Algae presence puts a black mark on fishing

Sep 26 2008 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THE fishing has been pretty challenging most of the time this past week.

A lack of flies coupled with a diatom (brown algae) presence has made the fishing difficult.

However, as always, fish can be found in shallow water just north of St Serfs which produced two nice fish, both returned, for two local anglers on Sunday and along the north shore – Green Isle to Old Manse Bay – fish were seen and the odd one caught on Thursday and Friday late afternoon and evening.

Kate McLaren and Snatchers are the best of the flies, with black and silver sparklers well worth a try. Carden Bay, Sluices to St Serfs and North Shore are the best drifts.

But open water just east of Castle and Reed Bower Islands will work well, especially in quieter conditions.

The water clarity is 1.2 metres and the temperature which is now dropping but still a comfortable 13.8C.

Fish are still on the fry around the weed beds, but are difficult to tempt when feeding on fry.

As the season "matures" into its last weeks, the burn mouth areas are well worth a try, and as mentioned, shallow water and shoreline drifts should work.