Fishing Lines

Orchill Loch (Braco)

It has been a good start to the year with many anglers getting out with the unseasonable weather - much better than being snowed in. The depth the fish were being caught depended on the wind but plenty of fish have been taken on the Diawl Bach, Cat, Damsel, Bloodworm, Buzzers and various colours of Fritz patterns. Top local catches include Hector Wilson from Bannockburn who had three for 14lbs – best 6lbs on a Green and Black Fritz; Ian Conn (Tillicoultry) three for 11lbs on a Black and Green Fritz; David Drummond (Tillicoultry) three for 12lbs – best 5lbs on a Black and Green Fritz; Bill Dawson (Dollar) two for 7lbs 8oz on a Mini Cat and C Meiklejohn (Stirling) who used a Black and Red Buzzer to catch a brace weighing 6lbs 8oz.

Swanswater Fishery

For most of the week, fish were being caught at all depths from six inches to six feet although the hard frost on Wednesday night and all day Thursday sent them down. The biggest problem on Thursday was not finding where the fish were, but stopping rod eyes from freezing up. The rest of the week was relatively mild and with the water temperature at 60C at the start of the week the fish were still very active. Goldies are still being seen in the water and anglers are enjoying a lot of sport targeting these highly visible fish. The dam, the island and the bridge area were the most productive, with a number of fish also being taken from the roadside at the weekend. The boats were also doing well at certain times. Small lures, nymphs and wet flies were all catching this week with small flies, particularly Cormorant and Diawl Bach, doing well on the coldest day of the week. In general the favourite patterns were Dancer, Damsel, Cat’s Whisker, Bloodworm, Buzzer, Hare’s Ear, Snatcher and Black Pennel. Fishery is currently open every day from 8am to 4.30pm. Top local catches: Lee Currie (Bannockburn) three visits for nine for 25lb 4oz including three golds and a blue plus two released; Danny Doherty (Denny) five golds for 17lb 8oz, plus two released; James Reilly (Fallin) five for 16lb 4oz including 5lb 4oz rainbow and three golds; Robert Smith (Airth) four for 13lb including a blue plus two returned; Graeme Arthur (Stirling) four for 12lb including a blue plus one released and on a separate visit, 10 released; Cameron Smith (Alloa) three for 11lb 12oz including a 5lb rainbow and a gold plus one released.

Glenbervie Fishery

Reasonable temperatures for this time of year, few trout caught as well. The top rod this week was Bill Buchan with 18 trout caught mostly on Brown Rabbit. John McGuire, on his first visit, ended up with 14 trout on White and Green Okey Dokey. Other catches included Frank Turner with 10 on Ally McCoist and Jim Forsyth 10 on Organza Cut Throat Cat, Simon Littlejohn nine on Buzzers, Andy McAulay nine on Chamois Worm, while Ian Dobbie released nine and Andy Stevenson landed nine. Ryan Rennie had eight, A Drummond and A Maskomisky both released seven, Bob Young, Ronnie Couper and Rab Guild all had six, William Brownlie and Scott Murphy had five and Jordan Anderson, Stephen Gunn and Archie McLaren all had four. The most successful patterns this week were: Ally McCoist, Brown Rabbit, various Buzzers, Chamois Worm and Cut Throat Cat. On bait: David Sinclair caught three including a 5lb rainbow, J Gothard with his friend landed four each, Richard Clason had three and R McColl and C McKinlay had two. Fishery is currently open from eight to dusk.

Burnhouse Fishery (Bonnybridge)

Despite the weather, mist, rain cold winds Burnhouse anglers enjoyed some great fishing and catches from hard fighting rainbows and blues with the occasional wild brownie. Fish were being taken from around four foot under the surface to the lochans bed, long leader and floating line was doing the trick. The fish were more interested in and hitting the small stuff. Black spiders, Ace of Spades, Cormorants were all doing the business Yet again high quality stunning, full tailed rainbows and blues and those amazing small wild brownies putting up a great fight, fantastic sport. All fish were returned safely to fight another day. Fish were this week taking Ace of Spades, U.V. Cormorants, Black Spiders, Okey Dokey, Green/ White Fritz. Top local catches: M Hunter (Plean) 2, Stefiano Carboni (Stirling) 2, Cameron Cowan (Bannockburn) 2. The fishery is currently open seven days a week from 8am till 5pm.