Fishing lines

Orchill Trout Fishery (Braco) The water is still warm so the fish are still being caught from top to bottom on a wide variety of flies with a very slow retrieve. Falcon FFC had a wet morning on Saturday and a few fish were caught with Willie Barr taking the heaviest bag with three fish for 9lbs down deep on a Black Lure. Twelve year-old John Binnie had one fish for 2lbs; Kevin O’Brien (Falkirk) four for 13lbs - best 4lbs on a Zonker; Mike Wheelans (Blackford) two for 5lbs on an Ace of Spades; Alan Birrell (Alloa) two for 6lbs on an Ally and Jeff Thomson (Blackford) used a White Rabbit to take three for 8lbs 8oz. Colin Clements (Tyndrum) had three for 7lbs on a Yellow Blob; Charles McKinlay (Dunipace) two for 5lbs on a Black Lure; Hector Wilson (Bannockburn) three for 6lbs on Dries and Peter O’Brien (Falkirk) two for 4lbs 8oz on a Black Dry fly. Swanswater Fishery The warm summer weather continues, but there was more cloud and some showers this week which was a welcome change for the fish. The water temperature is still higher than average for the time of year but the breeze and the rain have freshened things up a bit, but the fish are still sometimes very hard to tempt. Water clarity is still generally good. Depending on whether or not the sun was out the fish were at varying depths. When conditions were overcast they were around two feet down but went deeper as soon as the sun came out. Plenty of Tigers feature in the catch returns, many of which were taken from the area around the bridge. The area around the big tree also proved to be very productive. On Saturday the Dam and the boats were the most successful areas. Most fish were taking lures or nymphs fished on an intermediate line with favourite patterns being Cat’s Whisker, Dancer, Damsel, PTN, Diawl Bach, Buzzer Cormorant and Buzzer. Wet flies including Bibio, Black Pennel and Kate McLaren also took a number of fish. Top local catches: Danny Doherty (Denny) in two visits, seven for 19lb 8oz including a Tiger; Billy Weir (Bannockburn) three for 9lb 8oz including 4lb Brown and a Tiger; Brian McPeake (Gargunnock) three for 8lb including two Tigers; Glen Anderson (Banknock) two Tigers for 5lb 12oz; Donald McMurchy (Fallin) two for 5lb 12oz; Willie Martin (Stirling) two for 5lb 8oz including a Tiger; Willie Nyguist (Stirling) two for 5lb 8oz; Tom Clark (Stirling) caught and released six. Glenbervie Fishery Fishing slowly start to improve. Hopefully this will continue. On fly this week: John Johnstone released 10; Ally Bruce and Max Drummond landed six; David Blair five; ian Galloway, and John J Hunter four; Craig McIlhane, Ryan Rennie, J O’Brien, David ford and Ronnie Couper all three. Most successful patterns this week: Yellow Owl, Ally McCoist, Cormorant, Apps Bloodworm and Hoppers. On bait: S Hutchison landed four and G Robertson caught two. Lake of Menteith Fisheries Water temperature continues to drop quickly and now stands at 14°C at six feet. At this temperature fish activity isn’t restricted by oxygen availability while metabolic activity is high due to the temperature. The fish are therefore hungry again and are present in the top layers of the water column. Quite a few prolific catches being reported (25-plus on dries, diawls and lures) from Reedy Point to Gateside Bay and the Burnmouth, round Malling Shore to the Gap and into the Butts. The westerlies mean that the warm water is deeper on the eastern shores but hopefully the east basin will switch on again anytime. More than 500 2lb fish were stocked earlier this week with another stocking due today (Friday). The fisheries has a new fast boat, kindly doanted by Alex McLelland from Clarkston. It may be useful for scaring cormorants and recovering breakdowns. Boat-handling - How to safely dock your boat on a crowded beach It seems to be the norm to point your boat at a gap then turn round and try and get the engine up – at all costs. This method more often than not results in another boat or engine already on the beach getting rammed. Luckily most folk are going slow so no damage is done but a repair to the transom is never as good as before and new engine casings are hundreds of pounds. Recommended method: 1 Slow down – you don’t really get much further by gunning it up the beach; 2 Don’t put your boat into neutral on approach and try to lift as the engines don’t lift in neutral; 3 Kill the engine whilst it is still in forward gear and leave the engine down; 4 This means you still have steering as you approach your slot and fine adjustments can be made. The engine, if it does hit the bottom, will bounce harmlessly on the sand and gravel; 5 Once the boat is grounded and at a standstill. Now is the time to lift the engine as this means the boat can be pushed out without the engine jamming. Boat etiquette - Most people are savvy with boat etiquette at the lake but one angler recently said his day had been spoiled by other boats encroaching too close. If this happens to you please take the boat number and the driver will be made aware of the code. You shouldn’t really pass any closer than 50m in front of another boat and it should be more like 75m before you feel remotely comfortable fishing in front of them. If you are hemmed in then all you can do is very slowly motor out.