Burnhouse Fishery

3lb Rainbow Trout

3lb Blue

Fished this lovely little fishery for the first time today with my brother. Burnhouse Fishery is a small loch of approximately 3.5 acres situated near Bonnybridge in Stirlingshire. We arrived at 8:00am and were given a warm welcome by Gary who made us coffee and gave us some advice on what flies to use and what had been caught recently. We bought a 4 hour, 2 fish limit then catch and return ticket for £16, tackled up and went fishing. Despite the weather being mild and a flat calm with the fish rising all over the loch, I caught two fish, a  3lb Rainbow and a 3lb Blue, both on Orange Straggle Lures, which I had tied myself. Both were caught near the surface using a very slow retrieve. I also had a few pulls and had two more fish on but lost them after a short fight. The two I caught gave me a great deal of satisfaction as they were the first fish I had ever caught on my own tied flies.
My impression on the fishery is that it well worth a visit, it is well run and the staff are very friendly and freely offer advice. The facilities include a cabin selling a small selection of equipment and hot and cold food.
The only minus was the road to the fishery, which is a single track with limited passing places.

Stockie Bashing

Well that's the Brown Trout season over and I have decided to make an effort to visit some Rainbow Fisheries over the winter. Never tried one before, so it will be a whole new experience for me. I'm not to sure if I will enjoy it or not but I will give it a go. I have made arrangement to fish Burnhouse Fishery this week, which is about a 30 minute drive away. It is a small man made loch of about 3-4 acres and I have been tying some lures and buzzers in anticipation of catching some fair sized Rainbows, more in hope than expectation. During the winter I am determined to have a few casting lessons and then buy a permit for the River Kelvin and also apply to my local angling club for membership on their loch. Hopefully next year will bring better weather, it couldn't possibly be worse than the wash out that was our summer. My local river has virtually been in spate all year, I live just a few yards from it's banks and I have never known it to be so high for so long.

Fly Tying Materials

I've been buying materials for tying my own flies now that the Brown Trout season is almost over. Bought a lot off ebay such as hooks, capes and dubbing but I found a really good site called Troutline, which sells an excellent range of materials and at very reasonable prices and with fairly cheap postage costs considering it is in Romania. Found the Troutline site on the Fly Forum, as the store is run by one of the members called Lucian. He sells a fly tying vice that I have had my eye on for months, and I will probably bite the bullet and order it. It's called a Jan Tvrdek Harmonic Rotary Vice. I first noticed the vice on YouTube where a fly tyer called Lyndsay Simpson  uses one and highly recommends it. I particularly like the way it holds the hook, leaving lots of room to tie in materials at the back of the fly.