Fishing Reports

Well the rain appears to have arrived in good quantities again during Wednesday’s downpour. Hopefully the river anglers will forget about all the frustrations and frayed tempers and get out and do some serious fishing now that the water levels are up where most anglers want them!

The River Leven was busy on Monday with plenty of anglers out hoping that with the Barrage gates now fully open the fish would be there for the taking. Unfortunatley the water was coloured for quite a bit and then cleared but overall Monday was a big dissappointment to some anglers. The loch lomond system is not a large system so sport is dependent on getting a run of fish into the river that particular day. With the weekend water slightly higher than normal and suitable tides it is likely that the fish had already went through on the first high tide in the early hours of Saturday morning hence the seven fish off the combined loch and river on Saturday!

With the now excellent water levelsTuesday passed off fairly quietly as well, sufficient no doubt to frustrate enough anglers to give the river a miss on the Wednesday. In typical Leven fashion at least four fish were caught on the Wednesday. Gordon Pollock had one at 9lbs, Andrew Leadbetter a 4lbs grilse on the fly and a 5lbs grilse tailed out by Andrew but we never got the anglers name and another double figure fish was landed at the Bonhill Bridge pool. Grilse are being seen in the river so prospects look fine for the weekend.

An angler fishes the run in to the Bonhill Bridge pool on Thursday afternoon. 

It is likely that more fish will start to come off the leven over the next few days. The river is weel worth a visit or two and with the superb streamy flows it is an absolute delight to fish with the big salmon fly rod spey casting down the pools and streams.

Others still spin the river with a variety of lures with the flying C being particularly effective.

This extra rain might not please the sea trout anglers on the river leven given that the sea trout runs should really start to be arriving soon. One mans loss is anothers gain so the loch angler could enjoy some exciting fly fishing with fresh sea trout over the coming weeks, weather permitting.

The extra rain over the weekend did not appear to entice many early fish into the Endrick. The water was very dirty though which tends to put fish off until several more spates follows. We were hard at it on Monday and Tuesday removing the trees at Drumtian. Aftere a lot of effort we finally got the last tree removed from one of the main pools. A sea trout of about 2lbs showed itself but that was all that was seen at the Drumtian stretch but there is always a chance the odd salmon will have entered the endrick and lying in one of the pools somewhere?

 Fallen trees is now a regular event each year on the Endrick.

Drumtian: The main pool is now cleared and fishable once again.

This large tree provides cover for the fish but a fierce gale could see it in the pool!

There must be preventative work done on the river to prevent the destruction of good pools. We are considering taking the whole top part of this tree off and leaving just the bottom section. This might allow the tree to survive that bit longer. This work will be done in the winter period when the season has finished. lets hope the tree stays upright in between times.

Another example of two trees unlikely to stay upright for long.

This is another example of trees whose roots are exposed and the trees likley to end up in the river. More work for the winter period.

The River Endrick was up about four feet at Fintry today so we can expect a few anglers giving the river a go when the riverstarts to clear and fall to a reasonable level.

Loch Lomond is likely to have received another helping of fish  so prospects there should be quite reasonable.

A trolling boat rounds the Black Rocks hoping for a salmon.

The bailiffs patrol boat will hopefully be doing the rounds at weekends and during week days as well over this next few weeks so please have your permit to hand.

Monday 12th July: The River Leven barrage gates are all down and the water is obviously at a good height now. The loch level reached 26ft after the weekend rain. We have been told by the water board they will bring the gates back up at the 25ft 8 inches  mark which is exactly what we all wanted to hear ie they are sticking to the agreement with riparian owners/LLAIA and keeping them lowered until then.

Over this last three years the water board has kept their promise so it is hoped they will continue to do so.

There are now just one tree in the river at Drumtian the others were taken out today!

Wee Geordies two sea liced grilse July 2010 Loch Lomond.

Saturday 10th July has seen a good start with news that wee Geordie Fyfe has had two fresh grilse landed this morning up at the loch at Rowchoish and the other at Pitarmigan Lodge The fish all sea liced were 5lbs and 5.5lbs. Allan Millar had a fish as seen in photo below at pateys stane at the bottom end of the loch and several fish have been lost that Saturday morning. It looks like we have had a good run of fish in the early morning 1am high tide. Bailiffing continues with all night bailiffing and during the day tides protected as well. We will report further on any more fish caught today so keep a look on this report to hear of up to date reports.

On Friday 9th July Allan Dorrian had a grilse it weighed 4.5lbs and a balmaha boat was reported getting a grilse as well.  There has been quite a few grilse caught recently which is encouraging as normally the grilse run does not start until about the third week in July and begins in earnest once August arrives.

Alan Millar with his second fish this season July 2010.

There’s a man looking rather contented having worked hard to get his second fish this season. A lot smaller than the 25lbs cracker he caught in the spring but I bet he is just as pleased with this nice fish as well.

There’s a keen young man proudly displaying the fish dad and him caught.

