Fraser on Fishing: New stocks give Leadburn anglers a weighty return

WHAT a difference fresh stocks and a little rain can make to a fishery.

At Leadburn Manor anglers are being treated to fish up to double figures in weight but, when I arrived, it was fairly quiet. However, as one angler said: "I hope it stays this way so I can get all these fish to myself!"

I was immediately amazed by the number of fish that were rising so I opted to start off with a floating line and a team of Buzzers.

I got offers and tugs but no fish and it wasn't until I looked around that the penny dropped. Masses of tadpoles were swimming around the margins of the water.

You could actually see the trout barging into them before returning to scoop them up.

I changed to a single tadpole pattern on a long leader and used a slow but jerky retrieve. I was hit by what felt like a train and, when I brought the line in, it turned out I had been broken.

So I tied up another cast and started again. Two casts later and I hooked into another fish. This time it stayed on and what a scrap it put up. It was not a big fish but still around 4lbs.

Moving around and covering all the water I managed to pick up a further three fish before my rod broke and I was left to rue my luck on what was shaping up as a memorable day.

However, I did get a glimpse of a fish which I reckon must have been close to 20lb in the bottom corner of the loch and I will be back very soon to try for it...