With thanks to Les Lockey for the following fishing report from his week stay at the loch in early 2025

Fishing Report sent in by Les Lockey.

4^th May – 9^th May 2025.

Sunday the 4^th was a big shock to the system. Mike and I left sunny Cheshire on Saturday with the temperature nudging 27 degrees only to be faced on Sunday with a temperature of 8 degrees and a biting 20 mph northerly wind whose wind chill made it feel more like 4 or 5 degrees and as mad keen dry fly anglers we decided a walk round the loch would be time better spent that flogging ourselves in totally unsuitable conditions. On our walk, it was interesting to note that while sheltered spots held lots of small black bibionids, mostly on bright yellow water buttercups and dandelions, the more exposed gorse bushes were almost devoid of any visible fly life and even the alder flies that were present, were only found on the sheltered side of the bushes. The big surprise was there were no hawthorn flies to be seen at all.

Monday dawned bright, sunny and thankfully a fair bit warmer, while the wind had eased considerably. After a leisurely start, we headed to the top of the North end and found a massive buzzer hatch underway with fish rising everywhere.  Taking a closer look at the flies on the water and those that landed in the boat showed the flies to be mainly dark olive in colour, but as the day progressed, hatches of olives and some tan sedges kept the fish rising. Despite this, actually catching these feeding trout proved trickier than you might think. We had lots of offers and also lost several fish that seemed to be well hooked using olive CDCs and olive hoppers, but it was the ever reliable Yellow Owl tied on a short shank size 12 hook that was by far my most successful pattern of the day bringing 12 fish to the net including a lovely brown of about 6lb. Mike chose a different tack and fished a hawthorn and grey Shipman’s buzzer and he finished with 6 fish to the net.

On Tuesday, we started by anchoring close to the lilies in boat jetty bay where we both picked up a couple of fish on the Yellow Owl before moving to the north end. Once again fish were rising, although the fly life was less prolific and the rises more random. After a few offers and a couple of quick on and off takes to the Yellow Owl, I changed to a Shiphammer ( see May’s fly of the month on the website) and it was a revelation as fish after fish confidently took the fly but annoyingly, they all somehow managed to slip the hook when seemingly well hooked. Disappointed at losing so many fish, I changed to a size 16 olive top hat emerger and finally managed to bring 3 fish to the net, including a truly memorable brown trout estimated at 10lb that only just fitted in the net. Mike was not to be out done as he landed a couple of beautiful browns both of which were around the 6lb mark.

Wednesday started with a stiffer wind from the east and despite the bright sunshine, it was still quite cool which kept the fish down. We started in Swing Gate Bay fishing teams of buzzers and managed a couple of fish on vicar and olive buzzers, but thankfully the wind eased which allowed us to drift out of Swing Gate Bay and a change to a dry detached bodied parachute hawthorn (see May fly of the month 2022 for the dressing) on the point and a Yellow Owl on the dropper brought a couple of browns to the net on the hawthorn just as we turned into Lochside bay. Shortly afterwards the wind changed direction and the temperature rose noticeably allowing us to drift back and forth across the narrows bringing another 6 fish to the net and all to the hawthorn. Eventually we ended up at anchor at the top of the North end where all my remaining fish fell to the Yellow Owl on the dropper. Mike plugged away with his hawthorn and was rewarded with several good browns and a few more lost in play. Remarkably, out of the 21 fish netted today, all but 6 were browns and despite there being very few natural hawthorn flies on the water, our hawthorn imitation was extremely productive on the day.

Thursday was a very similar story with a good number of fish, predominantly browns, brought to the net on the dry hawthorn and the Yellow Owl until the wind changed direction yet again and rising fish all but disappeared.

Our last day started off full of anticipation as light southerly winds allowed us to drift out from the jetty across to Lochside bay. Almost immediately I hooked and lost a good fish on the hawthorn, but that was it until we neared the East bank where we both picked up a couple of lovely browns. Deciding to drift the narrows, proved a good decision as we again both landed some nice fish on the hawthorn. However, as the day wore on and the wind direction changed, we headed for a final crack at the rising fish at the North end of the loch, but unlike previous days, the fish were now being distinctly fussy, no doubt due to all the fishing pressure they had received during the week. That is not to say we didn’t hook any fish. We actually hooked lots but we simply could not get them to hold on. In desperation we decided to try something completely different. Mike put on a bright green foam beetle and I selected a Norwegian pattern called the Leatherman, which looks like a cross between a beetle and a shuttlecock buzzer and within minutes we were both netting fish. I ended the day with 13 fish to the net, while Mike managed 6 but we both lost at least the same number again. Such is the wonder and delight of fly fishing and in the words of Mike “bring it on”!