Spinning & Worm Fishing

Due to the nature of both the Cree and Bladnoch being spate rivers it is a good idea to have a spinning/ worm fishing rod for certain water conditions. The river Bladnoch will fish even in very high water (4.5ft water gauge  at 40 footer), and the only pools really to fish when the river is so high would be Ash Tree, and Market pool on Mochrum Park and above the weir or next to the Car park at Kirwaugh.

The best spinners for such occasions would be 20 – 28g Toby, 20 g Flying C or some of the deep running Rapalas. This would also be the case on the River Cree with the best high water pools being Castle bank, Slaughter house pool and the tail of the bridge pool. These spinners will also be suitable if the river height is between 2-3 ft, but as the river drops it would be a good idea to have 10- 15g toby’s and flying Cs.

Rapala lures work particularly well on both rivers when the height is between 1- 2.5 ft with 9cm and 11cm floating rapalas taking the most fish. Blue and silver and Black and silver seem to be the best colours, but tiger stripe rapalas and orange can work quite well if the river is about 2ft. It is a good idea to change the hooks on rapalas for something stronger.  On the  9 and 11cm raps we use  size 6 VMC extra strong and on the 5 and 7 cm raps we use a size 8 VMC extra strong.

If the river drops below 1 ft we still continue to fish rapalas with smaller 5 cm and 7 cm taking a good number of fish even in low warm summer conditions. The advantage of fishing a rapala is that the slower pools which are hard to fish with a fly can be fished and the action of the Lure can provoke a take. When fishing smaller Rapalas though it might be necessary to go down to 10lb line in order to cast them.

Other lures that work well are wooden devons, Tasmanian devils, Mepps and flying buck tails.

I use a 9ft  rod (10-40 g casting weight) which I find will cast all of the above lures. The most important aspect to spinning for Salmon is the reel and for this I use a shimano bait- runner well loaded with 12lb Maxima nylon.  For the lighter weight lures and worm fishing it is good idea to have another spool with 10lb line, and if you have three spools perhaps some 4 lb line for Sea Trout fishing. Most fixed spool spinning reels in the £30- £50 class will be suitable.

If the water conditions in the summer are very low and other methods are not producing any results it is a good idea to have some lob worms and Brandlings. This method works best on a 9or 10ft rod with 10-12lb maxima well loaded to the brim.