[Dave Mundie]

Just got home from Cruden Bay and as we were aproaching bridge end there was a pond on your left and lots of plastic tanks, did this used to be a hatchery/fishery?

Dave

[PDScott]

Dave,
The son of the family who live/lived in the house you saw, trained in Inverness (if my memory serves me) in Fishery Management / Rearing and then started his own hatchery but it must be 5 years or more since I have seen any evidence of fish-rearing going on. They did use the pond as a fishery but, again if my memory serves me, they had a problem with the burn overflowing into the pond. I often wonder if the young lad is still involved in fish rearing.
Peter

[Dave Mundie]

  Peter i just wondered what it was about looking at it you'b be right it must be at least 5 years since the tanks mst have been used but around the pond seems to be tidy.

Dave

[Gary]

My older brother used to fish there when it was a fishery.  That was some years ago now.  I got speaking to the guy about a year ago and asked why it was no longer in use.  He said that every time he introduced trout to the water it weeded up something rotten.  I got the impression that he was hoping to reopen at some point when he sorted the problem.

You are right about the burn.  It did overflow at least once and flooded the area which i'm sure didn't help.

Gary.

[m stewart]

The Troutfarm was known as The Bishops Bridge Fish Farm after the crooked bridge beside it spanning the Cruden Burn.  They had a pond dug out and it was run as a fishery for a short time.  It was too shallow and weeded up easily.  My family used to own the land where the fish farm is sited.  Most winters huge spates used to come down the burn and engulf that entire area in water.  In the sixties the burn supported a healthy head of Brownies.  They averaged around the half lb. mark with trout of 1 lb. not uncommon.  After a spate fish of one and a half to two lbs. could sometimes be angled out.  In a summers evening we would shake a overhanging willow branch and fifty flies would drop on the water.  The resultant rise downstream would be like throwing a handful of pellets into a Rainbow stew pond.  An image imprinted for ever on my mind.  The burn now looks a shadow of its former self but the bridge still looks the same.