One of my local rivers

[Dubbed Squirrel]

Originally Posted by JustMark

Nothing I like more than a good river scene other than a good pic of a good river scene. These are excellent.

Hi JustMark, I must say I love river scenes too. You get a good effect taking them, while you`re wading.I have some I`ve taken of fish from the river, before releasing them. The best way to keep a fish. Thanks for the comments too. Peter

[Baz T]

Love the photo's, the river looks great. Reminds me of when I was a young lad, living in a small village north of Glasgow, right out in the country, which had a nice trout stream running through it full of wild brown trout, biggest was a 1lb if you were lucky. Learnt to tie my own flies when 13/14yrs old, and used to spend hours down by the river, trying to catch those wily brownies. At weekends, or during summer hols I used to leave house at 0900 in the morning, fish all day, and come back for tea at 5pm, and out again fishing till 10 pm, and usually only caught 1 or 2 fish a day, if that! but I loved it.

[Dubbed Squirrel]

Hi Baz T, That wouldn`t be the Allander or the Glazert would it? I`ve fished both, knockout scenery and only a few miles from the centre of Glasgow too.
A 1lber is as good as a 3-4lber elsewhere, they`re some scrappers, twice as hairy if you`re using barbless hooks. Peter

[Baz T]

Hi Peter, Yep it was the Glazert, at Lennoxtown. Havent fished it since I was 16/17 years old (I am 53 now), as I left there at 16 and half,(1973) to join the Royal Navy, and shortly afterwards my parents moved. Used to go over to the Forth and Clyde canal just outside Kilsyth near Twechar for pike too. Used to cycle there with my mate, took us about an hour and half to cycle there! but we were young and full of energy. Also fished the trout burns up in the campsie hills at Lennoxtown, and out at Kilsyth. The burns would only be about 2ft wide but lots of trout hid under the banks so a freelined worm under the edges/banks used to catch em. I did hear the Glazer (or part of it) got poisoned/polluted by a farmer in the mid to late 70's, but I hope its back to normal by now. Used to be stuffed full of trout. The scenery was nice, as Lennoxtown was out in a valley between the campsie hills, and some other hills on the other side which werent as big. The old disused railway line used to run parallel with the river, and I used to spend half my life walking up and down there after the trout. Also used to fish Whitefield pond in Lennoxtown, which did have couple of bigger trout in there up to 2/3lb I think. Used to use a spinning rod, with a candle tied to the end of the line, or nowadays people would use a bubble float, with a couple of droppers with flies on them, and cast out to the middle of the pond. If we fancied dry fly fishing we would hold the rod up as high as we could as we reeled in slowly, and this would lift the droppers out the water and they would dance and skip along the surface. It was exciting seeing trout jumping out at the droppers, though difficult to hook em. If we wanted wet flies, just under surface, we held rod down as normal. Great Fun...
but I am sure the fly fishing purists wouldnt like it ..ha ha.. As you say it was great scenery, I used to have to fight my way through brambles, nettles, ferns sometimes to get to the bank..cuts, scratches, midges.....ha ha
Have looked up Lennoxtown, and the Glazert on google lately, and it really aint changed much, still a relatively small village, but I noticed some houses built down nearer the river at parts of the town. Its still got my old primary school there, which looks as if it came out of a Victorian tv drama, complete with bell/tower on the roof! Plus I noticed in a pic of whitefield pond a NO FISHING sign..what is that all about! My house near enough backed onto the pond/dam, and was handy for a quick hour or twos fishing..

[Dubbed Squirrel]

Hi Baz T, great post, I`m sure more than a few of us, can identify our initiation into the world of trout fishing, along similar lines. The Glazert is an important spawning water for salmon, bet that was unheard of in the 70`s. I think it`s off limits until the end of May now. Peter.
(Here`s a few fish from that part of the river, hope admin don`t mind).

[Dubbed Squirrel]

All of those fish were caught on barbless or debarbed hooks and released after photos were taken.Too good to be caught once. Peter.

[Baz T]

Nice pictures Peter, particularly the ones with the rod/reel next to them, and nice to see you put them all back to fight another day. I used to keep the odd fish for mothers tea, although the majority I caught were not big enough as keepers, so she didnt get that many !!!! ha ha. And admin shouldnt mind you posting pics etc as thats what the forum is all about. Keep us updated with your exploits, and keep taking (and posting) those photos of the river and fish. I was surprised to hear about the salmon spawning in Glazert. I am sure the Glazert runs into the Kelvin, which runs into the Clyde, so it is good news if they make it all the way up to the Glazert. I think the nearest salmon river to me at Lennoxtown was the River Kendrick (I think thats its name) over the other side of the Campsies at Fintry.
Baz

[Dubbed Squirrel]

Hi Baz T, the Kelvin, Allander and GLazert, are all important salmon spawning waters on the Clyde system. There`s talk of the River Kelvin Angling Association (RKAA) building a hatchery on the Glazert, after a commissioned habitat survey report has been studied. The RKAA AGM is tomorrow night, so I may know more by then. The fish get bigger and better each year on the system and c&r helps keep the cycle going. Peter

[Dubbed Squirrel]

AGM went well, new permits must have photo ID., which is a good thing. This is not:-

This is the contents of my fishing vest, unbelievable isn`t it? this season I`ve invested in a Snowbee waist pack, to cut down the amount I carry.What do you have in yours? Peter

[Baz T]

Wheres yer flask and piece and jam?