Again elevated river levels knocked my hoped for trip to try for Grayling, but it was a very nice day for the time of year and it seemed almost sacrilege not  to be fishing. And I was feeling marginally better today so I headed out, at the back of lunch time with just enough time to squeeze in 4 hours catch & release at Burnhouse Lochan Trout Fishery. It was quiet when I arrived with I think 2 or 3 anglers on the water at the deep end near the lodge. Gary the chap manning the lodge said that a few fish had been taken in the morning but it had since gone quiet.

Starting deep

Sunny day at Burnhouse

Yes- this is really mid Feb at Burnhouse Lochan Trout Fishery!- stunning day

I decided to start with a heavy, tungsten beaded buzzer bloodworm pattern on point, a more mobile bloodworm pattern on middle dropper and a small black cruncher on top dropper, all on a slow intermediate line. I wasn’t sure the line choice was right with the heavy point fly but I figured I should start deep and see what happened. I cast out and let the leader straighten out, then started a slow retrieve, there was a solid lock up and a fish was on! After a short fight a Rainbow of about 2lb was netted, freed and released. Great start!

Trying on top

I fished on and with the sun out and a little warmth in the air, I was sure there had to be some insect life stirring. No sooner did the thought enter my head than a  few wee midges appeared near the edge and I even seen what I think was a corixa on the surface. If I seen any fish near the surface I was going to have to slow the descent through the water column. Almost on cue, a fish rose to my right, then another to my left. Off came the heavy point fly and a swap round of my cast with the mobile bloodworm on point and a black buzzer on middle dropper. Despite casting this over a few of the rising fish I had no offers. Fish were by now moving all over intermittently but especially towards the shallow end, so I decided to move and change my set up as I went.

Stimulator

Off came the intermediate and on went the floating, with a large dry Stimulator on top and  a millennium bug on point, keeping the black buzzer on middle dropper. In essence I was keeping the flies no more than 8 feet below the surface in hope of picking up cruising fish and taking the off chance that as fish with eyes bigger than its belly might take the high floating Stimmie ( its worked for me before!)

Two on?

A big Rainbow

A Rainbow I reckon of about 4 1/2 to 5 lbs is kept in the water and rested before release.

I cast out to roughly where I thought I had seen a fish earlier, in the shallower section of the loch. As the buzzers fell in the water column, there was a viscious tug on the line the modest amount of slack at my feet was taken in an instant and there was thrashing on the surface for all the world like someone was out there being grabbed by a shark! I am pretty sure there were TWO fish on and the line was racing out and one fish wasn’t happy. The pull went one way then the other, and then felt lighter. I think the fish on the point fly had snapped off, but the fight was maintained with the fish on the top buzzer. It was a lengthy scrap but eventually I netted a fish of I would say 4.5 to 5 lbs. I safely unhooked it noticing the point fly and lower length of leader was gone. Having rested the big fish I let it out the net and it swam off. That’s my biggest fish since 2011.

Knackered!

Having fixed the leader and replaced the missing buzzer I spotted another fish move well down beyond a clump of reeds about 25 yards out. I moved down and cast out, my cast wasn’t good, way too short so I spooled off more line and cast bang on target. Immediately the line tightened and another fish was on. This fish fought like a monster but I reckon it was no more than 3lbs, though I couldn’t tell until I got it netted as it stayed down the whole fight. Safely released it was time for a break. I was knackered!
Refreshed I decided to fish like I would a river, cast, retrieve slowly, take two paces and repeat. This proved a good tactic and about half way down the same bank the Dry fly vanished and I had number 4 hooked up. It put up a very acrobatic fight and  was on the way to the net when inexplicably it came off! Not to worry, you get that sometimes on barbless hooks and I got the sport out the fish. It had taken the black buzzer too I could see, as it was starting to get a little ragged looking.
Near the very bottom of the shallows I moved up onto the grassy bank as the shore was very muddy and I hate getting my line covered in what becomes grinding paste. I kept the two paces and cast method going and soon enough the dry vanished as a buzzer was taken again. I was probably watching my footing more than concentrating on the fish, trying to get from the high bank to dry ground nearer my net, and let the fish have a little too much line and it managed to get free, so the second remote release and another on the now shredded black buzzer. In had one more near thing with as fish having a look at my dry fly but despite a move then the rain coming on I never had any more sport. I did though leave having had a great few hours and a lot of fun.