Loch Leven has been renowned as a brown trout fishery
for well over a hundred years. It has been known for it's unique strain of brown trout,
salmo levensis, which has been used to stock rivers, lakes and lochs not only in this
country, but also all over the world.
The loch is some 3,500 acres of predominantly shallow water with an
average depth of about 12 feet, making it an ideal water for fishing. The Loch Leven trout
is fast growing with a pink flesh, similar to a sea trout, and is known for it's fighting
qualities.
In the middle of the last century the average catch was about 40,000 per anum at a
weight of just under a pound. The numbers caught have fallen over recent seasons, while
the weight is now almost 1½ pounds. Quality and the sport they give have remained.
To counter the reduction in the catches of loch leven trout, a programme of stocking with
a limited number of high quality Rainbow trout has been introduced. These fish are reared
from the egg in our own fish farm and released into the loch at about 1½ lbs. This has
proved a success due to the high quality of these fish and their fighting reputation. The
fish farm also strips eggs from our own Loch Leven Trout and rears them in considerable
numbers for release back into the loch, as well as seeding the feeder streams with surplus
ova and first fed fry. About 150,000-200,000 of the loch leven offspring are released into
the loch each year.
Bill Barnes & Gary Ormiston
Winners of Leven Classic Pairs 2004
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All fishing on the loch is "fly only" and must be
from one of the fishery's boats as there is no bank fishing
Apart from fishing, Loch Leven is also famous for it's position as one
of Europe's most important wetland sites with great numbers and variety of breeding
wildfowl and as a roost for up to 20,000 pinkfoot geese in the spring and autumn.
For those interested in history, there are the remains of the old
Priory of St Serfs on one of the islands and, of course, Loch Leven Castle, famous as the
last prison in Scotland of Mary Queen of Scots. It was from here that she escaped to
England to eventually be beheaded by her cousin Elizabeth, Queen of England.
Loch Leven, therefore, has much to offer, particularly to the ANGLER. |
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