October

01st October

At 13.00hrs the gates were still down and the water level was a couple of inches below the closing height. Hopefully the river level will be allowed to run off naturally for a few days. On Saturday John Donnelly caught a 5bs grilse on the fly. There were reports of two other fish being caught but I don't have any details. This morning a fish was caught at the top end of the river on the devon and another two in the Renton area. Again no details. There are less sightings of fish compared with this time last week. If the water is allowed to run off fish will hopefully show more readily.

02nd October

I didn't receive any reports of fish caught today, probably one of the quiet days? Despite a few enquiries I haven't been able to confirm a catch of a 20lbs salmon from the Bonhill pool by a John Galbraith. It isn't often that there are reports of two 20lbs fish caught in the space of a few days. I recently commented on the lack of "backend runs" Is this a sign of the possibility of them returning? Jack has stated on the forum that the water level is at a good height and with rain forecast for tomorrow hopefully the good level will remain?

04th October

The river level is still running off naturally despite a two inch rise because of the overnight rain. I think that tomorrow will be the acid test as to the water authorities plans for the river flows till the end of the season. This morning the river was surprisingly quiet, at least at the top end. No reports of fish being caught and the sightings of fish seem to be diminishing. I have received an e mail from Jack in respect to yesterday. Robert Galbraith lost a fish under the Bonhill bridge and Ian, who is a coast guard employee, caught one about 6lbs from the same place. There was a 7.5lbs fish caught at the top pool by an angler by the name of Martin. Thanks Jack. No news concerning the 20lbs fish caught in the Bonhill pool. Water temperature is still 56 degrees Fahrenheit. As stated before, I print what I hear about and obviously there must be other catches that aren't reported to me. Any reasonable reports will be passed on to the anglers.

05th October

The Barrage gates weren't raised today. Possibly the two inch rise in water level two days ago meant a reprieve, but that is speculation. The water level is one that the anglers on the river rarely experience and is one that should be enjoyed by them using any legal method. Tomorrow is forecast to be dry and overcast which will mean almost perfect conditions. This morning was quiet once more and I didn't receive any reports of catches. Conversely yesterday evening the Bonhill pool area had activity. An angler by the name of Jim Paterson was fishing the Bonhill side of the Bonhill pool. He was using a single handed rod with three flies when he hooked a salmon. Having two droppers on the cast means that one of them, or god forbid two of them, could become entangled in bank side vegetation. Luckily they didn't and Jack and one or two anglers crossed the bridge with a net and the fish was duly landed. It was about 8lbs and a little coloured. Thanks Jack. There are less signs of fish in the river but that doesn't mean that there aren't any there! Hopefully tomorrow will be one of the better Saturdays.

07th October

Yesterday was one of the better Saturdays! In the morning an angler by the name of Dave - possibly known as Titch - caught a grilse, about 5lbs, on the worm at the Stuckie bridge. There were fish showing in the vicinity at the time. At the Chapel hole Robert Galbraith caught a coloured cock fish on a flying C, which he returned. Above the Pikey a clean fish about 7lbs was caught on the worm. I think it might have been Andy McElwee, and at 16.30hrs Dunky Campbell caught a 14lbs hen fish at the Double pipes on the red floating devon, which was returned. Chic had another fish about 7lbs which was returned and he lost a bigger one on the worm. On Friday evening Gordon Pollock caught a 6lbs fish on the minnow at the Craft stream which was also returned. Hopefully this report was accurate because the information was coming from different sources! Thanks to all for the information. The water height yesterday was five inches below the closing level, which means forecasting when the Barrage gates will be operated is hazardous. Wait and see what tomorrow brings!.

Up-date

Mick MacAnenay has passed on an image of his first fish caught on the Leven. It was Saturday afternoon above the Bonhill bridge just after 16.00hrs and the fish, which was netted by Gordon Pollock, was returned. Well done! I know that Mick has been trying for a few years to catch his first and no doubt he will be a happy man! Thanks for the information.

08th October

The water level is still dropping naturally. This morning there were few anglers on the river. No reports of fish being caught. Ian Doran told me that on Saturday after it got dark he hooked a good fish at the Factory wall on the fly which parted company with the hook after five minutes. He said that fish were starting to move through after the light faded. There has been other reports of anglers hooking fish this season, other than sea trout, after the light has faded. I forgot to mention that Keith Adams caught his first fish of the season on the fly at the Piles at the end of last week. It was about 6lbs.

Up-date

This afternoon Ian, mentioned in the last update, hooked and landed a 7lbs fish on a yellow ally's shrimp under the Bonhill bridge. Ian normally, when he catches one, returns his fish but this one was bleeding heavily. After losing a few fish this season no doubt it will be a relief to be able to hold on to one! Well done Ian! Thanks to Jack for the image and the information.

