Finding Tinto Trout Fishery
Tinto Trout Fishery lies just on the edge of Thankerton, between Biggar ( to the east) and Lanark ( to the West). Wherever you are coming from, set your sights on getting onto the A73 which skirts to the south of the village and watch for the Tinto Hills Tea Room. This sits on the corner of the road you need to take to get up to the fishery. From the Tea Rooms the road is fairly narrow, mostly single track and it leads uphill for a few miles. About a mile and a half along the road is a clear fork and anglers should bear to the left- uphill, and keep going, and you will eventually arrive at the car park below the two lochs. The road while a little potholed in places is accessible to most, if not all vehicles.
You can contact Tinto Trout Fishery by calling:
Telephone: 01899 308697
Access
Easy in most vehicle types. a little potholed in places and there are two particularly narrow cattle grids with Concrete Edgers that could make a right mess of a bigger vehicle if you misjudged them or did not spot them ( particularly heading downhill in the dusk or dark).
Public Transport
Unlikely. If there is a bus service to Thankerton then I imagine it’s only occasional and not sure I would recommend it as you would have a stiff walk to the fishery. If reliant on public transport and you are especially determined to get there this way, I would recommend maybe heading for Lanark by Bus or Train, or Biggar by Bus, then getting a taxi to take you to the Fishery. It is likely to be quite expensive so may only be an option if you plan to stay there at one of the cottages for a few days. Its remoteness is part of the attraction.
Details
As mentioned above, Tinto Trout Fishery is a little off the beaten track and does require a little bit of effort to get to. (it is the main reason it has taken me so long to visit!).
It consists of two lochans:
Loch Lyoch is the lower lochan and sits just above the car park and anglers bothy. If the weather turns particularly bad you could quickly make your way there for shelter. I would guess it is about 5 acres in area and the maximum depth is, I am told about 30feet at the outlet valve. You can walk right around on the well-kept grass borders, and access to the water is fairly easy, though a little steeper along the bank with the very picturesque Scots pine’s lining it. For the most part there is plenty of backcasting room but a lot will depend on whether you choose to wade or not and the direction of the wind. There are benches around the loch so you can take the weight off your feet if the fish have decided not to play. Loch Lynoch is stocked with high quality Blue and Rainbow Trout, though it also has a head of wild Browns. Away from the dam wall it looks totally natural with weeds and marginal plants. There are I believe two small burns that feed into the loch at the top end, and wading there is easy with a fairly flat shale type bottom. Around the edges, especially along by the Scots Pine’s the water is a little deeper and it shelves off not too far out.
Loch Cleugh is higher up on the hill and takes about ten minutes to walk up there skirting around a couple of fields and getting over a few stiles. It is possible to go the wrong way and end up on the wrong side of a wall, but not to worry there is a gate at the top, just remember to close it behind you! Loch Cleugh is smaller than Lynoch and part of one side has a steep bank so won’t be accessible. I understand wading is not permitted on the top loch. In size I would guess it is about 3-4 acres, it won’t take long to walk around it. The top end is like Lynoch, shallow. This loch contains only wild Brown trout, some to considerable size, and being Brownies they can be found close in to the edge provided the water temperature isn’t too high. On my visit ( July 2021) the surface water in Lynoch was noticeably warm but on Cluegh, I suspect being further up the hill it was a fair bit cooler. I would not be too put off by poor wind conditions on the lower loch from allowing you to venture uphill as it sits in a kind of natural amphitheatre of the two nearby hills and the wind might actually be less of a problem, especially at the shallow end.
Facilities
The fishery has a great little anglers Bothy just opposite the Car park and it was spotlessly clean and tidy as was the adjoining lavatory. There are tea and coffee facilities, some magazines for those moments when the weather blows through and you need to find shelter. The lower loch, Loch Lyoch has benches placed around the water to have a seat when things are slow or maybe you are just changing your flies. To the best of my knowledge, there are no consumables for sale. Unlike some of the bigger commercial fisheries, Tinto isn’t “staffed” it is family run and the family have other things to do during the day. Most of the anglers fishing it are season ticket holders. Non-regular anglers need to book ahead, arriving unexpectedly isn’t the norm.
Species: Rainbow Trout, Blue Trout ( Loch Lyoch only), Wild Brown Trout in both Lochs.
Rules: Strictly Catch and Release Fly Fishing Only. Wading is permitted on Loch Lyoch but not on Loch Cleugh.
Value for Money
Tinto is really something of a unique experience in the “commercial fishery” landscape. Perched high on a hillside and out in the sticks, it is off the beaten track and offers a very wild feeling while holding both wild and stocked fish, so something for all anglers. As it is primarily a fishery that caters for regulars with season tickets, day tickets are available by arrangement and this assures that it is never going to be overly busy. There are two sessions per day in summer, a day session and an evening session until the sorter days start encroaching after which it is day sessions only. Pre-booking is required. At the time of writing a session costs £20 per angler and in my view is well worth the money and the trip.
Catch and Release Policy
Catch and Release is the only option on both lochans at Tinto Trout Fishery.
Website
Modern and mostly well laid out, please also note that there is a second website associated with the fishery as they also rent out holiday accommodation that includes access to the fishing. Maybe one useful addition would be to put the address with postcode on the footer of every page as it’s quite hard to find….it is on the site, just hard to find.
Main Website: https://tintotroutfishery.co.uk/
Accommodation Website: https://www.anglersholidaycottages.co.uk
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Tinto-Trout-Fishery
Personal Opinion
Tinto |Trout Fishery is a tremendous small water venue with the fairly unique option to fish for top quality stocked fish, or totally wild Brown Trout in a very wild feeling water. Being perched on the side of a hillside, it is going to be exposed to the weather so it is worth planning your visit carefully. While not a factor of my particular visit recently, also be mindful that wild Scottish hillsides can be exposed to wild Scottish Midges and so picking a day without a breath of wind is not necessarily the best idea either! The fish are top quality both stocked and wild, and any angler who hooks into one is not going to be disappointed. The C&R policy, the copious natural feeding and the changeable conditions are not going to make catching fish easy. This is definitely a venue for the angler who doesn’t mind a challenge. It also provides a wild feel without the need to don a rucksack, OS map and go off-grid for a day or two. I think it is a first-class fishery, and hope to return sometime soon.
Hi
Just checking if you know if Tinto Lakes is still in operation. I know it was sold last year (fished in May) and hoped it was still a viable concern.?
Thanks
Peter
Not sure, I “assume” so, last time I was up it was up for sale right enough, I would assume it would be sold as a going concern. The Website is still there, might be worth checking out that and try any contact info to see if its still going. Munro who used to be the son of the original owner used to be fairly active on some of the Clyde fishing groups on facebook but not seen him post for a while. It was Munro’s mum that took our ticket money last time I was there and she mentioned it was for sale.
This is the website Tinto Hills Trout Fishery