Numbers down ... and down

[Wildfisher]

There are certainly lots of lochs with small fish in them you can fish with the permission of the landowner  (or without  if you don't mind committing  a civil offence)  but with a few exceptions  the overall quality of the fishing in them is not high.

[Robbie]

I have only every come across on estate which refused me acces to fish. Some require purchse of a permit, which can now usually be done by e-mail and bank transfer, which is not great inconvienience. Many are free for the asking.

In all the well known trout fishing areas in scotland it is easy enough to get permits for many hundreds of waters and many of these provide excellent fishing by anyones standards. Consider the Forsinard angling Club, Assynt, Caithness, Durness and South Uist amoungst many others.

[ianmck]

These days, by the age of ten, most kids are too busy downing six packs of monster energy while sitting on their playstation for hours every day. Never mind fishing, it's even become rare to see  kids out playing football. No longer do young boys dream of one day playing for Scotland. Now they all want to become pro esports fifa players and social media darlings. It's a different world. Remember the days when you would actually see kids out on new bikes on Christmas day?  :lol:

[caorach]

There are certainly lots of lochs with small fish in them you can fish with the permission of the landowner  (or without  if you don't mind committing  a civil offence)  but with a few exceptions  the overall quality of the fishing in them is not high.

To be fair this doesn't describe the situation I encounter. There is a lot of debate, and it would be easily fixed by sitting down with a map until the fight started as to what counts as a loch, as to how many lochs there are on Lewis but claims tend to range from 1,000 to 2,000 and I believe that an agent once auctioned the brown trout fishing on nearly 900 named lochs. I could take you out every day for a fortnight to a different loch each day that would give us 1.5lb - 2lb brownies with the potential for fish to maybe 6lb though the big ones aren't easy. In the process we'd probably have a cast on 2 - 4 additional lochs we were passing each day, I have fished 41 lochs in a fortnight and 35 of them were completely new to me so this isn't a fantasy scenario. I've been doing this, or something similar, for nearly 30 years. I don't know all the good lochs, far from it, so you'd need to explore a bit as sometimes you stumble on really interesting stuff, so although I could probably manage 14 lochs with 2lb fish it would take you another 30 years to find 14 more for yourself and that is part of the fun, not following someone else around. As I've detailed previously I had a visitor out this year and between us we had about 30 fish for the day to 1.5lb but both lost much bigger fish, again that isn't a fantasy story and I don't need to tell you I lost a big fish when I didn't as that isn't useful and doesn't help anyone. This could hardly be called low quality fishing when you consider we are talking about genuine wild fish that often don't see an angler for one year to another, or if people are following me about trying to work out where I'm catching fish sometimes might see only 4 - 5 fishing days in a year. I'm investing in landmines so this figure will see a significant reduction next season.

None of this requires permits and permission is given by default so the most taxing part of the admin is finding a parking spot.

I also have a wide range of salmon and sea trout fishing open to me - some is free, some is through an association or club, and some is through a local estate. The association and club water is very reasonably priced and you can have a season on the Creed for around £100 with other places often coming in around £25 for the year so if you buy your permit on arrival there is no further need to concern yourself about getting permits. The local estates provide good fishing in sometimes spectacular locations for very reasonable sums and the admin is trivial as a simple phone call or email will sort everything out and there is even an angling promotion officer who will assist. It simply couldn't be easier unless someone actually lifted you out of bed and carried you to the river or loch side.

The other thing of interest relating to the quality of fishing lies in the past records. As everyone here is aware this has not been a good year on Lewis for salmon and sea trout. Out of casual and passing interest I took a look at some records dating back to before World War One. I'm sure that detailed statistical analysis would reveal some differences but to the Mk1 eyeball I can see no, or very little, difference in those records and in records from the recent past. Even back then there were years that were complete disasters with figures comparable to this season, and there were also years with lots of fish caught. 

So, I can offer you free fishing, the freedom to fish where you like, high quality fishing, and fishing that even in a bad year is just like the good old days.

[Wildfisher]

Out of casual and passing interest I took a look at some records dating back to before World War One. I'm sure that detailed statistical analysis would reveal some differences but to the Mk1 eyeball I can see no, or very little, difference in those records and in records from the recent past.

When you start looking into past records they can be an eye opener. I am now less convinced than ever that salmon farming has been responsible for the demise of migratory fish in Scotland. Things may just be returning to normal after a long  period of abnormally high catches. Sure it has had an impact as has  rod and line fishing and netting but the decline (or return to normal - however you want to look at it) is country wide.

[Laxdale]

Records, especially rod caught catches, mean nothing on their own.
Who was netting/trapping what and where they were doing it needs to be factored in.
Records of netting/trapping would at best be unreliable!

[Wildfisher]

Records, especially rod caught catches, mean nothing on their own.
Who was netting/trapping what and where they were doing it needs to be factored in.
Records of netting/trapping would at best be unreliable!

For sure. Back in the day netsmen, anglers,  fishery managers etc were under far less scrutiny. Times have changed, but you guys still seem to do well enough despite the alleged  demise of west highland stocks. Perhaps you guys are just better salmon anglers and know what you are doing? There certainly appears to be a lot of conflicting information. 

We were away for a week in June in the Gairloch area. The owners of the cottage we rented were both Gairloch born and bred, lived their whole lives there crofting. Colin was a leading member of Gairloch angling club and told me straight that the demise in migratory fish was not the fault of the salmon farmers. The fishing in general was poor compared to what it once was and angler numbers, both visitors and local members are well down. There was just not the interest these days. Oddly some of the things he blamed bore a great similarity to the stuff Andy has found on Uist - in particular he mention clogged up spawning burns and general neglect. He also had a great dislike of seals - but that does not account for the overall drop in quality of the trout fishing in the lochs.

[johnny boy]

I disagree that there has been a drop in the quality of the trout, it may have dropped from the most recent past but if you look at average catches 20 years ago the average size is up.

When I started fishing a pounder was a fish to savour, I may not have been particularly good at fishing then (and now) but I did know a lot of anglers and the same held true with them.

Yes, big fish were caught, just nowhere as many as there are today (in my experience).

[Laxdale]

I disagree that there has been a drop in the quality of the trout, it may have dropped from the most recent past but if you look at average catches 20 years ago the average size is up.

When I started fishing a pounder was a fish to savour, I may not have been particularly good at fishing then (and now) but I did know a lot of anglers and the same held true with them.

Yes, big fish were caught, just nowhere as many as there are today (in my experience).

If you fish lochs with either agricultural or aquaculture nutrient input, that is entirely possible.
I sorted out the catch returns for SAA for quite a few years, and lochs like (big) Langavat were remarkably consistent with regard to the average size of trout caught. (Apart from the catch returns from the usual suspects who always caught trout bigger than anyone else  :lol: :lol:).

[fergie]

If you fish lochs with either agricultural or aquaculture nutrient input, that is entirely possible.
I sorted out the catch returns for SAA for quite a few years, and lochs like (big) Langavat were remarkably consistent with regard to the average size of trout caught. (Apart from the catch returns from the usual suspects who always caught trout bigger than anyone else  :lol: :lol:).

Out of interest what's the charr and ferox situation on that loch. ? I can't find much on Google .