Even though the summer run arrived late September on the Loch has been quiet…. ….. or perhaps someone will tell me otherwise. Catches were fairly good at the start of August but as it drew to a close things quietened down. The top end of the Loch has seen very few grilse this year with those that I have heard about taken mainly south of Ptarmigan. This is the first season since 1998 that I’ve not had a fish north of Ross Point and when you spend two or three days a week on the Loch that’s a fair amount of effort and water covered. Of course the summer’s high temperatures did not help the cause. Last week I noticed that the surface temperature was still hovering around 17oC. Yet as far as I’m concerned it’s been another great season……..where would you rather be!

I must add though that as the season goes on it’s not difficult to feel ‘trolled out’. I’m sure my faithful craft must know its own way about the Loch by now. A few times recently I’ve had that falling asleep sensation........almost! It would be nice to break the monotony now and again by wielding the fly or dapping rod but there just never seems to be enough breeze.

Last Saturday morning I again experienced ‘temperature inversion’…..and it wasn’t anything to do with my chilled ‘apple juice’ getting warm. The whole Loch was covered by a thick mist. I’ll not go into the lengthy scientific explanation but basically warm air in the upper atmosphere traps the colder air below. When it’s like that it’s not advisable to go out unless you really know your way about. I discovered last season how easy it is to go round in ever decreasing circles on the Endrick Bank. If one does go out remember to keep the shoreline in sight and watch your depth….. the fish finder’s most useful purpose….. and beware of hazards like the Boturich and Black Rocks. Eventually the mist will roll back revealing all…….and it’s amazing just what it’ll reveal! A ‘courting’ couple in Ross Bay last week were not the slightest bit disturbed when the mist lifted..... as Robert Perratt will confirm…….nine o’clock in the morning……I ask you!

On a recent really wet day I noticed an increase in the number of fishers sporting golf umbrellas. Gerd Elsweiler has gone one better. He has an anchorage point on the floor of his boat into which he can secure a large ‘course fishers’ type umbrella…..which is enormous……..even bigger than the patio type. He can sit back hands free, steer his boat and enjoy a brandy while keeping half his boat dry….ingenious! However I’ll have my camera ready for the first wet and windy day to capture him taking off over the Loch like Mary Poppins!!

I hadn’t received any reports of farm fish being caught in the Loch and hoped that was good news. However Donald Brown tells me that such a fish was caught off the mouth of the Fruin last week and they’re still turning up in numbers in the Leven. Kenny McDonald’s brother Jim had two farmers on Monday at the top end of the river, both weighing 10lbs. So I think we could expect more in the Loch. Not really good news at all.

Lately I’ve seen a few guillemots on the Loch. An article in an evening newspaper reports that these sea birds are dying in large numbers through the lack of food in their natural habitat. Guillemots have been seen on Loch Awe, the Crainlarich area and even Glasgow City Centre.……..where sea gulls have been foraging for years. More competition for those discarded fish suppers and kebabs. On Monday Kenny McDonald saw a dead bird floating on the Loch. I know that sea birds are not good news for our stocks but I do tend to feel sorry for them…….. a sad problem indeed for the RSPB.

The next few weeks will hopefully bring some rain and wind allowing a bit of fly fishing on the Loch and maybe even a trip or two up the Endrick to end the season. Still haven’t managed a day on the Leven……must address that…..next year?

Regards J.R.

’As the season goes on it’s not difficult to feel trolled out’ ………..has it all been too much for this fisher?.....or has he lost something!