Anyone any clues where i can fish for perch in my area (bathgate) as the perch population seems to have gone downhill in recent years.

I know that lilly loch near hillend has perch as does forrestburn near shotts, but i dont know that area too well,
However if the cumbernauld area aint too far i could put you onto plenty waters that have average to good sized perch.

union canal mate. or the clay hole at winchburgh if that isnt to far i'v had many perch and tench there .

Marky,

I used to fish the clay hole in Winchburgh many moons ago, it held some big Pike and Roach as well as tench and perch but then they tried to drain it and I stopped fishing the place. I'm assuming the info you give is more recent - does it still contain fish? If so I might get round to giving it a go again.

Norm

norm ,

I iv fished here afew times over the past 2 years as i was more into coarse fish than fly fishing . I think it was partially drained 4 or 5 years ago like you said. I however have caught in the past year , I usually set up for tench with sweetcorn but i have blanked the past couple of times but i'm sure that isnt the venue's fault But iv had plenty of roach /perch and pike recently , [ i find the bank at the railway is the best sport for all of the above]

That's not too far from me and I pass it every day on the train going in to work.

I'd never have even thought about fishing there, might give it a go though.

Every little bit of my quiet, lesser known fishing is being gradually taken away. Terrible thing the 'net.

dougie ,

how do you do when your there ? sorry if it was a secret , but it has to be said there are good tench in there !! iv got a couple of pics in my phone but usb cable has vanished


my secret place is larbert loch "the icy "as its known , contains pike and perch and a myth of tench
biggest perch iv had is 1lb 1oz. and iv seen a 14lb pike been taken !!!! but its full of bats at night and it gives me the creeps but its a gaurntee'd perch bag full . fish are great condition but it might be a bit too far from bathgate but even still it will only be about 30mins ? peace and quiet also

Rubbish. Waste of time. Nobody go.

haha sorry mate , u a pike man ?