As you will know, this last fortnight has remained unseasonably warm and summer like. We have seen the swallows feeding hard on flies hatching both off the loch and the surrounding land and fields. They look like they will soon be on their way south and at the time of writing the last couple of nights have become cooler with the hint of an autumnal nip in the air. Maybe autumn is on its way.

Anglers have been enjoying the settled weather in that it has not been windy though if the forecast for a few days time is right, then it looks like the wind will be back in force. The conditions are definitely improving in that the loch is cooling down and the fish becoming more active. The water remains crystal clear and these more favourable conditions are in general seeing the catches and fishing improve for many anglers. Having said that, it has not yet fully turned the corner into what we would normally expect in September and this is reflected in the wide variety of successful flies being reported by anglers. Those who stick to dries are probably having the most success.

Les Lockey has sent the following report of his stay in the first week of this period and photos of some of his fish can be seen in the gallery.

Fishing Report by Les Lockey.

5^th Sept – 10th Sept 2021

For the first four days, high pressure produced warm and mainly sunny days with light variable winds, often starting from the south, but changing after the first hour or so. Unfortunately, the last two days saw low pressure in charge which brought dull, muggy and showery conditions with very light winds and long periods of flat calm inevitably resulting in a steep downturn in catches. 

On Sunday the 5^th, I started drifting in a light breeze from the boathouse towards Lochside Bay and had three fish on my first drift, two on a dry flat daddy and one on a black Cooper Bug, but then the wind changed to a stiffer South Easterly and the rising fish all but disappeared. Determined to stick with the dries, I anchored off the reeds at the Western entrance to the Narrows and had another 6 fish all to the flat daddy. Interestingly, there were no visual indications of these takes, just a sudden aggressive pull on the line and the fish hooked themselves.

Over the next three days, more and more fish began to show but they were often hard to tempt, seemingly preoccupied with almost microscopic white winged hatching midge, however, the flat daddy and a small black foam beetle on the dropper continued to bring fish to the net and my catch rate increased daily. Even on Wednesday, the hottest Scottish day for 115 years, the flat daddy / foam beetle duo brought 14 fish to the net, 5 more were lost in play and I also got broken 3 times, either when pulling in the flies to recast, or just as the flies were about to leave the water. These savage takes to quickly moving flies were in total contrast to the slow and ultra-cautious affairs when the flies were static, which suggests to me that some fish are feeding on perch fry.

On the last 2 days, a change in weather conditions brought long periods of flat calm interspersed with showers which resulted in a marked downturn in the fishing. Rising fish were few and far between and those that did rise were even more fussy than before, but the flat daddy and a foam hatching buzzer had a further 8 fish over the 2 days.

My tally for the week was 54 fish which included several blues in excess of 3lb. with 32 coming to the flat daddy, 14 to the foam beetle and 4 each to the Cooper Bug and the foam hatching buzzer. I found good concentrations of fish out in deeper water, at the mouth of the Narrows, and down the south shore towards Swing Gate Bay but it paid to drift rather than anchor as these productive areas changed not only throughout the week, but also throughout the day. 

Charity Day: We look forward to our annual Lad(y)s and Dads Charity Day this coming Sunday. We were unable to host it last year due to restrictions and so this year will be extra special being able to have folk enjoying fishing the loch and sharing the BBQ with friends old and new and raising funds for St Abbs Independent Lifeboat.  We hope the weather treats us kindly and that everyone coming has a good day. Thanks as always to those who have kindly donated prizes to the raffle which will be held on the day. We have also had donations of fishing tackle from the families and friends of anglers who have passed on and we have been selling these on and all monies raised from this will go into the Charity Day pot, thanks to those who have both donated and bought these items.

Other news:

• We have added a new video to our you tube channel which you will shortly be able to view on the home page of our website by clicking the button. Thanks to Euan Mutch and David Lough for the huge amounts of time and patience they put into this video using their drones. We think it makes for a fantastic ten minutes or so flying above and around the loch, cottages and coastline – we hope you enjoy watching it.  Here is the link to copy and past if you want to go direct to it on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVau-y-Tonw

• A reminder that expressions of interest for new members are now being taken for next year. Anyone who is interested should contact Carmel or myself here at the loch.

Robbie Blog:

How Many.

That is the question?

So, what sort of numbers of Trout do you need to have a good day?

Well for one thing it probably varies throughout the season.

Four or five on opening day and you would probably be disappointed.

The same on a hot July day would put you near the top of that day’s rankings.

Another thing is the changes that have occurred over the years.

Anglers of a certain age like myself can remember when two fish in a day was almost greedy!

I have seen more “modern anglers” record eight fish in the book as a hard day!

It will of course vary from person to person. If your normal day out is a couple of fish then a day with 6 will stand out.

The circumstances may also dictate what is a good number.

If your Club has a four fish limit then that is your first aim.

Then the old adage of Stick or Twist comes into it. Do you grind away with a proven method and flies and try and get one fish every two hours? Or chop and change to try and get it done and then relax.

Surely 8 fish in a day is good effort but then that is only a fish an hour.

Is that enough in today’s instant society?

I remember catching 5 Brown Trout for 10Lbs. on Loch Leven almost 30 years ago and having an audience in the car park looking at them and asking me questions!

Today 5 Rainbows for 10Lbs.would not turn a single head.

Now I am no different, I like to catch fish.

For me today I feel that getting into double figures with 10 Trout is always a great mile stone and you can never complain about that number.

However other factors come into play. Maybe 6 fish but on Dries is a better day for you than 10 ripping back Lures?

Are six trout on a pleasant day in early June with a stop for Lunch better than double that number on a cold wet day in March.

Your call as always.  😊

Robbie Bell

Visiting Clubs: Club days over the next two weeks are as follow:

Weds 22^nd – Caledonian St Andrews

Weds 22^nd Mid Lothian Angling Association

Thurs 30^th Leith Fly Fishing Association

Thurs 30^th Edinburgh Breadalbane A.C.

As always we look forward to hosting them and hope that they all have enjoyable and productive fishing days on their visits.