A relaxing afternoon drowning maggots.

For a little change yesterday I headed to Livingston to drown maggots in Eliburn Reservoir with Keith. We arrived at about noon and fished a peg near the dam end of the venue. I plumbed the depth a rod length out and set my #20 hook ten feet below my waggler so my bait would be on the bottom and started fishing. Keith fished his maggots a few feet off the bottom to see what was further up in the water column. The bulk of my shot went directly under my float so that the maggot would slowly fall through the water column so I could get takes on the drop. It was quite a sunny day and after feeding the swim with a few maggots every five minutes we were both soon getting bites and catching fish and after Keith caught a couple of roach I got my first fish of the session, a gudgeon, which was a new species for me.

Lovely little fish with beautiful colours that photos don't really do justice to.

A downturned mouth with two barbules underneath that it uses for seeking food amongst the debris on the bottom.

I then caught a couple of roach and Keith commented that he was surprised we hadn't caught a perch yet. Right on cue his float went under and he soon had rectified that situation!

One of my roach. Very pretty fish indeed.

Speak of the devil and a spiky little fish with attitude doth appear!

We carried on fishing, Keith catching roach and perch whilst I caught a string of gudgeon off the bottom. Then we spotted a few larger fish cruising just below the surface and after a quick adjustment to the depth setting of our floats we were soon trying to catch them. Keith thought they could be ide so I was quite excited as I've never caught one before. We both missed a few bites as the fish circled hoovering up the free maggots as we tossed them in yet managing to avoid our hook baits for a bit before we finally hooked a few of what turned out to be more, slightly bigger roach. 

Another lovely silver roach in great condition.

Before we left we fished at the top end of the reservoir for thirty minutes where the burn flows in. The supply of food being washed in was obviously a draw for the perch population as our first three casts produced three of them.

The view from the small bridge at the top end. Plenty of small perch lurk at this end of the reservoir.

A few more roach were caught too before we headed off. A quite relaxing and very enjoyable days fishing and I'd certainly like to catch a few of the other species that the venue holds so will certainly be back.

Tight lines, Scott.