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November 08
As the water has settled the fishing has improved daily, with some fish even being taken of the top! Sink tip lines and small lures such as dancers, damsels and cormorants with a very slow retrieve have been doing well. So far we have had a couple of big fish landed, S Murphy of glasgow had a rainbow of 17lbs 5oz and G Paris of falkirk had an 11lb blue.PLEASE NOTE THE FISHERY WILL CLOSE FOR THE WINTER AT THE END OF NOVEMBER. This weekend seen great sport, we had over 190 fish caught with the biggest, a superb rainbow of 10lb 3oz caught by livingston angler B Rowley, another large rainbow in the high double range was hooked and lost by regular angler S McGowan of blackburn, hard luck Stevie i am sure you will land a double yet!! The fish really played ball this weekend and were taken on floating, sinking and intermediate lines, with a mixture of lures, traditionals, buzzers and even on the dries!! some one commented that they thought they could have caught with a bare hook!! Long may it continue!! This weekend was the final weekend of the season, we had our winter competition where 28 anglers caught 99 fish with an average weight of 3lb 9oz. Heaviest bag was R Watson of addiewell with 4 fish weighing 19lb 12oz and 4 on C&R which was an impressive 27lb 12oz, second once again was A Weir of bathgate with 4 fish weighing 13lbs 12oz and 6 on C&R giving him 25lbs 4oz, Alex lost 2 fish in the last ten minutes that cost him first place, hard luck Alex! third place went to T Pryde of winchburgh with 4 fish for 14lbs 2oz and 4 on C&R to give him 22lb 2oz, heaviest fish of the day was a lovely blue caught by J Payne of tullibody at 12lb 4oz. The big fish board for this month showed 38 fish between 5lb and 17lbs 5oz, with an avergage weight of 3lbs 8oz. We are now closed until march 09, i thank every angler who visited in the 2008 season and look forward to seeing you all in 2009. I will keep you posted.
March 09
We opened today with a bang!! The weather wasnt that good to us but the fishing made up for it. Alex Wilkie had the first limit bag by 9.15am!! The fish really played ball coming to almost any flies fished mainly on floating lines, the total number of fish killed today was 90 for 382 lbs an average weight of 4 lbs 2oz !! with the best fish a superb 10lb 4oz rainbow caught by M Rourke from Irvine. Sunday seen terrible weather with a blizzard blowing right from the start, it didnt put some anglers off and everyone had their limit again, some big guys have started to show, C Porteous of edinburgh had a brilliant overwintered rainbow of 17lb, J Milligan of tullibody followed up with another of 14lb 4oz, L Simpson of bathgate had a superb 6lb brownie that has come through the winter in tip top condition, check the gallery! This weekend seen a few other big guys showing up, we had an new record 23lb caught by tyne and wear angler I McIntosh, an 11lb 8oz overwintered rainbow caught by A Britton of bellshill, a 10lb 4oz overwintered rainbow caught by K Aitken of Bathgate. Fish are starting to come to small flies, buzzers and diawl bachs with some great hatches of large black buzzers bringing the fish to the surface. The high winds this week have proved to make fishing a little difficult for some anglers, however H Edmunds from bonnyridge managed to catch the 23lb record once more, followed immediately by a fantastic 12lb 8oz bar of silver, overwintered rainbow, both on the buzzer!! C Frame from broxburn also managed another overwintered rainbow of 17lb 8oz, also on the buzzer, well done guys!! Last week i attended my advanced single handed casting exams, where i passed to become a full member of AAPGAI, this guarantees tuition at the very highest level, see http://www.aapgai.co.uk/ There are very few instructors qualified to this level in scotland. Please contact the fishery for tuition details.The end of the month has seen the first of the top of the water sport with great hatches of black buzzers, anglers are having to fish small buzzers and dries mainly in black for the best results, yesterday linlithgow angler B Dickinson had a brilliant overwintered rainbow of 8lb 8oz on a black hopper, check the website!! The big fish board shows 31 fish between 5lb and 23lb with an average weight of 3lb 10oz. We are currently open until 5pm, as soon as we have some consistant weather we will open later, watch this space!! This weekend 4th april is the fishery Troutmasters qualifier, I wish all you guys the best of luck.
