River Carron Permits

Head Bailiff Tel 01324 622815

Jack McWatt Fishing Tackle

50 North Main Street
Carronshore
FalkirkTel: 01324 570595                 

Fax: 01324 570595

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     River Carron Falkirk OS MAP 56-57

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 Mij on the Carron 03/09/06

 

The much needed rain has finally arrived and water levels are rising, spent some time at the weir on Sat 2nd and fish were showing trying to get upstream, with more rain forecast for the next few days there should be plenty fresh fish coming up the river so the conditions are perfect at the moment to catch a silver tourist, remember that these are limited to a take home limit of two a day! Parking is at a premium at these times so don’t be surprised to find dozens of cars parked at the access points? If water levels are very high give the spinning gear a go-tobys and condoms are generally a good bet whilst i also like to fling the older style devons, give it a go and tightlines to all. 

 

Mij on the Carron 31/08/06

 

First report for a while, have not managed that much in the way of fishing this summer but have managed a few sessions over the last week or ten days.  Water levels have been very poor for sometime now and any rain we have had has not been enough to make any difference to the river.  The last of this years stocking went in around the 23rd August.  I believe around 170 fish of no less than 10 inches were stocked, these were put in at several locations those being the most regularly fished and most accessible points, these are likely to have been at the viaduct, Redgates, Rechem, Poofs pool, Headswood, Horsemill, Whinchester industrial estate at Denny and the Anchor pool. Fishing seems to be best in the evenings once the sun has started to be less of an issue, water temp is still quite high and fish are reluctant to do much during the day. On the salmon front there are few reports of them being taken but there will be some in the system, the majority will still be in the estuary waiting for a decent rise in the water level before heading upstream, so be prepared to get down at the drop of a hat once there is a proper downpour.  Went there this morning [Aug 31st] but the rainfall overnight has not really made any difference to the water levels. Be warned that bailiffs are checking permits regularly and this will be even more so once the main run of salmon enter the river, its worth remembering they are only doing there best to look after the river and its precious contents, so don’t give them any hassle.  Permits are dirt cheap for a day or the season.

 

Mij on the Carron 02/07/06

 

Sorry about the delay, missed a week of the fishing with a back injury but have managed to wet a line this week-water levels have been very low but this may have improved with all of today’s rain-good chance that a fair few salmon will have entered the river so don’t be surprised to see a load of cars parked up at all the access points tomorrow, the problem wi the Carron is that it returns to bare bones levels in just over 24 hours so the much needed water could be gone by Tuesday unless it keeps raining. there should be a decent head of sea trout in the river at this time as well, have not managed to catch any or see any despite devoting a couple of sessions to their pursuit, does not mean they are not there though, so its another thing worth considering if your going down the Carron! Brownies have been caught on every outing and the size has improved as the season has gone on, plenty fish in the half pound class and a good few well over the pound mark. Spiders not coping so well now and the slightly more dressed fly is now doing the business still in black pennels, Blae an black, peacock spiders, daiwal Bach, on the wet fly front, Adams an Wulff still doing alright on the dries as is the old favourite klinkhammers, hope to have better news on the salmon front next report but who can tell if it was that easy they would call it catching an no fishing, always worth trying a big bunch of worms when the water is high and coloured Condoms.  Tightlines.

 

Mij on the Carron 12/06/06

 

 

Well what is happening? never managed to wet a line over the last week due to pressure of other commitments, went out last night (mon)around 9 o’clock hit the viaduct stretch caught two brownies one at the pound and a half mark easy-lost two other good fish one of which took me right into the backing before throwing the hook so a good spot of sport, water levels have been really poor of late but some rain yesterday brought the river up a good deal and with it came a run of salmon don’t know if anybody landed one but the profusion of cars at the viaduct shows that people were trying-I certainly saw fish showing couldn’t say if it was the same very active fish or several different fish but I was wishing I had taken some gear suited to trying to trap a silver tourist, might give it a bash tonight wife permitting? More rain should improve things on the salmon front; no more rain will see the river levels drop again quickly. If pursuing salmon you cant beat the cascade fly at the moment but I would fish it small on a size eight or ten double-spinning can also do the business with condoms a good bet but again I would step down the size 15g or less if you make them yourself and of course I love the floating Devon minnows. For the trout fishing caddis patterns are doing well at the moment, spiders always work vary the colours to suit the predominant colour of the insects around the water surface-grey and brown seem to be a good bet but this can change ,try tying in white for caenis times 16 or 18 hooks with only a few turns of thread for a body and a short hen hackle-try using **** hackle and fish it dry, so the river is fishing well at the moment avoid the brightest parts of the day if you want to catch fish late evening being the best bet an right into dark if you want to try for sea trout. Hope to have added a salmon to these years’ stats in time for next weeks report which will be on time, cheers and tight lines.

