After lunch, we headed to an unnamed burn near Rankinston at the top of the Coyle system. This is a cracking wee burn that doesn’t appear to suffer from overgrazing or diffuse pollution. Conductivity was low (for Ayrshire) at 94 micro siemens and this indicates that few inputs reach the burn.The gradient was steep but trout have access and we found fry and parr and a single adult in the stretch we fished. The farmer was surprised that we fish were present, but the habitat was excellent and water quality ideal and I wasn’t surprised at all. A great viaduct spanned the valley above the site.
A lovely woodland site with an immense viaduct above.
We were joined by Joni, a pupil from a local secondary school who will be with us for 1 week on work experience. This was Joni’s first experience of fishing and I think she enjoyed it. Her dad is across the pond at the moment fishing the Great Lakes so I hope she will have at least equaled his catch for the day.
Joni and Struan taking the nets down after fishing the site.
