New Year Update from Loch Leven

Happy New Year and best wishes from us all at Loch Leven– hopefully 2012 will turn out to be a cracking year, at least from a fishing point of view. 

As we enter the start of a new year, it is perhaps worthwhile giving everyone a quick update on what has been going on since the end of the 2011 season in early October. 

From the point of view of the brownies, the breeding season in the streams would appear to have been successful.  We are blessed with a whole network of fine streams in theLoch Leven catchment area and both water quality and quantity in these streams during this crucial period appears to have been close to ideal.  Certainly, adult brood fish were seen right up to the higher reaches of the main burns, but also encouragingly in some of the more minor burns where they have not been seen for many years. 

We carried out a ‘mini survey’ in late October on one of the burns perceived as being one of the less important ones and were greatly surprised (and encouraged) by what we found.  In the stretch of a few hundred metres that we were recording, we found considerably more adult brood fish than we had expected and a number of hens that had already shed their eggs. However, what astonished us were the hundreds of 1-2 year old fry that we also found in this stretch of burn.  Whilst the recent wet summers have been hard to bear, the silver lining has been that higher than normal water levels in the burns during the summer has definitely been beneficial for the rearing of young trout.  The productivity of these burns would appear to have increased significantly, partly also as a result of more favourable land husbandry methods being adopted by farmers.  Although ‘there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip’, the far greater numbers of fry in the burns augurs well for recruitment of fry into the loch in due course and the bolstering of the trout population there. 

From a personnel point of view, Willie has now handed over the reins to his son Michael who has officially taken over as Fishery Manager atLoch Leven.  Willie will continue to be very much in evidence next season as he has only ‘semi-retired’. 

The boats are all out of the water and have been steam cleaned.  Stripping, repairing and repainting of the wonderful old clinker boats is underway.  

The main news for next season is that we have ordered a further 2 new Coulam boats, similar to those we bought last year, which are scheduled to arrive in April.  The effect of this will be to increase the fleet of boats atLoch Leven from 17 last season to 19 in 2012.  Whilst each of these new boats represents quite a chunky capital investment, the decision to continue what has been a gradual increase in the fleet over the last couple of years reflects our cautious optimism that the upward trend in the fishing on the loch, as evidenced over the last two seasons, is going to be sustained.  Theories as to why the fishing on Loch Leven has started to improve again are many and varied – and everyone will have their own.  Our suspicion is that a whole series of related or seemingly unrelated factors have contributed to the upturn in the fishing but that the key one has been the continued improvement in water quality which is benefitting the entire ecology of the loch.  Long may it continue! 

One thing we would like to hold up our hands and apologise for were a small number of regrettable administrative blunders last year on our part which resulted in the odd case of double-booking of boats.  The increased demand for boats put the spotlight on both our booking procedures and IT system, both of which I regret to say proved fallible on occasions.  These fault lines had not been so apparent when demand for boats was less as in previous seasons because we always had sufficient free when anglers turned up for boats when their bookings were not in our system for whatever reason.  With bookings sharply up, however, the shortcomings in our bookings procedures and systems were occasionally exposed..  Once again, we would just like to apologise to those who found themselves involved in the handful of double-booking incidents that did occur and to assure everyone that we are taking positive action to rectify our booking systems to try to ensure such instances no longer happen. 

Interestingly, Loch Leven Fishery appears to be one of the only fisheries in the UK that uses a computerised booking sheet – everyone else that we contacted to ask about suitable IT systems still uses a paper diary.  I suppose that we could have gone back to that system but it would have been a retrograde step and one that would have caused us problems bearing in mind that boats are booked here in more than one location.  Our existing IT booking system however was quite evidently not up to the job and so we took the decision towards the end of last season to replace it.  With no other fishery seemingly able to provide a lead, we carried out an extensive search of the marketplace last autumn for a facility booking system that met our requirements and thankfully we eventually found what we were looking for.  It is far easier to use than the previous system and should rectify most, if not all of the shortcomings that we had experienced previously.  At the same time, we have been putting in place improved booking procedures for staff during the close season.  Hopefully, despite what looks like to be a further sizable increase in demand for boats next season, incidents of double-booking will prove to be a thing of the past. 

