Fishing: Angling put off by flood waters

Dec 3 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

NOVEMBER proved to be a difficult month for anglers at Bangour Trout Fishery due to the wet and wild West Lothian weather.

The start of the month brought a huge flood that coloured the water and put the fish off for a few days and just as the water cleared the rain arrived and coloured the water again.

Unfortunately this was the pattern for the whole month, which coupled with very high winds made angling difficult. But the anglers who braved the conditions actually did well, with loads of the bigger fish featuring in the returns as they probably tried to ready themselves for the winter.

There were six doubles caught in two days with some of the bigger fish of the month being a 15lb 4oz rainbow for Edinburgh angler Douglas Gribble, a 15lb rainbow for local angler Jerry Patrick and a 13lb 8oz rainbow for Mid Calder angler Nigel Muckle.

The big fish board for the month showed 41 fish between 5lb and 15lb 4oz with an average weight of 3lb 7oz.

The best tactics in the last week proved to be floating and intermediate lines and small lures. Best colours proved to be black and green, dark olive and silver.

Last weekend also saw Bangour host their end-of-season competition.

In first place was Airdrie angler Billy Watterson who took top prize after landing four fish for 19lb 9oz.

The heaviest fish of the day was caught by Mid Calder angler Nigel Muckle with a 13lb 8oz rainbow.

The total bag was 26 anglers with 78 fish, 62 killed for 229lb which gave an average weight of 3lb 7oz.

The average weight of a rainbow for the entire 2009 season was also 3lb 7oz.

The fishery would like to thank all the anglers who visited Bangour in the 2009 season and they look forward to seeing everyone back again in 2010.