Swanswater

The middle of the week saw the start of the first major hatch of the season with a huge number of Black Gnats on the water from Wednesday through to Sunday. As the water warmed up during the day the hatches started late morning and continued until around tea-time. Even with the cold east wind at the weekend, there were still big hatches and a lot of top of the water activity.

Earlier in the week a variety of small lures , nymphs and wets were catching but by the weekend most people were switching to anything small and black, including Bibio, Spider, Black Pennel, and, of course, Black Gnat.

The most productive areas were where there was shelter from the wind which, when the wind was in the east, was from the dam along to the fisherman’s hut and round the corner from the boats. At the weekend, the browns were particularly active on the surface and accounted for approximately one third of all fish caught.

Top local catches: Mark Coutts (Banknock) two for 11lb, including 8lb 4oz rainbow from Swanswater and a brown from the Millpond; Danny Doherty (Denny) five for 14lb 8oz including two browns, bigger one at 4lb 8oz and a gold, plus two released; Cameron Smith (Alloa) four for 10lb 8oz including two browns plus three released; Nan Morrison (Stirling) in two visits, six for 16lb 8oz including three browns; Liam Kennedy (Denny) three for 8lb 4oz including two browns.