Great fishing on Carron Valley Reservoir

I had a great day on Carron Valley Reservoir on Saturday. If you’ve never fished it you should certainly give it a go.

I was accompanied by two experienced trout fishermen from Milan. When we arrived, things didn’t look too promising. The level of the water is still high and there was a strong and gusty wind blowing white horses onto the surface of the loch. Despite the temperature being around the seasonal norm of 12-14 degrees, the wind made it feel very much colder.

Although the reservoir is, by definition man-made, it is nevertheless set in a truly wild and dramatic landscape, lodged as it is between the Campsie Fells to the south and the Trossachs to the north. We decided to get the motoring out of the way and head into the wind, all the way up to the western dam wall.

Absolutely nothing was showing on the surface for the first hour or so and it looked like we were in for a dour day. But as the morning progressed, the wind started to drop and the clouds gave way to intermittent sunshine and that brought the air temperature up by a couple of degrees. Soon we started to see the swallows working and fish began to take tiny black gnats from just below the surface.

Changing over from tin-headed lure patterns fished on sink-tip and intermediate lines to small diawl bachs fished on floating lines, it wasn’t long before we started to hook up. Fishing about three or four rod lengths out from the shore, the first fish was a superb fully-finned rainbow of about 2.5lbs. We then alternated throughout the day between catching small brownies and really excellently conditioned rainbows in weights ranging from about 2-4lbs. We ended the day with an even balance of 6 brownies and 6 rainbows to the boat.

Now the competition fishers would be moaning about such a modest tally. But for us, Carron Valley provided yet again, stunning scenery, uncrowded water and steady sport. The guys that run the fishery should be commended. They run a superbly well managed operation – clean and tidy boats (with landing nets), engines that start every time, friendly and helpful service and, most importantly, a healthy population of rainbows living in perfect balance with the native population of brownies. If you’re looking for huge bags of flabby stockies and boats fishing yards apart, then go elsewhere. For all the reasons mentioned above, Carron Valley will always be my pick of the best fisheries in Central Scotland.