Recently, as before, it’s been a tale of contrasting fortunes with some having huge hauls and others left broken and weeping into their waders. The weather and conditions at Venachar (and all over) have been as schizophrenic as ever with no two days lately being the same. This has led to some interesting fishing conditions although there have been quality catches under difficult circumstances, the best of which were a massive 27lb 3oz behemoth courtesy of Neil Kerr and a dirty dozen from brothers Chris & Gordon Sharp most of which were mid to high doubles. There have also been some fine brown trout taken after a brief lull due to cloudless sunny skies and high water and air temperatures. The loch is teeming with fish…outsmarting them’s a different matter.

As far as the conditions go for pike, Little Drum Farm’s water level has dropped slightly so the upper bay (Blackwater Marshes) is borderline, but the main area is still deep so the pike that were up there should now be moving down towards the lagoon away from the mouth of the Blackwater River. The Road Shore car parks, as ever, are still producing a solid number of catches with Beetle Bay and the Dam end also showing healthy signs of activity and regular feeding. As for the trout, numerous rises are still being spotted with huge amounts of insect life available (albeit quite far from the shore) with catches being reported in Milton Bay, Portnellan, Boathouse Bay and East Dullater. The recent drop in temperatures seems to have them feeding hungrily again.

And if you’re fishing for our magnificent pike at Venachar then please remember: “Hook ‘Em…But Don’t Cook ‘Em”.

 Some recent reported boat and bank catches :- Neil Kerr - 27lb 3oz, 20lb 9oz - mackerel, Gordon Sharp & Chris Sharp (Coatbridge) 19lb 5oz, 17lb 8oz, 17lb 6oz, 17lb 3oz, 15lb 2oz, 15, 14lb 6oz, 13lb 7oz, 12lb 4oz, 12, 12, 8 - sardine, mackerel tail, George Richie (Crieff) 20lb 2oz, 18lb 4oz, 16lb 3oz, 13 & 8 - mackerel, Donovan Trench (Moodiesburn) 1lb 6oz brown trout - maggot, Charley Valenti (Airdrie, 8 yrs old, 1st time fishing) 1lb 4oz brown trout - worm, Graeme McDonald (Uphall) 18lb 3oz, 7lb - trout, Robert McDonald (Uphall) 12lb 9oz, 6lb 8oz - mackerel, Graeme McDonald Jnr (Uphall) 5lb 10oz - smelt, Brian Anderson (Glasgow) 14lb - trout, David Dempsey (Airdrie) 16lb - mackerel, Colin Sandles (Partick) 8lb - smelt, Callum Allen (Wishaw) 17lb 9oz - lamprey, Brian McCourt (Glasgow) 10lb - smelt, Michael Weatheritt - (Alnwick) 4 x 1.5lb & 3x 1.2lb brown trout - spinning, Jenny Carter (Lymm) 8lb 8oz - lure, Sean Anderson (Glenrothes) 18lb - sardine, Piotr, Michael & Thomas Posiadala (Glasgow) 20lb 2oz, 11, 10, 9 & 6 - lure, James McNeill (Easterhouse) 18lb 6oz - mackerel, , Brian Alexander (Glasgow) 15lb 1oz, 14, 14, Mark McGowan (Carluke) 20lb 3oz - perch, Mr. Bell (Kirkintilloch) 14lb - lamprey, Mr. Morrison (Glasgow) 15lb 8oz - m. tail. Finally, well done to brave young Ben Campbell who reeled in a hard fighting 2lb 8oz wild brown trout using a rapala in some extremely choppy conditions from the boat. Good work son!