However, the increase in demand for boats means also that we would like to put out a plea to Club Secretaries in particular, but also to individual anglers, to keep us as fully informed as possible about any changes to their boat requirements.  On many occasions last season, Clubs would turn up on the day and promptly drop 1 or more boats that had been booked because numbers had been less than expected.  If we had only known a day or more in advance, we could often have re-let those boats no longer required to anglers that we had turned away because all boats were seemingly booked.  If Clubs or individuals could please let us know as soon as possible once it is clear that a boat or boats booked previously by them is no longer required, it would be hugely appreciated – a no-show potentially deprives someone else of a chance to fish that session.  Because we fully appreciate how difficult it can be for Club Secretaries to organise club outings on the loch because getting responses from club members can be akin to trying ‘to herd cats’ (!), we do not ask for deposits when boats are booked, nor do we generally enforce full payment in the case of late cancellations / no shows.  We do not want to go down the route of deposits and cancellation charges if we can possibly help it.  But to enable it all to work as well as possible for as many anglers as possible, could we just ask that anyone who has booked one or more boats next season keeps us updated as soon as they become aware of any likely changes to their requirements. 

Roll on April

Willie Wilson & An End Of An Era At Loch Leven

It was perhaps fitting that the Guy Fawkes fireworks exploding around Loch Leven last night happened to coincide with Willie Wilson’s 65th birthday and, with that, the passing of an era at Loch Leven.  After 50 years on the loch, Willie officially retired yesterday and handed the reins over to his son, Michael.

To most of us, Willie is Loch Leven – quite simply, it runs through his veins (which might explain his occasional blue/green colour!). Although perhaps coming a close second to Mary Queen of Scots in the all time Loch Leven Celebrity Stakes, Willie is up there for all the right reasons – and the recovery in the fishery’s fortunes over the last couple of seasons should be enough to ensure that he keeps his head!

Willie started work on the Estate on his 15th birthday on 5th November 1961 which meant that yesterday marked exactly 50 years of uninterrupted employment on Loch Leven.  That degree of dedication and loyalty is almost unheard of nowadays. In fact, his connection goes back even further because he grew up on the Kinross Estate where his father, Willie Wilson Snr, was Head Gamekeeper. 

Although Willie’s first job was actually working in the Forestry Department on the Estate under George Thorpe, he started working on the boats under the then Fisheries Manager, Jim Sneddon, just 3 months later in February where he was put  to work painting the boats in preparation for the forthcoming season.  Despite being just 15, one of his first jobs was to row out to the Reed Bower island with Will Stark in a near gale and spend four hours armed with a shotgun with the instruction from his father to ‘give the cormorants a hammering’!!  Those were the days…..

As chance would have it, Willie’s first season on the loch in 1962 turned out to be last year in which there were no outboards on boats.  Instead, there were two boatmen per boat who did the rowing.  Willie was assigned to boat No 23 (how sad is it to know that?!) with Jack Howell who was very good on the underwater geography of the loch and Willie is the first to acknowledge that he learnt so much about the loch from his time that season working with Jack.  It was a demanding job, both physically having to row the heavy clinker-built boats and in terms of the hours of work. The normal working day started at 8am, with boats leaving the pier with anglers at 10am. They returned to the pier at 6pm which gave the opportunity for Willie to rush home on his bike to a quick tea before getting back to the pier for boats leaving by 7pm for the evening session which in high summer could last until 11.30pm. These 14 hour days rowing boat No 23 must have been physically gruelling for a 15 year old but at least he got a day off on Sunday when, in those days, no fishing was allowed.

In those days, most of the boats were anchored offshore during the night or when not in use, and Willie was given the responsibility of doing this.  In return for this extra work, Willie received the princely sum of 6d (old pennies for younger readers!) per boat – none of which I suspect was ever declared to the tax man!

In 1963, Loch Leven Fisheries bought six Perkins 4.5hp outboard engines to trial on the boats.  With the older, more experienced boatmen tending to be rather set in their ways, Willie was given one of those first outboard engines.  He became an expert in the repairs & maintenance of outboard motors at an early age and this has held him in good stead over the years.

