Winter Fishing, what’s the catch? with Simon Barnes

with Simon Barnes

“The 2020 season had started well for me, with some trout caught, a salmon kelt and any number of offers to the dry, even in mid-March. Excellent. Then lockdown! Okay, so I have fishing available within 5 miles of my home, but it felt restrictive and I like to travel to places other than my home patch. Once restrictions were eased, there was still the vexing matter of getting accommodation (or lack of it) but we could travel carefully. All is not lost for the angler in winter. For those who love to fish for trout, there are many commercial fisheries who stock with Rainbow trout. Rainbows are not native and are not subject to the same by-laws and have no close season. The fish are usually in perfect condition, fit and delicious to eat. There are trout fisheries all over Scotland from the Borders to the north. The fisheries can be large (think of Lake of Menteith) or small and bank only fishing. These fisheries remain open, weather and ice-permitting, and they rely on anglers to survive. Disabled anglers are catered for at many trout fisheries. Not only are the fishing ponds within easy reach of the car park, but casting platforms are wheelchair-friendly. Those that have boat-fishing will often have “wheelie boats” – again wheelchair-friendly. These great places need support so please visit and enjoy great sport. The beautiful Grayling can be fished for during winter. Resident in rivers from the Tay and further south, the Grayling is a fantastic sport fish. Known as “The Lady of the Stream”, they are in peak condition during the winter. Often to be found in shoals, once located you can have some terrific sport. The methods used can be quite varied. Fly fishing with weighted nymphs or bugs is very effective. That said, I have caught these lovely fish on dries on a cold December day when nothing else worked. Trotting a single worm or maggot can be good.

The Tay, Tummel, Earn, Tweed and Clyde all welcome the Grayling angler. Moving on now to coarse fishing, of which there is loads available in Scotland. Top of the list is pike fishing. What a predator! These awesome fish can be found in many lochs such as Loch Awe, Loch Leven, and Loch Ken. Whilst these are large lochs, the pike themselves can be found in the margins next to weed beds, waiting to ambush their prey. The fish is perfectly built for camouflage and then for an explosive acceleration to attack its prey. Exciting stuff. My first experience of the fantastic predator was when I was ten or eleven. My pal, Peter, and I had heard about a small loch that had these fish in there. We pooled our resources and bought a wire trace (essential) and a lure. This represented a significant investment for us. Off we went and we managed to hook a huge fish (well, it seemed huge to us as we were used to catching wee burn trout).

Winter fishing, what’s the catch?

Photo by Alan Scott