I went down bright and early for the opening day of this new fishery. Spot the deliberate mistake - It is Willowgate Fishery not Willowbank!

Took a four hour catch and release ticket (£15) and started at 8.15. Had a fish first cast on a slow glass and black rabbit and another two within the next 10 minutes on the same fly. I then had a double hook-up and got broken so I switched to using just the black rabbit on its own. Tried a variety of different methods - had fish on blobs and buzzers under the bung but the best flies for me were the black rabbit and a 'kick-ass' damsel.

I worked my way round the fishery and caught steadily for the first couple of hours, catching from every peg I fished. I packed in at 11.15 with an hour of my ticket left - my arm was literally aching and my landing net was knackered. Finished with 31 fish, mostly in the 2-3lb class with the odd 4 pounder and one particularly good one estimated at 12lb+. My mate took a photo of the biggie which I will post when he e-mails it to me.

The fishery is well laid out with 40 numbered pegs. One side is wheelchair accessible and there was a wheelchair user fishing today. The lodge is really nice and has a traditional feel to it. The tackle shop is limited but has a good selection of flies from Highland Flies and other bits and pieces you might need like fluoro etc.

Well worth a visit.

i was there today and tought it was agreat we place, we finished with 4 around the 2lb mark and lost a good few on yellow and coral dancers i will defo be back

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first divison champs!!!!!

St johnstone Fc

I went for look the on sat and i was impressed with the facilities but the amount of weed was a concern. I would have thought that i new fishery openning its door for the first time would have cut back the weed before openning. I will reserve overall judgment on the fishery but compared to the amount of work the boys up at Newton trout fishery of removing the weed and clearing the banks and getting the fishery ready for openning soon i think it might put anglers off. A little bit of weed is no bad thing but come summer time next year this could be big problem.

Graeme

Graeme thanks for your intrest in our new fishery it has been a long fun two years of my time building it. With reference to the weed I didnt recieve any complaints from the anglers but we do realise that weed can be a infuirance for anglers, which is why we spent over 4 weeks removing the weed from all the fishing areas and leaving weed in non fishable areas to maximise invertibrates and help with oxygenation. Rest assured we will do everything to make sure the visiting angler will have an enjoyable time.
ps we also have purchased a weed boat which we will use in the spring and summer months.
David
http://www.taysalmon.co.uk/willowgate.php

hi david i have to agree the weed made no difrence to our fishing which we found most enjoyable, will you be putting a weekly report on this site or the tay salmon website??

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first divison champs!!!!!

St johnstone Fc

HI Bobz
Iam new to this forum and dont want to break any advertising rules but if the administrators allow I will happily post weekly reports
Thanks again for your buisness and look forward to seing you again soon
Dave

Is it closed Monday and Tuesday?

Yes only open weds to sun

hi all i was down today and had 6 on various lures all fish were great sport

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first divison champs!!!!!

St johnstone Fc

I fished willowgate today and the weed was not nearly as bad as i thought it would be. Plenty of fish, i had at least 15/16 fish ,2 over 6 lbs and 3 around the 3 to 4 lbs mark on blobs, dancers, damsels, cormorants. I was impressed with the quality of the fish and after speaking to the owner i think the future is bright for this place. Good bacon rolls.