To his complete surprise in 1967 at the age of 21, Willie was made Fisheries Manager and his salary immediately doubled.  I suppose the one downside for him was being told that he would ‘no longer receive any overtime payments – but you may have to work it’! Never a truer word…..

Eric Campbell once joked (very unfairly) to Willie that Loch Leven had started going downhill as a fishery the moment Willie started work.  A look at the catch statistics would suggest an element of truth in this because the halcyon days for the Fishery were the 1950s and culminating in that extraordinary year of 1960 when no fewer than 85,883 brown trout were weighed in. During those 10 years, the average annual catch was just over 50,000.  During the 1960s, the average fell to (a still very healthy) 32,000 pa but the trend was sharply, and worryingly, downward – and this was set to continue.

Explanations for the decline in the fishery are many but in all likelihood it was a combination of many factors.  The decline in water quality was undoubtedly a major factor.  Phosphate and nitrate levels going into the loch soared with the Todd & Duncan factory, the Kinross & Milnathort sewage outflows and increasingly intensive agricultural regimes (increased fertiliser usage) all playing a major part. The hyper-sensitive ecology of Loch Leven simply got out of kilter and water quality declined steadily.  The main feeder streams into the loch, and in particular the South Queich and the Gairney both of which are so important in the rearing of young brown trout, were undoubtedly affected dramatically by the changed hydrology resulting from gravel extraction at Balado and below Cleish respectively – incidentally, is it not unforgivable the many environmental bodies of today, and in particular SEPA and SNH, are still approving gravel extraction applications within the Loch Leven Catchment area without any regard whatsoever about the hydrological effects it could have whilst at the same time trumpeting the loch’s vital importance? In addition to gravel extraction, the network of feeder streams in the catchment area were also undoubtedly affected by the financial inducements given to farmers to improve drainage on their land.

Willie - and the one that got away!

Nobody is more knowledgable about Loch Leven than Willie Wilson, as anyone who has taken time to talk to him about it will attest.  True, there are experts in certain scientific fields such as water quality who can beat him on pure science, but his knowledge about Loch Leven as a whole is completely unsurpassed.  But that is just a part of it – if you ally to his total love and dedication to the loch and everything about it and you have someone who is truly unique.  Despite the inexorable decline in fishery’s fortunes throughout the second half of the 20th century, Willie’s s never waned for one single moment.  He always felt the loch would start to recover at some stage and his faith never wavered – he was forever coming forward with theories about what was happening and what could be done to improve things.  Most mere mortals in his position during the darkest periods in recent decades would have found their faith broken but not Willie.  I have struggled to find a single word to describe his importance to Loch Leven and the Fishery during these times but perhaps ‘Colossus’ might be appropriate.

I suspect that if you asked him what milestones there were during the last 50 years, two  that he would give you would be, first of all, the reinstating of the fish farm at Tarhill on the north shore of the loch in 1980/1 in response to the decline in brown trout catches. Starting more or less from scratch with Roy Fernie, setting up a brown trout hatchery and rearing ponds was an unbelievably steep learning curve for them both.  Over the years from 1983 to 2006, tens of millions of brown trout eggs were hatched, around 3 million of which were then reared to 6″ or more before being used to stock the loch.  It was an incredibly delicate operation where the slightest mistake could decimate stocks. With no model to base their operation on, we relied heavily on their ingenuity.

The second ‘milestone’, if you could call it that, was probably Scum Saturday (13th June 1992) when a toxic blue-green algal bloom started washing up on the shores of the loch.  By coincidence, Scum Saturday was the very day that Scottish Natural Heritage was celebrating its formation out of the erstwhile Nature Conservancy and had to cancel various activities on the loch – a portent perhaps?