Alun Pryce also landed a 10lbs salmon on the loch on Staurday making it four off the loch that day.

Iain Morrison with a nice grilse of 5.5lbs River Leven 2010.

We should also mention our long awaited comprehensive report on stocking is now on the SIWG web report. It lets everyone know just how much effort the LLAIA is making to sustain and hopefully improve the salmon and sea trout stocks throughout the loch lomond system.

We will always miss fish that have been caught so an ocasional recap on fish that have been missed is always useful. Mark lees had two fish at 8lb or 9lbs and 13lbs on the loch recently. Scott Pryce one at 7lbs. Stuart McNee had a salmon of 10.5lbs.

The River Leven is starting to produce fish with Iain Morrison catching a nice fresh grilse at 5.5lbs and several small sea trout which were returned. Another grilse was caught mid week, weight not known. Today Saturday 10th July Peter Currie on a day permit landed a nice fish of 12lbs from the River Leven on a rappalla. Another fish was caught on the fly by an angler called Robin though the bailiffs can’t recall his second name and a grilse was rumoured to be caught as well.  Hopefully by the end of the day we will hear about more fish taken on the River Leven as well as the loch.  So far we have had four fish from the loch today and three from the river leven.  It is good to hear that at least some of the fish running through the leven are being caught. Those that have been showing and there have been several doing so down the Renton area have been difficult to catch. Some anglers forget the whole country has experienced a very dry season so far and in some river systems there are few if any fish even entering the rivers. At stated before the river leven provides the opportunity to connect with one of the fish that have entered the river and headed straight for the loch, but only if the fish stops briefly for a wee rest!

There are three trees in the River Endrick stretch at Drumtian. Hopefully weather permitting we will have the trees removed in the next few days.

On Sunday 11th July the River Endrick was well up as the photo shows and chocolate brown.  The loch has risen significantly in this last few days so prospects are improving.

The Committee LLAIA

Trolling can be full of excitement and its great to be out on the loch.

LOCH LOMOND: Mid week has once again produced fish, At the earlier part of the week Craig John out from Balloch  landed a nice fresh fish of 13lbs whilst trolling up the tap end. Duncan Ferguson played a fish for several minutes and had it almost in the boat before it departed, he reckoned the fish was about 10-12lbs. Duncan decided to give the same area another go and away went the poker this time but he only managed to get one of the other rods reeled in and the fish was off. These fish were all up the tap end.

James Kinnair had two cracking sea trout/trout at 5lbs and a whopper at 10lbs, he also reports a lost fish on the Rappalla and reckoned it was a salmon.

It is always nice to hear about our members catching fish but sometimes it is even better if they are new members. John Bell has joined the LLAIA this year and is moored up at Ardlui. He went out on Thursday and returned with an 11lbs salmon. Good going one might say, given the fact that few places in the country are producing fish with the weather the way it is. Anyway John armed with confidence decided to go out again today and I hear he has landed another salmon of 7lbs.

New member John Bell with a salmon caught up at Ardlui. July 2010

As we reported earlier, fish are still trickling into the loch so sport is there to be had for those that fancy a try. The fish are not wasting much time before heading up the loch. A sail from Balloch or Balmaha right up to Ardlui and back can be a very long day, but the scenery alone is well worth the effort never mind a decent chance of connecting with a fish!

 Luss can be a handy port for a trip up the tap end of Lomond

River Leven: All salmon anglers who fish the rivers are having a difficult time the River Leven anglers at least have fish going through the river and therefore in theory at least have  a better chance than those rivers that few fish enter until the water levels are suitable. The afternoon high tide and on into the evening should provide a decent chance of hooking a salmon on the river today. The Saturday early morning tide not long after dawn could also provide an opportunity.  The whole country needs rain and plenty of it, but at least on the Loch Lomond system you have the Big Loch to keep anglers happy.

Bailiffs continue to keep a close eye on the three key areas namely the Clyde Estuary, The River Leven and Loch Lomond itself.  Most anglers will see the regular bailiffs going about their work but there are other baillifs who are also active but remain unseen in the areas they are watching.

A trawler was seen with his net out well up the Clyde Estuary towards the tall ship area. The time and date along with the boat number was passed on to the appropriate person to deal with the matter. Not all boats seen trawling are doing so illegally. Many years ago we observed a blue trawling boat called the Endrick 2 seen trawling regularly in the bowling area, it turned out to be a research vessal.

Any decent minded angler when they see a boat netting or one very high up the estuary trawling do report the sighting and they invariably give the colour and size of the boat whilst others also give the day and time when the sighting took place, ocassionally we even get the boat number. It all helps to combat poaching which is all to the good.

The best of the fishing is still to come so it is certainly not too late to join the association and take advantage of the fishings on offer. There are four full months of fishing left to go before the season ends, plenty of time to enjoy your sport. The tributaries tend to fish best in September and October but if spates arrive in Late July or anytime in August there are fresh fish to be caught.

Tight Lines   The Committee LLAIA