April 09
This week seen very changeable weather from 32 degrees to baltic almost overnight, this played havoc with the fish, they went from being on the surface to going deep, coupled with strong winds, fishing was either excellent or hard, no in betweens!! However the anglers who can change caught no problem. This weekend we had the Troutmasters fish off, Alex Weir from bathgate, Colin Stewart from livingston and Alex wilkie from coatbridge all fought a close battle, with the eventual winner Alex weir, The junior fish off was again a close battle between Liam Dyett from bathgate and Cameron Currie from cowdenbeath, with Cameron nipping Liam by 2 oz to take first place, well done to all who took part and to the two winners, i wish you guys all the best in the final. This weekend seen a few big guys again, with livingston angler K Campbell taking a 10lb 5oz fish followed by a 11lb 8oz fish, R Manzle from tullibody had a 10lb 5oz fish also. This week has seen very cold east winds which has made the fishing quite difficult, plenty of fish have been rising, but are proving finnicky to catch, buzzers, diawl bachs and harelug patterns have been the best bet, fished very small. Some of the better fish this week have been a 15lb 12oz fish caught by J Graham, A Brown of fife had a nice 7lb rainbow followed quickly by another at 11lb 6oz, D Macdonald had a 7lb rainbow followed by a 12lb 2oz rainbow, seems like they are hanging in pairs!! Heres hoping we get some warmer weather!! This weekend seen mixed fishing, on saturday the weather was perfect, fish rose all day and the fishing was brill!!! Lots of limit bags on buzzers, emergers, dries and lures. A Wilkie from coatbridge had a lovely 11lb 6oz blue, M Traquair from glasgow had a 12lb 8oz rainbow along with his friend J Mairs from Darvel who also had a 12lb 8oz rainbow, on the sunday we had flat calm, roasting hot sun, which made fishing very difficult, S Gauld from dundee had a 10lb 6oz fish but on the whole the fishing was hard, monday seen overcast warm weather and the top of the water sport was incredible!! S McGowan from blackburn had tremendous sport on a size 16 black comparadun, well done Stevie!! This weekend seen some great sport including a record tiger trout of 3lb 14oz caught by D Blair. We have had two tag winners this week, M Traquair from Glasgow and J Riley from Stirling who both won £250, well done guys! The big fish board showed 45 fish between 5lb and 18lbs 4oz with 13 doubles and an average weight of 3lb 10oz.
May 09
What a start to may, we have had terrible high winds coupled with very cold, bright conditions and torrential rain, the top of the water sport has suddenly ceased and fishing has been difficult, when the weather has been milder it is like a differant fishery!!! Roll on the warm weather!!! Most of the fish have been caught on lures on floating or intermediate lines, top patterns have been the yellow dancer, damsel, black/green fritz, cats whiskers. Hopefully we will get some decent weather soon to start the hawthorn hatch! This weekend seen the first of some warmer, we had some good hatches and the buzzer sport was brilliant, we had some big guns showing- A Darling from Livingston had a 17lb rainbow on a buzzer, B Lennon from airdrie had a 11lb 4oz blue on a diawl bach, P Manson from Edinburgh had a 16lb 4oz rainbow on a yellow dancer and A Forrester had a 12lb 4oz rainbow on a damsel. The angler of the weekend was regular, Tony Pryde from Winchburgh, Tony hooked a huge rainbow on the dry fly that ran him halfway down the fishery, before throwing the hook, well done and hard luck Tony (the run can be seen on the gallery!!) The buzzer sport has continued to be top class, hopefully some warm weather will really bring on the hawthorn hatch and give us some real top of the water action. We are still only open until 5pm, as soon as the evening rises have started, we will open late.The big fish board seen 35 fish over 5lb with an average weight of 3lb 9oz.
