When conditions are more favourable, fish are responding to both pulling and buzzer methods.  Indeed, there have been some nice rises seen during the day in various areas of the loch.  The best pulling flies are still the little black / green / silver variety but traditional Loch Leven flies are beginning to work – ie Kate McLaren, Black & Claret Snatcher, Black Pennel and Silver Invicta have all been mentioned as having caught fish last week.  Small buzzers were the order of the day on Friday, down to size 14 with black & olive being the best colours.

Some really nice catches have been recorded over recent days – well, apart from Saturday that is!  Rab Walls had 7 fish on Friday, all of which were returned.  J Sangster had 5, of which 4 were returned and a nice plump 2 lbs 6 ozs brownie kept for his tea!  Meanwhile, on Sunday, Graham Connolly and Ewan Clark  caught no less than 14 trout in the Hole ‘o’ the Inch and returned them all.  That same afternoon, Connor Campbell went out and had 4 brownies pulling mini lures!

The best areas at the moment are Hole ‘o’ the Inch, Brock’s Hole, Carden Point, north side of Castle Island and Scart to Green Isle, all of which seem to be holding good numbers of fish.

Water clarity continues to improve and now stands at 2.3 metres whilst the water temperature has crept up a couple of degrees to 11.5⁰C, which is still on the chilly side for the third week of May!  Weed growth is nothing like as advanced as seen in recent years due to the cold weather but is showing signs of getting going now.

Evening fishing is now well worth considering as there have been some very good hatches of small buzzers pretty much all over the loch and the fish have been responding to these hatches when conditions have allowed.

Not surprisingly, the place is still buzzing after Tuesday’s astonishing events when Alan Campbell of Kirkcaldy smashed the record for the all-time largest brown trout caught on Loch Leven at 11 lbs 5.375 ozs, breaking the previous record that had stood for over 100 years.  I suppose we should have been expecting it following Michael Mackenzie’s big fish 18 months ago which suggested that there were now some big fish in the loch, but nevertheless to come in a full pound and a half heavier than the previous biggest brown trout caught in 1911 was pretty extraordinary.  As we covered it extensively in our blog post, as well as our views on the question of catch & release in the comments that followed, we will move on.  However, as Alan himself says, there will almost certainly be even bigger specimens in the loch, either now or in the future, due to the considerable improvements over recent years in the water quality at Loch Leven which has led to an abundance in food for the trout.

Aside from this historic trout being caught, there have been some reasonable catches recorded last week despite the poor weather conditions.  On Friday, Ian Simpson and Gordon Hayward had 10 trout between them on the buzzer in the Hole ‘o’ the Inch.  On the same day in the same area, Rab Elliot and Paul Wilson had 6 fish free drifting and pulling black and silver lures.  Saturday was a particularly difficult day with fish hard to come by.  On Sunday, despite the cold, wet and breezy conditions, there were some really quite reasonable catches.  Kinross AC with nine boats had a total of 39 fish, all but 3 of which were returned (as a matter of club practice, Kinross AC measure and return fish caught during their outings).  The largest fish measured 460mm (just over 18 inches) which was guesstimated at around 2 ¾ lbs, but there were numerous smaller fish recorded which is very encouraging for the future.

The water temperature remains doggedly below normal for the time of year at 9.5⁰C whilst the clarity is definitely starting to improve and stood at 2.1m this morning (last week it was 1.7m).  Weed growth is showing signs of just beginning – the weeds in the loch are a very important part of the environment, providing cover for juveniles and very good feeding areas for trout in general.

The Hole ‘o’ the Inch looks to be the ‘hot spot’ at the moment but Carden Bay, Factor’s Pier to Scart and the Cavelstone Strip are all starting to produce fish.

Black & Green and Black & Silver lures are doing well but some of the traditionals are also taking a trout or two.  High density lines are recommended at the moment unless of course you are trying buzzer methods when it is best to use a full floater or midge tips of various lengths and densities.

We don’t normally mention pike very often but pike fishermen are enjoying their usual spring sport.  This past week has seen some excellent catches of pike weighing up to 20 lbs mainly on ‘spoons’ but flies have also been working well.  Enquiries to the Fishery about pike fishing can be made through the same channels as for trout fishing.