Scum Saturday proved to be the wake up call everyone needed to the fact that Loch Leven was in effect dying.  Subsequent actions by all parties over the last 20 years have turned this situation around to such an extent that the loch is now regaining its health to an extent that would not have been believable a while ago. One immediate result of Scum Saturday, and one with which Willie was heavily involved, was the controversial decision to stock rainbows in Loch Leven for the very first time in additional to its indigenous brown trout.  Only 2,715 brown trout had been caught in the entire 1992 season and it was felt that rainbows might help save the Fishery, but it was a decision over which there was much agonising.  As it happens, the rainbows initially thrived in Loch Leven and for the following 12 years they almost certainly did keep the Fishery afloat but then suddenly, probably as a result of changes to the loch’s ecology, they suddenly became vulnerable to eye fluke and stocking of rainbows ceased in 2004.

Mounting losses meant that all stocking ceased in 2006 and the fish rearing operation was closed down for good.  This was undoubtedly a blow for Willie but, as he has always done, he brushed it off and continued to be resolutely optimistic about Loch Leven and its fishing.  He was quick to seize on the possibilities from the loch becoming a natural pure brown trout fishery once again. 

Everyone connected with Loch Leven Fishery is delighted by the dramatic revival in its fortunes over the last two seasons, but most particularly because it enables Willie to bow out on a high (and to dispel the joke that it had all been downhill since he started!).  Nobody could deserve it more and we are all thrilled for him.

As was stated at the start of this piece, Willie officially retired as Fishery Manager at Loch Leven yesterday and has handed over to his son Michael.  However, do not for one minute think you have seen the last of him down at the Pier.  Whilst Michael is now the boss, Willie has only really semi-retired and will continue to work on a part-time basis for the Fishery for as long as he wishes. His love for fishing and Loch Leven is such that I think it would be impossible to try to keep him away – not that any of us would remotely want to try!

So Willie, from every one of us involved with Loch Leven Fisheries and I strongly suspect the entire brown trout angling community, may we all wish you a very long and happy (semi) retirement and express our sincerest gratitude for everything you have done for us at Loch Leven over the last 50 years.

Willie & his 11 lbs brownie - sadly this was at Rutland Water but hopefully to be repeated next season at Loch Leven

Loch Leven Fishing Report – week ending 2nd October 2011

Saturday saw a little bit of history made at Loch Leven because, for the first time ever the end of season finale, in the form of the Loch Leven Championship, was fished on a purely catch and release basis.   In place of the usual weigh in at the end to determine the heaviest baskets of fish, we had a ‘measure in’.  All fish caught during the day were measured in millimetres in the boat and then promptly released.  Rather than recording the total weight, we calculated the aggregate length of all the fish caught by each angler. 

The winner on the day and 2011 Champion was Alan Smith with 7 fish measuring 2,749mm – if like me you find that statistic meaningless and can only relate to feet & inches, Alan’s catch of 7 trout would have measured a tad over 9 feet in total if laid out end to end!  In 2nd place with 6 fish measuring 2,673mm (about 3 inches less) was John Reid whilst in 3^rd place was Dave Clark with 5 fish measuring 2,334mm.  We did not have a Heaviest Fish prize this year but, if we had had a Longest Fish prize, Dave would have won with one measuring 609mm (24 inches) which unofficially weighed 5 lbs 8 ¾ ozs.  Stan Headley was 4th.  In all, the total number of fish caught by the 33 competitors in the Loch Leven Championship was 57 measuring a totally meaningless 24,793mm (81 feet 4 inches)! 

Although the ‘measure in’ might be deemed slightly unorthodox to the purist, there was some method in the madness. Loch Leven is a wild brown trout fishery and anglers this season have been extremely responsible in adopting a general catch & release policy in order to nurture the overall brown trout population which is showing signs of welcome recovery.  By running the competition on these lines, the overwhelming majority of fish caught were returned after being measured.  Although we have no problem at all with fish being taken for the pot, the fact is that most are now on the point of running the streams to breed and killing hen fish laden with eggs in particular seems to be ill-advised and counter-productive in the longer term. 

Aside from the competition on Saturday when no less than 4 brownies were estimated as being in excess of 5 lbs, big fish again featured in catches last week.  It seems strange that until very recently, trout caught here on Loch Leven weighing in at 5 lbs or more were regarded as exceptional and rare – interestingly, the average of all the brown trout caught on Loch Leven since records began in the 1870s is just 15 ozs!  The improvement in water quality over recent years has resulted in the loch producing an abundance of food for the trout and they appear to be revelling in it.  Just 4 weeks ago, we had the heaviest fish (9 lbs 6 ozs) caught on Loch Leven for almost exactly 100 years and the chances must be that we will see the first ever brown trout caught on Loch Leven breaking the 10 lbs barrier next season – we can but hope! 

