave comments and really liked browsing the web page, being local to the kelvin i would have a late afternoon/evening session with either fly rod or match rod trotting a stick float downstream of the wier at the bbc, the roach are of beautiful condition, the dace i have caught have been small in size and few in numbers but they are there, one time last summer i was fishing the pole 14m when there was fly anglers commenting on the size of my rod so maybe one of them might remember seeing me catch roach and dace. finally before i go the perch are as valueable to me as the brown/ seatrout/salmon are to the game angler lets respect each other.

  50. I am pretty sure you would have got our attention without resorting to other means – you should have a bit more confidence in what you have to say without resorting to fancy means.

    Considering there are around 1000 anglers and a fair proprtion of fly anglers then I doubt that the guys you met happened to pass by here and noticed who you were 🙂

    Anyway, WOW – Dace in the Kelvin that is mighty interesting – and below the weir at the BBC ?

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