All in all, the signs for the season ahead look genuinely encouraging and the weather will surely improve – wont it?

The fabulous brown trout weighed in at an official 11 lbs 5 3/8 ozs. Confirmation can be seen below

Weighed in at 11 lbs 5 3/8 ozs

Alan had actually landed the trout around noon and so it almost certainly would have weighed several ounces more if done then but 11 lbs 5 3/8 ozs will go down as the official weight.

Alan is a Loch Leven regular, fishing more or less every Tuesday, and so everyone here connected with Loch Leven Fisheries is delighted for him.  He sought to give credit to Willie & Michael Wilson for recommending he tried Hole ‘o’ Inch and that is exactly where he caught the fish, using a Black / Red Buzzer, again on their recommendation – I suppose the law of averages suggests they will get it right occasionally!  Luckily the fish went deep rather than making a break for it, when there could have been problems, and fought for 15 minutes or more before being landed.

Alan Campbell with his record-breaking brownie

Those with a knowledge of Loch Leven history will know that the previous record had stood for over 101 years in the form of the 9 lbs 13 ozs brown trout caught by Colonel Bob Scott on 8th September 1911.  More recently, and almost exactly 100 years to the day later (4th September 2011), Michael Mackenzie had gone close with a lovely specimen weighing 9 lbs 6 1/8 ozs but nobody had ever reached double figures until today.

Congratulations Alan – you are in the history books!

It will come as no surprise, therefore, to learn that Loch Leven has had a very slow start to its 2013 season, courtesy in the main to cold air and water temperatures as well as high winds.  Water temperature near the surface is a pretty chilly 9⁰C and the water clarity is 1.7 metres (last year at the same time, it stood at 4 metres!).

Some buzzers are hatching and indeed some fish have been caught using buzzer methods.  The few fish anglers have spooned were found to have been feeding on buzzer larvae – hopefully a good sign for some action later in the season.  Another encouraging feature has been the condition of the trout which without exception has been extremely good for the start of the season.  However that is perhaps only to be expected with the huge availability of food for fish in Loch Leven!

Another interesting feature worthy of mention happened last Sunday when two anglers fishing with Kinross AC caught and returned (after measuring) four fish measuring respectively 10 inches, 13 inches , 16 inches and 20 inches – they obviously haven’t gone metric yet!  Those fish represented 4 clearly separate year groups which is very encouraging indeed.

Fish have been seen in a lot of different areas of the loch.  East of St Serfs, for example, appears to be holding a good head of trout.  The Factor’s Pier shore out to Scart Island is another area where fish are being seen and caught and even the open water east of Reed Bower has produced trout when the wind has eased enough for boats to get out there.

Pulling mini lures has been the most productive method with DI7 being the line of choice.  However lower density lines are always worth considering when the weather is calmer.  Black / Green and Black / Silver combinations seem to be doing best but Kate McLaren and all the Snatcher variants should never be discounted this early in the season.  As mentioned earlier, buzzer methods are always worth considering as buzzer larvae will always feature high on the trout feeding menu and, as we have seen in past seasons, fishing buzzer methods can do well.

Now that we are underway again, I will keep this blog going on a weekly basis reporting on the fishing as it unfolds throughout the season.  We would like to wish anglers the very best of fortune during 2013 and we should now be praying daily to the weather god to bring us some proper spring weather.  Tight lines!

More recently, a few years ago, at the instigation of Denise Reed from Scottish Natural Heritage, a new group was set up called the Loch Leven Fish Research Group which meets annually to discuss the fish aspect of the loch.  Not before time, I hear you say!  In addition to Loch Leven Fisheries and SNH, the group includes members from CEH, Marine Scotland (previously FRS Freshwater Laboratory in Pitlochry) and the River Forth Fisheries Trust.

