The last ten days have given us some really good catches- both brown trout and pike.I will start with the best of the brownies;  Greig Thomson from Dundee caught a good bag on Saturday 8th May - 5 fish in total the best of them was a 3lb specimen.

                   Mr. Black from Skinfats,who fishes here regularly, caught a 2lb and a 3lb trout onMonday 10th May. Both in prime condition. The catches in general have been of sizeable fish. This gives us an indication that our brown trout population is surviving and thriving, a 2.5lb fish is around 4 years old, so when we are catching a lot of fish in this bracket and in such excellent condition this indicates a strong, healthy brown trout population in Loch Venachar.  The catches and records we have kept are now influencing our stocking policy for the Loch. Whereas at one time we were considering stocking with some large specimen fish we are now considering Pre-Yearlings and Yearlings. We are also looking at ways to protect these fish and maximise the survival rate to establish  a good number of 1.5lb  fish over the next 12 months. Be assured that our target will always be to have locally reared brown trout that have been reared on Venachar and maintain the Quality of Fishing that Loch Venachar is associated with.

Pike catches have been fairly impressive of late; Colin Smith from Coatbridge caught a 13lb fish onSaturday 8th May,  Thomas Devine from Salsbury nr Shotts landed a14lb 8oz fish on the 10th May using a lampray and his best of the Month was a 17.5 monster from the same location on the banks.

So all in all a good start to the season.