10th October

In the 27th September up date I stated that there was a rumour, which I didn't believe, going around the river that the LLAIA had purchased a video camera at the cost of £17.000. I invited them to deny or agree that the purchase had been made. Yesterday the LLAIA decided - see their Committee's blog - to deny that they had purchased the video camera. I thank them for doing so! Most anglers that I spoke to were scornful of the fact that they had even considered it, never mind buying it. No doubt the anglers will be pleased that the money has went to to the purchase of Cowdenmill dam on the Endrick rather than the purchase of the camera.

12th October

The river is still at the same level it has been at all week, running off naturally. Probably about twelve inches above the weekend height and the temperature is 55degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday Alun Pryce caught a 6lbs fish on the fly at the Factory wall. Apart from this bit of information the river seems to be have been quiet. Any fish that are there don't seem to be showing as much as a week or two ago. Before I departed from the river today I had a conservation with an experienced angler who has done well this season. We were in agreement that the worm had accounted for most of the fish caught followed by the floating devon. The fly hadn't done as well as in past seasons along with the Rapala and flying C. The bottom line was that most of the fish seemed to have been hooked nearer the river bed rather than near the surface. The particular angler stated that he had caught fifteen fish this season and only three of them on the fly. This is more of an opinion rather than an outright fact. Would others concur? If tomorrow fishes as well as last Saturday then there will be sport to be enjoyed!

19th October

Apologies for the tardy up dates this week. Other interests came to the fore. The water level remains more or less the same level, about twelve inches above the weekend height and the water temperature remains the same. Anecdotally there are fish still showing in the river. The reports this week have been favourable with fish coming off most days. Ian Doran caught a good looking silvery fish on the fly which was returned. Chic caught two which were returned. Hughie Quinn, Jim Campbell and Alun Pryce caught fish  There were others but I don't have details. Tomorrow is the annual Atlantis competition and I was told today that there will be at least three dozen anglers taking part. Next Saturday is Winnies competition.

22nd October

The level of the river is slowly dropping but still continues to be a good fishable level, about ten inches above the weekend height. No reports of fish being caught today. On Saturday there was a fish about 4lbs caught at the top end. Craig Ferguson caught his first fish on the big fly rod about 8lbs which was returned and in the run above the Chapel hole Robert Galbraith caught a fish, on the fly, about 10/12lbs which was returned. The Atlantis competition was was won by Ally McGhee with a fish about the 6lbs mark. There were three other fish weighed in. Fish are still showing in the river and not all of them are coloured. Hopefully the good water level will last till the end of the season because it is enjoyable to fish even if an angler doesn't hook a fish.

25th October

This morning the gates were raised and the water level dropped down to between weekend height and summer low. There is heavy rain forecast for tomorrow and Saturday which is ironic, however we mustn't grumble because there has been unexpected good flows since the start of October. Yesterday I looked at the Loch at the top of the river and it was low. On Monday Robert Galbraith caught another good sized cock fish about 8lbs at the Factory wall on the fly, which was returned. Hopefully there won't be summer low levels for the last three days of the season next week?

29th October

The water level is now about six inches above the weekend height because of the heavy rain over the weekend. Ironically the level on Friday and Saturday was less than weekend height. I believe that there were a couple of fish caught on Saturday but I don't have any details. At 11.00hrs this morning Gordon Pollock hooked a coloured fish in the Bonhill pool about 6lbs which he carefully returned. This was Gordon's seventeenth fish of the season. Apart from this the river was quiet. The catch rate is diminishing despite signs of fish in the river. They are without exception residents. The tragedy on the Loch has overshadowed any fishing considerations. The national press has details of the events.

Up-date

This afternoon Gordon caught another fish from the pool about 5/6lbs which was described as a clean looking fish. He returned it. Above the bridge Ian - the coastguard worker - caught two fish, one about 6lbs and another about 8lbs, on the fly. They were returned. Earlier in the day I was talking to an angler, a taxi driver from Clydebank, who was lamenting that he hadn't caught a fish this season. Well he now has caught his first. It was taken above the Bonhill bridge and returned. Thanks to Jack for the information.

31st October

This morning about 10.00hrs the gates were lowered and the water level rose by about 12 inches. This was a pleasant surprise but the downside was there were a lot more leaves floating down the river. Just before the lowering of the gates David Pert hooked and landed a silver coloured grilse from the Bonhill pool on a small red shrimp fly, about 5lbs, which was chapped. The fish had no colouring and was worth keeping. At 13.30 hrs Gary weir hooked a fish on the opposite side of the pool which gave him a good bend in his rod. Jim Fleming crossed the bridge and netted the fish for him. It was coloured and estimated to be about 12lbs. On Monday, late on, Gordon Pollock caught a fish that was silver coloured in the pool which was estimated to be about 14lbs and yesterday morning he caught another two between 08.00hrs and 09.00hrs from the pool. There were reports of fish being caught above and in the Linbrain hole. Ian Taylor caught his first fish from the river about 5lbs which was returned. The Bonhill pool has fished well this week and the end of the season has come too soon. The fishing in the last ten weeks has in general been good and has gone a long way to make up for a very poor start to the season. How good overall? The anglers can make up their own mind because it has been a season of two halves! No doubt there will be more fish caught today. Thanks to all for their contributions to the site this season!