Goldenloch march-03, week 9, 2014

So, its now March, cant believe how time flies, I really do hope that soon the mornings and evenings are going to warm up, we are beginning to feel the depressing effects of this long cold spell, it has lasted since the end of September has gone on long enough, I do wish I had kept a record of all the windy days, but certainly there has been plenty in the last 5 moths, more than I have ever seen before, I do know and am aware, that there are anglers out there just desperate to go fishing, but alas, you will just wait to wait a little bit longer, it wont be long till everything warms up, just a little, we have for those anglers that are unaware, this year, put in some Chinese grass carp, which are sometimes called white amur, we are hoping that they will help to cure our weed problem, which needed to be addressed, this since all inland water herbicides are completely banned, also this passed week saw the arrival of our long awaited load of Brown trout, 300 fish in total, the idea behind them is basically, firstly, to replace the ones that got lost when all the fish died, but also just to give anglers a bit of real sport fishing, these fish are not triploid but are mixed sex diploid and should breed given that we have a secure gridded water coarse we can do this, with the ample feeding in the water and plenty places to go to, these fish should excel here, as the others did, hopefully even although the 15th March is nearly here, all these fish will be getting put back anyway, Wednesday, this week sees the second load of 2.5 lb + rainbows going in, I have also ordered this spring a few larger Tiger trout, basically these are at the request of one particular angler and along with some large Blue trout the fishing this year should be pretty varied, it is really odd sometimes how things pan out, last year we put in half a dozen tagged trout and if I recall correctly, 3 were caught, one by an English holiday maker, one by a groupon client and the last by a gent who got his reward, a summer season ticket, we had assumed that the other three fish had either been eaten by a cormorant, been caught and not declared or died or just lost the tags, but yesterday one was caught, it weighed in at 4 1/4 lbs and was in pretty good condition, the person not wishing to be named was offered a season ticket for this year, which he declined, but was happy with a free sessions fishing for him and one other, so on that assumption are there still two more to catch who knows we will just have to wait and see.
To Book for Fishing, Call John on 01337840355 or 07968006367. or email john@goldenloch.co.uk or visit www.goldenloch.co.uk or our fb goldenlochfishing

Goldenloch february 24, week 8, 2014

Well its now the last week in February and it’s a pretty safe bet to make, that we aint gonna see much snow now, I suppose we may get a sudden cold snap and some frost and snow, but its not going to stay for long, it will melt pretty quick, took a water temperatures reading at the weekend, we are 5 degrees warmer this year than last, its at 8 and that’s pretty good for this time of year, however I did slip and get both of my feet soaked and by the time I got back to the house my feet and legs were white and aching with cold, somehow it brings home the points about safety and wearing a life jacket, with the water pretty murky this last week due to the high winds and heavy rain its not surprising that the fishing’s been poor, on the few good windless days some lads have fished but the results have been zero or only the odd ones caught, having popped in at several other fisheries in the last few weeks and also in finding out that their anglers are having similar catches, namely very few, so for those complaining it’s the same everywhere, its pleasing to see that all are well and looking forward to the new season, back here we plan to get all the boats painted and repaired as soon as they are dry enough, a new load of fish due soon and we will be back in gear, hopefully the carp are busy doing what they do best and we will just wait now for the sun to shine.

To Book for Fishing, Call John on 01337840355 or 07968006367. or email john@goldenloch.co.uk or visit www.goldenloch.co.uk or our fb goldenlochfishing

