Stillwater · Limestone · Perthshire / Kinross

Loch Leven

Broad view of Loch Leven from the south shore looking west, loch water filling the middle distance with farmland and hills beyond.
Contributor photo

A view of Loch Leven

James T M Towill - CC BY-SA 2.0

Loch Leven is the venue that gave its name to a strain of trout.

Good · Trout
Kate McLaren · 12-14
Goodlive now
Terrestrials on Loch Leven
Good wave on — drift country. Drift fishing weather — three flies on a long leader.
75% confidence
What moved it
  • WindNW 5 km/hCalm
Today’s fly
Kate McLaren
Kate McLaren12-14
Retrieve, in the film
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Wind
Calm
NW 5 km/h
N
NW
from the north-west
WaveRipple
Water temp
Air temp13°C
CloudBroken
Pressure1021 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm

Some readings unavailable — check directly before fishing.

Head to
Wind shiftWind shift
Scart → Old Manse BayNorth Queich → Green IsleGairney Mouth → Point of St Serf's

The wind has shifted to an NW today, but 1 day of a SW wind has loaded food into Scart → Old Manse Bay, North Queich → Green Isle and Gairney Mouth → Point of St Serf's. Fish haven't had time to redistribute — start there before following the new direction.

How to fish it · for trout
When
April–September
Where
Set up a broadside drift and cover the water systematically. Work Black Pennell on the bob, Ke-He on the middle dropper, and Marabou Damsel on the point.
The plan
Plan A

Set up a broadside drift and cover the water systematically. Work Black Pennell on the bob, Ke-He on the middle dropper, and Marabou Damsel on the point.

Plan B

If the main plan is not working, switch to a smaller, more imitative pattern fished slower and deeper. A change of drift angle can also make a difference.

Watch for

Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.

Boat — drift

A gentle ripple is ideal for drifting — broadside drift covering the wind lanes should be productive.

Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Lake OliveHatch
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Silverhorns & LonghornsHatch
1
2
2
2
1

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Trout fly box
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Condition match
74%
Cloud100%
Wind65%
Temp60%

A good match for this venue — most conditions are close to what it fishes best in.

Other water nearby · 5
Gallery · 6
  1. Broad view of Loch Leven from the south shore looking west, loch water filling the middle distance with farmland and hills beyond.
    A view of Loch Leven
  2. Panoramic view across the open water of Loch Leven toward Castle Island bearing Lochleven Castle, Kinross.
    A view towards Castle Island, Loch Leven
  3. Shoreline of Loch Leven at Kinross on a summer day, open loch water extending to a low far shore.
    Loch Leven, Kinross
  4. Still, sunlit surface of Loch Leven seen from the north shore, reed-fringed foreground with rolling hills behind.
    View across Loch Leven from the north shore
  5. Open water of Loch Leven at Kinross on a clear day, with the Lomond Hills visible on the far shore.
    Loch Leven at Kinross
  6. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Loch Leven is the venue that gave its name to a strain of trout. That alone should tell you something. For over a century this broad Kinross-shire loch was the benchmark — the water against which other stillwaters were measured, the place where international competitions were decided, the hatchery that seeded half the reservoirs in Britain with fish that carried its name. It's a shallow, fertile, wind-blown loch fished almost entirely from boats drifting the loch-style way with teams of wets on the bob. The trout are not huge by modern standards but they fight hard, take with conviction, and there is something quietly affecting about casting a fly over water that has mattered for so long, to so many people. A fish from Loch Leven is a fish with history.

  • Loch
  • Limestone
Water quality (WFD)
  • EcologyPoor
  • ChemicalUnknown
What this classification means

SEPA WFD 2022 (loch layer) — Loch Leven: Poor status. Re-tagged 2026-06-18 from the River Leven outflow, a river/burn waterbody, to the loch's own SEPA water body. Source: SEPA WFD 2022 classification (spatialdata.gov.scot / SEPA Aquatic Classification Hub).

SEPA (Scotland) · UKSC100269

Why this score
  • Cloud cover (mixed) suits the fishery well.
  • Terrestrials are in their seasonal window, boosting the chance of targeted feeding.
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • TroutMid March → 6 October
Related guides
Booking & contacts