Its an English bank holiday today, not a local one and schools are all in, though my son was off as he is on the tail end of his study leave and not due back to school for another week (lucky him). So it was a rare day when my wife, myself, and son (and the dog) were all off together.
We decided to have a day out- a long walk with the dog over the hills not too far from home. I had spotted what looked like a route I had not seen before, when out a few days earlier in the car and after a look at an OS map decided why don’t we try that. The weather forecast was rubbish (well not as bad as of late but still due to be wet) so not venturing too far from home meant we could bolt back if it was a bad decision.
I won’t be too specific about where we were, but the route followed a burn which ultimately enters the Carron Valley and I suspected the burn might have the odd fish or two in it, so took the 4weight rod, a reel and a few dry flies to have a wee bit sport along the way if the occasion presented itself – I wasn’t too bothered or optimistic. My better half had originally suggested we went down the Tweed- she would walk the dog I could fish ( in case you think I was being selfish) but I really wasn’t that bothered to spend the day fishing, so this was a bit of a compromise and an explore- I was more out for the walk.
We parked up and headed off down the route, and it was quite blustery and showery, but about 300 metres or so along the way came to a very inviting fishy looking pool and a wall provided a nice wind break from the intermittent rain so we stopped, I set up my rod and line and had a wee cast into the pool. I immediately rose a fish but it was so fast I missed it!
I cast in about 4 times more and again and again fish were coming for the fly but I was not connecting- my wife was enthralled it has to be said- but at last success- I hooked a wee wild brownie, and we were all delighted. If that had been the only fish I caught all day I would have been chuffed……
We hiked down the rest of the route following the burn through some very impressive scenic spots, and I cast a line a few times along the way but never caught another fish, though I was keeping my powder dry as it were for the walk back as heading upstream seemed a better bet.
After we stopped for lunch at the bottom of the route we commenced the journey back and stopped at a nice pool. It looked a sure-fire bet to hold fish but after about 6 or 7 casts I never saw a fish. Then out of the blue my fly was snaffled and I had a second small brown trout.
Leaving the pool in peace I spotted a really nice run and fish were rising along it but the wind was causing havoc and I simply could not get the fly in the spot with any delicacy so had to give up there. We soon though, came to another likely spot with fish rising, in fact, there was a hatch on and flies coming off the water. I gave it a few casts over one of the rise spots and once I got the cast right I took a fish right away. You can almost tell the cast that will catch before the fish rise- they just look right! Another small brown trout returned.
Next, we returned to a spot I would love to tackle with waders on, but one wee shady corner looked very enticing and as I pointed it out to the family a fish obligingly rose, I could not touch it though- tricky casting.
Then just a few yards upstream nice sunny but sheltered corner was clearly moving with fish. I cast under an overhanging branch and number 4 was on!
I could not rise another here so as we walked upstream, a spot I had passed without looking on the way down looked nice and we could see a fish rise near the far bank. It took me a few casts to get the fly in the right spot, that wind again, but once again, as I got it right the fish came, this time a much bigger one- nearer to half a pound- that’s possibly a slight exaggeration – more like 5 or 6 ounces but it was a good 8-9 inches anyway and quite powerful for its size.
I did have a few more casts on the way back beyond this point but 5 fish for what wasn’t a fishing outing was more than I had dreamed of so was delighted and we had a great family day out to boot. It was very much a day of staying low and creeping up to the clear deep pools, as Hywel Morgan refers to it in his TV program….”Combat fishing”. The phrase became something of a running catchphrase all day especially good when said in a Welsh accent!
The flies I used were Deer hair and CDC style Comparadun patterns, the Deer Hair ones lasted better it has to be said, though I had fish on both, the CDC ones became waterlogged quite quickly.
Looks a wee bit like the XXXXX which joins the river XXXXX . I love fishing all these wee burns with their wild broonies.Learned my fishing on this type of water with my dad. Best time was when the burns were running off a high spate.Small fly rod .Sink line and worms. If you were lucky a half pounder would snatch your worm and head under the bank. Great wee fighters.I now take my son to these places to fish where I think he will learn more about fishing and wildlife than a pay per catch fishery.
Is indeed ( ps. I have redacted the identifying words). Can run off pretty high but I wait until its down a bit usually ( not too low) and the barbless dry fly works magic. A big fish is half a pound but as you can read elsewhere in my blog there are the odd big boys in there if you can find them and tempt them to rise. Great sport. A few more sililar locations would be good to find, I don’t like fishing it too often as I feel it will spoil it- its relatively untouched.
i agree it is relatively untouched .anytime i have fished it .ive never seen anyone apart from the odd roe deer.thats what makes these places special.always found the month of august was most productive .there has been talk of a fish ladder/pass on the main river for migratory fish.if so these places will not be untouched for much longer.
Yeah it does worry me a wee bit- hopefully the Salmon getting up stream does not spoil things for the simpler pleasures! I doubt the smaller head waters would be of much interest to Salmon anglers as I would imagine the fish to be fairly coloured up by the time they hit these spots. But I know nothing about Salmon really….. Bit like the Tweed in places where you have wee streams where the Salmon clearly spawn but the only people you see up them are the Trout and Grayling anglers.
the garrell burn is another place full of wild browns.this burn starts at birkenhead dam aka johnnies dam high up in the kilsyth hills.the trout up at the top of the here are very black in colour due to the peat where the burn runs through.it then flows down the glen .full of deep pots and pools.a few of these pools have names.lairds loup.cavepool.kings lynn.strawberry to name but a few.it flows by allanfauld farm then down towards kilsyth town centre and joins the river kelvin just outside the town.not fished it for years but fished loads when younger as we used to stay near the farm.if you enjoy hillwalking and fishing this is an ideal day out.the odd big trout can caught in the larger pools if very quiet on approach.very isolated and good fishing and again the right water amount will make it a memorable day.
Sounds nice- need to look it up on the OS Map. Is it permitted?
Do you know the wee river that runs down the valley at the top dam at Carron Valley- Can’t remember the river name but know its the headwater of the river than runs down, might be the Endrick Water? Any idea what the rules are for fishing that- have seen the odd angler on it and it looks really nice. I know the Endrick further down is a coarse water but looks very Trouty at the top there?
free fishing on the garrell.the local fishing club used to pay the farmer £1 per season to fish it as its on his land .the farmer was a keen fisher too as you can see by the £1 fee!yes these are headwaters of the endrick.i think you are talking about the part of river above the waterfall .not sure about permits.i do not think it would be too strict here as the salmon cannot get over the falls.i used to get permits to fish for salmon on the endrick at the fintry inn.maybe worth a try and ask in their about the water above the falls.