June 09
Well June has been a dreadful month so far, we had an outbreak of blanket weed that seen the fishery closed for a week, a special thanks to Keith, Euan and Alan for helping to remove the dead weed from the water, i could not have done it without you guys!!! On a better note the fishing this weekend was brill, with terrific top of the water and buzzer sport, I even managed a cast myself today and had great sport on a harelug cdc!! The amount of fish rising was great to see, makes you wonder where so many fish hide at times!!! Regular Tony Pryde did a number nailing fish after fish, making it look easy, finishing his session with a superb 12lb 12oz blue. well done Tony! Some real big fish have been showing up lately, hopefully this coming few weeks will see some one enticing them to a dry. We are now open until 10pm except on saturdays. This weekend seen the fishing very difficult, I dont exactly know why, the conditions were at times perfect, the fish were rising sporadically but most fish were caught deep down, on either buzzers or small lures, fished very slowly. Just as i thought i had fish sussed out the feeding pattern gets trashed!!! The water temperature is very high at 19.6 degrees, perhaps this has something to do with it??Well the fish have switched back on again, the top of the water sport this week has been really good, fish have been taken on small black cdc,s, this week i put some big blues in, the first to get caught was a 14lb 4oz fish taken by bathgate angler Tom Simpson on a pheasant tail nymph, another was a12lb fish taken by fife angler A Cardross on an orange blob. The evening rises have been a bit hit and miss due to the weather, but when the "gloamin rise" has been on, it has been fantastic!! An old regular angler now staying in Rhodes was visiting home this week and paid us a visit, Nigel Muckle sussed the fish out quickly on a fast glass line and had 6 fish in no time at all topped of with a cracking 15lb 12oz blue. On tuesday evening John Bruin from glasgow tempted another blue of 10lb 7oz on a size 14 cdc buzzer, well done to both guys. The big fish seem to be lying a bit dormant right now, they are seen cruising but dont seem to want to feed too much, the water is 19 degrees, perhaps this explains things. Fish this week have almost all been taken 12 to 16 feet down with midge tips and long leaders, we need some cooler air or some rain!! The big fish board for the month showed 27 fish between 5lb and 15lb 12oz with an average weight of 3lb 9oz.
July 09
The rain we needed has come in fits and starts, the good news is that the water has cooled a couple of degrees and the fish have started to come up in the water and have moved up the fishery, we have had quite a few fish taken of the top this week to cdcs and sedges and have seen some evening sport, although not as prolific as we would expect. Regular angler Tony Pryde from winchburgh had a superb 12lb 8oz blue on a bloodworm and David Avery from Boness had a 12lb 12oz blue on an orange blob. Hopefully the water will continue to cool and switch the fish back on. The weekend passed was the summer open competition, it was a very difficult competition with two anglers way out in front, Alex Weir had 4 fish for 16lb 12 oz and Tony Pryde had 4 for 12lb 12oz but had 2 on c&r which took them to a dead heat and fish off, Alex won the toss and opted for the pier but failed to catch in the first heat, Tony failed the toss in the second heat which left Alex again on the pier where he managed the decider, it was a well fought fight from Tony,s corner having lossed a fish and been broken in the fish off, well done guys, you both done well in what was extremely difficult ,windy conditions, the heaviest fish of the day was Mr McAllister for a 6lb 8oz rainbow, he was awarded the Drew McAllister big fish trophy dedicated to his late father, again , well done. Well the rain has finally cooled the water, what a differance it has made, so far almost every fish caught this week has been from the surface either with cdc,s daddies or diawl bachs, the rises have been great, evening sport has been far better, long may it continue. Some big guys have started to show, J Brown of Ayrshire had a 13lb rainbow on a lure, R Sneddon of Fife had a 12lb 8oz rainbow on a lure, A Bodi of Livingston had an 11lb 12oz rainbow on a buzzer,Alex Weir of bathgate had a 14lb 5oz blue on a daddy(which he seen and stalked, well done Alex!), Alan Brownlee had a 15lb 4oz rainbow on his home tied buzzer (well done Alan, a long time coming!) J Rennie had a 15lb rainbow on an alexandria and Bill Mitchell of East Calder broke the blue record today with a 16lb 8oz fish on a yellow dancer, a special mention to 2 young anglers Fraser Thomson and Jack Bracken of Alloa, they have had several visits lately and managed 6-8 fish each time when conditions have been very difficult, well done guys, keep it up!! Well the doubles have kept on showing, we have doubles caught every other day this week, R Blakey had a 12lb 8oz rainbow, R Tough had a 14lb rainbow, A Bodi had an 11lb 8oz blue, J Rennie had another at 16lb and Paul Begbie finished the month with a fish of 13lb 8oz. The big fish board shows 36 fish btween 5lb and 16lb 8oz with 14 doubles and an average weight of 3lb 7oz. The heaviest bag of the month was B Scott of torphicen with 4 fish killed for 17lbs 8oz.
