Endrick

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Ian
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Endrick

Post by Ian »

At last Steph and I get a few hours on the river endrick and it was a bit of a hit and miss day,as although we caught 29lb of fish,it could have been so much better.
Firstly,we took the wrong road,more like a beaten track and at one point the exhaust cover was almost ripped off.no wonder the deer standing in the middle of the road was staring at us in wonderment,all we needed was Chris rea's road to hell playing on the radio.
eventually we reached the old iron bridge and quickly got out the car to survey the river and look for fish topping.the river was holding a good bit of water and was nicely coloured,just what we expected after the week of rain we had.we were desperate for any indications the roach had arrived and it didn't take long for us to spot a few in the early morning sunshine.
we hurried back to the car to get our gear,rods,reels,bait,seats,sandwiches.oh no,where's my packed lunch,a sudden feeling of dread washed over me as I realised I had made lunch but didn't pack it.we were miles from civilisation and I had 12 foodless hours in front of me,if only I had known before we saw that deer.
After The faint feeling left me it was a case of onwards and upwards and down to our chosen swims we went.
I chose the swim just up from the bridge for a few reasons,firstly there was a tree overhanging into the water on the far bank,the swim was about 10ft deep and the most important reason,I'm a lazy b.....d,haha.no seriously,us traditional fishermen just know the right swim,a lot of yous will learn this as yous get older,ha.
I Put 3 balls of ground bait in over the far bank just up stream of the overhanging tree hoping to pull the fish out from under it.
First cast,first roach of the day about 6oz,second cast and I missed the bite and that was the pattern for the next few hours with twice as many missed as I caught.
I tried everything in the book to hook more fish,I was on a size 16 hook,then a 14,which are small for me.i tried different sized hook lengths from 2lb to 4lb and then different rig set ups.i eventually settled on a size 12 barbless and 4lb hook length as the water was still pretty coloured,but it was still hit and miss stuff.
Into the afternoon and low and behold the wind picked up and it's never a mild wind up here in Scotland.the fish simply didn't like it and it was very sporadic for the next couple of hours with a bite here and there.come 3 o'clock Steph came down to join me in the swim just upstream from me and proceeded to put ground bait mixed with soil in like he was stoking a steam engine,that's the swim killed now I thought but after about 20 minutes he caught a roach and not a bad one,not far off the magical pound mark.
The colour started to drop out the water around 5 o'clock and now we were facing the impending onslaught from mr pike.i had my keepnet in the side facing upstream,but by the time those pike were finished it was facing downstream.pike after pike were having a go at my keepnet and to make things worse I never had my pike gear with me,neither did Steph.
The roach were they're one minute and gone the next.
Every now and then a good fish would top on the surface and I know they were big roach.
With the colour dropping out the water,the cold wind blowing and the pike on the hunt we didn't hold out much hope for the last few hours so Steph moved on to the float and that was the right move as he proceeded to catch perch after perch and they were all nice fish around the half pound to pound stamp.i was happy to see someone was catching as I reeled in another sucked maggot.
At last come 8 o'clock the pike had ate all they could eat from the rivers larder and the perch too had calmed down.things were quiet for a time when steph's tip swung round and he said those words of surprise"oh what's this",I looked at his rod tip as we all do,trying to gauge how big it was.judging by the head shakes it wasn't a small roach.a minute later a lovely big bream came to the net,5lb11oz and that was the highlight of this very erratic day.
Sunset was nearing,the wind had dropped and everything went quiet with only the odd big fish topping on the surface here and there,the endrick had yielded all it was going to and it was time to pack up for home but we left with a smile,realising we had actually caught 6 different species with roach,perch,dace,bream,roach/bream hybrids and an eel all making an appearance.
being a tributary to Loch Lomond which has big shoals of big fish and monsterous pike you just don't know what size and number of fish will enter the river and that's the beauty of the endrick.cant wait til next week.
by the way,just in case I've left any of yous hanging,I left my bag of grub in the garden and luckily the Mrs found it and put it in the fridge,along with the flask!!!!!!!!!!.

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Don’t cast doubt,cast out.

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Tengisgol
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Re: Endrick

Post by Tengisgol »

That's a great write up - I am very excited to hear tales of the Endrick roach, please do keep us updated.
Where the willows meet the water...

https://sites.google.com/site/tengisgol/

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LuckyLuca
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Re: Endrick

Post by LuckyLuca »

Lovely looking stretch of water. Well worth the "road from hell"
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete.

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Ian
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Re: Endrick

Post by Ian »

Tengisgol wrote:That's a great write up - I am very excited to hear tales of the Endrick roach, please do keep us updated.
I will do bud
Don’t cast doubt,cast out.

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Paul F
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Re: Endrick

Post by Paul F »

Is there no close season on the river?

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Ian
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Re: Endrick

Post by Ian »

Pafpuff wrote:Is there no close season on the river?
No close season in Scotland,basically there's no coarse fishing rules in Scotland.there are a few serious coarse fishermen up here but nothing compared to down south.most guys will chuck out a pike bait or a bunch of maggots on a bomb with 8lb line and wait,suits me.thats why the roach fishing is so good up here pafpuff.
Don’t cast doubt,cast out.

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