Since 2008, Ian Winfield of CEH has been conducting annual hydroacoustic surveys of the loch (as well as less frequent gill-netting surveys) in order to try to get a better feel for the fish population of the loch in terms of trends in numbers and sizes of fish.  Last week, he produced the following update for us

CEH LOCH LEVEN FISH STATEMENT (6th March)

Since 2008, Loch Leven’s fish community has been assessed periodically by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology through at least annual hydroacoustic surveys and less frequent scientific gill-netting surveys. All of these activities have been undertaken in close collaboration with Loch Leven Fisheries and other local bodies. Some of this work was presented at the World Fisheries Congress held in Edinburgh during May 2012.  Encouragingly, the results show that the fish populations of the loch are responding to recent improvements in catchment management and are generally increasing in abundance. Perch are becoming more diverse in size and, more importantly, the brown trout population dominates the fish community in terms of weight. Individual trout are in excellent condition. Night-time hydroacoustic surveys carried out in August from 2008 to 2012 have shown general increases in the abundances of small- and medium-sized fish, and a particularly sustained increase in the abundance of fish longer than 250 mm (approximately 10 inches). Netting shows the larger fish to be dominated by brown trout.

Trend in small fish numbers in Loch Leven

Trend in medium size fish in Loch Leven

Trend in large fish in Loch Leven

Trend in overall fish numbers in Loch Leven

Whilst the actual numbers themselves should not be taken literally, the important thing from the fishery’s point of view is that there has been an upward trend in the fish population since 2008/9. This seems to back up anecdotal evidence from anglers who, when conditions were favourable (which alas did not happen too frequently last year), reported brief periods when  large numbers of fish were clearly in evidence on the surface covering large areas of the loch.

Encouragingly, Ian Winfield’s fish surveys also indicate a good spread across all age groups. There were a lot of young fish seen last year which augurs well for the future but the number of large fish (classed as 250mm+) also seem to be steadily rising.

Why is the fish population increasing? To be honest, nobody really knows for certain but there are likely to be a number of contributing factors.  For example

• The main thrust of CEH research at Loch Leven over the last 40 years has been the monitoring of water quality and they report a sustained /continuing improvement, particularly with regard to the presence of phosphates & nitrates in the loch. This improvement has been most noticable in the last 5 years or so when water quality & clarity reached levels where weed growth etc really started to kick in. Weed growth is now prolific throughout much of the loch to the benefit of the aquatic ecosystem. The fact is that food is now in abundance, as evidenced by the lovely condition of trout being caught.
• There is no doubt that natural recruitment of trout from the burns has recovered enormously over recent years, leading to an increasing supply of young trout making it to the loch.  Whilst the last few summers have been disappointing from a weather point of view, the relatively high levels of rainfall have kept plenty of water in the burns which has helped the fry develop. With farmers rarely requiring to extract water to irrigate their crops, there have been few if any cases of burns seeing stretches drying out and affecting the local fish population.
• Changes in agricultural practices have seen the conditions in most burns improve dramatically from a hatching and rearing point of view. Fields are now mostly left with a buffer zone rather than being ploughed right up to the edge. The benefit of this has been that less silt has been washed into to the burns during periods of wet weather, therefore leaving them in much cleaner, more pristine condition.

I am sure there are many other contributory factors as well.  And it is not just the brown trout population that appears to be recovering – numbers of perch, pike & stickleback also seem to be on the up too.  Generally speaking, therefore, Loch Leven is in pretty good shape and it is a really encouraging story when you consider that it is only 2 decades since Scum Saturday (13th June 1992) when the algal blooms hit national headlines and the loch appeared to be ‘dying’ and in dire trouble.  The transformation has been extraordinary.

Finally, a little bit about the angler’s arch enemy, the cormorant.  Not surprisingly, we keep a very close eye on numbers here because they undoubtedly caused an enormous amount of damage during the Nineties in particular.  The Fishery became involved in an arms race with them where there was only going to be one likely winner – the more we upped the numbers being reared in our ponds for stocking in order to counteract the levels of predation by cormorants, the more they just brought in reinforcements from the Firth of Forth and the North Sea!

At the recent meeting, SNH produced the following charts showing peak and average cormorant numbers on the loch where they do regular counts.

Loch Leven – Peak Cormorant Counts

Loch Leven – Mean Cormorant Counts

These charts show clearly the drop off in cormorant numbers that followed first the cessation of stocking of rainbows and then subsequently the stocking of brownies as well. Over recent years, peak numbers have plateaued at around the 200 level whereas average numbers are just showing signs of gently picking up again from the recent trough.