August 09
August started well with plenty of fish killed on the first of the month despite scouring winds, fish were mainly taken on intermediate lines and lures or diawl bachs, Bannockburn AC member Jim Black hooked a very large fish that took of like a train and showed some good aerobatic skills before breaking him, hard lines Jim! today the winds have strenghtened and fishing has been very difficult, hopefully some settled weather will follow. This weekend seen scouring winds which have made fishing harder, some guys have found it really easy, whilst some have really struggled, typical of this time of year!! Regular angler Tony Pryde had a great day and made it look easy taking his limit bag - every one on the dries, well done Tony! Another regular Jim Waterston from Airdrie started off with a 15lb rainbow this morning then followed it an hour later with an 11lb 8oz rainbow, both on the buzzer, well done Jim,D Downie had a fish of 10lb 5oz.We have been having some excellant evening rises with fish coming to daddies, sedges and cdc patterns, even managed a few sessions myself, just to prove i could still do it!!! Sport has proven to be patchy, some anglers are making it look very easy whilst some have struggled, top of the water sport has continued to be about the most consistant, with daddies, hoppers and cdc,s diawl bachs have been fishing really well. Regular guru Tony Pryde managed another double, this time 11lb 8oz on his "secret buzzer" B Taylor managed a blue at 12lb 4oz on a small harelug. Scouring winds have made casting very difficult, hopefully we will get some settled weather soon. This week has seen some fantastic top of the water sport to daddies, hoppers and cdc,s, i have managed to fish a lot myself this week and despite some really bad winds have had some of the best top of the water sport this year. Other patterns to do well lately are diawl bachs and crunchers all fished near the top, some real good fish in the 5lb -8lb range have been taken on the top this week. This weekend was the first outing of the newly formed "bangour fly fishing club" they had a great day on sunday and even with terrible conditions managed some good bags, first place went to Graeme Paris with 4 fish @ 16lb 7oz 2nd place to Bobby watson for 4 @ 15lb 4oz, 3rd place to Tony Pryde 4 @14lb 2oz and 4th place to Alex Weir 4 @12lb 2oz. Heaviest fish went to Graeme Paris @5lb 4oz. Well done to everyone, there are still some places left to join the club, anyone interested should contact the club chairman Alan Brownlee on 01506 854124. This last weekend seen some settled weather which gave us really good top of the water sport with loads of fish getting caught on the dry daddy, amongst the best of these was a superb 12lb 8oz blue taken by W Munn, another nic fish was a 12lb rainbow caught by stirling angler B Nielson. The big fish board showed 52 fish between 5lb and 18lb this month with 10 doubles, the average weight this month was 3lb 7oz.
Sep 09
We started with torrential rain that has coloured the water, but it certainly has not put the fish off, fishing the last few days has been really good, with loads of limit bags taken on differant tactics from floating lines and dries or buzzers to intermediate lines and lures, best lures have been black fritz, damsel or a white rabbit. Regular angler Alan Brownlee tempted a 13lb 8oz rainbow on a size 16 black cdc that he had tied himself, well done Alan, that was a great achievement!! Fishing this last week has been incredible, fish have really turned on and the weather has been perfect, nice and dull but not too cool. We have had loads of limit bags taken on dries, buzzers and lures, in fact just about anything has been working! P jones from Fife had a fantastic 14lb rainbow on a damsel, check the gallery, plenty of big fish have been moving and taking, but they are proving too much for most anglers, either snapping them or dropping off after some incredible runs, long may it continue!! This weekend has seen some great sport with loads of limit bags being taken, some taken on lures, some on dries and some on buzzers, generally almost anything was working, the only thing that made the fishing a little harder was the horrendous winds we have had for the last week. Some of the bigger fish caught this week were D McNeillie of Uphall 17lb 8oz, I wallace of ayr 14lb 4oz, R McGhee of glasgow 11lb 8oz and J McGhee of glasgow 14lb 8oz. The big fish board for the month showed 41 fish from 5lb to 17lb 8oz with an average weight of 3lb 7oz.
