The Tweed Trout & Grayling Initiative (TTGI) continued its involvement with TweedStart* on Saturday 19th July with a free Angling Open Day held at the Kailzie Fishery near Peebles. Funded by the Peeblesshire Trout Fishing Association, the day was aimed at youngsters but was open to anyone wanting to try fishing for the first time.


Youngsters try their luck fishing at the Kailzie Fishery as part of the Open Day

Present on the day were Eoin Fairgrieve (casting instructor and TweedStart founder), Steve Culbert and Alan Maughan (casting instructors), Jimmy Barrett (Kailzie Fishery Manager), Kenny Annand (volunteer from the Peeblesshire Trout Fishing Association) and Kenny Galt (TTGI Biologist and TweedStart education advisor). Despite the poor weather (which was very poor at times) young aspiring anglers turned up throughout the afternoon and were introduced to the invertebrate life of ponds and lochs and how they relate to angling by Kenny Galt. This was followed by fly tying demonstrations from Steve Culbert and Alan Maughan, with some children getting to try fly tying for the first time. The children finished their afternoon by learning how to fly fish by one of the instructors, with some youngsters even managing to catch their first trout!

The day was a great success with around 35 youngsters introduced to fly fishing (a good turn out considering the weather) and all local youngsters who attended were given a season ticket for the Peeblesshire Trout Fishing Association. Hopefully these youngsters will be seen on the banks of the River Tweed around Peebles in the future.

*TweedStart is an initiative that introduces Border youngsters to angling, run by local casting instructor Eoin Fairgrieve.

More information about the Tweed Trout & Grayling Initiative can be found here: TTGI

Further information about TweedStart is available from the TweedStart website