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Watch Reservoir
Situated in the Lammermuir Hills above Duns the Watch Reservoir offers a great day out for the angler who likes his or her fishing to be challenging.
Nestled
in the Lammermuir Hills on the Southern Upland way, Watch Reservoir offers
anglers an opportunity to pit there wits against wild brown trout and feral,
over wintered rainbows in as natural setting as you can hope for. Grouse call
out in the heather moor land, ducks and geese mooch about with curlew and oyster
catcher and ospreys call by for an occasional trout supper. The loch it's self
is over 120 acres in size, roughly triangular in shape with two narrow bays, one
to the left of the dam as you stand facing up the length of the loch, the other
at the opposite end of the loch from the dam, each bay with a small inflow
stream.
Watch has enough acreage and depth to give fish plenty of hiding places which means that many fish elude the angler and over winter well putting on weight and condition. The net result is what you want - fit, hard fighting fish, fully finned without that soft fatty tissue you get from new stew fed stockies. Within days of being stocked these fish are on a diet eating what nature intended, flushing their systems in pure clear water and needless to say they eat well.
While set in moor land some trees are in evidence providing shade
along the margins. Habitats for terrestrial insects to temp cruising trout into
the margins. The heather moors and expanse of sheep grassed grass offer further
breeding grounds for fly and insect life which must never be ignored when
fishing on such water. Fish are always cruising around looking for food blown
onto the water. The loch it's self has weed beds growing in the margins
providing habitats for aquatic life and there is a healthy population of perch
in the loch all of which adds up to opportunities to fish with traditional
flies, more modern nymphs, buzzers, hoppers and Klinkhammers as well as
attractors. Watch is a thinking anglers water, don't expect to stand in one spot
all day waiting for fish to come along. Watch requires that you hunt, observe
and
select flies carefully to suite the what the fish are feeding on.
On the day I visited the weather was mixed cloud and sunshine, about 10 degrees C. Fish were showing on the top, taking wind blown black flies. There was a slow, steady hatch of small green buzzers all afternoon. I set up a cast of black buzzer with a lime green butt, a little Peter Ross on the dropper and a Greenwells Glory on the bob. Fishing was slow to begin with as I worked the shore from the Lodge. As I moved away from the lodge the marginal shallows became more extensive providing sun warmed water in the shallows where fish were clearly enjoying the opportunity to swim in more temperate water. As I began to despair that I would move anything I got my first tickle just where George Renton the fishery manager said that cruising fish came into the shore. Being less than focused by this point I missed the fish, though I have to say in my own defence, the offer was more a tweak than a take. Moments later I redeemed my self when a solid hit came and the rod hammered over as I hit into and promptly lost an other fish. Fiddle sticks!
Ten minutes later another solid hit came and this time the fish stayed hooked, third time lucky as they say. What a fighter, the fish started with a lunge to deeper water and for the next few minutes ripped line off my reel as fast as I could retrieve it fighting way above it's weight. Eventually I slipped the net under a fin perfect fish of about 2lbs firmly hooked in the scissors which when release from the net took off at a heck of a rate of knots proving it had tonnes of fight left in it.
George Renton told me that the fishery record is for a rainbow of
about 17.5lbs which had been stocked for a competition. The fish failed to
oblige on the day and over wintered for a couple of years gaining little in
terms of weight but getting fit, lean and muscley. A salmon angler, washed of
his beat by high water, came by to do some trouting as an alternative and hooked
into the fish along the
bank opposite the lodge. George remembers watching the guy being run ragged by
the fish as it ripped line from the reel, seemingly tireless. In the end it
boiled down to who would tire first, the fish came a close second and was netted
in due course. Now the tale takes a rather poignant twist for the angler caught
up in the excitement of the moment whipped out his priest and killed to fish. On
meeting with the angler shortly after George was surprised to find the man was
far from over the moon, he was in fact close to tears, full of remorse and
regret for having acted in haste to kill the fish. He believed he should have
put the fish back. Nothing could consol the angler and he packed up and left the
fishery never to return, more to the point on his return to his hotel it is
understood he checked out, forgoing the remainder of his holiday, a case of
remorse in extreme. I confess I too have felt regret at taking some fish that,
on after thought, I would have preferred to release but never have I felt, or
heard of before, the level of remorse shown by this mystery angler who caught a
fish of a lifetime.
Watch Reservoir is without a doubt worth a visit or two. I will be back next month for the hawthorn fall which reportedly brings some good fish to the top and in the autumn when the fish will turn on the perch fry with a vengence. In it's depths there are some fine specimen rainbows to be had in Watch and I recon the perch fry feeding frenzy could be the time to pick a fight with a bigun. The loch hold many brownies averaging half to three quarters of a pound which are generally released it is stocked once a week with rainbows of about 2lbs ensuring that there is always action for the angler who is willing to hunt. The loch is big enough to take 30 anglers on the bank without any prospect of crowding and there are are some boats for hire. Permits can be had from the lodge when George is on hand or you can call him on 01361 890331 to make a booking for individuals or clubs and parties.
Watch Reservoir, a great place for a day out, take the family, have a barbie and chill to the sound of water lapping shores and birds calling in the hills. A great place for a days fishing.
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