“On Smithston, fishing for trout, I saw a splash in a small run called the Scoot Hole and, tying on a half inch Stoat’s Tail I took the fish in low water conditions in August, typical of the new fly fishing for the new age”
From ‘A River Within’ by W.B Currie
While the Smithston Fishings Club is principally a salmon fishing club, the River Doon downstream from Patna to the Boreland Glen offers wonderful opportunities for trout fishing – with both dry and wet flies.
The river is home to many wild fish and ‘monsters’ lurk in some of the deeper pools. Visitor Tickets are available at a very reasonable cost and anglers are allowed to fish Top, Middle and Bottom beats in cooperation with the salmon fishermen – with two anglers (whether for trout or salmon) on each of the three beats.
The fishing season for brown trout is from 15th March to 6th October inclusive, subject to any local rules in place. Trout day tickets are available until the end of June, and this allows trout fishermen to enjoy the river for a fair proportion of the year. Sport can be particularly good in April, May and June and, with trout rising to the dry fly and taking wet flies right into the summer.
Davie McPhail’s wonderful videos on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/DavieMcPhail) offer a real sense of the flies and techniques that might be successful and the potential rewards of fishing The Doon and other Ayrshire rivers.