Apologies to anybody who may be a little bewildered as to why this wee anecdote has appeared on this thread but it follows on to a similar one on the Nith but not really relevant there.
In the 80s and 90s the Earn was famous for huge back end fish and it was a goto destination for anglers all over the Central belt.
At that time I was privileged to have access to Coqhualzie beat owned at the time by Frank Thomson who had an Ironmongers and sporting equipment shop in Crieff. I was introduced to Frank by a friend, Ian Bennett who was ABU rep and sold tackle to Frank, Ian also fished the beat.
One late September day myself and my brother were spinning in the deep holding pool above the weir. I was using my new 6001 LHW multiplier and a 23/4 inch metal brown / gold devon. At that time, most anglers either moulded aluminium devons themselves or knew someone who did. It was simply the most popular and successful bait on the Earn in highish water conditions.
Which it was that day, just over 2 feet of water and clean.
The pool has around 150 yards of fishable water upstream from the weir until you reach trees which are impossible to get beyond.
Standard practice was to spin or worm all the way down to the weir which I had done and threw a final cast before moving on.
The devon stopped mid stream. It was solid and immovable, So, thumb on spool and tension cranked up I walked backwards putting full on strain onto the 20lb Maxima. Something moved ever so slightly so I'm thinking that I had hooked a sunken branch.
So, wind up tight again and repeat. I repeated this 6 times, each time gaining a few inches but still none the wiser until the "branch" moved upstream a yard. My brother and I exchanged surprised looks and a "no, it couldn't be" kind of glance.
More pressure and up it moved again, a little further this time but settled back down into an immovable position.
Long story short, after 40 minutes of gaining inches, the fish got thoroughly pissed off and decided to head upstream in a slow and deliberate pace. I could do absolutely nothing about it and, as it approached the tree line, I cranked the tension up to maximum and bent solidly into it, trying my best to turn it.
Now, I'm no stranger to big fish and the Earn at that time had plenty, but this was something else.


It just continued upstream, peeling line off the reel as if it was free spooling untill it reached the garden pool some 120 yards above me. By that time , so much drowned line, intense pressure and back came the devon with the hooks completely mangled.
We never saw that fish.

My brother still talks about it to this day, how the veins were sticking out in my neck trying to turn it.
Anyway, next evening, I got a phone call from Ian Bennett who had just returned from fishing the next beat above the one I had been fishing.
"Tam", he said, "you're not going to believe this, but today, only a few feet from me, a huge fish nosed and tailed twice. It was enormous, easily 50lbs!!!" Ian had several big fish over 30lbs and a couple of 40s to his credit. He knew what he was seeing.
I, meanwhile, was on the floor in the fetal position, sobbing inconsolably.