Shallow water off the North Shore is producing good numbers of fish, as too are the margins all along the south shore of the loch, the Point of St Serfs and all along its south shore of the island.  Fry feeding fish have been very active and, in some areas, it has been quite spectacular watching them chasing fry all over the place. 

Water clarity all season has been pretty good and is still currently just on 2 meters.  Thanks to the mini heatwave last week, the water temperature has crept up slightly to 15.5°C. 

As mentioned earlier, fish are now showing signs of entering their breeding phase.  Indeed a few have already been spotted in the burns over the last 2 – 3 days.  We will be monitoring the progress of the spawning activities throughout the close season and will report back how it all seems to be going.

Loch Leven Championship

The annual Loch Leven Championship this coming Saturday will bring the curtain down on what most, if not all, anglers who have fished here over recent months will agree has been a very encouraging season for the loch.  It has been great to see it fishing more like it used to many years ago.

I think what most of us feel is particularly gratifying is that this November sees the retirement of Willie Wilson who has worked here ‘on the boats’ at Loch Leven for exactly 50 years when he retires.  I cannot tell you how pleased we are that he is bowing out from centre stage on a high. We all know that the last 30 years or so have been pretty tough on Loch Leven as a fishery and throughout it all, Willie never flinched when brickbats and criticism were perhaps understandably flying around.  Nobody knows more about Loch Leven than Willie and he has steadfastly remained its most loyal advocate and supporter.  Even during the real lows, he always remained confident that its fortune would turn better one day.  Whilst ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’, this past season has hopefully provided vindication for him.  Of course, Willie is only retiring in name and will still be very much in evidence next season and in future seasons down at the pier but it must be equally gratifying that it is his son Michael who will be taking over from November as full time Fishery Manager.

Returning to this Saturday’s Loch Leven Championship, for the first time ever the Champion and other prize-winners will not be decided on the basis of the heaviest baskets of trout.  This year, we are going to follow the example of Kinross Angling Club who have run their competitions on the loch this season in terms of aggregate length of trout caught.  The obvious advantage of this method of measuring anglers’ success on the day is that  trout caught can be measured in the boat and returned rather than killed and kept for the eventual weigh-in.  Competitors will each be given cards on which can be recorded the length in millemeters of all the trout they catch on the day.

To enable this to happen, Michael Wilson has prepared a portable measure for each boat consisting of a section of plastic guttering (conveniently shaped for holding the fish while it is being measured!) with a ruler attached.  The one slight worry we have is that this device only records up to 800mm which means that the monster caught earlier in the month by Michael Mackenzie would have stretched 60mm beyond the end of the measure!  That said, if anyone does happen to catch the first ever 10 lbs brown trout on Loch Leven on Saturday, we all want to see it in the flesh back at the Boathouse!

It will be interesting to hear feedback from anglers on the day about this method of deciding fishing competitions because it is relatively new to us.  The main benefit we can see is on the fish stock in the loch as it encourages catch & release which we know is an emotive issue with anglers regarding wild brown trout and salmon.  At the risk of boring everyone once again, our stance on catch & release on Loch Leven is fairly straightforward.  As all will be aware, we quite deliberately do not have a catch limit on Loch Leven (and do not intend to even consider imposing one for the foreseeable future) as to us it sends the wrong messages.  Instead we prefer to trust anglers to behave responsibly and, to that end, we are genuinely grateful to all those who have caught and released so many trout this past season.  However, we are also totally supportive of anglers killing what they need ‘for the pot’ because Loch Leven brown trout are brilliant to eat.  Although the intention is laudable, we think it would be a shame if peer pressure to return everything grew so strong that anglers ceased to kill what wanted to take home because the numbers are completely insignificant in the context of a 3700 acre loch with the fish population it has at the moment.  Obviously we will keep this policy under review in case circumstances alter but even on Saturday when the emphasis is on length and catch & release, we would hope that anglers will kill and keep the odd trout because they won’t get another chance probably until next spring.

