My third day in Scotland had us heading to Loch Leven. I’m going to assume most of you have never heard of this fishery. Since you’ve most likely never heard of it, I’m also going to assume that you don’t know about it’s brown trout, or the ties it has to American brown trout.
A Brief History
The first brown trout eggs brought to the US were from Germany. This is why many anglers call our brown trout “German Browns.” However, this is not the full story. Brown trout eggs from Loch Leven were brought to the US to supplement the eggs from Germany and stock American rivers. All of the brown trout in the US today are decedents of those fish. For the American fly fisher, Loch Leven is of utmost historical importance. You can also read about some of the history here.
Beginning at the End
Fishing Loch Leven is not an easy task. It is by far the toughest stillwater that I have ever fished. I will tell you now, I didn’t land a fish on Leven, but we did get sheared off by pike a few times and Davy also had a lump of a brownie on that popped off when he went to net it. Catching a fish on this day was not the point of going there to fish. Its about the history of the Loch, the history of the fish, the history of the boats, and the castle.
On the way
Our day started early as to get on the road and make it through Glasgow before the rest of Glasgow decided to be on their way to work. The drive from Glasgow to Loch Leven is a beautiful one. It takes you around Edinburgh and Sterling, winding on an “A” road through a beautiful countryside. The trip takes about 90 minutes. Before you make it to the Loch, you stop in the quaint village of Kinross. Hop into the market and pick up a few buttered burnt rolls, turkey lunch meant, Irn Bru, and a Star Bar (or a Double Decker).
You’ll pull in to the loch at the boat house. It’s usually no problem to get a boat for the day as Loch Leven doesn’t seem to be as popular as it once was. But, just to be sure, you can reserve a boat ahead of time here. Many anglers don’t want to work too hard for fish it seems. There are many other lochs and a lake stocked with rainbow trout which can be much easier to catch. (I’ll touch more on this in a later post.) Leven is full of wild brown trout, pike, and yellow perch.
The Boats
This was the sight that greeted me when we arrived. Perfectly still and boats lined up. Ironically we ended up in Boat 4 for the day. With the fish being as historic as they are, the boats are just as historic. The wooden Loch Leven Boats are like no other. They are over 100 years old. The boats are designed for the intense wind and waves that can plague the loch at times. It’s similar to Wyoming in that you go there expecting wind. These boats are built to withstand it.
They weigh over 2000 lbs and when they need maintenance, they have to use a forklift to get them out of the water to do any repairs. Their sheer weight is the reason they can withstand wind and wave. There is no need for the use of a drouge because the keel on the bottom of the boat keeps you drifting straight as an arrow no matter the gale.
Fishing in these boats was an absolute joy. At 18′ long, each boat has enough room to comfortably fish 3 people per boat. Just setting foot in this piece of history made the trip for me. Fishing out of it spoiled me for the rest of my life as no other boat will ever compare to that. You will never know true loch style fly fishing until you’ve fished on Loch Leven in one of its wooden boats.
The Fishing
Slow. I knew how difficult the fishing would be before I arrived. When we arrived to the loch, it was as the opening image shows. A mirror lake top. We were left with an option that neither of us really wanted to use: fishing buzzers STATIC! We both preferred to pull flies, especially the Humungous. There were two other anglers that Davy knew that were also on the lake. They had only landed 2 fish by the time that we had arrived. These conditions lasted about 3 hours before the wind picked up.
As soon as the wind picked up, we immediately switched to faster sinking lines and tied on a sliver humungous and a gold humungous. Casting our flies out as far as possible, strip them back to you with varying retrieves. I was fishing my brand new Sage X 10′ 6wt. This is an extremely powerful rod that could easily handle launching the heavy flies and Di5 line in the wind. On our first few drifts we moved several fish including getting bit off by a few pike. After the initial 5 drifts, we didn’t move another fish the rest of the afternoon.
Loch Leven Castle
We decided to drift toward the Loch Leven Castle. The castle was built many years before Sir William Wallace took the Loch. Later on in the late 1560’s, Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart) was held prisoner here before she escaped, headed to England and was beheaded by Queen Elizabeth I. The Castle was built on an island in the middle of the loch, known as Castle Island. This gave it very strategic positioning and made it easier to defend.
We ate a late lunch at the castle and then headed back to the boat house to call it a day. For me fishing Loch Leven was one of the best parts of the trip. Although it was the only body of water I blanked on, it gives me a reason to go back and have another go.