17th September 2009   The recent dry spell has lowered the level to its normal height for the time of year making things much more pleasant. The water quality is very good and some really nice fish are being caught. Good numbers of fish in the 3-4lbs bracket are being caught with fish of 9lbs and10lbs 4ozs caught in the last few days. Prospects are good for the next 2-3 months as the temperatures drop a bit. There are loads of daddies on the water which should make for some interesting fishing. Mepps spinners and small tobies taking some good fish also.   Some good pike also coming off on dead baits, jerk baits and floating plugs.   Report 14th September 2009   An excellent week at Loch Fad with water levels dropping after eleven days of heavy rain and the water cooling nicely. The best catches coming from the green bank at the left hand side of the loch for Mr Binnie, 4 anglers with 29 fish for 80lbs on maggots/sweetcorn and Mr Howell with 9 fish for 22lbs At the old boathouse area, local angler Phil Kirkham had a nice catch of four fish for 14lbs, two @ 4lbs 8ozs on a Black Nymph and Black Buzzer. Mr Howell from Preston had six fish for 18lbs on bait, Mr McCage had ten fish for 29lbs on Montana Nymph, Black/green Viva. Mr Moodie from Dundee had some nice fish at the south end of the loch with five fish for 18lbs 4ozs for himself and his boat partner. Alex Marshall (4 anglers) from Hooked on Fishing fishing shop in Renfrew had a great weekend with some superb weather and fishing with 28 fish for 76lbs, with some nice fish over the 5lb mark.

 

Loch Fad continues to fish well with anglers catching on bait, spinner and fly from both ends of the loch. Gordon Price and Keith Findell from Kilmacolm had a bumper catch of twenty Rainbows for 41lbs, nearly all caught on Black Zonkers along the Pumphouse Shore. Archie Thom from Prestwick had ten Rainbows for 19lbs, again on Black Zonker at the Barnauld Burn.

 

George Gemmell from Port Glasgow had ten fish for 23lbs on a small copper dropper while Mr Lovell from Paisley had nine fish for 17lbs on maggot.

 

A large party from Airdrie fished for the very popular Jim Smith Memorial Cup in April and it was a very close competition. While lots of fish were caught, the competition was for the biggest fish. This year it was a dead heat with two anglers catching fish weighing 9lbs 5ozs. The joint winners were Paul Smith and Robert Carson, while in third place was junior angler Brendan McPake with an excellent fish weighing 8lbs 10ozs. Loch Fad also put up a trophy for the juniors for this competition and young Brendan won this.

 

Local anglers have had their share of trout off the loch also, but John Miller and Alister McFarlane were just a bit surprised to both catch Pike estimated at over 25lbs on trout flies with 6lb leader.

 

LOCH FAD & LOCH QUIEN

29th MARCH 2009

 

23rd March 2009

 

 

16^th March 2009

 

Loch Fad continues to fish well, as it has done since opening day this season, despite some strong cold winds.

 

Robert Russell and Ian McWha from Dumbarton had a good day on the 13^th with 14 fish for 29lbs including a fish of 10lbs 4ozs to Robert and returning another 15 fish.

 

The Vale Angling Club had a good day on Saturday 14^th with members G Lees catching ten for 24lbs, J McGhee had ten for 23lbs 7ozs and S Young had three for 17lbs including fish of  8lbs 12ozs and 7lbs.  Yellow Dancers, Orange Blobs and Black & Green lures still catching well, although other flies were working also.

 

Gartcosh Angling Club also had an outing on Loch Fad on the 14^th with T Doosey catching ten for 20lbs, Willie Leeming had seven for 15lbs 8ozs and J Davidson had six for 14lbs 2ozs.  Once again lures seemed to be the best catchers.  The main hotspot seems to be the dam wall area but fish were being caught all over the loch.

 

The Brown Trout season opened on Loch Quien with some good action in cold breezy conditions.  Some good fish were caught and some good fish hooked and lost, but the best fish on opening day was a lovely natural fish of 2lbs 8ozs caught on a Yellow tag Wickham by local angler John Miller.

 

 NEW SEASON ON LOCH FAD

 

 2^nd March 2009

 

The 2009 Rainbow Trout  season on Loch Fad  opened on Sunday 1^st of March with resonably mild weather apart from the odd blustery shower. There had been some good fish moving in the couple of weeks prior to opening day,  so hopes were high for some good sport.

 

 It wasn’t long before fish were being caught  mostly on lures such as Black and Green Taddy, Olive Gold Head, Humungus, Orange Fritz  and Cats Whiskers Variants. Most of the fish being caught were between two and three pounds but one or two four pounders were in among them. 

 

The best fish of the day fell to Alexandria angler Duncan Crawford, weighing 9lbs 4ozs and was caught on a Black and Green Taddy. Duncan also had four other fish to give him a nice total of 18lbs 8ozs. Jane Wright and Tom Taggart of Cove and Kilcreggan Angling Club had a total of eight fish to their boat weighing 24lbs 6ozs. Their catch included two four pounders and a fish of 6lbs 12ozs to Jane on a Cats Whisker Variant.

 

 The best areas seemed to be the dam wall and the left hand bank at the bailiffs office. The south end of the loch did produce some nice fish also. Sinking  or intermediate lines were most productive but not all the fish were deep down.

 

Some very nice fish have been stocked into the loch so the 9lb 4oz fish should be beaten  very shortly. Apparently the fish are fighting very well at the moment in the cold, clear water.

 

There are some interesting competitions planned for Loch Fad  this year including a charity event for Water Aid , a fund raiser for the Scottish Ladies and Juniors fly fishing  teams, a new junior bait fishing competition and of course the Loch Fad Autumn Doubles event, and that’s just the trout ones!