Angling: We need to feel the heat

It was an overcast and drizzly day at Swanswater near Stirling. Although it was a bit slow to begin with, some anglers were finding success from off the island casting into the channel. Lures were working to start with but I switched to the more traditional patterns like Kate McLarens and they worked.

As the air pressure lifted around lunchtime, the fish became very active including some very large tiger fish. I found that nothing was taking off the surface but a switch to the slow glass line brought about some solid takes. Landing them, of course, was another story as I lost countless offers. I eventually caught my limit with one on the Damsel and the other a Sunburst Kate.

Changing over to the catch and release pond I was joined by fishery owner Alastair Lohar, who told me his stocking policy for this year. He reckons the record will fall for the tigers and, from what I witnessed, I would not doubt him.

Some big brown trout will put in an appearance and top-quality rainbows which is what we expect from Swanswater. Alastair does admit it really could do with the temperatures rising a bit. There is no shortage of fish, we just need a bit of heat to get the catch rates up.