Holmhead Weir Kilbirnie

This afternoon I was back in the Garnock Valley crossing a few t’s and dotting the i’s before I submit a report to a client. Once I’d finished my work, I stopped off at the Holmhead Weir in the town to see if I could see fish moving over it....

Black Rocks and Dean ford

I dropped in at the Black Rocks in Kilmarnock before heading to Dean Ford to see what progress had been made since my last visit. Black Rocks was in good flow and it wasn’t long before I saw a salmon leap at the falls. I didn’t have long but saw several...

Fish pass flow control

Apart from the problems with access to the fish pass at Catrine, there still remained the problem of controlling the flow to ensure the pass operated within its design capacity. For around 30 years the pass didn’t perform that well as apart from the other design...

Doon Fencing

Our fencing contractor is installing fencing in the Doon catchment at the moment. The River Doon DSFB agreed to fund a considerable percentage of the cost of this fencing to improve habitat and hopefully fish populations. In the long term, this should also deliver...

Catrine Dam

Further to a meeting with SEPA yesterday, I again met their representative at the dam this morning along with someone from CCT. Water levels were dropping and it was prudent to recheck the fish pass operation before instructing CCT to make further improvements as we...

Catrine Dam in spate (UPDATED)

Well rain came eventually and all rivers have risen into spate. Lets hope the fish come in quickly and fishing next week is good. I went to Catrine today to see how the completed dam looked in spate. It isn’t the biggest spate in the world and we could normally...