HI TO ALL ANGLERS WHO HAVE VISITED BANGOUR IN THE LAST WEEK, SOMEONE HAS TAKEN THE WRONG SUNGLASSES WHEN THEY HAVE LEFT THE FISHERY, I HAVE HERE A PAIR OF FLYING FISHERMAN SUNGLASSES AND SOMEONE HAS MY PRESCRIPTION SUNGLASSES, PLEASE CHECK YOUR GLASSES GUYS, MINE ARE MATT BLACK LIGHTWEIGHT FRAMES WITH RUBBER COVERS ON THE END OF THE LEGS, IT WOULD BE GREAT TO GET THEM BACK, THANKS GUYS!!
oct 09
Evening sessions have now ended. The water temperatures have now dropped and the weather has been a little kinder to us, giving us some great fishing, buzzer action is not as consistant as normal but still good at times, best tactics now are a floating line, sink tip or intermediate and lures, best lures have been yellow dancer, black fritz, hothead damsel, minkies in white, black and orange. Some anglers are still managing to take fish from the top, local angler Peter Sinclair had three fish in three casts to the dry daddy, well done Peter!! some of the bigger fish caught lately have been a 13lb fish taken by A Reid of Alloa, a 13lb fish by M Tunnah of edinburgh a 13lb fish by G Paris and a 10lb fish by C stewart of livingston. This weekend seen some horrendous weather but it didnt stop the fish! Most anglers fishing this weekend had their limit, some to buzzers but most to intermediate lines and lures such as yellow dancer, black fritz, black/green fritz, damsels, minkies. The Bangour Fly fishing club had a great day with 74 fish for 273 3/4 lb, had to make do with chips and beans last night, well done lads!!!! Alex Wilkie had a fine 13lb 12oz rainbow, looks like Wilkie is on the board again!! The big fish board showed 51 fish between 5lb and 133/4lbs with an average weight of 3lb 4oz.
Nov09
November started with torrential rain that finally caused the water to colour up, after a couple of days the fish came back on and winter fishing fishing is becoming more consistant, buzzers are still doing well when there is a bit of heat, but lures are definately the way to go, fished nice and slow on a floating or intermediate line. The big guys have came on the feed, getting prepared for the winter months, so far we have had 12 doubles caught, with 5 being taken in 2 days, the best being a 15lb rainbow caught by D Taylord and a 15lb rainbow caught by J Patrick. Regular angler George Gillian hooked and lost a huge brownie which by all accounts would have been a new record, hard lines George!! The fishery will close on SUNDAY THE 29TH OF NOVEMBER FOR THE WINTER. The rain simply hasnt stopped here for a week!! the water is a very dirty colour, we need a few days without rain to let the silt in the water settle, hopefully it will do so for the weekend, as the water is very coloured the best tactics are a floating, sink tip or intermediate line with black lures, fished very slowly. At the weekend A McGill from edinburgh made it look easy taking his limit quickly on a black blob, well done Andy, another angler who had the catch of a lifetime was local regular angler Ronnie Weir, who managed to hook- himself, i had to carry some surgery out in the lodge and managed to get Ronnie fishing again i no time, the blood on the hook must have worked as Ronnie had 2 fish almost one after the other as soon as he went back!!! another regular angler Alex Gibson had a beautifully conditioned 11lb rainbow, Tom Wight of edinburgh had a superb blue at 8lb 10oz, check it on the gallery, this fish had been stocked as a double and had lost most of the fat to become a "bullet". D Gribble from edinburgh also had a cracking rainbow of 15lb 4oz, well done guys!!! This weekend was the end of our season and the winter competition, the weather was not kind to us, with heavy winds, a temperature just above freezing and the water very coloured due to the recent floods, the guys did well all the same, 26 anglers caught 78 fish, 62 killed for 229lb which gave us an average weight of 3lb 7oz, the heaviest bag was Billy Waterson with 4 fish for 19lb 9oz, the heaviest fish was a 13lb 8oz rainbow caught by Nigel Muckle. Well done to all the guys who took part.The big fish board for the month showed 41 fish between 5lb and 15lb 4oz with 15 doubles getting caught. The average weight of a fish for the 2009 season was 3lb 7oz. I would like to thank all the anglers who came to Bangour in the 2009 season and look forward to seeing you all in 2010. Bookings are going fast for next season, so any clubs not already booked, please contact me as soon as you can. See you all in 2010!!!!!!!
WE OPEN THIS SEASON ON SATURDAY THE 20TH OF MARCH, LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE!!
Not long now guys, the bad news is, we are still frozen, here,s hoping!!!!!!!!!
ps the opening day is booking up fast, the sunday is booked by the Scottish disabled team(see the fishing forums) for a fundraiser, for a space see the posting on the forum.