 

 

Mij on the Carron 06/06/06

 

Managed a few sessions this week, mainly late evenings from about 8pm, the river is fishing reasonably well but water levels are dropping daily with the lack of rain with no water coming out of the dam to top it up, black spider still fishing well for me at the moment as is a grey spider tied Tummel style-with only as few as six wraps of thread for the body. Despite there being prolific amounts of fly life I have seen few fish rising and so for me dry fly action has been limited-perhaps I am just not there at the right times? Caught plenty of fish over the week and this includes a fine brownie of around a pound and a half and a nice sea trout of around 3/4 lb.  Worming for salmon and sea trout is back in season from the beginning of June until toward the end of August, on the down side some worrying reports of trouble out the Denny way two anglers on separate occasions have allegedly been assaulted and liberated of there fishing equipment-the perpetrators thought to be from the gypsy camp but local police don’t seem that interested, also one of the bailiffs attacked by a pack of dogs again in the stretch at the pike camp-sustained some bites and a badly torn pair of waders-none of these incidents involved junior anglers so everyone should be cautious when fishing these stretches, I am certainly not going to let these incidents stop me from fishing some of the magnificent fly water in these areas, but I am a bit more wary-anyway tightlines to all and take care out there.

 

Mij on the Carron Report 28th. May 2006

 

Sorry for the delay, river levels up and down this week with all the rain; reports of three salmon taken in the last week-never witnessed any of them myself but certainly we are about time when early Carron salmon start to return with the majority coming toward the end of the season-so its worth checking out the weir for signs of fish moving upstream; seatrout also reported to be in the system now again check out the weir at the viaduct for signs of activity.  A new stocking of brownies went in this week so this should improve prospects for anglers, there are certainly mayfly coming off at present and this can give some great sport on the dry fly-only managed to fish the once this week on Saturday morning took sixteen on the wet blackspider size 16-18-so there is no better time to be giving the Carron a go with the chance of something other than just a broonie-tightlines.

 

Mij 0n the Carron 13^th May 2006

 

Fished last evening for a couple of hours an again this morning with some success but nothing too startling, caught my first river Carron rainbow this morning from the p**fs pool: River levels are really low at the moment and the water is surprisingly coloured-the dry fly time is well and truly upon us the usual hatches of olives are present along with the start of the mayfly an also caenis are coming off, give the grey wulff a try or an Adams I have even had a few fish off the klinkhammer, a great fly for prospecting broken water-if the fish aren’t rising give the black spider wet style a try! Good areas at the moment are still at the crematorium and down stream from there, the next stocking is due anytime now and this should improve fishing chances; haven’t heard anything about a big salmon catch.

 

Mij on the Carron 06/05/06

 

Latest tales from the riverbank, had a couple of hours on Friday evening and another couple on sat morning another 10 fish added to the Mij total, mostly falling to black spider with a few taken on Diawl Bach, of the hot orange variety-sizes, 14-16, beginning to get some better sized fish but I am still of the opinion that its a poor year so far on the river, hatches most days of various insects with dark olives still dominant. There are reports of rainbows on the river. I heard tell of one angler taking a 4lb rainbow from the mill pool at Denny. Anglers are reminded that all rainbows should be killed no matter there size as they are well capable of destroying the resident/wild fish population. A fresh stocking is due at the end of May and this should improve sport, best stretches at the moment seem to be as far down as the crematorium and at Carronshore-they thinking being that the early stocked fish were washed right downstream with the early season high water; so advice remains keep it small and black with the wets and be ready for a quick change to dry when the hatch comes on

Report 03/05/06 Mij on the Carron

Report 27/04/06 Mij on the Carron

Yes indeed folks dry fly time is upon us, if you can find a fish to target! Tally up to four now the last three all being taken on dry -a ginger quill size 14 from the viaduct stretch.

There appears to be several hatches coming off a day, though these are still of a short duration, large dark olives would best describe the beasts in question.

 As regard to the pollution scare the SEPA results apparently say not-so.

 If this is an accurate report, why are there so few fish being caught? or even spotted rising? It seems we will never know for sure but some suspicions will remain, there will still be another couple of stockings this season so sport should improve yet.

So this weeks advice give the dry fly a blast look for rising fish and terget them -in my opinion the most exciting form of our sport.

Report for 20/04/06 Mij

The carron air temp beginning to improve as is water temps bringing about short term hatches of fly life on a localised basis but some fish are seen showing, these though are few and far between, catch rates are still very poor unfortunately.

There are unconfirmed reports of raw sewage being allowed to enter the river and SEPA are reported to have taken water samples for analysis, possibly the cause of such poor fishing returns.

 As to the results of analysis its hard to say if we will ever be informed as a nagative is unlikely to be good publicity for the river; on a more positive note caught my first brownie of the season of a takeable size at the stretch at the back of the caravan park at Denny on a small black prince nymph, so keep trying keep it small keep it blackish? 

Best fishing seems to be around the middle of the day, look forward to hatches becoming more frequent and longer lasting as Mayfly time is rapidly approaching.

(Mij on Holiday) report for week ending 02/04/06  

The water has beeen running high over the last week or so and the water is brown in colour, No news of any Salmon or Brown trout taken but a few Brown trout have fallen to the Kingfisher butcher size 12s . Mij is hoping for better conditions on his return from Holiday and a few fish.