Looking on the bright side, the gentle upward trend could be taken as a positive.  There is no more efficient an angler than the cormorant and they are not going to stay at Loch Leven if there are only meagre pickings to be had. It might be argued that the recent rising trend in average cormorant numbers simply reflects the rising trend in the fish population.

There is another reason why we are not overly concerned at the moment.  When stomach contents of cormorants in the past have been analysed by FRS Freshwater Laboratory in Pitlochry (now Marine Scotland), it was found that 90%+ consisted of trout.  However, the recovery in the perch & stickleback populations have given the cormorants an alternative quarry and we suspect that the percentage of trout in their diet will have fallen dramatically.  Our somewhat unscientific observations of what they have regurgitated etc suggest that perch & stickleback are making up a major part of the diet of younger birds in particular and that it is only the older birds that have developed or retain a taste for trout. We have asked for another scientific survey (from a limited cull) to be carried out in order to build on the 2 previous surveys and it is likely this will go ahead in due course once facilities to analyse the stomach contents are available.

Finally, for sake of completeness when talking about Research, you will fall off your chairs in excitement to learn that Loch Leven has been selected as one of the 26 case studies in a major new research project called OpenNESS which gets underway properly next week in Helsinki and will last 3 years. The Loch Leven Case Study is headed by CEH and the Fishery (Kinross Estate Company) has signed up as a partner and will be involved during the course of the project. Basically they will be looking at how freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity support local services such as fishing, water supply, conservation, tourism, etc., and how competing needs can be balanced. Anyway, we are off now to Helsinki braving -15 C temperatures where hopefully it will all become much clearer!!

OpenNESS – 26 Case Studies

OpenNESS – Loch Leven

We have had very good spawning conditions all through October & November, with flow rates in the burns being consistently good – sometimes too good!  Fish actually started to run the burns very early indeed, with some in fact being seen in the top sections of both the North & South Queich burns in late September, which is much earlier than usual.  There was then a gap of a few weeks before the trout started to ‘run’ the burns again in good numbers.  What was particularly encouraging was that they were recorded in all of the burns from top to bottom.  The trout have now pretty much concluded their spawning activities and have returned to the loch to recover and regain their condition.

The condition of the stream beds throughout the Loch Leven catchment area appear to be in very good condition and, without exception, all look perfectly capable of rearing huge numbers of brown trout fry before they are recruited into the loch.  The dramatic improvement in water quality in recent years means that Loch Leven in turn is capable of growing large numbers of brown trout to a good average weight.  In summary, there are a number of very encouraging positives for the loch going forward as a wild brown trout fishery.

Now to my own particular hobbyhorse, namely cormorants.  Their numbers have been broadly similar to those recorded for cormorants during the past three or four (winter) seasons, with counts at times reaching perhaps 200 birds.  These numbers are well down from levels recorded when the loch was being actively stocked with reared brown and rainbow trout which would have been like oven-ready meals for the cormorants.  Nevertheless, counts of up to 200 cormorants are a major burden for a wild brown trout loch, even one the size of Loch Leven, to have to bear.  It is very frustrating that we as the fishery operator have to put up with these extremely efficient predators without having any real knowledge of the damage they are currently causing to the brown trout population in the loch but to date we have been denied a licence to shoot a few for scientific reasons (analysis of stomach contents).

When scientific culls were carried out in the past, stomach contents seemed to suggest that trout in the cormorant diet on Loch Leven exceeded 90%.  Nowadays, however, it could well be the case that there has been a big turn around and the bulk of the cormorant diet here now comprises perch & stickleback, both of whose numbers appear to have risen dramatically in recent years as the water quality has improved.  On occasions, we have chased some cormorants feeding in the open – if they have just caught a fish, they will inevitably regurgitate what they have just eaten so that they can breathe properly as they try to fly off.  On the 8 or so times we have done this, we have found perch of various sizes and dozens of stickleback on the surface of the water just vacated by the cormorant.  Although this unscientific result is interesting, we would not for one moment suggest that the Loch Leven cormorant is now feeding exclusively on coarse fish.  Indeed, they regularly frequent the estuarial areas of the burn mouths which would indicate their prey on those occasions could well be trout, particularly as the fish are then particularly vulnerable. A new scientific study would certainly help to clarify the current situation and we will continue to lobby SNH actively for this in the hope that eventually our pleas are heard!

