Lake of Menteith is the venue I recommend more than any other stillwater in Scotland, and the reason is simple: it is a genuinely good day out whether or not you are a good angler. That is rarer than it sounds. Plenty of famous waters reward experience and punish everyone else. Menteith is generous without being easy.
It sits in central Scotland, around twenty minutes west of Stirling and under an hour from either Glasgow or Edinburgh, which puts it inside a comfortable day trip for most of the Central Belt. The fishery runs from a lodge on the shore, and the whole operation is built around boats.
Boat only, and that is the point
There is no bank fishing here. The fishery runs a fleet of thirty-six fifteen-foot boats, and outboard engines, oars, nets and drogues are all provided. That last detail matters more than people expect. A drogue is what lets you control the speed of a drift in a decent wind, and being handed one as standard tells you the fishery understands how the water is actually fished.
If you have never fished from a boat on a Scottish loch, the learning curve is shorter than you think. You set up a drift with the wind behind you, cover water as you go, and let the boat do the searching. It is far more forgiving than bank fishing, where you are stuck with whatever water is in front of you.
What you are fishing for
The loch is stocked weekly with rainbow and brown trout, and the quality of the stock fish is the thing regulars talk about. Menteith has a reputation for dry fly and buzzer fishing in particular, and on the right day, with a light ripple and some cloud, the buzzer fishing is the reason people keep coming back rather than a fallback when nothing else works.
My approach is boring and it works. Floating line, long leader, team of buzzers, indicator if the wind allows it and a straight washing line if it does not. Watch the boats around you, and if two of them are catching on the same drift, that drift is worth repeating rather than politely finding your own water.
When the fish are up and taking properly, a single dry fly fished static on the drift beats anything with more moving parts. Resist the urge to retrieve it.
Practical details
Booking is done through the fishery’s own site at menteith-fisheries.co.uk, and they take payment on arrival by cash or card. Their office number is 01877 385664 if you would rather speak to someone, and they can sort rod hire or tuition if you are coming without kit or without experience.
Book ahead for weekends. Thirty-six boats sounds like a lot until a settled Saturday in May.
What I would bring
A 10ft rod for a #6 or #7 gives you the reach to fish a team properly from a seated position, which is the bit people underestimate on their first boat day. A 9ft rod works but you will feel the difference by mid-afternoon.
Take a floating line and an intermediate. That covers you for the fish being up and the fish being sulky, which between them is most days. Anything faster sinking is a specialist decision rather than a starting point.
Bring waterproofs regardless of forecast, and bring more food than you need. You are out there for the session, and the nearest shop is not a five-minute walk.
Who it suits
Menteith suits the improving angler better than almost any water I know. There are enough fish that you get feedback on what you are doing, and enough good anglers on the water that you can learn by watching. It also suits two people who fish at different levels, because a boat lets the stronger angler quietly do the boat handling while the other one fishes.
If you are still finding your feet with the technique side, read our fly fishing for trout guide first, and if you want the wider regional picture, the Scotland loch fishing guide puts Menteith in context alongside the rest.
Sarah Marsh came to fly fishing through her father, who kept a rod on a small syndicate water in Devon. She spent her teens fishing stocked reservoirs and gradually worked her way toward wild fish on moving water – first on rain-fed freestone rivers in Wales, then on the Hampshire chalk streams she now considers home water.
She holds a level 2 APGAI fly casting qualification and guides informally on the River Test and, from June to September, on a private beat on the River Tay for Atlantic salmon. Her personal best brown trout came from the Itchen at 4lb 1oz; she’d sooner not talk about the salmon that came off at the net last August.
At The River Bend, Sarah writes the game fish species guides, fly fishing technique articles, and the legal content covering trout and salmon regulations.
Covers: Brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout, Atlantic salmon, fly fishing, chalk streams, Scottish rivers, close season and regulation articles