It sits on a plateau, you might say, above the town and seems to be formed out of a shallow depression in the top of the hill.
Finding Harelaw Trout Fishery
The water is a little off the beaten path though not especially difficult to find with the right information! Unfortunately for reasons that continually bewilder when you encounter them, Google Maps has the wrong post code against the water and if you follow this, it will take you to Neilston Train Station. It is on the right road but you need to drive on a good few miles further into the park to reach the lodge. It also rather unhelpfully has two different waters marked as Harelaw (this is actually consistent with OS maps too), one is marked as “Harelaw Reservoir” ( THIS IS NOT THE FISHERY) the other as “Harelaw Dam”, this is the one with the Trout Fishery. In any case head for the Post Code G78 3DD and it should take you near enough to the door.
Also when I was there a vehicle had recently knocked down the sign indicating one of the turnings to take off the road through what seems like a country park type area, it is quite possible to miss the side opening to the left ( I am assuming you are coming from Neilston) and if you reach Commore Reservoir on the right hand side you have gone too far.
Take your time, it is a narrow single track road with few places to pass up to the fishery, and parking is just on the right after the lodge entrance.
Access
Easy enough in all vehicle types just a little difficult to find if not wise to the best post code to use and the turnings involved. Parking is about 50 metres from the boat launching area so it may take a couple of trips back and forth to get all your gear to the boat.
Public Transport
You are not far from Neilston Train Station so getting here without a car should be relatively straightforward if you organise a taxi to take you the last couple of miles to the venue.
Details
Harelaw Trout Fishery is a reasonably large reservoir to the south of Paisley. I would estimate it to being about 120-140 acres in size ( I am not particularly good at estimating acreages but looking on OS Maps it covers approximately half a square kilometre in area). It is a distorted cross shape if looked at directly from above on a map shape with a small island in the middle. It is fairly apparent when out on the water that the reservoir is pretty shallow all over with a fairly uniform depth of I am told, 12 feet and a deepest spot just off the dam of around 15 feet. As a result the loch has a lot of weed that reaches up to just shy of the surface over most of the loch and you are likely to want to be fishing off the top or just subsurface, certainly when the week is fairly dense in the high summer. With the shape that the loch is, there are a few interesting wee bays and corners that are worth exploring though on my visit we observed fish in what seemed quite open featureless areas, presumably because there is weed cover everywhere.
Fishing is from both boat or bank and anglers can wade from most shore locations. I understand the entire fringe of the loch amounts to some 3 miles of bank fishing so you should be able to find a quiet corner somewhere.
The water has a good reputation for top of the water sport and seems to be a popular venue with anglers from that general vicinity. It has something of a club feel to it and I think there is a season membership option which opens up the opportunity to fishing in the winter too. How practical it all is up on the hill as it is I am not sure but there will definitely be fishable days in any off season to use the opportunity to get out I am sure.
Facilities
The Fishery has a small lodge that looked to have a small selection of fishing consumables available. I am not sure how many boats are on the water, it looked to be between eight and a dozen and they have a net and oars and a very snorty electric outboard ( the quickest I have encountered anywhere!). I don’t recall there being a drogue on the boat so you may need to use your own if it is necessary. I have heard that the water has a bit f a club atmosphere and some nights may be social gatherings as well as fishing but cannot confirm that.
Species: Rainbow Trout are regularly stocked and seem to be of very high quality. There are also wild Browns in the water too. There are also Pike and Perch.
Rules: I am not aware of any special rules beyond fly fishing only.
Value for Money
Not bad, I think we were charged £44 for a day boat from 09:00 to 17:00 Catch and Release for two anglers. A take ticket for two was I think £52. The boats come with oars and a net, and an outboard, so that’s about average pricing I would say. I have not seen a price list published anywhere online to gauge other options. They also have bank fishing that I would assume are priced accordingly.
Catch and Release Policy
Catch and Release is allowed and you can choose to take fish then Catch and Release afterwards, or just fish C&R.
Website
It appears the dedicated website has been terminated ( I seem to recall seeing it a few times in the past), and has been replaced by only a Facebook Presence. A number of fisheries seem to have gone down this route and while I get it that it relieves you of much of the maintenance and is free, it isn’t in my opinion a totally wise policy as Facebook can be fairly brutal at limiting the reach of your posts and not everyone is happy accessing Social Media. When websites can be so cheap and easy to set up these days its small potatoes really.
Facebook page: Harelaw Trout Fishery
Personal Opinion
A fishery I really would like to explore more on a nice summers evening. I can well imagine I having some epic top of the water sport but the one visit I have had was not in the best fishing conditions of wall to wall blue sky and scorching conditions. We still managed fish but it was hard and fishing deeper than a few inches sub surface was going to be tough with the weed and shallow loch. In many ways it reminded me of the Bristol Reservoirs in this regard. The fihery were very flexible with me needing to alter booking arrangements and no complaints there. The Electric outboards are the fastes I have encountered on all outings, I think it was something like a 70lb thrust motor which is pokier than even my 55lb Minn Kota, so no complaints there. Well worth a visit, but watch the weather, I can well imagine it being a wild spot on a wet and windy day.