On more mundane matters, water quality is consistent with what we would expect at this time of year.  Last week, we actually had 95% ice cover on the loch which certainly keeps our aerial predators at bay.  Perhaps this would be one of the positives should we have another cold winter!

All of us here at Loch Leven would like to wish all anglers and their long-suffering families a very Merry Christmas and  best wishes for a very happy and successful 2013 – remember, March 15^th is now less than three months away!

April started promisingly with a week of almost summer-like weather and the fish did indeed respond with a number of good baskets of well-conditioned fish being recorded.  It prompted expectations of a good buzzer hatch and hopefully good buzzer fishing.  However hopes were dashed when the weather broke and and became unstable with an extended spell of cold north easterly winds which was to last for 6-7 weeks.  Temperatures during this period remained unseasonably low with high levels of rainfall.  It was these late spring weather conditions, which were unusually testing even for Scotland, that we think lay largely behind the relative failure of buzzer fishing last season – it never really got off the ground, which came as a surprise to us and many anglers as buzzer fishing methods had been relatively successful over the previous three seasons.

May & June went before we really saw any meaningful hatches of buzzers – Yellow Owl – and even then, the weather was very changeable and as a result such hatches proved both sporadic and sparse.  However, during July and August, some very good rises of fish were seen.  Encouragingly, these rises were seen just about anywhere on the loch where good hatches of flies were taking place.  August in particular saw some good surface activity with nice baskets of fish being caught during this spell.  However, September perhaps proved the biggest disappointment with the weather again becoming very unstable and this was probably the main factor behind the fishing becoming particularly difficult towards the end of the season – which was a shame.  Indeed, trout were spotted in streams as early as mid September to start their spawning activities, much earlier than we would normally expect here at Loch Leven.

Despite the generally testing conditions and difficult fishing last season, there are still real grounds for optimism for the future.  Fish numbers appear to be holding up well and there is a feeling amongst many closely connected with the loch that the overall fish population in the loch is as healthy as it has been for a long time, both in numbers and in condition.  Equally encouraging is the number of year classes of fish being seen which seems to support the feeling that the burns flowing into the loch are working well once again from a spawning / rearing point of view.  Whilst the last 3 summers have been wet and seemingly getting progressively more so, the one silver lining has been that the burns have consistently enjoyed good water levels (farmers have not needed to extract water from them to irrigate crops) and conditions have been arguably ideal for rearing fry.  In the loch itself, we did see large numbers of fish in the 7-10 inch range which augurs well for the coming seasons.  These youngsters were in lovely condition and seemingly distributed throughout the loch, especially in the open water drifts.

Throughout the season, there were some lovely big fish caught but nothing to compare with Michael Mackenzie’s monster the previous September.  Most were caught and released.  Although he is far too bashful to mention it in his report, the highlight for us last season was Willie Wilson catching a brownie at 6 lbs 2 ozs in early August which was the biggest he had ever caught on Loch Leven in over 50 years of trying.  As if that wasn’t enough, five weeks later he pushed his lifetime record even higher, catching and releasing an even bigger specimen measuring 650 mm and weighing an estimated 6 ½ – 7 lbs.  Semi-retirement is obviously suiting him well and who dares think what next season might bring!

Catch & Release is now commonplace at Loch Leven and we would like to thank all anglers who have carefully returned fish during the season.  The emphasis obviously is on ‘carefully’ and the hope is that most, if not all, of those fish returned lived to fight another day.  That said, we remain very relaxed about anglers who want to take a fish or two home ‘for the pot’ – indeed we would encourage them to do so because Loch Leven trout are particularly good to eat.

