by Stuart Brabbs | Jul 18, 2011 | General
I was given a couple of trout from the River Ayr to compare yesterday. Both came from the same stretch near Failford and were almost identical size at about 13″. The captor complained that one of the trout fought like a ‘Goldfish’ while the other...
by Stuart Brabbs | Jul 15, 2011 | Electrofishing
With the assistance of Tommy Thomson, the River Superintendent, we surveyed eight sites on the Water of Girvan today, starting at Tairlaw Bridge, close to the upper limit of natural salmon access. We found good numbers of salmon fry here and they were significantly...
by Stuart Brabbs | Jul 15, 2011 | Conservation
The nice spell of dry weather provided excellent conditions for the work on the lower Girvan Dykes weir. The concrete works is now finished and the weir was opened today. The river was -1″ on the gauge today, about as low as it normally gets, but there was...
by Stuart Brabbs | Jul 13, 2011 | Electrofishing
The full team was out today for our first day electrofishing of the year. We completed 11 timed sites on the River Doon, starting at Doonfoot and finishing at Ness Glen. We fish the same sites each year and we have nine years data now for the Doon so we can start to...
by Stuart Brabbs | Jul 12, 2011 | General
After a fair bit of negotiation with Glasgow Prestwick Airport, ART finally gained access to spray the few giant hogweed plants that had developed within the perimiter fence. The Ladykirk Burn and the Sandyford Burn meet on the east side of the airfield before being...
by Stuart Brabbs | Jul 7, 2011 | General
I had a quick visit back to Girvan today to meet the contractors. Rising river levels had put a stop to any work today but provided ideal conditions for fish to run. Quite a few salmon and sea trout were seen using the new fish pass, including small sea trout under...