[Pete Walls]

Mike is aware of this, but im a member at Monikie Angling Club just north of Carnoustie. For years it's been a great loch for fly fishing, and yes during the summer time the fish go quiet. However whilst it's stocked every month there are very few fish being caught. Last Thursday I took my fish finder out and there was big shoals then nothing then one or two, then big shoals etc. There is very little fly life showing on the surface most of the season which again is unusual.

I can't figure out why this is happening over the last three seasons as prior to that it was a good place to go fishing.

Any clues on how to research this would be helpful

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Pete

Welcome to the forum 

Is Monikie drift/drogue only, or can you anchor?

[Robert MacDonald-Lewis]

Have you tried using a bug net to check aquatic insect life subsurface?

[James Laraway]

Same is happening on the stocked loch at Dornoch. Plenty stocked but very very little being caught. All fishers are struggling even the very experienced ones who have fished there for years...

[Bob Mitchell]

Same on 2 of the lochs i fish here on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Have noticed this season especially that the more stocked less caught. Wondered if there is enough food for the extra stock and enough left to keep the food life breeding.
Bob.

[James Laraway]

Dornoch is the same. The more fish that seem to go in throughout the year seems to be making the fishing worse !

Now the loch in question is a decent size , natural loch ( so its not a 'hole in the ground' ) and therefore there is plenty food so people are at a bit of a loss.

People are trying all sorts of tactics, and all sorts of lines but with very little return.

At some stage i hope they 'switch on' - if they do it will be amazing fishing as there are now a lot of fish in there !

Same on 2 of the lochs i fish here on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Have noticed this season especially that the more stocked less caught. Wondered if there is enough food for the extra stock and enough left to keep the food life breeding.
Bob.

[Pete Walls]

Hi folks, new to the forum and playing catch up. Really appreciate the posts and apologies about not answering them personally.

It's sort of good that we aren't the only loch to suffer no or very little fish getting caught.  In the main it's not good news at all but hopefully there will be an answer to the symptoms of stocked fish not being caught.

I'll pass your comments onto my baillifing buddy who is on the committee. I think maybe atmospheric issues could be a cause and Mike spoke about that.

With regard to the "loch" hopefully the photo I've attached  goes up to let everyone see it's not a pond but a decent size Loch fished off boats with no anchors.

I'll see what Brian says tomorrow and update the post.

[Mike Barrio]

The anchor thing is interesting. I believe anglers have been using an anchor in some areas of Loch Leven in recent times?

That makes sense to me, as the fish could possibly be feeding fairly deep on very slow moving, or static, food items like wee black snails. This would be very difficult to emulate from a drifting boat, no matter how fast your sinking line was.

Just another thought.
Cheers
Mike

[Pete Walls]

Cheers Mike

Good comment, I'll raise that tomorrow with Brian 👍👍

[James Laraway]

Funnily enough one of the trout that was caught recently was packed with snails......

Fishing a fast sinker and trying to emulate a snail is not going to be much fun though....and its interesting that this seems to be happening on lochs across the country in a similar manner !

The anchor thing is interesting. I believe anglers have been using an anchor in some areas of Loch Leven in recent times?

That makes sense to me, as the fish could possibly be feeding fairly deep on very slow moving, or static, food items like wee black snails. This would be very difficult to emulate from a drifting boat, no matter how fast your sinking line was.

Just another thought.
Cheers
Mike

[Pete Walls]

Okay team, hopefully a wee bit of good news. Speaking to a committee member today we are getting an analysis of the water etc done by Fiskally research. They will hopefully point us into a direction we need to take to switch things back on again.

If they can't do this, then there is a Prof in Dundee University that can and will help too.

Let's see what comes out of this research.

As an aside we're not allowed to drop ankers in Monikie due to the bottom formation of mud. That's from Angus Council not a rule by the club.

Keep you all posted. 🤞

[Duncan Inglis]

Interesting that this is happening on other waters, including natural lochs etc, especially the comment regarding stocking levels etc.
There’s very little fly life about in general, just look at the front of your car and very few Martins, Swallows or Swifts about.
Monikie is full of minnows and no sign of any dead fish around the edges etc or seen floating about yet the three Osprey’s that fish Monikie daily are catching trout.
As Treasurer at Monikie I’ve been trying to contact various bodies etc for advice. So far Marine Scotland at Faskally have said contact SEPA who as yet haven’t replied. Similarly Dundee university who in the past carried out testing at Monikie, again haven’t replied.
For info and hopefully to assist other clubs etc I’ll try and update when and if I have more information.

[Pete Walls]

Thanks for this reply Duncan, fingers crossed things come together and we can advise other lochs having the same issues 🤞