Another encouraging factor for Loch Leven is that water quality continues to improve and there are now areas where weed growth is prolific.  Weed beds are particularly important in a brown trout fishery.  They provide the perfect environment for the lower life forms on which the trout feed over the summer months.  Although high winds and spates caused by periods of heavy rain did muddy things up around the fringes on occasions, water clarity during the season continues to improve year on year, with depths up to 4 metres being reported in May & June which in turn allows good light penetration and in turn good weed growth.

At the time of writing, fish are still entering the burns to lay down hopefully the foundations of the next generation of young trout.  We are very fortunate at Loch Leven to have plenty of stream bed habitat to allow fish to spawn and the resulting juveniles to grow until they are recruited into the loch after a year or two.

It would be a mug’s game to try to predict the fortunes of the season to come because we are in the hands of the weather gods and the wonderfully complex ecosystem that Mother Nature has endowed Loch Leven with.  However, the numbers of fish seen in the loch at times last season give us considerable confidence that Loch Leven continues on a recovery track and that, given reasonable weather conditions, we might expect very good fishing at times both next season and beyond.

Finally, we would like very much to take this opportunity to thank all of the diligent anglers who took time out to fish Loch Leven this past season and to wish you all the ‘tightest of lines’ for next season.

Water clarity in the shallower water up in the Black Wood – Grahamstone area has been particularly good and fish have been seen there chasing fry.  One angler on Saturday caught a fish which was stuffed with fry.  Corixa are also plentiful in that area and so the fish are currently spoilt for choice on what to feed on.  Water clarity throughout the rest of the loch is about 1.5 metres and the temperature is now 15⁰C which is distinctly chilly for September.

The open water drifts have continued to produce fish, more so in the north than the south, but the large numbers of small fish that we have been seeing over recent weeks appear to have ‘gone deep’.  Other than the open water drifts, the best areas have been Green Isle to Old Manse Bay, East Buoy, Point of St Serfs, Vane Bank and Levenmouth Bank, especially near the drop offs.

The best flies have remained pretty much the same as in previous weeks but some of the fry patterns, fished in small sizes, have been working when fish are in the mood.

However, top fish of the week was caught by someone who just a month ago had caught his biggest ever  fish on Loch Leven in 50 years of trying.  You simply cannot keep a good man down because Willie Wilson, fishing once again with his club Kinross AC, went one better and caught a magnificent, perfectly proportioned cock fish which measured 650mm (25.6 inches in old money) weighing an estimated 6 ½ – 7 lbs using a Claret Snatcher just off the entrance to Old Manse Bay.  After what by all accounts was an epic battle, the fish was netted, measured and returned in order to allow it to attend to more important matters in the burns over the coming weeks.  When it swam away, it was reckoned to be in a better physical condition than it had left Willie in!

Fish are to be found on those shore line drifts with a pronounced drop, Black Wood, Prap, Ray’s Burn and Old Manse Bay.  The open water drifts are also well worth a try especially when the wind eases to allow a good, steady drift.

There has been little change in the best flies to use from previous weeks but Sparklers are now well worth a try as huge numbers of fry are being seen all over the loch, even in the open water.

The water temperature has dropped over the last week to 13.8⁰C and water clarity remains at 1.6 metres when the strong winds have not whipped it up.

Nevertheless there have been some lovely fish caught during the week although none as far as we are aware over 4 lbs although most fish are being returned.  Small fish are still showing up in considerable numbers – one angler on Sunday reported hooking and returning 4 fish on the same cast with at least one estimated to be around ¾ lbs.

When we do get the wind blowing, the open water drifts all over the loch are working well using traditional flies, low density lines and pulling fast / very fast!  In calmer conditions, fishing a much slower retrieve will pay off and indeed trying buzzers should not be ignored despite this method not proving overly successful this season for whatever reason – one angler apparently hooked and subsequently lost a very big fish on Sunday morning using buzzer tactics.

Fry feeders are certainly still about but as usual they are pretty difficult to entice.  As we move into the final 4 weeks of the season, the areas around the burn mouths are now starting to hold fish in increasing numbers.  At times, these fish are showing as ‘jumpers’ and are not actually feeding.  However, these fish can be very big and so, if they do ‘switch on’, some trophy trout should be available.

The water temperature has continued to edge down and now stands at 15.5⁰C whilst water clarity has edged a little higher to 1.5 metres.