Loch Leven Fishing Report – week ending 25th September 2011

Big fish have been making pretty regular appearances in anglers’ returns this past week on Loch Leven.  The biggest was a fish caught and released by Robert Pelling who was fishing at the time with Tom Ferguson – the two of them estimated it at around 8 lbs!   He caught it using a floating line at the Willows off the south east point of St Serfs on a size 10 Gosling – with a few strands of fraggle fritz mixed through. 

Henry Lockhart, fishing with Pete Campbell, had a chunky fish at 5 lbs 3 ozs on a size 10 long shank Dunkeld off Cavelstone Strip – Henry travelled down from Fraserburgh and they braved what turned out to be a very windy day.  Finally Stewart Marshall, fishing with the Central Scotland Police AC, had a fabulous basket of 4 fish weighing 13 lbs 12 ozs – the biggest weighed 6 lbs 10 ozs was caught on a size 16 Kate McLaren. 

Stuart Marshall with his 6 lbs 10 ozs brownie

High winds did again compromise the fishing during much of the week but, when things did periodically quieten down, anglers were still able to tempt the fish.

The South Shore, just off the weed beds, has been producing some nice baskets whilst the open water drifts are still working especially close to the drop offs. 

Buzzer methods are still working when conditions are favourable, as Rod McLennan proved on Monday when he caught and returned 7 nice fish  up to 2½ lbs. 

Water clarity is currently standing at 2 meters, which is pretty good for the time of year at Loch Leven, and the water temperature is holding at 14.5°C which is very comfortable for the fish.

Loch Leven Fishing Report – week ending 18th September 2011

It is encouraging to be able to report that Loch Leven continues to fish pretty well as we enter the final month of the season.  This past week has seen some very nice, big fish caught and released and many more being seen which is great to hear – even if this can be frustrating for those anglers out on the loch trying to attract them to the fly.  One boat came in yesterday having just caught 2 fish (both released), but these were a 5 pounder and a 7 pounder – hopefully we will get photos of these over the next few days. 

Dunkeld variants, particularly the sparkler versions, are all seemingly working nicely but, when the fish are taking, the old favourites such as muddlers, all the snatcher patterns, Kate McLaren, Fiery Brown Dabbler,  Pearly Invicta and Wickham are all catching fish. 

The best areas are now moving to slightly shallower marks around the East and Mid Buoys.  In these areas, 6 – 8 feet would appear to be a good depth of water in which to try to locate the brownies.  The weed beds too are all still worth a try because fry are still to be found in large numbers along the edges. 

Line choice is also quite important. When cloud cover is complete, a floating or very low density line is best. Even when it is bright, a ‘fast glass’ should be sufficient to reach the fish. 

Water clarity is good for September at just on 2 meters but the water temperature has begun to ease down and now stands at 15°C.

Loch Leven Fishing Report – week ending 11th September 2011

Despite the onset of some very autumnal weather, fish are still being caught on Loch Leven.  On Sunday, when the wind strengthened to a point where it was almost too strong, Kinross Angling Club and their 4 boats had 10 fish for 27 lbs 6 ozs and a further 19 returned.  Gartcosh AC went out on Saturday had 10 fish for 25 lbs 4 ozs whilst Leslie & Llanilar AC  had 15 fish for 34 lbs 8 ozs.  Mr Hastie from Blairgowrie had 7 brown trout for 14 lbs 13 ozs, including a fish weighing 4 lbs 10 ozs, and returned a further 3.  Mr Carr had 2 for 5 lbs 12 ozs and returned six. 

Open water drifts are still working well, but the shallow waters particularly along the weed beds the length of the South Shore are also proving productive, especially when the fry are about.  East and Mid Buoys are the best of the open water drifts, whilst Reed Bower to Castle Island and Cavelstone Strip to Reed Bower drifts are both also worth a try. 

There is no change in the best fly patterns but some of the popular lures are beginning to catch a fish or two, particularly the Dunkeld variants. 

Water temperature the same as last week 16°C and the water clarity holding at just on 2 meters.