Goldenloch february 17, week 7, 2014

Its still very cold and not very pleasant for fishing, however yesterday it was fine for a couple of hours and with two lads out in a boat they could see plenty of fish, however were unable to connect with them, on their departing the comment was that they had a great day covering fish and apart from the cold which came in as the sun dropped about 3pm, during the week we had a few lads fishing from the bank with some success Frank Anderson, Crail using buzzers had 2 both about 3lbs, fine specimens’ was his comments and put up a great fight, and contrary to what we were told that the grass eating carp would not take a fly Hamish Gordon, Crieff fishing with his son caught one on a small red wet fly that he had tied himself and was just trying it out meanwhile his son Craig caught his first ever fish using a pink lure, much to alls delight the fish was well hooked and survived the ordeal of being landed by a nine year old, cormorants are now a major pest with several visiting daily keeping them away is just about a full time job and it is I think due to the really bad weather offshore, they just don’t like it although its where they would prefer to be, when the winds are high they cant perch on the rigs or boats and they need to do that to digest the fish they eat, so they come in land to small lochs and hammer them with each bird eating 3 or 4 fish per day, its easy to see how much damage 5 could do in a day that’s 15 fish and after a week its 75 so that why we keep them away.

To Book for Fishing, Call John on 01337840355 or 07968006367. or email john@goldenloch.co.uk or visit www.goldenloch.co.uk or our fb goldenlochfishing

Goldenloch february 10, week 6, 2014

Its February, the weather these past few days has been good, “no ICE or snow”, today Monday, we have a solitary angler, its is quite pleasant down at the water, the fishing this past few weeks has been a bit slow, but with a new large load of due shortly things should pick up nicely, its been a long cold, wet, windy, winter, with very few good fishing days, but suddenly things are changing, for the first time in years the daffodils are coming out about the same time as the snowdrops, the small birds are fluttering about as if they are looking for flies, a few anglers have ventured out lately, but the catches have been small, mostly due to the wind and the cold, but also because of a side effect from last years really weedy water which produced a huge amount of fly life, those weeds are now dead and have fallen to the bottom of the loch, here they decompose and in turn feed the loch floor with nutrients and in turn that produces proteins and other enzymes into which the flies eggs hatch, the fish are feeding here, eating this food which is in the form of blood worms and small grubs or nasties, this is just the cycle of life, however a little known fact is that this cycle continues on all year, yes, its more active in the warmer weather, but the loch floor is always at a steady temperature, that’s why now we have for house heating, ground source and water source heat pumps, also the dissolved oxygen in the water due to all this wind and the lack of plants at this time of year makes the oxygen level go to its highest level, it is very high on the loch floor, so the fish are very happy living down at the bottom where there is plenty of grub, its warmer and tons of oxygen, so why would they come to the surface, it is one of the reasons why so many fisheries close for the winter, and that’s why anglers at this time of year go to highly stocked places, as they know that’s about the only place they are going to catch fish easily, the fish that’s being caught tend in the most cases to be newly stocked or fish that are on the prowl, soon the warmer weather will be here and the fish will very quickly feel the heat on their backs and that small rise in their body temperature is enough to make them active, last week we had one reasonably nice day with a warm sun and an angler catching 7 all between 12 and 2 when the sun was at its strongest, so spring is coming its just around the corner we just have to see if there are going to be any blibs in its way.
To Book for Fishing, Call John on 01337840355 or 07968006367. or email john@goldenloch.co.uk or visit www.goldenloch.co.uk or our fb goldenlochfishing

Goldenloch february 03, week 5, 2014

So back to normal, the last week has seen very high winds and extremely cold conditions, needless to say the fishing is more or dead it’s extremely hard to catch anything when the water is so choppy, however Frank Anderson, St Andrews on Tuesday past, wanting to wet a line for the first time in 2014 caught and released 2 both from the bank as it was the only place that was calm enough to fish from his tactic was to cast and let the wind take the line as far as he would dare let it and then strip it in using small red bloodworms that were light enough to stay just under the water plus a buzzer, also fishing in the past few days were the cormorants they are arriving early in the morning just before daybreak and usually have a few fish before I get down with my gun, this morning Monday there were two but they left empty as I got too them before they could land for any length of time, the weather for the next week or so looks pretty poor but at least there is no talk of frost or snow yet maybe it will be a warm winter so to speak.

To Book for Fishing, Call John on 01337840355 or 07968006367. or email john@goldenloch.co.uk or visit www.goldenloch.co.uk or our fb goldenlochfishing